Councillor says some children in care are 'evil'

Andy Osborn was elected as a county councillor in May

A councillor has told a committee meeting that some children in care are "not just naughty children, they can be downright evil".

Reform UK's Andy Osborn made the comment during a Cambridgeshire County Council meeting, which heard that the authority had overspent on care placements by £7.5m.

Executive director for children, education and families Martin Purbrick said "any child in care is a child that has experienced early childhood trauma" and that had "really changed the way that they are able to manage their own emotions".

He added that the overspend at the Liberal Democrat-run council was mainly due to more children than expected going into care.

Mr Osborn told the Children and Young People Committee that he had heard of cases where children were "smashing cars up, running away from home, and are on drugs", according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

He said: "It is not just a case of somebody being a bad boy or a bad girl, it is a case of they have learnt from their bad parents not to react correctly."

Mr Purbrick said: "Sometimes [trauma] can manifest itself in behaviours like you have described... but I do think it is important that we as a committee also remember that under that behaviour is a child that has experienced something incredibly difficult and something that has really changed the way that they are able to manage their own emotions."

Liberal Democrat member Anna Bradnam said children's behaviour could be challenging because they had been through "a very challenging time beforehand".

Labour's Bryony Goodliffe said: "They are our children under the corporate parenting legislation. They are very much our responsibility."

Despite the overspend, Cambridgeshire had some of the lowest numbers of children going into care in the region, Mr Purbrick said.