New children's home planned for out-of-county kids

The home will house three of the 130 vulnerable children a council sends out-of-county

A new children's home will be created to house vulnerable kids who are sent out-of-county for care.

Swindon Borough Council currently sends 130 children in care out of the area.

A total of £700,000 has been approved by the council to house three of them in either an existing home or one it would build itself.

The council's leader Jim Robbins said bringing the children back to Swindon would save the council money.

The council approved spending £700,000 from its capital budget on Wednesday, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

Robbins said: "Having a children's home of our own will allow us to bring more of our looked-after children back to Swindon instead of placing them outside the borough.

"This will mean the children will be closer to their friends and schooling and their family – and it will save the council costs on placements outside the borough.

"There are too many children in placements away from Swindon – sometimes that's because the care they need is not available here and it's necessary.

"But all too often it's because we don't have enough foster placements here in Swindon."

He added: "If this proves our thinking right, and provides the expected benefits, we might look at doing this again and having the council own more of its own children's homes."