Jersey children's homes failed to meet standards of care

The three children's homes have all since closed

Three care facilities for children in Jersey failed to meet official standards of care, inspectors say.

The Jersey Care Commission (JCC) withheld the names and locations of the temporary homes to protect the young people who were living there.

However, reports following inspections earlier in 2023 said a range of issues were noted that had put children and employees at risk.

The temporary facilities have since closed, the JCC said.

Anonymous information

The previously unregulated facilities came under the jurisdiction of the States on 1 January after changes in the law.

Issues found by inspectors included a lack of training, staff working too many hours and no official records of incidents that put children and employees at risk, the three individual JCC reports said.

They also found young people were not getting the right support to go to medical appointments, and their views and feelings were not always taken into account.

All three facilities - referred to as Children's Home Number 1, Children's Home Number 2 and Children's Home Number 3 - were three-bedroomed properties.

Inspections took place following "anonymous information provided to the commission", which found that services had been operated at the first two sites since December 2022 and at the third since January 2023.

The commission confirmed in a statement that "the homes in question are now closed".

'Urgent circumstances'

Children's Minister Inna Gardiner said she could not go into detail about "why children were placed into care at those locations" to protect their identity and privacy.

"But I can offer a reassurance that children or young people were placed there with carers, due to genuine, urgent circumstances, and to ensure they were not in a potentially harmful situation."

She added that the department had addressed the concerns in the reports.

She also said: "Unregistered, regulated care is a very rare event."

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