Comment: Out of area placements

Andy Smith, ADCS Vice President, said:

“Finding homes that meet the needs of children and young people in our care is a priority for all local authorities, and it is important to note that the issue of out of area placements is not as straight forward as often suggested. There is a lack of local placements for children and young people who need them. Keeping children close to their community, family and friends is preferable but there are good reasons why children might be placed out of area, for example, where there are concerns about their safety or their needs can’t be met locally. However, more children than we would like are placed further away because there are simply not enough placements locally and we need the government’s support to address this. There is currently no government strategy to sufficiently increase the number of homes for children in the system. We urgently need a comprehensive placement strategy which addresses shortages across all types of placements to meet the needs of all children and young people.”

ENDS

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