Cornwall Council houses vulnerable teen- in a tent

 Of all the news in Cornwall that leaves you speechless, this story is one of the worse. A 17 old boy aproached Cornwall Council looking for accomodation to stay in. He was severly let down. He was left spending five weeks in a tent, four weeks in a static caravan and several nights sleeping rough, his ordeal leaving him emaciated and requiring a spell in a psychriatric hospital for eleven months. In a report by the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman it was found throughout  that Cornwall Council tried to repeatedly pin responsability of the situation upon the boy who suffered from drug addition and mental ill health.

It was also found that the council didn’t properly plan for having enough accomodation for young homeless people and didn’t communicate well with other services such as mental health.

Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman, Michael King, said:“There is a long list of failures in this case which had dreadful consequences for the boy. But the starkest, and most worrying, element is the attitude shown towards his situation. I would have expected an unequivocal response that it was simply wrong to accommodate the boy in this manner.

“It is true the boy in this case showed difficult behaviours. However, this is exactly why the Children Act exists to support the most vulnerable in our society and councils should not apportion blame when help is needed.

“I now hope Cornwall Council will take this investigation fully on board, and use it to learn where it can improve things so it doesn’t let other young people and their families down in such a way again.”

After breaking the conditions set for his supported accomodation he was in, he became homless, refusing accomodation 30 miles away from the area he knew. A social worker then brought him a tent. The boy’s mother, who doesn’t live in Cornwall, challenged the decision to place him in a tent but she also refused to allow him to live in her second home in Cornwall.

After five weeks in was decided to move the boy into a static caravan, where he reported being sexually assualted by a man in a car, there is no evidence to support whether Cornwall Council considered under section 47 of the Children Act to safeguard him following this report.

A month later the boy was moved into a B&B although Government Guidance says this is never suitable for children.

The Ombudsman made recommendations to the council to improve its accomodating of 16 and 17 year olds and ensure its procedures comply with statutory guidance, and ensures it properly considers the wishes of young people are rational if they refuse accomodation. It should also draw up an action plan to ensure there is sufficent accomodation for homeless young people and should train staff working with them.

Cornwall Council released a statement remarking how sorry it is and how it is now a changed council and how this will never happen again.

This story is about a vulnerable boy, who regardless of drug problems, now seems to have turned his life around, this says more about his strength than his treatment. The council repeatedly and deliberately failed in guaranteeing his safety and welfare, instead preferring to dump him out of sight in unsatisfactory conditions. For an housing service to provide this sort of care is disgusting, for an housing service in a part that of England that has seen almost more housing built than anywhere else raises concerns if enough suitable development is being constucted. Obviously its not, the answer cannot be to build more homes as its the amount of people that are having to use the services that is the problem, It is utter stupidity to expect 500,000 people to use services originally created for 250,000 without work being done to upgrade the services. It is lunacy to recommend increasing the population by another 200,00 without upgrading the services, which is the plan. Yet this is whats happenning and will continue to happen. There is no “until” in this sentence, it will happen as long as people are prepared to live with it, which going by past behaviour they will be all too happy to live with.

If you wish to bury your head in sand too I have to recommend Cornish sand, frankly if this doesn’t make you take notice and want change, then you properly love this sort of thing.