News

Children in care sent to Britain

CHILDREN taken into care in Northern Ireland are increasingly being sent to live miles away from their homes - a practice campaigners fear could leave them more vulnerable to abuse.

More than 800 children in care have been placed outside their home health trust area since 2009, figures obtained by The Irish News reveal.

The number of so-called cross-boundary placements has increased by almost half, from 139 children in 2009 to 205 last year.

Some children were sent to live hundreds of miles from home, as far away as Birmingham, Liverpool and Southend in England and Glasgow, Aberdeen and Lockerbie in Scotland.

Although the figures include children placed elsewhere in Northern Ireland, others were rehomed in counties Donegal, Sligo and Leitrim.

Campaigners fear the practice could leave some children more vulnerable to abuse.

A UK parliamentary report published last year into children who go missing from care raised serious concerns about cross-boundary placements.

It said the practice was often "detrimental" to children in care and was a factor in causing them to run away.

In September the PSNI launched a major investigation over fears that vulnerable teenagers missing from children's homes were being sexually exploited.

Neil Anderson the of NSPCC said children placed far away from home could be at greater risk.

The cross-boundary placement figures since 2009 were obtained through a series of Freedom of Information requests.

The Belfast Health and Social Care Trust recorded 258 out-of-area placements. The figure excludes fostering placements with relatives.

The South Eastern trust, which provided figures in ranges to prevent individuals from being identified, suggested that up to 300 cross-boundary foster placements occurred since 2009.

The Southern trust had 55 placements, which included use of specialist facilities in Aberdeen.

Almost 70 placements were recorded by Western trust, including placements in Northampton, Co Sligo and Co Leitrim.

The Northern trust had 127 placements over the period including children being sent to England and Letterkenny in Co Done-gal last year.

A spokeswoman for the trust said that it always tries to place children in placements that best suit their needs and the majority remained within the trust area.

"Exceptions are typically where specialist regional placements are required or where the young persons' needs are such that a highly specialist placement is required outside of Northern Ireland," she said.

The Department of Health said a small proportion of the estimated 2,800 looked-after children are placed outside their own trust area.

A spokeswoman said this could be because the children require specialist care unavailable in the north or they may be placed with relatives living outside the trust area.

"The best interests of the child must always be the paramount consideration and strenuous efforts are made to ensure children are placed in the most suitable placement to meet their needs," she said.