This was a hearing to establish whether the long-term hospital detention of a teenage boy was lawful. By the time he was eight years old, the boy had been diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Asperger’s Syndrome and Tourette’s syndrome. At the age of 14, and in view of continuing challenging behavior, his parents sought … Read more
Revised government guidance has reinstated the duty on Local Safeguarding Children Boards to include a review of restraint in custodial establishments in their annual reports. These reports must be published and are therefore available to the public. Copies of the reviews must be sent to the Youth Justice Board. The duty was included in the … Read more
The joint committee on human rights, parliament’s scrutiny body on human rights, has concluded its inquiry on the UK’s compliance with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. It raises a number of concerns relevant to children living in institutional settings. The committee says the UK’s failure to accept the UN complaints mechanism … Read more
Leeds Local Safeguarding Children Board has published part of its serious case review into the death of 17 year-old Ryan Clark in Wetherby young offender institution. Ryan was on remand, which means he had not been convicted of the offence that led him to prison. He hanged himself after just 20 days. Serious case reviews … Read more
The Local Government Ombudsman (LGO) published a short report yesterday (10 March) giving the results of its survey of councils about the children’s social care complaints procedure. It includes five case studies where complaints were not investigated or resolved properly by local authorities. One of the complaints came from a 17 year-old girl who ran … Read more