Youth justice system fails looked-after children, say MPs

The justice select committee’s report says councils and the youth justice services are not doing enough to prevent young people who have been in care being drawn into crime.

Alan Beith MP, the committee’s chair, said: “We were shocked by evidence we heard that vulnerable children across the UK are effectively being abandoned by children’s and social services.

“Public authorities have a duty to ensure looked-after children are not at greater risk of being drawn into the criminal justice system than other children simply because they do not live in family homes.”

He added that too often children in care are made to feel like criminals for poor behaviour that would usually be dealt with in families.

“We heard one example of the police being called to a children’s home to investigate a broken cup,” he said.

The committee’s report recommends that all councils, children’s homes and prosecutors have strategies in place to stop children in care from being criminalised for trivial incidents.

The MPs also want to see more social workers supporting care leavers and children in care in young offender institutions. This, they said, would help better co-ordinate support when they leave custody.