Last week, the Local Government Association spoke out after thepublication of a report by the Howard League for Penal Reform said localauthorities are failing to provide adequate support to children leavingcustody (Children Now, 6-12 September).
The report, Chaos, Neglect and Abuse, argues that councils are breachingtheir legal duties because they are systematically failing to providesuitable accommodation and support for vulnerable children when theyleave custody.
Many young people are forced to return to the same chaotic situationsthat led them to offend in the first place, the report claims.
But Conservative councillor Les Lawrence, the association's spokesman onchildren and young people, defended the actions of local authorities andsaid that the Government's policy of incarcerating ever greater numbersof children meant that council resources were increasinglystretched.
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