Outcomes for high-risk young people referred to secure children’s homes for welfare reasons: a population record linkage study in England
| Date | 02 May 2024 |
| Pages | 105-122 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JCS-04-2023-0018 |
| Published date | 02 May 2024 |
| Author | Sophie Wood,Annie Williams,Nell Warner,Helen Ruth Hodges,Aimee Cummings,Donald Forrester |
Outcomes for high-risk young people
referred to secure children’s homes for
welfare reasons: a population record
linkage study in England
Sophie Wood, Annie Williams, Nell Warner, Helen Ruth Hodges, Aimee Cummings and
Donald Forrester
Abstract
Purpose –Secure children’s homes (SCHs) restrict the liberty of young people considered to be a
danger to themselves orothers. However, not all young people referred toSCHs find a placement, and
little is known about the outcomes of the young person after an SCH or alternative placement. The
purpose of this paper is to understand which characteristics most likely predict allocation to an SCH
placement,and to explore the outcomes of the youngpeople in the year after referral.
Design/methodology/approach –A retrospective electroniccohort study was conducted using linked
social care data sets in England. The study population was all young people from England referred to
SCHs for welfare reasons between1st October 2016 to 31st March 2018 (n¼527). Logistic regression
tested for differences in characteristics of SCH placement allocation and outcomes in the year after
referral.
Findings –In total, 60% of young peoplereferred to an SCH were allocated a place. Factors predicting
successful or unsuccessfulSCH allocation were previous placement in an SCH (OR ¼2.12, p¼0.01);
being female (OR ¼2.26, p¼0.001); older age (OR ¼0.75, p¼0.001); and a history of challenging
behaviour (OR ¼0.34, p¼0.01). In the year after referral, there were little differences in outcomes
betweenyoung people placed in a SCH versus alternativeaccommodation.
Originality/value –The study raised concernsabout the capacity of current services to recognise and
meet the needs of this complex and vulnerablegroup of young people and highlights the necessity to
exploreand evaluate alternatives to SCHs.
Keywords Secure children’s homes, Secure accommodation, Secure estate, High-risk behaviours,
Complex needs, Administrative data
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
Young people placed in secure children’s homes (SCHs) for welfare reasons in the UK are
considered the most vulnerable children in the care system. Although the number of young
people placed is relatively small –89 children in 2020 for England and Wales(UK Government,
2021), very little is known about the histories of the young people or their longer-term outcomes
after placement. Despite the disproportionately high cost of a SCH placement at roughly
£1,000 per day (Williams et al.,2020). The aim of this paper is to increase the knowledge of the
experiences and outcomes of young people from England referred to SCHs.
SCHs in the UK provide care for young people aged 10–17 believed to be a risk to
themselves or others (Goldson, 2002;Hart and La Valle, 2016;Warner et al., 2018). SCHs
Sophie Wood, Annie Williams,
Nell Warner, Helen Ruth Hodges,
Aimee Cummings and Donald
Forrester are all based at the
CASCADE, School of Social
Sciences, Cardiff University,
Cardiff, UK.
Received 28 April 2023
Revised 28 November 2023
Accepted 3 April 2024
The authors would like to thank
the Secure Welfare
Coordination Unit for providing
the data and answering their
many questions.
Funding sources: This study
was commissioned by What
Works for Children’s Social
Care and funded by the
Department for Education,
England, UK (grant number:
41070002828). The CASCADE
partnership receives
infrastructure funding from
Health and Care Research
Wales.
DOI 10.1108/JCS-04-2023-0018 VOL. 19 NO. 2 2024, pp. 105-122, ©Emerald Publishing Limited, ISSN 1746-6660 jJOURNAL OF CHILDREN’S SERVICES jPAGE 105
differ from other care residences, in that they have approval to “restrict liberty” or prevent
residents from leaving (Children Act, 1989, Section 25). Young people from England and
Wales living in SCHs are placed due to serious welfare concerns or enter via the youth
justice system. Some young people referredfor welfare reasons cannot be found a place in
an SCH and are instead placed in an “alternative accommodation” (Walker et al.,2006;Hart
and La Valle, 2016;Williams et al., 2019). Alternative accommodation is usually created
reactively by local authorities (Williams et al.,2019), but there is little data about the nature
of these placements. What evidence exists, suggests placements tend be highly staffed
residential settings (Walker et al.,2006;Held, 2006). These placements will often be
unregulated, and children may be placed on a deprivation of liberty order under the
inherent jurisdiction to restrict their activity without the same safeguards and reviewing
mechanisms as SCHs (Roe, 2022).
Evidence indicates that most young people referred to SCHs are seriously affected by
abuse and neglect in their early lives (e.g. Walker et al.,2006;Hart and La Valle, 2016;
Williams et al.,2019;Miller and Baxter, 2019) and tend to enter care late with a range of
risky behaviours such as self-harm, aggression, associations with dangerous adults and
mental health, emotional or developmental problems or disorders (Ellis, 2015;Hart and La
Valle, 2016).
Although a small body of knowledge of the experiences of young people from across the
UK referred to SCHs exists (O’Neill, 2001;Browne, 2009,Ellis, 2012;Hart and La Valle,
2016,Williams et al., 2019,Miller and Baxter,2019), the understanding of outcomes after an
SCH placement is based on young people from outside of England (Walker et al.,2006;
Kendrick et al.,2008;Williams et al.,2019).
This paper uses findings from the analysis of routinely collected data in England, linked for
the first time. Data was sourced from the Secure Welfare Coordination Unit (SWCU), the
Child in Need (CiN) census and the Child Looked After (CLA) returns held by the
Department for Education (DfE). The paper seeks to answer three research questions
(RQs):
RQ1. What are the pre-placement social services histories of children before being
referred for SCH placements?
RQ2. Which specific characteristics or factors are the most significant predictors of a
successful allocationto a SCH placement?
RQ3. What are the post-placement outcomes, including subsequent care placements,
substance misuse, criminalconvictions and mental health issues for young people
referred to a SCH in the year followingtheir referral?
Young people placed in alternative accommodation are usedas a comparison group due to
the similarities in risk factors and outcometrajectories, at least in the short term, if it were not
for the SCH intervention.
2. Methods
2.1 Study design
A retrospective electronic cohort study was conducted using linked social care data sets in
England.
2.2 Study population and setting
All young people from England referred to SCHs for welfare reasons between 1st October
2016 and 31st March 2018 (n¼527).
PAGE 106 jJOURNAL OF CHILDREN’S SERVICES jVOL. 19 NO. 2 2024
Get this document and AI-powered insights with a free trial of vLex and Vincent AI
Get Started for FreeStart Your Free Trial of vLex and Vincent AI, Your Precision-Engineered Legal Assistant
-
Access comprehensive legal content with no limitations across vLex's unparalleled global legal database
-
Build stronger arguments with verified citations and CERT citator that tracks case history and precedential strength
-
Transform your legal research from hours to minutes with Vincent AI's intelligent search and analysis capabilities
-
Elevate your practice by focusing your expertise where it matters most while Vincent handles the heavy lifting
Start Your Free Trial of vLex and Vincent AI, Your Precision-Engineered Legal Assistant
-
Access comprehensive legal content with no limitations across vLex's unparalleled global legal database
-
Build stronger arguments with verified citations and CERT citator that tracks case history and precedential strength
-
Transform your legal research from hours to minutes with Vincent AI's intelligent search and analysis capabilities
-
Elevate your practice by focusing your expertise where it matters most while Vincent handles the heavy lifting
Start Your Free Trial of vLex and Vincent AI, Your Precision-Engineered Legal Assistant
-
Access comprehensive legal content with no limitations across vLex's unparalleled global legal database
-
Build stronger arguments with verified citations and CERT citator that tracks case history and precedential strength
-
Transform your legal research from hours to minutes with Vincent AI's intelligent search and analysis capabilities
-
Elevate your practice by focusing your expertise where it matters most while Vincent handles the heavy lifting
Start Your Free Trial of vLex and Vincent AI, Your Precision-Engineered Legal Assistant
-
Access comprehensive legal content with no limitations across vLex's unparalleled global legal database
-
Build stronger arguments with verified citations and CERT citator that tracks case history and precedential strength
-
Transform your legal research from hours to minutes with Vincent AI's intelligent search and analysis capabilities
-
Elevate your practice by focusing your expertise where it matters most while Vincent handles the heavy lifting
Start Your Free Trial of vLex and Vincent AI, Your Precision-Engineered Legal Assistant
-
Access comprehensive legal content with no limitations across vLex's unparalleled global legal database
-
Build stronger arguments with verified citations and CERT citator that tracks case history and precedential strength
-
Transform your legal research from hours to minutes with Vincent AI's intelligent search and analysis capabilities
-
Elevate your practice by focusing your expertise where it matters most while Vincent handles the heavy lifting