Unlawful care homes ‘profiteering’ from at-risk children

She has struggled to find anywhere that will take “Jack” (not his real name), who has been in care since February.

In that time, he has attacked staff and even broken a staff member’s arm.

While being moved between locations, Jack tried to kick out the windscreen of a moving car. Care workers said that to protect themselves, they were forced to transport him in the boot.

Most recently, Cheshire East Council placed him with a private care provider that was not Ofsted-registered. The £16,000-per-week cost of the placement is equivalent to £830,000 per year.

Despite this, Jack has repeatedly run away, and smoked cannabis regularly in the children’s home.

Once, he returned to the home covered in what appeared to be someone else’s blood – and would not say how that had happened.

The council is now applying to the Family Court to move Jack to a new private children’s home, under what is known as a Deprivation of Liberty (DoL) order.

This means he will be constantly monitored by at least two staff who can lock him in, and physically restrain him if he tries to run away.

The new home – like the current one – is not registered with the regulator, Ofsted, and so it should be unlawful to place a child under 16 there.

However, Steven Parker, sitting as a judge of the High Court, has the power to permit the placement, and the restraint.

He does so, saying there is no alternative. He adds that there is a risk Jack might “kill or be killed” if this order is not made.