Care schools are failing young offenders

Key points

• Third of young offender schools in Scotland not meeting care standards

• Staff bullying and alcohol abuse common in some schools, says report

• Children placed in residential schools after committing an offence

Key quote

"Local authorities expect that high quality work is done with young people to resolve the difficulties that brought them into the care system. Unfortunately, this is not always happening. Variable standards do exist within residential schools and there should be consistency in the service provided" - Bernadette Docherty, Association of Social Work Directors' head of children

Story in full HUNDREDS of Scotland's young offenders are being failed by residential schools, more than a third of which are not meeting basic standards of care, The Scotsman has learned.

Inspectors have identified a catalogue of weaknesses in a system designed to protect, rehabilitate and educate 1,200 of the country's most unruly and needy children.

Residential schools are frequently "ineffective" in steering often vulnerable youngsters away from a life of crime, say social work leaders who argue that money would be better spent on community rehabilitation programmes.

In one extreme case, drug and alcohol abuse was rife among pupils at the school where Fife teenager Karen Dewar's murderer was sent to. Bullying of staff was also commonplace.

Thirteen of Scotland's 34 residential schools were not providing minimum statutory levels of care across the board, staff from the Care Commission and Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Education found during inspections.

Concerns were raised over provision for the care of young people - many of whom have severe behavioural problems - including poor risk management, lack of security in accommodation and insufficiently robust child protection arrangements.

Most children in residential schools have been placed there by the Children's Panel after committing offences. Each placement costs between 1,500 and 3,000 and is funded by local councils.

The majority of schools are run by voluntary groups and are often regarded as a "last resort" for out-of-control youngsters who cannot be looked after at home or in school.

But Bernadette Docherty, the Association of Social Work Directors' head of children and family care, said resources should be concentrated on community-based programmes to address serial offending instead of residential schools.

"If you simply remove them for six or nine months to a residential school, they will come back into the same circumstances that caused their offending in the first place," she said. "Working with young people in the community is a more effective way of dealing with bad behaviour, whether it's getting into trouble at school, binge-drinking or simply lack of leisure facilities. There is good evidence that youth diversion, whether it's evening football clubs, Scouts or whatever, steers potential trouble-makers away from criminality."

Ms Docherty said rehabilitation programmes in residential schools were not being properly monitored to see if they were effective, unlike adult programmes in prisons which had to be accredited.

"More work needs to be done by schools to develop programmes which will address their offending behaviour and the causes of offending behaviour," she said.

"Local authorities expect that high quality work is done with young people to resolve the difficulties that brought them into the care system. Unfortunately, this is not always happening. Variable standards do exist within residential schools and there should be consistency in the service provided."

Kenny MacAskill, the SNP's justice spokesman, said more resources should be spent to drive up standards.

"These children require intensive care, not just for their own benefit, but for the public's," he said. "Any scrimping and saving or failing to provide resources results in troubled children becoming offending adults and we need to break that cycle."

The Executive said the effectiveness of residential schools was being examined.

A spokeswoman said: "We are aware of the need for intensive systems of support and supervision for these children. Community-based services are an integral part of this, but there needs to be a limited amount of secure places for children for whom that is not an option.

"The issues of cost and effectiveness of secure accommodation are being looked at as part of an Executive-funded study which is due to be published shortly."