New Angus children’s homes are to be created in a £1.5 million project to care for the county’s most fragile youngsters.
Demand for residential places has rocketed in recent years.
It is now around three times the level of accommodation the council has.
And it means the authority is spending almost £5,000 on every child they have to place with external providers, often more than 100 miles away.
In some cases, it costs more than £8,000 a week to send an Angus child to a residential home somewhere else in Scotland.
Care chiefs say the upheaval is traumatic for children at the most difficult stage in their lives.
So the council have come up with a plan to develop two new residential homes.
It will cost around £750,000 to buy and kit out each of those to provide four-bedroom homes and staff accommodation.
And they will cost around £800,000 per year to run.
The search has now begun for suitable locations.
And the council hopes to open the first new home before the end of 2024.
Rising demand
Around 800 Angus children are supported per week with 35% of them being looked after.
The number of looked after children increased from 238 in 2016 to 263 in 2021.
10% of children in care require residential accommodation due to complex needs, lack of fostering placements and other circumstances.
Angus has only nine residential places.
But in January this year the number of children requiring residential care was 28.
Current provision
The council currently has three local facilities.
Its main children’s home is Brambles Cottages in Arbroath, which has space for nine youngsters.
Angus Children, Families and Justice director Kathryn Lindsay said the increased demand left the authority with no option but to look elsewhere.
“This means children are placed in out of authority residential houses, distant from the connections with their friends, family, school, and local communities to get the care they need,” she said.
“This often results in poorer health, wellbeing and attainment outcomes.”
What is planned?
Angus policy committee councillors unanimously backed the strategic shift.
The new homes could be purchased on the open market and adapted to suit the council’s needs.
Each will have a minimum six bedrooms to accommodate four children, staff sleepovers and office space.
Preference would be for a semi-rural Angus location to ensure suitable outdoor play space.
Good transport links to schools and urban areas will be considered.
And the council says it will consider carefully the exact location to avoid community resistance to a children’s house.
It has set a target date of August 2024 for the first home opening.
Councillors’ support
Montrose SNP councillor Kenny Braes said: “This business case is a bit of a no-brainer.
“But even outwith the business case there’s a compelling need to keep these children, our children in Angus.
“There’s a statutory responsibility and a moral responsibility.
“There is no doubt it is cheaper for us to keep them in Angus and we need to be hard-headed about that.
“I’m not suggesting it should be a race to the bottom to see who can be cheapest.
“But it’s also important to keep a track of the cost of our provision with other local authorities.”
Arbroath Independent Lois Speed added: “At a time when we are so focused on number crunching it is so important we shine a spotlight on services like this that as so crucial.
“And that we also consider the human cost.
“We need to be doing all we can to keep our children and young people in Angus.
“Often the trauma the children and families experience is when young people move out of Angus – words can’t describe what they go through.
“The location and setting is going to be so important, and I absolutely welcome this.”
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