This paper from Just for Kids Law (JfKL) explores an issue that the organization has come across through their work: cases of under 18s (mainly 16- and 17-year olds) in the UK who are facing homelessness and do not receive the support they are entitled to from local authority children’s services. "This legal technicality gives local authorities a loophole to provide a bare minimum of support to children who are extremely vulnerable, rather than the care they would receive as a looked after child," says the paper.
The paper presents case studies and presents findings from Freedom of Information (FOI) requests sent to all local authorities in England to ask how many 16- and 17-year olds they had housed without making them looked after children. The paper concludes with a call for 8 changes that government and local authorities should make to meet the needs of these children.
