A leading judge has excoriated the government and Parliament for a six-year failure to address judicial warnings about a chronic shortage of secure care for children “in extreme crisis”.
However, Sir Andrew McFarlane has detected signs of hope in an apparent shift in Department for Education (DfE) thinking to accept its responsibility for filling a gap that has seen 60-70 children waiting for a secure bed each day.
Last week, the president of the family division of the High Court issued the latest in a string of judgments, dating back to 2017, in which judges have severely criticised the lack of places for children on secure accommodation orders.