"More and more children as young as 16 are being housed alone in bed and breakfast rooms, bedsits and even caravans by local authorities that are struggling to cope with rising numbers of youngsters in the care system," according to this article from the Guardian. An investigation by the Observer and BBC 5 Live reveals that councils in the UK have been placing young people under the age of 18 in "so-called independent living accommodation, which lacks live-in staff support and includes unsupervised B&Bs" at an increase of 28% over the past eight years. "While some independent living arrangements with dedicated social-work support are appropriate for those aged under 18, other types, such as B&Bs, are prohibited by statutory guidance because they are deemed too risky," says the article. The article includes testimonies of care leavers and care-experienced young people who lived in these independent living accommodations, sharing their experiences of poor or unsafe conditions.
