Children and Young People: Placement and Restrictive Support Packages

It is well known that the demand for (i) specialist, (ii) registered and (iii) secure placements for children and young people far outstrips supply. Packages of care and support for this service user cohort can involve significant deprivations of liberty, regular restraint and substantive interferences with their fundamental human rights. The legal and regulatory landscape is complex – with often competing and conflicting duties and obligations for commissioners and providers alike.

In this session with Damian Garrido KC from Harcourt Chambers considered:

• The key priorities and issues for:

- Local Authorities with a duty to accommodate and safeguard the welfare of the child/young person under the Children Act 1989 (but in the context of the prohibition of placing under 16s in unregulated placements mandated by The Care Planning, Placement and Case Review (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2021);

- Independent/specialist providers tasked with providing restrictive packages of care lawfully – sometimes at risk of prosecution by the regulator; and

- Hospitals that often become accommodation of last resort, where increasingly the Court is reluctant to authorise the necessary interferences being implemented to the child/young person’s human rights to support them in what is fundamentally an inappropriate environment;

• A judge’s perspective on authorising these highly restrictive packages of care; and
• Lessons to be learnt from the case law and practical guidance to obtain the necessary legal authorisation.

Damian is a leading children’s law specialist practicing in the Family Court, the High Court and the Court of Protection. He also sits as a Recorder in the Family Court and as a Deputy High Court Judge in the Family Division of the High Court.