More criticism over the way young homeless people in Doncaster are treated
A second report within two years which criticises the way Doncaster council supports young homeless people has been published.
People in Doncaster working with vulnerable teenagers who have nowhere to live need to be given more training on how to support them according to a report out today.
The Local Government Ombudsman (LGO) says it's issuing its "second critical report within two years about the way Doncaster council supports young homeless people".
The LGO says it highlights the importance of learning lessons from complaints and centres around two investigations.
The first was in 2014 when the council told a teenager who'd been threatened by her family, that she "wasn't the authority’s responsibility and to return home".
In response to the LGO’s investigation the council changed its protocol on 16 and 17 year olds in housing need, but just a few months after the new policy had been agreed, "the council again failed to act properly when a teenager called on it for support".
In the latest case a 16-year-old had been living with her mother when she was thrown out of her house in December 2014.
Social services had been involved with the family for a number of years, because of her parents’ use of alcohol and drugs, allegations of domestic violence and the girl’s own consequent mental health problems.
The report says "the council should have explained the whole variety of support options that might have been available as well as foster care, had she been assessed".
Dr Jane Martin, Local Government Ombudsman, said:
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"The suffering this young woman has gone through could have been prevented if the council had learnt the lessons from our report last year. It is not enough to simply change a policy, officers need to be aware of and implement those changes too.
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"While I am pleased that Doncaster council has accepted my recommendations it is disappointing that more concrete improvements were not made after my previous investigation. I hope that the opportunity will now be taken to ensure that a situation like this cannot happen again."
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The LGO has recommended that Doncaster council apologises to the girl and backdates its duty to support her to December 2014 and makes sure she receives that support now and in the future.
To help ensure lessons are learnt, the LGO has also recommended that the council provides training to all relevant staff on its responsibilities for assessing homeless 16 and 17 year-olds.