Number of deprivation of liberty orders for children and young people triples in two years: BBC report
The number of children in care in England and Wales subject to deprivation of liberty orders has tripled in the last two years, research by BBC News has found.
The BBC report said freedom of information responses from 91 of 170 local authorities in England and Wales had shown the number of deprivation of liberty orders for children and young people went from 43 in 2016-17 to 134 in 2018-19.
The report said deprivation of liberty orders were increasingly being used to detain children in homes when suitable accommodation cannot be found.
It added that more than a quarter of orders granted over the last five years were made primarily because of concerns about the child or young person going missing, without relating to mental capacity.
The BBC report follows a number of expressions of concern from judges about the lack of secure placements for young and vulnerable children.
The latest comments came from Mrs Justice Judd in Z (A Child : DOLS: Lack of Secure Placement) [2020] EWHC.
In that case the Department for Education told the High Court that there was nothing that could be done and the local authority concerned would have to keep searching in circumstances where there was no suitable placement.
