Report: Residential care kids at a disadvantage in life
The prospects of youngsters in residential care are "generally poor", with many facing unemployment, homelessness and prison, according to a report.
Councils, the Scottish Government, the NHS and other bodies are being urged to show greater leadership to ensure the system meets youngsters` needs in an Audit Scotland report for the Accounts Commission.
Budgets for residential childcare are also being overspent by £18m and will become increasingly difficult to manage as spending cuts bite.
About 1,600 children and young people are living in residential care in Scotland at any one time but the report warned there is a need for greater emphasis on their long-term goals and life chances.
John Baillie, chair of the Accounts Commission, said: "There is a lot that councils and their partners could be doing to improve these services.
"They need to ensure they act as 'corporate parents', improve their understanding of what leads to the best outcomes and focus on the support they are providing for the long-term needs of each child or young person, as any good parent would for their own child."
More than one in ten young people looked after by councils experience homelessness within two years of leaving care while more than a quarter of the adult prison population have been in care at some point.
About 45% of looked-after youngsters have mental health problems, according to the report entitled Getting It Right For Children In Residential Care.
Council weaknesses
The report warns of weaknesses in the way councils plan and commission child care services. Only three of Scotland`s 32 local authorities use full contractual agreements, setting out the services being commissioned, with independent providers.
None have service level agreements when they use in-house services provided by the councils themselves.
"Councils cannot demonstrate that they are achieving value for money as there is insufficient clarity about the quality of services and outcomes," the report states.
Spending on residential childcare has exceeded budgets available in each of the last three years.
Councils spend about £250m a year on residential care. But in 2008/09, 29 councils overspent their budgets by a total of £18m - and few councils know their full costs, according to the report.
The report adds: "Keeping within budgets will be even harder to manage in future as councils face mounting financial pressure."
Auditor General Robert Black said there is scope for a "national strategic approach in the way services are delivered".
"It is encouraging that the Scottish Government has already set up a strategic implementation group involving councils, NHS boards, residential care providers and other partner organisations, but this must lead to urgent action," he said.
Responding to the report, Michelle Miller, President of the Association of Directors of Social Work (ADSW) said: "The report raises serious issues relating to the commissioning of residential child care and ensuring that purchased services deliver value for money and the highest possible quality of care.
"Councils across Scotland, ADSW and all the partners involved are committed to addressing these issues, supported by the National Residential Child Care Initiative report published last year.
"However, one difficulty, which comes up time and again in Audit Scotland reports (on youth justice, children with special educational needs and again in this report on residential child care) and elsewhere, is the problem of accessing health services for this group.
"Children and young people in residential and secure care need support from all agencies, including social work, education, housing and health, and in particular from child and adolescent mental health services, which are key in supporting them to reach their full potential and avoiding longer term, intractable difficulties.
"Disappointingly, Audit Scotland aims only one of its recommendations at the health service, despite the vital role that it can play and the huge difference it can make."
