Homeless Teenager Resorted To Living In Tent After Council Neglect

A 16-year-old boy lived in a tent and survived by selling his possessions for nine months after two after two councils failed to assess his needs or provide him with accommodation, an investigation has found.

The local government ombudsman described the handling of the case by Kent county council and Dover district council as “inexcusable”, but praised the unnamed boy's resilience in the face of "crushingly difficult circumstances".

The teenager, whose identity is not being disclosed, had been taken into care by Kent and fostered from the age of 12 to 14. He returned to live with his mother, who had mental health problems, but she told him to leave after an argument when he was 16.

By that time he had been involved in drugs and crime and had fathered a baby.

However, the ombudsman, which investigates complaints against local authorities, said the boy had shown willingness to improve his life.

Dover council had offered him bed-and-breakfast accommodation, but he had declined it because he was worried it was in an area where he might be tempted back to offending and drug use.

So he spent most of the next nine months, including during a spell of heavy snow, in a tent, pitched at various locations in rural Kent.

The housing charity Shelter, which took up the case, said that many councils were failing to meet the needs of homeless 16- and 17-year-olds despite court rulings and government guidance that have confirmed their responsibilities.

Anne Seex, one of the local government ombudsmen, said Kent had failed to support the boy as a "child in need" as defined by the Children Act, while Dover had failed to fulfil its duty to him as a homeless person.

Both councils flouted a joint policy they had agreed upon for homeless young people.

Recommending each council pay the boy more than £5,050 in compensation, Seex said the teenager was: "Remarkably determined and resilient in the face of crushingly difficult circumstances and was well supported by the youth centre. The failures of the two councils could have easily tipped him into a spiral of drug use and crime."

(H)