Home Again pilot programme to provide children at risk of deprivation of liberty with single, co-ordinated plan

Under government plans, which will be tested in up to five regions, children will be provided with “tailored, streamlined interventions” through a single plan across agencies.

Announcing the changes last week (8 July), the Department for Education said: “This will provide stability, avoid escalation and unnecessary use of deprivation of liberty, drawing on the most effective, proportionate and evidence-based support.

“While we recognise that for some children, deprivation of liberty is necessary for a short time to protect them from harm, we want to see a reduction in the length of deprivation of liberty orders, a reduction in the number of children experiencing repeat orders and an end to the use of unregistered placements for these children.”

The Department stressed that Home Again teams will work “alongside” local authorities, who retain statutory responsibility for decisions relating to children receiving their services.

The DfE added: “Lead practitioners in Family Help and social workers allocated to looked-after children will retain the day-to-day responsibility for planning, support and review. The Home Again team wraps around existing provision where a child is at risk of, or experiencing, deprivation of liberty to provide specialist assessment (as needed), access to rapid, expert interventions and practitioners and a streamlined referral pathway to integrated specialist provision, placements and multi-agency resources.”

The Home Again approach will be tested in up to five regions, backed by £23.1m, which is reserved for regional care co-operatives (RCCs).

RCCs are partnerships between social workers, care providers and other key services like the police and health workers that operate across multiple local authority areas to deliver better outcomes for children in care.

Last week, the government confirmed five new RCCs across England as part of an expansion of the new model of children’s social care.

Together with the two existing pathfinders, the seven RCCs now cover more than 100 local authorities across England.

Lottie Winson