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Police call-outs to children's homes are at a five-year high. File photo by Eric Ward, Unsplash
Frequent police call-outs to children’s homes are causing disruption and making children fearful, a former resident and a care worker have said.
Sarah* (17), who spent four years in a children’s home in Ballymena, Co Antrim, said staff called officers many times a week for issues ranging from children setting off smoke alarms to them running away from the home.
She said when police arrived, the particular problem “would escalate ten times more”.
“That would happen quite a lot,” she said.
She added: “It was disruptive in some ways, it was scary in other ways.”
“Because some of (the other children) were autistic, they were scared of all the noise.”
Northern Ireland has 55 care homes which look after around 220 children.
PSNI figures released to the Policing Board in September showed that police had visited children’s homes more than 5,000 times in the previous 12 months.
Separate figures obtained by The Detail showed that visits to children’s homes had increased every year since 2019, when police were called 3,596 times.
In 2023, seven homes across several health trusts called police more than once a day.
Staff at one home in the South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust called 679 times in 12 months.
Sarah said every time police were called to her children's home, officers would often have to speak to all the residents to find out what had happened.
“It gets annoying because the police get to know your name, get to know where you live. It's embarrassing,” she said.
“Children in a children’s home get a bad reputation, even if you haven't done anything.”
Sarah was cared for in a six-bedroom home which looked after children aged between 11 and 17.
She said her time in foster care was more positive.
“They're looking after you as if you were their own. They don't make you feel any different, so that's probably why they don’t ring the police,” she said.
“In a foster placement, it’s more like happy families, but in a kids’ home, it’s just not.”
She said she wanted children’s homes to take a more flexible approach, including not contacting police “if people are late coming in or stuff like that, because if they lived in a normal house with their mum and dad, that wouldn't really happen”.
Children can leave the care system from the age of 16. But health trusts must support young care leavers up to the age of 21.
Sarah now lives on her own.
“I'm living independently now for the first time,” she said.
“I’m enjoying it, because you've got a lot more freedom.”
An average care home in Northern Ireland looks after up to six children at a time, according to the Department of Health.
Barry*, a care worker, told The Detail that children often struggle to cope in homes which have more than two or three beds.
“It (a larger home) is a children’s home, but it is more like a Trust facility,” he said.
“The front door is locked, the kitchen door may be locked at meal times if knives are out.”
He added: “You might have an 11-year-old living with a 16-year-old who has drug issues and aggression.”
“There could be fire alarms going off until 2am and it’s hard to establish any kind of routine,” he said.
“Every day is different, and that’s difficult for young people in that setting.”
He said staffing pressures mean it can be difficult to manage children with complex needs.
“There are times when I’ve been in real criminal incidents where police responses are totally necessary,” he said.
“But there’s also a need for staff to maybe take a step back, breathe, and ask: Is this really a police matter, or can we deal with this ourselves?”
He said many young people, after lashing out in anger, immediately regretted their actions.
“It's out of frustration or not knowing how to show emotion or regulate,” he said.
“And then, the first thing after their outburst is to cry and say, ‘don’t ring the police’.
“But it may have already passed that stage.”
Barry previously worked in a two-bed children’s home which he felt “worked really, really well”.
“This was a house that was situated in a local community,” he said.
“And it felt more like a home.
“It’s your normal house. There is no cook, no cleaner. The young people cook, the staff cook.
“Now there is still police at those smaller homes, and that is going to be a given, but not as much.”
Paula Rodgers from Include Youth. Photo by Luke Butterly, The Detail
Paula Rodgers from Include Youth, a charity which works with young people in care, said many homes are too big to provide the best environment for children and staff.
“You probably need smaller children's homes,” she said.
“Being in care is traumatic, there is some very deep trauma there.
“So when you do have (children with) really complex needs and confrontational behaviour, when you have six or eight young people, that's just like a tinderbox.”
A spokesman for the Department of Health said it recognises the need for smaller children’s homes and better staff retention.
“Under the auspices of the children’s social care strategic reform programme, work is underway to develop costed proposals for the future of children’s residential care services in NI, including the need for smaller children’s homes,” he said.
“Work is also ongoing to improve recruitment and retention of staff within children’s social care, and to ensure that those staff have the skills and experience necessary to work with children in care in a trauma-informed way.”
He said the department “acknowledges that historically, there has been a high level of call-outs of PSNI officers to residential children’s homes” but it was working to cut that number.
A protocol between the PSNI and social services was launched in September.
“The aim is to reduce the number of call outs by police to children’s homes and any unnecessary interaction with the criminal justice system,” he said.
*Sarah and Barry are pseudonyms