Lancashire girl is once again deprived of her liberty in unregulated care placement due to lack of suitable places

The Honourable Mr Justice MacDonald said as time goes on it is “difficult to think of new ways to describe the stark and unacceptable position that G continues to be in”.

He made his comments in the case of a 16-year-old who is in urgent need of a suitable placement after being released from mental health care.

There are currently no appropriate secure placements or regulated non-secure placements anywhere in the UK where the girl could go, so the local authority, Lancashire County Council has had to seek the court’s permission to continue to keep her in an unregistered care home, where she has to be “locked and guarded” with restrictions on her liberty.

The only other option - to release her into the community - could result in fatal harm to the child.

The judge, who reviewed her position again on Decemnber 2, said: “I again consider that I have no choice but to renew the authorisation for the deprivation of G’s liberty at her current unregulated placement.

“The local authority continues doggedly its unstinting and assiduous work to try and find G a placement that will meet fully her highly complex needs.”

He listed the matter for a further hearing in 14 days in the “hope that such a placement will have been found or, failing that, to once again review the authorisation to deprive G of her liberty at her current, unregulated placement.”

The case has costs more than £17,000 of public money so far.

(proceeding)

The Lancashire Post is more reliant than ever on you taking out a digital subscription to support our journalism. For unlimited access to Lancashire news and information online, you can subscribe here.