Violence on the rise in care homes Physical, verbal and sexual abuse by children in local authority care homes - against others and staff - are increasing, and police are being called in more often. But staff shortages and lack of training could be to bl

Figures obtained by The Herald indicate that rising numbers of the most vulnerable children in care are being abused and assaulted by other children in some areas. Staff say it is not unknown for boys and girls to abuse each other physically and sometimes sexually.

Many local authorities have also seen a rise in the numbers of assaults by children on staff and incidents such as children going missing or running away.

In Glasgow City Council's homes last year there were 105 violent incidents of children assaulting other children in care. Four years ago there were just 71. In 2000 there were 449 incidents of children assaulting staff. Last year that figure rose to 544.

Academics and children's charities have warned that the level of incidents may be growing because of staff shortages, increasingly complex behavioural problems and a lack of places, which results in children of very different ages being placed in the same home.

Some local authorities concede there is a problem, while others say that if there is an increase it is attributable to better recording methods. The reported incidents range from serious physical assault to shouting and throwing objects.

The picture varies across the country, but the trends are similar.

In Aberdeenshire last year there were 61 incidents of child-on-child abuse and 77 recorded incidents of children assaulting staff. Anecdotal figures suggest the problem is worsening. Police were called out 41 times because children had gone missing or staff were unable to manage their behaviour.

In Dundee there were just three incidents of child-on-child abuse but 233 calls were made to the police for issues such as vandalism (14), drugs (six), theft (eight), assault (69), disturbance or annoyance (126).

Bill Whyte, director of the Criminal Justice Social Work Development Centre for Scotland, said one area of concern was that some incidents might be coming to the attention of police when they would not do so in a domestic setting: "There is some anecdotal evidence that quite a number of children are referred for offending that only occurs in the residential home. That does not mean that phoning the police is not justified but calls into question the best way to deal with their behaviour and the challenges raised."

He added that the figures raised questions about the ability of staff to deal with increasingly complex situations. "Children's homes are often dealing with young people who have faced huge disruption in their life and have not been able to manage at home or in the community so it is not surprising that this group of children may present difficult behaviour.

"However, this data begs the question as to whether they are equipped to manage that behaviour. Are there enough staff and are they sufficiently trained? Do they have protocols and formal arrangements about how to cope and who to turn to if these incidents do occur? Do they have a back-up or is the policy to immediately call out the police?"

In 2001, more than 735 children were referred by children's panels to "residential supervision requirements" - 424 were referred on offence grounds, and 202 on care and protection grounds.

Many of them will have ended up in the same institutions, an arrangement which has obvious disadvantages.

The number of children absconding from care is a particular problem for some of the councils which look after them. In North Lanarkshire there were 25 incidents between children and 53 assaults on staff last year. The police were called out 189 times, partly in connection with such incidents. But they were called out a further 231 times because children had gone missing.

In Clackmannanshire there were just two reported incidents of child-on-child abuse last year but 40 police call-outs. Most of these calls were made to track down children who had run away.

Care workers say many young children run away because they are afraid of being bullied by other teenagers in their home.

Figures from the Scottish Children's Reporter Administration (SCRA) indicate rising reports of behavioural problems and assaults may be partly attributable to the demise of traditional "family values". The SCRA reported there were 45,793 children referred to the children's panel reporter last year, 8066 more than the year before - nearly one in 20 Scots under the age of 16.

Councillor Eric Jackson, COSLA's social work spokesman, believes the increased number of families blighted by drug and alcohol abuse is also a factor.

"The growing drug and alcohol problems blighting families adds to the pressures, " he said. "But part of this is also down to the fact that people are more confident about making complaints now."

There is also growing concern about the low level of mental health provision for young people in Scotland. National studies show that approximately 60-per cent of children in care have mental health problems but that many go untreated - resulting in more difficult behaviour.

Maggie Mellon, head of policy at Children's 1st, said: "Children in homes are getting older and many have serious behavioural problems but the number of staff is falling. In some local authorities there is a crisis in staffing, because lots of experienced staff are leaving.

"Residential care puts a group of young people - often with serious behavioural problems - together with older young adults to care for them. We should radically rethink and reresource residential care. But we also need to make much more effort to keep children out of homes altogether."

By 2006, all residential care staff will have to have enrolled on a course equivalent to an SVQ or higher depending on their role, but experts admit there are still problems with staff training.

They also say that despite warnings in a government-commissioned report by Roger Kent in 1997, which revealed that abuse between youngsters is now more prevalent than abuse by staff, too little has been done to address the problem and many children are being subjected to further assaults.

In the 1970s there were more than 6000 children in care, but the aim for the past 20 years has been to improve and reduce the size of children's homes. As of March 2002 there were more than 11,000 children looked after in Scotland - with more than 14-per cent of those, 1962 children, in residential care.

By contrast, the homes are now far better than the dormitories of the 1960s and staff training has dramatically improved but staff shortages and complacency about bullying are thought to have been exacerbated by placing children of different ages and behavioural problems in the same place.

Jim Dickie, director of social work at North Lanarkshire, said:

"One of the changes we are making which is absolutely crucial is improving training and qualifications for staff and making sure that we migrate from old-fashioned relatively large units to smaller, purpose built ones."

Others argue that addressing foster care shortages may help.

There is an estimated shortfall of 650 foster-parents in Scotland.

Bryan Ritchie, of the Fostering Network, said he was appalled at the increase in incidences of child abuse in homes.

He said: "For some, residential childcare is the best option. But our concern would be that for other kids it is not. As things stand, those children are not given the choice of being fostered because there is a shortage of places on an interim or longer-term basis.

"It's about a shortage of investment across the UK in foster care and that is being addressed, albeit some time overdue, by the Scottish Executive."

In contrast Jennifer Davidson, director of the Executive-funded Scottish Institute for Residential Child Care, believes many children prefer residential to foster care, despite the problems faced by local authorities.

She said: "We recognise that poor, and sometimes even abusive, practice occurs in residential child care in Scotland. We have highlighted these concerns in the past and the changes that need to be made.

"Quality residential child care has an important role in providing care to vulnerable children and young people. Research highlights the value of residential care as a place where young people provide positive support to each other, and when asked, more often than not young people say they prefer residential care to other options such as foster care."