Northern Lights is a residential children’s unit with a difference. Sitting just outside the city, it is aimed at young people being looked after by the local council, but who have been placed ‘out of authority’.
This usually means that at some point in the last few years they needed a residential school place. As Highland Council doesn’t have such a resource, teenagers from the area can end up four hours’ drive away in the central belt, detached from friends, relatives and their roots in their local community. Often, the distance can make it near impossible for the youngsters, whose lives are already fractured, to maintain relationships, address their problems and rebuild their lives.
They can end up isolated and find it difficult to return – although many want to, says Northern Lights assistant director, Jim Wallace.
He said: “We had one girl who was phoning every week to see when she could come. But some go to places like Renfrew, the central belt or even just Aberdeen and get stuck.”
While the aim of the project is to ensure young people can come back as early as possible and rebuild their sense of belonging, cost is an equally important motivator.
All councils are concerned about out-of-authority placements on these grounds alone – with a place for a single child likely to cost anything from £3500 to £5000 every week.
By contrast, the Northern Lights service costs Highland Council £2800 a week per young person – a big enough difference to offer an important saving and perhaps free money up for work to stop other young people needing to come into care in the first place, Mr Wallace says.
He added that it is “a small group with a disproportionate spend” that is a “real drain” on resources. “Our idea was simple – bring them back and save money at the same time. We believe it is a useful model that could be replicated elsewhere.”
At present the unit is reserved solely for returning placements – vacancies are not filled by local young people in need of care, in case that prevents someone else from being brought ‘home’ to Inverness.
The service is working ahead of the official launch, with five young people already brought back. What is unique about the scheme is that it links in with two existing Barnardo’s projects to provide an integrated service encompassing through-care and employability.
“It sits alongside our Springboard aftercare service and Barnardo’s Works, which helps young people prepare for employment,” explains Maggie Brownlie, Barnardo’s programme manager for the Highlands.
“We also have teachers and a community education worker who will work with the local secondary school to support young people back into mainstream education. If people are placed out into another local authority, it makes it harder to maintain contact with family, employment training, interests and friendships. They can end up making much more tenuous connections with a community they are not familiar with and be isolated.
“Often they don’t have the finance to keep in touch. The council sees it as an important part of its corporate parenting. These young people want to be back.”
They should be coming back, according to Mr Wallace. “It’s a case of ‘these are our bairns’. We should be funding local solutions for them and taking ownership.
“A lot of these young people have potential and need people to stick up for them.”
Source http://www.heraldscotland.com
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