16 and 17 year old Joint Homeless Protocol between Children’s Services and Housing Services in Devon

If you are worried about the safety or wellbeing of a child or young person in Devon,
please complete the request for support online form.

If you think that the child is at risk of significant harm,
contact our Front Door directly by calling 0345 155 1071.

In an emergency call 999.

Purpose of the protocol

This is a joint working protocol between the eight Local District Housing Authorities across Devon and Devon Children’s Services and sets out our collective response towards 16 and 17 year olds in the Devon area who present as homeless or are threatened with homelessness.

The eight Local District Housing Authorities are Mid Devon District Council, Exeter City Council, North Devon Council, Teignbridge District Council, East Devon District Council, South Hams District Council, West Devon District Council and Torridge District Council.

This protocol does not cover children presenting to Plymouth City Council or Torbay Council as these are unitary authorities with their own protocols and procedures.

The protocol will set out the framework and key underlying principles of how we will all work to support this vulnerable group of children and will explain the steps to be taken by each service when a 16 or 17 year old child presents as homeless or is at risk of homelessness.

Aims of the protocol

The aim of this protocol is to clarify the statutory duties and agreed responsibilities of each of the partner agencies so that homeless 16 and 17 year olds receive a seamless service irrespective of which agency they present to first. It aims to promote best practice, co operation, and joint working between the eight housing districts and Children’s Social Care, as well as being a practical guide for practitioners.

The protocol will ensure that services work together to offer a fast, effective, and joined up approach to meet the needs of homeless 16 and 17 year olds (or those at risk of homelessness). Its core ethos being a seamless process that leads to holistic assessments and offers a range of support and mediation so that homelessness can be prevented wherever possible.

Scope of this protocol

This protocol applies to all staff involved in:

Assessing the needs of children under Section 17 and Section 20 of the Children Act 1989.
Assessing homeless status and duties owed under Part 7 of the Housing Act 1996 (as amended by the Homelessness Act 2002 and Homelessness Reduction Act 2017).
Working with children as detailed above who may present as being homeless or are threatened with homelessness.

Please see appendix 1 for a full list of current teams that this applies to. Where any of these services are contracted out this will also include any provider commissioned to carry out responsibilities on one of these organisations’ behalf.

This protocol covers children aged 16 and 17 years.

Introduction

All agencies must work together and cooperate to ensure that 16 and 17 year olds who are homeless, or who are threatened with homelessness receive caring, consistent, and responsive support, interactions and guidance from all relevant services. The protocol goes further to ensure that where possible 16 and 17 year old children are able to be supported to safely return to family and connected people networks with appropriate support, intervention and guidance in place, recognising that where possible children should for the most part remain with family and friends for their minority and beyond.

This protocol reflects government guidance and caselaw that assists in supporting decision making, assessment and intervention frameworks to help prevent homelessness for this cohort.

It is noted that government guidance clarifies that local authority duties under Section 20 of the Children Act 1989 take precedence over duties under key housing related legislation, when it comes to the provision of accommodation for children in need who require said accommodation.

Key principles

Devon County Council and the eight local district housing authorities start from an ethos that no child should be homeless, or at risk of homelessness and commit therefore to work collaboratively and with partner agencies to prevent this.

All signatories of this protocol recognise that as an overriding principle the welfare of children is paramount, and therefore this will be at the heart of all decisions made under this protocol.
The starting point is that unless there are clear safeguarding issues the majority of 16 and 17 year olds who present as homeless will be supported to return home to family and friend networks.
The protocol will support working relations between all services through ensuring clarity of role and standardising approaches and procedures which will be easier for all frontline staff and managers to follow.
There will be a consistent approach to all 16 and 17 year olds who present as homeless across all of the eight local housing authorities in the Devon, County Council area regardless as to where they present.
There is clear recognition by all signatories that Bed and Breakfast accommodation is not a suitable offer of emergency accommodation for any 16 or 17 year old who is homeless. This is underpinned by both ‘Homelessness Suitability of accommodation order 2002’ and the ‘Provision of accommodation for 16/17 year olds who may be homeless’ statutory guidance.
Signatories are therefore committed to sourcing suitable accommodation for homeless 16/17 year olds and cooperating across the County and LHA services to ensure suitable provision is available irrespective of the authority initially approached. Where availability of suitable accommodation presents a significant challenge, signatories are committed to following the agreed process outlined in Appendix 1 to ensure all possible options are exhausted and the safety and needs of the young person are prioritised.

Legislation and statutory guidance

In developing this protocol consideration has been given to relevant legislation and case law. This includes the Children Act 1989, the Housing Act 1996 (as amended by the Homelessness Act 2002, the Homelessness Reduction Act 2017), the Children Act 2000 and the Children and Social Work Act 2017 and statutory guidance on the provision of accommodation for 16 and 17 year olds who may be homeless and/or require accommodation.

The Children and Social Work Act 2017 sets out corporate parenting principles that apply to all local authorities in England and Devon County Council and the local housing districts and boroughs in exercising their duties towards homeless 16-and 17-year-olds will do so with these principles at the core of what we do.

As such we shall endeavour:

to act in the best interests, and promote the physical and mental health and wellbeing, of those children;
to encourage those children to express their views, wishes and feelings;
to consider the views, wishes and feelings of those children;
to help those children gain access to, and make the best use of services provided by the local authority and its relevant partners;
to promote high aspirations, and seek to secure the best outcomes, for those children;
or those children to be safe, and for stability in their home lives, relationships and education or work;
to prepare those children for adulthood and independent living.

The Southwark Judgement

The ‘Southwark Judgment’ clearly affirms the responsibility of Children’s Social Care to assess children aged 16 or 17 who present themselves as being homeless or are at risk of homelessness.

The ruling highlights that the needs of these children are likely to be so complex that, as a rule, the outcome of the assessment should be that these children should be looked after. The assessment needs to be holistic, considering the totality of the child’s needs and not focusing alone on housing issues. The Southwark Judgement made clear that where the criteria are met under section 20 it is unlawful for Children’s Social Care to provide accommodation under section 17 or make a referral to the housing department.

The court further ruled that young people aged 18 plus who as children under the age of 18 years were not accommodated under section 20, where a finding is made that a young person should have been accommodated as a child, that decision has retrospective status from the date the child first presented as homeless.

The Guidance clearly stresses the responsibility of Children’s Social Care – and not the Housing Department – to assess the needs of children who are homeless or at risk of homelessness. It highlights the importance of a child-centred approach to assessment in which children are encouraged to fully participate, to enable them to make informed choices about the support they need.

It requires those conducting the assessment to give children full and realistic information about their rights and what they can expect as a looked after child, and as a subsequent care leaver at 18.

The Joint Statutory Guidance also highlights the importance of giving information about independent advocacy support at the start of the assessment process and facilitating access to such support to help children make informed decisions.

Children’s services should also ensure that the young person receives accurate information about what assistance may be available to them if they do not become looked after, including from Housing Services under Part 7 of the 1996 Housing Act. This will include any entitlement for assistance under Part 7.

In particular the considerations a young person needs to be made aware of are:

Homelessness assessments
Personal housing plans ( PHPs)
The need to co-operate with the actions set out in the plan and expectations that the young person takes some ‘reasonable steps’ themselves to prevent or relieve homelessness
The duty ending with an offer of suitable accommodation for 6 months
The implications of turning down a suitable offer of accommodation
The implications of being found intentionally homeless in the future
The right to request a review of decisions

When a child aged 16 or 17 years old is referred for a Southwark assessment this will be completed within 10 working days. When a child is referred for a Children and Family assessment this will be completed within a maximum of 45 working days. In both instances, the child will be given the opportunity to access independent advocacy support through the Children’s Services Advocacy contract.

Where Children’s Services assess that they must provide accommodation under s20 Children Act 1989, and have notified the District Housing Authority, Children’s Services will arrange suitable accommodation. The child will no longer be considered as homeless or threatened with homelessness for the purposes of the Housing Act 1996 and no further housing duty will be owed. At this stage, if the Local Authority Housing Services team has been providing accommodation, Children’s Services will take over responsibility for the accommodation, placement and associated costs.

When a Children’s Services Assessment has been completed and/or accommodation under Section 20 has been agreed Children’s Services will notify the Local District Housing Authority by the end of the next working day after the assessment.

Section 20 Duty

The determining factors in deciding with regard to accommodation of young people, are laid out in the legislation under Section 20 of the Children Act 1989. The definition of Section 20 is as follows:

Every Social Services authority shall provide accommodation for any child in need in their area who appears to them to require accommodation because of:

There being no person who has parental responsibility for him/her:
His/her being lost or having been abandoned;
The person who has been caring for him being prevented (whether permanently, and for whatever reason) from providing him/her with suitable accommodation or care.

If the criteria in section 20(1) does not apply, section 20 (3) requires that:

‘Every local authority shall provide accommodation for any child in need within their area who has reached the age of sixteen and whose welfare the authority considers is likely to be seriously prejudiced if they do not provide him/her with accommodation’.

In addition, section 20(4), provides that:

‘A local authority may provide accommodation for any child within their area (even though a person who has parental responsibility for him is able to provide him with accommodation) if they consider that to do so would safeguard or promote the child’s welfare’.

When would Section 20 not apply?

There are only two circumstances in which a local authority might find that a
homeless child aged 16 or 17 should not be accommodated under Section 20 and
may instead be owed duties under Housing Act 1996.

a 16 or 17 year old who following assessment is not considered to be a ‘child in need’
a 16 or 17 year old ‘child in need’ who, having been properly and fully advised of the implications and having the capacity to reach a decision, has decided that they do not want to be accommodated under section 20.

The definition of a ‘child in need’ under Section 17 Children Act 1989 is as follows:

They are unlikely to achieve or maintain, or to have the opportunity of achieving or maintaining a reasonable standard of health or development without the provision for him of services by a local authority.
Their health or development is likely to be significantly impaired or further impaired without the provision for him of such services; or
They are disabled.

Under Section 17, children are entitled to an assessment as a child in need. Any services may be provided by or facilitated through the local authority Children’s Services Department.

Local Authorities Housing Services

The Homelessness Reduction Act 2017 specifies that:

Everyone in a Local Housing Authority’s (LHA) district should be able to access free information and advice on:

Preventing homelessness.
Securing accommodation when homeless.
The rights of people who are homeless or threatened with homelessness, and the duties of the authority to help people in those circumstances.
The help that is available from the authority or any other relevant agencies in the district.
How to access that help.

A person is ‘threatened with homelessness’ if they are likely to become homeless within 56 days. Where applicants are threatened with homelessness and eligible for assistance, housing authorities must take reasonable steps to help prevent their homelessness.

Advice and support to prevent homelessness will be made available to all 16 and 17 year olds regardless of local connection.

If the Local Authority is the first contact for a child who they believe to be eligible, homeless and in priority need they must secure interim accommodation while the assessment process is ongoing. If the child is open to a statutory social work service then the responsibility transfers to children’s social care. Termination of the duty will occur when a child is accepted as Section 20.

In the context of children aged 16 and 17 years old, they must be in priority need, unless they are a relevant child or a child in need who is owed the accommodation duty under section 20 of the Children Act 1989. It is therefore essential that referrals are made to Children’s Services in a timely manner to understand if a child should be treated as Section 20.

Housing authorities will conduct an assessment with all eligible applicants who are homeless or threatened with homelessness and develop with them a personalised housing plan. The assessment should include:

the circumstances that caused the applicant to become homeless or threatened with homelessness
what housing the applicant needs, and what accommodation would be suitable, and
whether the applicant needs support to obtain and keep accommodation.

Commitment to the Joint assessment approach

Initial approach to Children’s Services

The Act specifies public bodies in England, including Children’s Services, who are under a duty to refer any person including a child aged 16 or 17 (with consent) to a housing authority. The person may decide which local housing authority they wish to be referred to. Where an initial approach is made to Children Services, and the child is found to be in need of accommodation, Children Services will ensure accommodation is available pending the outcome of the Joint assessment.

When a child aged 16 or 17 years old is referred for a Southwark assessment a joint assessment of the child’s needs will be will be completed within 10 working days Should they ask to be referred to an area with which they have no connection, the local housing authority might subsequently refer them to an area where they do have a local connection. This will be discretionary on the part of each Local District Housing Authority and dependent on individual circumstances.

Initial approach to Housing Services

Where a Local District Housing Authority accommodates a child aged 16 or 17, and requests an Assessment of Need under Section 17 Children’s Act 1989, the Local District Housing Authority shall continue to accommodate pending that statutory determination. Following the referral for a Southwark assessment, a joint assessment of the child’s needs will be will be completed within 10 working days

Where Children’s Services accommodate a child aged 16 or 17, and the child chooses to progress under homelessness provisions rather than be accommodated under Section 20 Children Act 1989, Children’s Services, through a joint meeting with the Local District Housing Authority shall refer the child for a homelessness application but accommodate and fund the placement for five working days after the referral has been made. However, it should be noted that a referral to the Local District Housing Authority must be made at the earliest opportunity.

The joint handover process will ensure that information is shared with the consent of the child, and this should include a copy of any assessment completed by Children’s Services. This will also explore how ongoing support will continue to address the child’s needs.

Statutory interventions

This protocol recognises that children may make informed choices about where they should present if they are homeless or are at risk of homelessness. All partners will take responsibility for supporting children to make informed choices and understanding the impact of these choices.

Where Children’s Services become aware of a 16 or 17 year old who may be facing homelessness, they will refer the child to the relevant Local District Housing Authority under Devon’s duty to refer protocol. A child being referred does not automatically transfer responsibility for that child.

Homeless Prevention

Preventing homelessness will always be the priority for all services in Devon and services will work together closely to support children and their families to remain together. Statutory joint guidance states that ‘it will be in the best interests of most children to live in the family home, or, where this is not safe or appropriate, with responsible adults in their wider family and friends’ network’.

It further states that ‘when a 16 or 17 year old is seeking support because they are homeless or threatened with homelessness, housing services and children’s services responses should explicitly recognise this and work pro-actively with children and their families to identify and resolve the issues which have led to the homelessness crisis. This could involve family support such as family mediation, family group conferences, as well as working alongside our partners in education, colleges, Job Centres and mental health services.

It is hoped that in many cases homelessness will be prevented and whilst any tensions in the family relationships may take time to work through, services are designed to begin this work from the first day that there appears to be a risk of homelessness. Joint working between Housing Departments and Children’s Services will support this process.

Duty to refer

From October 2018, local authority children’s services, and other partners including youth justice services, are among the public authorities which are required to notify a Local Authority of service users they consider may be homeless or threatened with homelessness. Appendix 1 sets out the process for completing a Duty to Refer and information that should be included.

Approaches to Children’s Services

Where a 16 or 17 year old child approaches a professional body and advises that they believe they are homeless, or at risk of becoming homeless they must be referred to Children’s Social Care.

Where a child aged 16 or 17 is referred to Children’s Social Care, or directly approaches Children’s Social Care, an assessment under Section 17 of the Children Act 1989 will likely be warranted on receipt of this referral. This will be undertaken jointly with a representative of the Local District Housing Authority and a Social Worker. This will consider the following:

Is there an evident immediate safeguarding issue that requires the local authority to take any immediate action to safeguard a child?
Should the child be looked after under Section 20 during a period of assessment of family circumstances?
Could the child be homeless if not looked after under Section 20?
Are there support needs that would enable the child to return home with a network of supportive services?
Can Children’s Social Care and partners support a family network plan to support the child to be cared for appropriately by family or friends
What are the child’s expressed views about becoming a Looked After Child Looked After
The assessment will also consider a holistic overview of the child’s wider needs
Advocacy will be available if requested to enable the 16 / 17 year old to make an informed decision
The facts will be explained clearly so that an informed choice can be made
The assessment will be co-produced with the child
Is the child already open to Children’s Social Care, or has had an assessment or intervention from Children’s Social Care in the past 13 weeks?
The assessment will be carried out within 10 working days

Approaches to Housing Services

When children aged 16 or 17 presents as homeless and asks for help, Housing Services should treat this as an application for assistance under Part 7 of the 1996 Act. Under Section 184, if Housing Services have reason to believe that the child may be homeless or threatened with homelessness, they must make enquiries to determine what duties, if any, are owed to them. This activity should not be delayed in order to determine the outcome of a joint assessment and must be completed in accordance with the requirements of Housing Legislation.

All 16 and17 year olds that are homeless or threatened with homelessness who wish to approach Housing Services will need to contact the Housing Services team within opening hours. They will meet with a Housing Options Officer who may be assisted by a Youth Prevention Officer, trained in family mediation, who may ask questions about what has happened to them and obtain contact information for their parents/carers and any other relatives who might be able to support them.

The Housing Services team will establish if the child is homeless or threatened with homelessness. They will explore with the child and their family if the difficulties that have led to the child presenting as homeless can be resolved and attempt to enable the child to remain at home, where it is safe for them to do so.

The Housing Options Officer / Youth Prevention Officer will:

Ascertain the child’s circumstances and immediate needs
Determine the child’s history of involvement with all services
Establish support networks within and outside of the family, ascertain any vulnerabilities, education, training needs, employment status and immediate risks
Establish the child’s views
Where necessary telephone the DCC Family Front Door to ascertain whether the child is already known to children’s services and whether there is further information about the child’s circumstances which would affect a decision about the safety of a return home
If appropriate, contact the child’s parents and/or others with whom the child has been staying to ascertain the reasons for them leaving and being unable to return and to try to extend their stay for the immediate future while their application for assistance is determined.

If the Housing Services team establishes that a child can safely return home and is not in need of a statutory assessment, they will ask for consent to make a referral to the DCC Family Front Door (previously known as MASH) to enable early help options to be explored for the child and their family, including the need for an Early Help Assessment.

If the outcome of the initial Housing Services team assessment is a finding that a child aged 16 or 17 is homeless but not eligible for housing assistance, or is a ‘relevant child’ owed an accommodation duty under the 1989 Act, immediate arrangements must be made for the child to receive assistance from DCC children’s Services.

If the Housing Services team is unable to establish that a child can safely return home they will:

Arrange interim accommodation for the child.
Assist the child to claim any benefits they may be entitled to, in order to cover housing costs.
Make a referral to the DCC Family Front Door to arrange a joint assessment with social worker.

If the outcome of the initial assessment by the Housing Services team is a finding that the child is homeless but not eligible for housing assistance, or is a ‘relevant child’ owed an accommodation duty under the 1989 Act, immediate arrangements must be made for them to receive assistance from children’s services.

Next Steps for the Housing Services team:

If the child has no funds for their immediate needs, and can get no other immediate help, contact the DCC Family Front Door to discuss assistance under Section 17.
If the child is placed in unsupported accommodation then the Housing Services team and Children’s Services should jointly consider what floating support options are needed and how these can be put in place.
Tell the child what will happen next (referral to the DCC Family Front Door for determination of children act duties) and the process and timescale for this to happen. Additionally ask whether there is anyone who they wish to support them during this process and in making decisions about their future.
If there is concern that the child may be at risk of harm, make a verbal referral to the DCC Family Front Door advising that this is the primary referral issue, following this up with a completed referral form.

Approaches to other services

Where a child aged 16 or 17 approaches a partner agency, e.g. CAMHS, college, school, YOT etc, the relevant partner will need to assess if they can support a safe conversation with family to help the child return home to family. The relevant agency will be able to consult with Children’s Social Care or refer to Children’s Social Care should they believe that there is a need for an assessment around the circumstances or welfare of the child.

Where appropriate, an agency with a good working relationship with the child or family, may be asked to support them with the assessment of Children’s Social Care.

Approaches to Joint Commissioned Services or workers

If a child aged 16 or 17 approaches a jointly commissioned Homelessness Prevention Worker service e.g. Young Devon/YES Centre or District Council workers who are part-funded by DCC to support children age 16 and 17, this will usually be considered an approach to the District Council, for advice and support or under the prevention duty.

Outcome of Joint Assessment

An initial assessment of a child aged 16 or 17 who is potentially homeless will take place within 48 hours of a referral to social care or Housing Services.
A joint assessment will be conducted within 10days of referral to the partner service
Where a joint assessment determines that a child can stay at home or with friends or extended family, then the joint assessment will determine what services may be needed under a child in need plan to maintain the child in their home, family or network
- A package of Social Work support will then be tailored to meet the individual needs of the child and family, and will draw on other relevant services who may be able to assist any plan.
Where it is apparent that a child is not able to immediately return home or to connected family and friend networks then it may determine that:
- The child is homeless, does not have sufficient resources to prevent being homeless, would like to be looked after by the local authority, and accommodation will be provided under Section 20 of the Children Act 1989 as a child looked after; or
- That after a period of assessment and information provision the child has made an informed choice and declined to become looked after, and that services will be offered to them through a child in need plan.
  - In this instance a child in need plan would be convened by DCC with partner agencies to consider how best to offer supportive services to the child
  - The Housing Services team will be informed of the outcome of the assessment and where the child will be living e.g. with family, supported accommodation etc.

Accommodation Options

Emergency

If a child aged 16 or 17 needs interim accommodation while preventative work is underway then DCC and the Housing Services Teams will convene an emergency meeting to discuss what accommodation options are available from both parties to find the most suitable option for the child. This meeting will also agree how the child will access funds and support while in interim accommodation.

Suitability of Emergency Accommodation

When considering suitability of accommodation for a 16/17 year old authorities must pay due regard to the vulnerability of a child who is homeless and estranged from their family. Accommodation with a member of the wider family network or an other suitable trusted adult is appropriate to ensure the care and wellbeing of the young person facing these circumstances. Where this is not possible, examples of suitable emergency accommodation include night stop or short term supported lodgings in the homes of trained and vetted host households, crash pad accommodations inclusive of on site support and independent accommodation units where sufficient floating support may be implements. Bed and breakfast accommodation, including hotels and nightly let accommodation where services are shared, are not considered suitable.

When sourcing accommodation to meet an emergency need; practitioners must recognise the difficultly of securing suitable accommodation at very short notice. Where the authority approached is unable to source appropriate accommodation the practitioner must escalate the search to include other partner authorities to ensure all options can be thoroughly explored. All Local Authority Housing services and Children’s social care will commit to supporting any practitioner approaching with a housing need for a 16/17 year old. (See list of LHA & DCC leads(TBC)).

On the occasion that no appropriate accommodation can be sourced and all options have been exhausted, the matter must be brought to the attention of both the relevant LHA manager and the Children’s service manager for further advice and input.

In extreme circumstances, where no other option exists, and hotel accommodation is the only available option, the decision to place must be made with the input of management. Support in the form of daily contact and visits must be input and the hotel or B&B placement must be ended at the earliest opportunity.

Longer term-housing route

If a child aged 16 or 17 is accommodated through by the Housing Services Teams, then this will usually be in supported accommodation funded by housing benefit (or rent if they are earning above the threshold for housing benefit), with support commissioned by DCC. This will often be shared accommodation with other children and young people, or in supported lodgings with a host family. Supported Accommodation through this route will be accessed via the Homelessness Prevention Panel (HPP) for their geographical area.

The licence agreement for supported accommodation through this route is directly between the young person and the provider. This means that young people can put their accommodation at risk if they don’t do what they have agreed to in their licence. This should be made clear to young people when they are making their decision, and providers will also explain the licence agreement to young people when they come into the provision.

The accommodation provider will offer the young person a support plan and key work support, based on their individual needs. Support will help young people to learn independent living skills, to understand move-on accommodation options and apply for them when ready, to access education, employment and training and to access other services to support their wellbeing e.g. health and mental health.

Longer term Section 20 / Child in Care

If a child aged 16 or 17 becomes a ‘looked after child’ under Section 20 then they could still be accommodated in supported accommodation. Support services will be provided, as described under the housing route above, but a child will not be expected to pay their own rent or service charge, or to hold the licence directly with the provider. DCC will pay accommodation costs for children aged 16 or 17 who become a child in care under Section 20, and will hold a placement agreement for the child with the provider.

Children who become accommodated as ‘children in care’ under Section 20 may also be accommodated through regulated providers such as foster carers or children’s homes. This will be determined by considering whether they have care or support needs.

Out of Hours

The first point of contact for all 16 and 17 year olds at risk of homelessness after offices close is Devon’s Emergency Duty Service, (EDS). Referrals should be made using the agreed local referral procedures. Where a child aged 16 or 17 is thought to be homeless the following actions will be taken:

Emergency Duty social worker carries out their normal enquiries with the child and seeks alternatives to temporary accommodation, such as return home to family or friends
If temporary accommodation is required, the Emergency Duty Worker will coordinate temporary accommodation
When a child is considered to be vulnerable and a S20 placement is needed following assessment, the Emergency Duty Worker will follow the Out of Hours Becoming Looked After procedure (i.e. by contacting the On-call Senior)

16 and 17 year olds who are parents

Where children aged 16 or 17 who are parents, or are pregnant and homeless or threatened with homelessness, the same processes around risk assessment and joint assessment will apply as are laid out in this protocol. The joint assessment will however also have a focus on any additional needs they may have due to being pregnant or parenting.
Where there are specific needs identified for the child(ren) or unborn baby, then consideration may be given as to whether specific referrals to partner agencies may be required to further consider and support any identified need.
Where possible and appropriate, children aged 16 or 17 who are pregnant or parenting, and are homeless, will be supported by services to remain as close to their own familial and professional networks
- This is in recognition that it can be impactful for children who are pregnant and parenting to move away from supportive networks.
- Where this is not possible, joint efforts between DCC Children’s Services and the relevant Housing Services teams will be made to help them to return to areas where these networks are as soon as is practicable.

Escalations

This protocol exists solely to prevent youth homelessness and support children to remain safe and secure. Its ethos is one of cooperation and joint action to ensure that children age 16 and 17 are not and do not become homeless. Therefore, it is highly unlikely that there will be a dispute between partners about the roles and responsibilities laid out.
Where there is genuine confusion as to role and responsibility, escalation and clarity will be sort urgently from the relevant Head of Service and then the Deputy Director in Children’s Services, and to the Housing Options Manager and then the Head of Service in Local District Housing Authorities. However,
- The focus here must be on ensuring that any child or children’s needs are met in terms of safety and accommodation and so whichever agency is with the child must and will prioritise their need first.
- Appendix 1 has email contacts for DCC and the 8 District Councils in Devon to contact in the event of an escalation or disagreement.

Monitoring

The success of this protocol is measured through the number of young people who are prevented from becoming homeless and the number of young people, where homelessness could not be prevented, were supported into accommodation which was sustained successfully. This data will be collected and analysed annually by all parties to enable areas of weakness to be identified and improved.