£8m pledged to build children’s homes

Scotland’s largest local authority has pledged to spend £8m on nine new build children’s homes, as it aims to modernise its care of youngsters and put to bed the controversy over the infamous Kerelaw home.

The move by Glasgow City Council will increase the capacity from the current 113 beds to 135 beds by March 2013 and end the practice of children being sent to “care placements” as far afield as Dundee and even north-east England. The council is also to close eight units over the next four years, the sale of some potentially yielding significant income.

The new care centres will be built as part of new housing developments and spread across the east, north and south west of the city.

However, the council acknowledges it has to work with communities to overcome existing views on children’s residential units.

Recent openings of children’s units have elicited public opposition, with concerns centred around the perceived threat from the young people to local residents personal safety, threat to their property, lack of facilities, increase in police involvement and a negative impact on the value of property.

Councillor Archie Graham, executive member for social care services, said: “The thing that we have been trying to do since Kerelaw is look at the way we provide services for children who have been damaged by their experiences.

“We have got to stop the stigma associated with sticking young people in great big units that look like hospitals.”