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Scrutineers and a former Children’s Minister have condemned the Government’s decision not to consider using a charity’s new therapeutic facility for children, while still sending some vulnerable youngsters to “quasi-prison”.
‘Hope House’ was opened in March by drug and alcohol rehabilitation charity Silkworth to provide a four-week therapeutic residential programme for young people experiencing emotional distress or struggling with addiction, mental health issues and eating disorders.
Following a £250,000 investment by Silkworth in refurbishing the former Brig-Y-Don children’s home, Hope House opened in March to a “flurry” of referrals from social workers. However, as Express revealed last week those suddenly dried up.
No explanation has ever been provided – but Silkworth’s Chair and CEO believe this is due to a Government "directive". Alongside Jersey’s Children’s Commissioner, they shared fears that ‘gatekeeping’ is happening, perhaps because the Government is working on its own "intensive support service."
Advocate Darry Robinson, who specialises in children's care proceedings, said he had been "horrified" to find out about the existence of the facility given that as recently as two weeks ago, he had been told by the Government’s Director of Child Safeguarding in the Royal Court that no such facility was available. He said that it was not right that children were being sent to Greenfields - which he likened to "child prison" - without a facility like Hope House even being considered.
Local politicians have now added their voices to the challenge, expressing concerns that part of the issue may be cultural.
Former Children's Minister Senator Sam Mézec commented: "The service that Silkworth Lodge are now offering in their Hope House facility is really exciting and hopefully will provide much needed support for young people. If there are reasons that the government is not able to work with them to allow young people to take places there, for possibly perfectly legitimate reasons, I would urge them to have dialogue and try to come together to work out what approach is in the best interests of children."
Pictured: Former Children's Minister Senator Sam Mézec said he felt Greenfields should not be used, and described Hope House's proposition as "really exciting."
He added: "From my time as Children's Minister, I am in absolute agreement with Advocate Robinson that we should not be locking up children and I proposed that Greenfields should be shut down and instead transformed into a totally different service that focused on therapeutic support. Unfortunately other ministers overruled me and said that Jersey should maintain a quasi-prison for children. I hope this decision will be revisited and the recommendations in the Independent Children's Homes Association's implemented as soon as possible."
Senator Kristina Moore said there was a “parallel” between the current situation and one experienced several years ago by the charity for its rehabilitation facility.
“When I was in Scrutiny as the Chair of the Health and Social Security panel, we found that there was an issue with referrals not being made to Silkworth Lodge at the time,” she said.
Pictured: Senator Kristina Moore said Silkworth had previously experienced issues with referrals to its rehabilitation facility.
She continued: “We conducted some very short and sharp Scrutiny review and called the department for a hearing. We did not understand because there was a need in the community, why was the department not taking up Silkworth on the opportunity to deliver care for the people.”
While the issue was eventually resolved, Senator Moore said the current “inexplicable logjam”, may have been caused by a policy issue.
“I take a simplistic view,” she said. “Whilst I appreciate things have to be done the right way, it’s difficult to comprehend. Where there is a gap in provision that has been identified, it should be the job of the Government to find the quickest route possible to find that support and care for people who need it.
“It’s quite disgraceful, at the end of the day, they are here to provide services for the public and people who require support. Once again, we found that we are still failing to provide services to people who need them.”
“Sometimes, the system can produce a blockage rather than facilitating things for people,” she added. “It’s perhaps about prioritising correctly and facilitating change, instead of placing barriers in people’s way.”
Pictured: “We are a rich island and we can be doing much better for our young people," Deputy Louise Doublet said.
Deputy Louise Doublet, who sits on the Children, Education and Home Affairs Scrutiny Panel, also believes more needs to be done for children and young people.
“Hope House is a wonderful facility. and we should be utilising it more to help care for children and young people who have needs that can’t be met elsewhere,” she said. “My view is that children with the highest level of need should be given the best. We should be giving them the best facilities, the best, most highly-trained staff.
“We are a rich island and we can be doing much better for our young people.”
St. John Constable, Andy Jehan, said he had been made aware of the issue after a parishioner sent him a link to Express's article. “There’s an example of how we could doing more,” he said. “We’ve got a facility, people don’t know about the facility, why aren’t we utilising these facilities?”
He suggested that, had the working group from the Corporate Parenting Board been established, as had been agreed in September 2019, questions about Hope House could have been raised.
Pictured: The Government has so far declined to explain why referrals to Hope House ceased earlier this year.
Former Education Minister Senator Tracey Vallois said she would be asking questions on the matter in the States Assembly.
During a Bailiwick Podcast interview, Silkworth CEO Jason Wyse said he thought the Government wanting to keep control, or possibly its plan to set up its own "intensive support service" for children, was the reason that it was no longer referring children to Hope House for help. He had previously suggested there was "gatekeeping" of referrals in comments backed by the Children's Commissioner.
Senator Sarah Ferguson wrote to Assistant Minister with responsibility for children's mental health services, Deputy Trevor Pointon, to ask him why the service wasn't being supported in an email.
"I... suggest you ask why the States are getting a first-class free service and then planning to spend a considerable amount of money duplicating what is an exceptional service," she said.
The Government has so far declined to explain why referrals to Hope House ceased earlier this year.
Following the publication of Express's piece, a Government spokesperson said: "Hope House is registered with the Jersey Care Commission as a Children's Care Home to deliver a specific 28-day programme. Detailed discussions are underway with Silkworth to determine if Hope House can meet some of the identified needs of children and young people in the Care of the Minister.
"These active and positive conversations are continuing."
They added: "We are working hard to develop Greenfields Children's Home, both from the support provided and the physical environment, in the short term, while developing a new specification for the Greenfields site. This will include consideration of what other services for children should be delivered.
"Detailed work is also underway to consider the development of a small therapeutic children's home, at another site, to provide specialist support on-Island as an alternative to off-island care. Further details will be shared in due course."
Express spoke to Silkworth CEO Jason Wyse about his concerns that Government 'gatekeeping' is stopping the island's most vulnerable children access the best quality therapeutic care...
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FOCUS: Gov criticised for wasting children's therapy facility
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