A GROUND-BREAKING scheme in North Yorkshire for looked-after children looks set to revolutionise the way young people are cared for by local authorities.

Councils in the UK are being recommended to adopt North Yorkshire County Council’s innovative No Wrong Door programme in a national report on residential care in England.

The report, commissioned by former Prime Minister David Cameron and written by Sir Martin Narey, says the programme stands out for the ambition and innovation in the support it offers to the most troubled and challenging young people.

No Wrong Door is designed to break the traditional cycle of young people who enter the care system in their teenage years following a path of multiple fostering placements, insufficiently planned periods in residential care and placement breakdown.

The council says the cycle runs the risk of young people becoming increasingly vulnerable and developing offending behaviour; substance misuse; disengagement from education; high risk-taking behaviour and frequently going missing.

It replaces traditional council-run care homes with hubs in Scarborough and Harrogate which combines residential care with fostering.

Each hub has a team trained to focus on solutions and includes a life coach, who is a clinical psychologist, a supportive police role and a speech and communications therapist.

It also includes residential care home beds; emergency residential beds; community foster family placements; supported accommodation and outreach support.

Sir Martin visited the Scarborough hub with North Yorkshire police commissioner Julia Mulligan following publication of his report.

“It is the sense of ambition and high expectations which this very clever and sophisticated programme has for the most challenging children which is so special,” said Sir Martin.

“The flexibility of the provision is very effective so that young people can move in a planned way and back and forth between foster care and residential care.

“Foster carers can be overwhelmed by the difficulties of caring for children who have been damaged, often by a great deal of abuse and neglect.

“I have met lots of children who have been through 10 or 12 foster placements and end up in residential care when it’s too late. But under this model, foster carers are members of a team with ready access to mental health support and a language therapist for the children and young people in their care. They are not on their own.”

Mrs Mulligan has agreed permanent funding for two police liaison officers for No Wrong Door. In addition she has agreed to fund an intelligence analyst jointly with the county council for 12 months, to track the activity and safety of young people in care.

She said: “We have been evaluating the effectiveness of No Wrong Door and seen over time how good this project is. We can see the clear benefits for children and for the police service in preventing further offending, minimising problems for the wider community and keeping children safe.

“The most impressive and important thing is the improvement in life chances for these very vulnerable young people.”