When 13-year-old Billy* arrived at one of Hillingdon council’s new residential homes, this one purpose-built to support a single child, he had been through eight different placements over a number of years. He arrived at a time of crisis with a handful of criminal convictions and on a deprivation of liberty order, meaning he had to be kept under restrictive supervision.
“If he’d been in any other placement, [his behaviour] would’ve meant he’d have been given notice almost immediately, but we managed to stabilise him in the first six weeks,” says Jenna Cowling, service manager for residential homes in Hillingdon. “We’ll be looking to step him down to fostering soon.”
