by political editor Paul Francis

Vulnerable children are being placed in Kent from councils hundreds of
miles away - including authorities in Scotland, Wales and the north of
England, it has emerged.

Kent County Council has renewed its call on councils to do more to keep looked-after children closer to where they are from, rather than using the county to place them in care - often because it is cheaper.

A list of councils that have placed looked-after children in Kent shows
they include Aberdeen, Guernsey, Neath Port Talbot and Blaenau Gwent in Wales.

Others are Newcastle, Middlesborough, Lancashire and Northamptonshire - all several hundred miles from Kent.

However, by far the largest number of placements of children at risk is still coming from London councils. The London borough of Greenwich tops the table with 134 placements - twice as many as neighbouring councils like Newham and Lewisham.

KCC leader Cllr Paul Carter said it was vital councils were persuaded to do more to find placements closer to home.

He warned too many vulnerable youngsters were placed too far away, increasing the risk of being exploited. He also questioned whether councils could properly look after their own vulnerable children when they were.

"It is extremely difficult to be an effective 'corporate parent' and look after children placed so far away from home.

Following the recent conviction of nine members of a sex-grooming network in Rochdale, all councils must make sure they can properly safeguard teenagers placed in residential children's homes, particularly those placed many miles from home, which increases their sense of vulnerability."

He added: "These are young people at particular risk of being exploited
by sex-grooming networks and it is extremely difficult for London
boroughs, as the corporate parents, to properly safeguard these young
people when they are placed so many miles away. "

He has urged Mayor Boris Johnson to hold a summit to discuss how London
councils could work to find foster carers and children's homes in the
capital instead.

The issue of looked after children being placed in Kent has long been a
source of frustration for social services chiefs.

They say the large numbers adds to the strains and pressures of caring
for Kent's own vulnerable young children - about 1,800 - and believe
many London councils use Kent because it is cheaper.

KCC wants the government to force councils to place children at risk no
further than 15 miles from their home, except in situations where that
could be unsafe.

There are 63 privately registered children's homes and 32 independent
fostering providers in the county, catering for 803 children placed by
London councils and other authorities.

Head teachers in Thanet, which has the highest concentration of looked
after children of anywhere in Kent, said the situation was a "melting
pot for disaster".

Hartsdown College head teacher Andy Somers said: "The whole practice is
just immoral. It is cynical because on the face of it vulnerable
children are being moved to 'a nice place by the seaside' - but the
reality is that they are being sent to an area of high social
deprivation and poverty, with high crime and limited job opportunities."

"It is a melting pot for disaster for those vulnerable youngsters who
are then at greater risk than if they had stayed in their own
communities. It is hugely unfair on the children who have little time
for social readjustment when they are uprooted and placed in a different
setting. These are usually very vulnerable children who need a lot of
care.

"London boroughs receive considerably more finance to run their schools
and should allocate their own money to care for looked-after children,
instead of stretching the resources of schools like those in Thanet."