A DISABLED teenager has been taken into care because his parents' home was too cluttered.

The home-educated 16-yearold from Essex, who cannot be named, will stay with a foster carer after a judge criticised his parents and Essex County Council.

A care order was made during a family court hearing in Ipswich and a report into the case was published on Friday.

During the hearing, judge Lynn Roberts concluded the teenager was “confined to a very small space on the floor”.

She also criticised the council, which had applied for the order, for its role during the previous few years.

She said: “It is of great concern tome that it is possible for a child who is home-educated not to be seen in his home environment.

“It cannot be right and I shall want those responsible for home education locally to consider this and this judgment must be disclosed to the education department.

“It cannot be right that a school-educated child has his school premises inspected, but a home-educated child does not have his home inspected.

“As this case shows, such a child can be educated in a harmful environment and the state neither knows nor acts for years.

“It must be, in my judgment, incumbent on the home education service to visit and assess a child in his home environment.

It is a great concern of mine that professionals who have had responsibility for his therapeutic needs historically have just accepted what his parents have said without testing him themselves.”

It is understood the parents told the council about his disabilities and what he could or couldn’t do, but no checks were done.

Judge Roberts added the parents were “loving” but “neglectful” and he had become socially isolated.

Her report stated: “The parents, for their own personal reasons, had collected or inherited huge amounts of belongings which had taken over their home.

“This meant he had very little space in which to move around and that, with his mobility difficulties, his ability to move around was greatly inhibited.”

The council declined to comment on the matter.