Items
No. |
Item |
1. |
APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE
To receive any apologies for
absence.
Minutes:
Councillor Helal Uddin and Mr Neil Cunningham, Parent Governor
gave apologies for absence.
Mr
Ahmed Hussain, Parent Governor gave apologies for an early
departure from the meeting.
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2. |
DECLARATIONS OF INTERESTS PDF 214 KB
Members are reminded to consider the
categories of interest, identified in the Code of Conduct for
Members to determine: whether they have an interest in any agenda
item and any action they should take. For further details, see the
attached note from the Monitoring Officer.
Members are also reminded to declare the
nature of the interest at the earliest opportunity and the agenda
item it relates to. Please note that ultimately it is the
Members’ responsibility to identify any interests and also
update their register of interest form as required by the Code.
If in doubt as to the nature of an interest,
you are advised to seek advice prior the meeting by contacting the
Monitoring Officer or Democratic Services.
Minutes:
No
declarations of disclosable pecuniary interest were made by the
members.
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3. |
MINUTES OF THE PREVIOUS MEETING PDF 279 KB
To confirm as a correct record
of the proceedings the unrestricted minutes of the meeting of the
held on 9th February 2021.
Minutes:
The
minutes from the previous meeting of 9th February 2021
were agreed as an accurate record of the meeting and were signed
off by the Sub-Committee.
Matters arising
Councillor Bex White, informed members she had
received an update on the offer made by the Silver Employment group
as well as on workplace testing for early years
settings.
Councillor White said she had a discussion with Councillor Asma
Begum and Councillor Rachel Blake about PPE.
- ACTION:
Councillor White to share emails exchanged in
relation to PPE, with other members of the
Sub-Committee.
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4. |
REPORTS FOR CONSIDERATION
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4.1 |
Impact of Covid 19 Children's Social Care
A verbal update to be provided at the
meeting.
Minutes:
The
Sub-Committee received a verbal update on the impact Covid-19 is
having on social care and the supporting of vulnerable children and
families.
The
Sub-Committee heard from Mr Richard Baldwin, Divisional Director
for Children’s social care, who stated that over the past
twelve months the social care teams have had to use innovative
methods to stay in touch with young people and their families. He
said there had been a shift in how families relate to the Council
and demand at the front-door had also been affected. He said there
was plenty of new ideas as to how the Council can do things
differently in the future.
The
Sub-Committee heard from Ms Mubarakat Uthman, a senior practitioner
on how contact with young people had been maintained throughout the
Covid-19 pandemic.
The
main points made by Ms Uthman were:
- Prior to the
pandemic, face to face visits were held with young people, this
would involve engaging with them in age appropriate activities such
as sharing food or playing games
- During the pandemic
many visits have taken place via Teams and Zoom. Creative ways have
been used to support young people to open
up and talk about their issues and worries. Examples of this
included using TikTok dances as an
icebreaker to encourage open dialogue; to arranging a pizza
delivery to the young person in a placement and sharing dinner and
conversation with them.
- With young babies and
toddlers, puppets have been used to interact with them, playing
peekaboo and storytelling whilst speaking with their carers about
the child’s health, such as weight and eating
habits.
- Virtual meetings can
make it harder to hold difficult conversations due to privacy and
confidentiality issues.
- Virtual meetings have
been a positive addition to the tools a social worker can use to
engage with young people, however face to face engagement is also
necessary.
The
Sub-Committee then heard from Ms Deion Grant, Team Manager in
Family Support and Protection on how contact with young people had
been maintained throughout the Covid-19 pandemic and how the
welfare of staff had been managed.
The
main points made by Ms Grant were:
- Despite their own
fears about Covid-19, social workers continued to provide an
excellent service to protect vulnerable children and families,
especially for cases which involved neglect. Ms Grant said it was
obvious to the social work team, that such cases could not be fully
managed by virtual visits and therefore face to face visits
continued throughout the pandemic.
- The pandemic had
heightened fears among the looked after children and their
families. Social workers had to reassure families that visits could
take place safely. There was positive engagement from young people
to return to education, with some more eager than
previously.
- Social workers
expected domestic violence cases to increase during the lockdown
and as such discussions took place as to how the team would deal
with this.
- Prior to the pandemic
and the lockdown, social workers would meet in team meetings, to
discuss cases and decompress. However, this ...
view the full minutes text for item 4.1
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4.2 |
Regional Adoption Agency PDF 218 KB
A presentation to be made at the meeting.
Minutes:
The
Chair introduced this item and said a few years ago, central
government had instructed local authorities to regionalise their
adoption arrangements. Therefore, the adoption team at Tower
Hamlets became part of the regional adoption agency called Adopt
London East (ALE).
Mr
Baldwin stated ALE had been in operation for about two years, with
several areas including adoption moving to the regional agency. He
introduced Ms Lissa Marie Minnis, the Service Manager for Fostering
and Regulated Services and Ms Sue May, Team Manager at ALE, who
gave a presentation to the sub-committee.
The
key points from the presentation were:
- ALE was established
in October 2019. At the beginning of the implementation phase there
was a dip in performance however this has significantly
improved.
- Explanation was
provided regarding the categories A1 and A2. A1 referred to the
time a child comes into care and the time it takes to place them
with their adoptive family. A2 referred to the time from when a
court order is received, which gives permission to place a child
for adoption to the time the child is matched i.e. the time the
agency decision maker has agreed that the adopters are suitable for
the adoptive child.
- Tower Hamlets average
is 138 days whereas the England average is 182 days. The target is
121 days. ALE had made significant progress over the past two years
in relation to closing this gap.
- Explanation regarding
performance figures was provided to the Sub-Committee. There had
been an increase of two in relation to the number of children to be
adopted for 2020/21.
- The number of
adoptions per year had decreased but this was partially due to
court delays during the pandemic and the slow pace of courts
operating virtually during the first lockdown. Ms May provided an
explanation for the court delays and said she had worked with East
London courts to address the challenges faced. She said there was
also an increase in the number of contested adoptions, and this had
added to the delay, albeit it effected a small number of
children.
- With respect to the
number of approved adopter families, the figure for 2020/21 was
thirteen. There had been a dip in the recruitment of suitable
families which was due to the agency being set up. However, Ms
Minnis added that the number of matches had gone up. They had
worked in partnership with ALE and this year had placed 5 children
under fostering for adoption regulations. She said this limited the
number of unnecessary moves for the child, with the long-term goal
of the child being adopted by the family who is fostering
them.
- Historic figures
showing the number of adopters was provided per
borough. It was stated that figures are
difficult to segregate as the agency worked on a regional basis.
The number of adopters for 2020/21 had increased to 22 at the end
of the financial year.
- Ms May stated the
number of adopter approvals had taken longer than expected but this
was the ...
view the full minutes text for item 4.2
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4.3 |
Children's Social Care and Early Help Update PDF 266 KB
A presentation to be made at the meeting.
Minutes:
Councillor Asma Begum, Deputy Mayor and Cabinet Member for
Children, Youth Services and Education introduced this item and
said there would be a presentation from Mr Richard Baldwin,
Divisional Director for Children Social Care followed by Officers
from the service who would provide the Sub-Committee with an update
on the Early Help service.
Mr
Baldwin gave a presentation outlining the current position for the
Early Help Service, the assurance mechanisms in place and the
future developments for the service. He said the service was
monitoring demand because they envisaged a higher need post-Covid19
and lockdown. He said the service was last inspected in the summer
of 2019 and inspection of the service was never far away. He said
the likelihood of further inspections with a focussed visit from
Ofsted, a SEND inspection and Youth
Justice inspection in the next twelve months. Mr Baldwin continued
stating that performance data was monitored and challenged via
various assurance processes such as the Improvement Board,
Performance Surgeries as well as through peer reviews. He said
continued efforts were being made to strengthen practice, by
analysing data to ensure the quality of practice was
excellent.
The
Sub-Committee then heard from Mr Mohammed Jolil, Interim Head of Early Help, Nicola Mutale,
Early Help Operations Manager and Karen Simpson, Early Help
Coordinator.
The
key points made by the Early Help Team were:
- The service helped
families who did not meet the statutory thresholds, by getting
involved as early as possible, with interventions to help those
were in need.
- The Early Help
service faced similar challenges described by social work
colleagues. Face to face meetings had moved to an online platform,
during the pandemic. Communication by phone and online were the
methods used to engage with families, such as those shielding who
required medicine and food assistance.
- 70% of referral were
made via the Multi Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH) process of which
60% were from the police. Cases were assessed by the MASH team who
decided if the social care thresholds were met and if not, cases
would be referred to the Early Help Team.
- Approximately 500
calls per week are received by the helpline of which 300 families
are supported on a long-term basis over a period of six to nine
months. Action plans for the families are put in place and those
that are borderline are referred to the Social Inclusion
Panel.
- The Early Help Hub is
the front door service for accessing early help services. The hub
operated a reduced service from the Town Hall throughout the
pandemic as well as a phone line service to the community, their
families, and other professionals within the local
authority.
- Creative approaches
had been used to reach out to families. For example, refugee
families who had moved to the borough. They had been supported by
providing housing, food vouchers as well as access to
education.
- The Early
Years’ Service worked with the voluntary sector and weekly
meetings were held with the Home Office on the next steps
...
view the full minutes text for item 4.3
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5. |
ANY OTHER UNRESTRICTED BUSINESS CONSIDERED TO BE URGENT
Minutes:
No other business was discussed at the
meeting.
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