Agenda item
Outcome for Children we Care for and Care Leavers
Minutes:
Mr James Thomas, Corporate Director for Children and Culture introduced the item and said the council’s corporate parenting responsibilities, were such that the child in care should be thought of as our own child. He said the Council was like the extended family of the child in care. He said the Council had a number of resources at its disposal, and he was keen for the Council to think about what more could be done as corporate parents for the children that we look after. Mr Thomas said the key to the success of looking after children in the care of the council, were the teams which supported them. He praised the work of social workers, teachers, and health colleagues as well as the exceptional work of foster carers, residential care workers and workers who support young people in semi-independent accommodation.
The Sub-Committee the heard from Mr Hasan Faruq,Participation & Engagement Manager, Youth and Community Services. He said his team supported young people in care and was responsible for overseeing the work of the Youth Council and Young Mayor. He said two members of the Children Living & Leaving Care Council (CLICC) were present for the meeting. Mr Farhan Hoque, CLICC member and Young People’s Coordinator, and HamidaBegum member and Deputy Chair of CLICC. Mr Faruq said they would talk about their experiences and projects they have been involved in.
The main points to note were:
- The CLICC had designed a Care Leaver App, which assisted Care Leavers to navigate the services available.
- The CLICC had organised a residential trip to Wales, for Young People to build their communication skills, self-belief, and personal achievement.
- They had worked with the Corporate Parenting Board and had devised a wish list of the things they’d like the Board to action, such as providing a wrap around service and smoother transition from one service/situation to another.
- The CLICC Team had worked with Queen Mary University to talk about their experience of being in care and how professionals can improve that experience. Hamida said there were times when the child is ‘lost in the system’ and their voice is not heard.
- A Podcast was being produced, which would be released in January 2022. The young people will learn new skills in how to produce and edit a podcast.
In response to questions and comments from members the following was noted:
- The Chair, Councillor Bex White asked Hamida to explain what she meant by ‘lost in the system.’ Hamida said this meant the repetition of their story to various professionals, and professionals not being aware of their back story when talking to them. She said the podcast would endeavour to explain more about these experiences.
The Sub-Committee then received a further presentation for Mr Leo Major, Head of Service Children Looked After & Through Care.
The main points to note were:
- Following the 2019 Ofsted report the Service model for the service has been strengthened, with various teams supporting Children Looked After (CLA) by the Council.
- Each CLA Team is led by a Team Manager and has up to 6 Practitioners who are a mix of Advanced Practitioners, Social Workers, and New Qualified Workers.
- Key Performance Indicators and Audit findings have been used to improve partnership working and the recruitment and retention of social workers as well as foster carers.
- Key challenges included the quality and impact of supervision on practice effectiveness and direct work and influence of child/young person’s voice.
- Other priorities include the refresh of the Local Offer 2022-23, embedding learning from audit activity, QMUL workshops and other feedback; as well as increasing the proportion young people, achieving at least one qualification at Level 2 for Maths and English.
In response to questions and comments from members the following was noted:
- The Chair, Councillor Bex White asked why there was a big difference in the number of male and female children coming into care. She asked if the statistics were similar in other neighbouring boroughs? Mr Major said a high percentage of boys and young men were in care than girls and this picture was not dissimilar to other boroughs. Mr Thomas added the age profile for children coming into care had two spikes, one in early years and the other in the 13+ age range. He said those coming into care in the early years needed to be found permanent homes, adoption or special guardianship. The spike in the 13+ group was related to unaccompanied asylum seekers, which were predominately males.
- Referring to the future priorities slide, Councillor Wood asked how much of the things listed related to maintaining the Ofsted rating or were they pushing for better outcomes? Mr Thomas said he had asked Mr Major to be ambitious and improve the outcomes of children in care and care leavers, rather than chase an Ofsted rating. He said they do want to get to an ‘outstanding’ rating eventually, but the focus should remain on the children they looked after. Mr Major added he was being aspirational and wanted to ensure they engaged well children, by increasing the educational attainment of children in care and care leavers.
The Chair thanked the attendees for their contribution to the meeting and said their input had been invaluable in helping members understand the work of the Children in Care and Care leavers Team and how they add value to the corporate responsibility of the Council as corporate parents.
The Chair summarised the main points of the discussion as follows:
- Labels matter to young people, such as acronyms used to describe young people in care and the naming of mental health services. The Chair said it was good to hear the Council was listening to young people and moving away for labels, young people were not comfortable with.
- The Sub-Committee would like to see the social care dashboard, which should be presented to the sub-committee regularly, for sub-committee members to keep an oversight on trends and statistics relating to services provided by Children Services.
- Unaccompanied minors were also spoken about and the Sub-Committee needs to keep abreast of how this develops as this may be an increased pressure on the Council.
Supporting documents:
- 211207 CLICC Presentation Education Sub Committee, item 4.1 PDF 520 KB
- CWCF Overview December 2021, item 4.1 PDF 378 KB