Agenda item

The Board will consider the Care Leavers Overview Report presented by Ophelia Rix, Head of Service for Children in Care, Care Leavers and Looked After Children.

Contact:

Ophelia Rix, Head of Service for Children in Care, Care Leavers and Looked After Children.

The Board considered the Care Leavers Overview Report presented by Ophelia Rix, Head of Service for Children in Care, Care Leavers and Looked After Children who explained that:

·       The report set the key objectives of the care leavers service, the role of the Personal Advisors and the categories of care in terms of eligibility, relevance and qualifying as defined in the Leaving Care Act 2000.

·       All care experience young people had an allocated social worker up until the age of 18.

·       At the age of 18 they were allocated a Personal Advisor whose role was to support, assist and advise young people to continue to develop their independent living skills.

·       Personal Advisors were now allocated at the earlier age of 17; this helped build earlier relationships, between the young person and the Personal Advisor, and enabled Personal Advisors to work jointly with social workers to gain an earlier understanding of the young person’s needs and focus on areas in relation to education, training and employment.

·       54.9% of young people were in education, employment or training which was an area of concern.

·       There was ongoing work with business networks to help create opportunities for young people as a part of the pathway planning.

·       Data showed that Pathway Plans were being completed but were not being recorded in a timely manner, which was a was a piece of work to improve on.

·       86.5% of children / young people were in suitable accommodation. 14 of which were within a custodial setting which was defined as unsuitable accommodation.

·       Personal advisors were continuing to keep in touch with young people, but more work needed to be done.

·       The minimum standard for seeing young people was every 8 weeks, with the view that it should happen more frequently for those who wanted it.

·       In cases where the young person did not want to be seen, they would still be contacted via letter and made aware of the services they were entitled to.

·       The biggest challenge was young people who were not in education, training or employment, and the importance of working together to address the issue and create opportunities for young people.

The Board acknowledged the importance of strong partnerships with other organisations and services, and the responsibility of ensuring young people were provided with opportunities for education, training, and employment.

In response to the Boards comments, Sara Hions, Virtual School Team Manager, highlighted that the virtual school, with consent, would also remain involved in the young person’s educational journey post 18. Ophelia Rix further added that a panel of key agencies was being created to look at work around adult learning in terms of identifying how to improve opportunities, including links to housing and careers. Ophelia also shared that the careers advisors, personal advisor and social worker would be invited to attend the young person’s PEP review at the age of 17 to allow individual conversations to take place with the young person in relation to their needs, so that opportunities could be created for them with the aim being to enable Care Leavers to become successful adults who could live independently.

The Board raised a concern regarding suitable accommodation and the pressure on Care Leavers to accept an offer, which had resulted in some Care Leavers being placed in housing that was geographically far away for their connections and had resulted in them becoming isolated. The Board stressed the importance of this issue to be addressed.

Ophelia Rix responded to reassure the Board that the service was advocating for children and young people to remain in the area that they were familiar with. Ophelia further advised that the staying put policy had been amended and updated, making it more viable so that children / young people were not disadvantaged, given choices, and supported to develop life skills.

RESOLVED: The Board noted the Care Leavers Overview Report.