Panel Members who attend the Corporate Parenting Board will feedback on issues considered by the Board.
Minutes:
Panel Members who had attended Corporate Parenting Board on the morning of the 12th July 2022 fed back on key issues considered by the Board.
Councillor Marchington highlighted the following key points:-
Number of looked after children
Panel members had over the last 2 years expressed concerns regarding the number of looked after children (LAC) in Kirklees as it had consistently been lower compared to our statistical neighbours. Ophelia Rix, Principal Social Worker (Children), had undertaken significant work on explaining why Kirklees LAC figures were lower than our statistical neighbours. The Panel was informed that special guardianship orders were used more in Kirklees than other local authority areas. The current number of LAC in Kirklees was 605 which was down from 650 in the last 12 months and was still on a downward trend. In the last accounting period, 75 children had still come into the care of Kirklees so children were not being missed, but at the same time 87 children were no longer looked after by the local authority.
Councillor Marchington further explained that the reasons why Kirklees LAC figures were lower than other areas was because some children had been placed under special guardianship orders which was where children were being looked after by grandparents or other family relatives. The Panel was informed that there were currently about 500 children in Kirklees under special guardianship orders and if these care orders were not in place, the children would be in the care of the local authority. Councillor Marchington advised that both Leeds and Bradford Council’s also used special guardianship orders which helped to reduce their numbers of LAC children.
The Panel was informed that some children had been returned to their families where appropriate and that this was following intervention and prevention measures by the Children’s Service which had made this possible.
Councillor Marchington advised that 6 children had been adopted. The Panel was informed that the Multi Systemic Therapies Team (MST) had been working with approximately 50 families of children and young people who had been looked after by the local authority and the Team had contributed to these children being able to return home to their parents.
The Panel noted that the information from officers on the reasons for the lower numbers of LAC in Kirklees was helpful and reassuring and recognised that the preventative measures being implemented within Children’s Services was showing some positive results for children and families.
Councillor Marchington advised that other questions asked by Board Members were as follows:-
- Children with more than one social worker and the reasons for this;
- Children placed outside of the Kirklees District was lower than other local authorities and this was due to the building of capacity and sufficiency within Kirklees so children could be placed within the district;
- Health and dentistry – concerns were raised about the lack of access in some areas of Kirklees to an NHS dentist and the panel were informed that when children were in need of a dentist, access to appropriate services could be found;
- Positive report from Virtual Schools Head Teacher which highlighted that KS4 (GCSEs) were in the upper quartile and the one area of concern was unauthorised absence, which was in the third quartile, flexible approaches were being implemented to look at why children were absent from school;
- Children in employment and training post 16 or when no longer in care - officers had asked both Board Members and other Councillors for ideas on how these young people could be supported, for example apprenticeship schemes, as these could have a positive impact on their life skills and future employment opportunities; the Panel noted that the Council needed to recognise that young people wanted to be in charge of their own pathways and choices and that Kirklees was in contact with around 90% of our care leavers to offer assistance and support in this area, but not all young people wished to continue the relationship with the local authority;
- Foster Carers and the staying put programme allowed children and young people to stay with foster carers post 18 and a lot of work was being carried out to allow this to happen and to ensure that the positive relationship between carers and the young people could continue;
- Ethnicity of LAC – quite a bit of work was being done around children of an Asian/British heritage and officers were working with extended families and special guardianship orders.
The Panel considered receiving further information by way of a visit or presentation to look at the working arrangements of the Virtual School and Governing Body.
The Panel expressed thanks to all the foster carers in Kirklees for the important work they carried out and noted that two members of the Kirklees Fostering Network were now members of the Corporate Parenting Board.
RESOLVED –
That the feedback from the Corporate Parenting Board be noted.