Agenda item

The Board will consider a report giving key highlights from the latest Performance Monitoring data for the Children’s Service

Contacts:

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

Janet Tolley, Virtual School Headteacher
Gill Addy, Designated Nurse for Looked After Children

Ian Mottershaw, Head of Service –Contextual Safeguarding and Y.E.S, Family Support and Child Protection

The Board considered the latest reports giving key highlights on Performance Monitoring data for Children’s Services.

Rahila Habib, Service Manager – Family Support and Child Protection presented the key highlights in relation to Children Entering Care, Children in Care and Placement Stability. It was explained that:

·         There was a decreasing trend in the number and rate of children in care from 62.4 (624 children) in September 2021 to 60.7 (607 children) in August 2022.

·         When considering the decrease, it was important note the ongoing work of children being returned home, and an increase in special guardianship orders.

·         From 1^st January 2021 to August 2022 there were 75 special guardianship orders made.

·         There was also an increase in unaccompanied asylum-seeking young people through the national transfer scheme.

The Board noted the update and the explanation for the decreasing trend of rate of children in care as positive and reassuring but highlighted that it was important to maintain oversight of the decrease. The Board were also interested in the increasing numbers of children who were placed outside 20 miles of Kirklees asking if this was due to lack of sufficiency or specific individual requirements. 

Rahila Habib responded to advise that there were some challenges in sufficiency alongside a number of young people who needed to be placed outside of the area to meet specific individual needs. Where this was the case reviews were ongoing to ensure that the placement continued to meet their needs. Tom Brailsford, Service Director (Resources, Improvement and Partnerships) added that a key driver of increase in out of area placements was the Independent Fostering Agency (IFA) placements for private fostering, whereas out of area residential placements continued to reduce. The Board were advised that there were focused plans to address the increase such as ensuring that strategies to support and recruit more foster carers were in place. In respect of wider sufficiency issues, work was ongoing to influence regional and national policy alongside taking local measures.

The Board noted a key objective in the report was to recruit more foster carers and to provide more local placement options. In response, Tom Brailsford agreed to provide a report in respect of promoting and recruiting foster carers locally to a future meeting of the Board.

The Board highlighted the decrease in the number of children missing as positive.  In respect of the number social worker changes the Board noted that this may be a result of the national recruitment and retention issues but requested reassurance around the processes in place to keep children safe when there was a change in social worker.

Rahila Habib, responded to advise the Board that all children had an allocated social worker. Changes were avoided wherever possible however, some changes were necessary for various reasons including challenges in recruitment and retention, as well as requests for a change from the young people. Rahila further reassured the Board that where there was a change in social worker that oversight was maintained, and risk levels continued to be monitored at the same level as prior to the change of social worker. 

The Board welcomed the response and commented that as Corporate Parents, Board members needed to encourage the wider community to consider entering this area of work and to support children and young people wherever possible.

The Board were pleased to note the number of children and young people who were taking part in health reviews was positive and highlighted the 100% completion rate of Personal Education Plans (PEP’s) term on term and congratulated the officers involved.

In respect of Care leavers accommodation and suitable accommodation, the Board asked if there were any other pressures on suitable accommodation arising from the cost-of-living crisis; what was been done to gather and interrogate this data, and was a strategy to be developed to support care leavers?

Beverley McClure, Service Manager for Care Leavers advised that Personal Advisors (PA’s) supported all Care leavers with budgeting.  PA’s had access to the financial policy and work had been undertaken to ensure that every young person and staff member was aware of what support was available.   This included funding for PA’s and care leavers to access if a young person had any financial difficulties and needed support. Strong relationships with Providers and Housing Solutions enabled conversations around measures to support care leavers if necessary (i.e.-such as developing payment plans).  The Personal Advisors were also very proactive in sign posting care leavers to the support that was available in the community.  The Board noted that the ongoing work to support care leavers was very encouraging, highlighting that it was important to keep pace with upcoming changes over the next few months to continue this level of support for young people. 

The Board noted that new PA’s had been recruited and congratulated the team for the outcomes achieved. The Chair of Board requested an invite to a PA team meeting, which was seconded by a KFN representative.

In respect of foster carer approvals, the Board requested for the number of approved foster carers to be provided to the Board. Tom Brailsford responded to advise that a dashboard including this data was being developed and agreed for this information to be included in the Performance Highlights Report presented to subsequent meetings of the Board.

The Board raised concerns about the number of days between a child coming into care and being placed for adoption and it was agreed that an update on work undertaken to address the delay be presented to a future meeting of the Board.

RESOLVED: The Board noted the Children’s Performance Highlights Report, and it was agreed that:

1.    A report in respect of promoting Foster Care in Kirklees and recruiting Foster Cares be provided to a future meeting of the Board.

2.    The Chair of the Board and a Kirklees Foster Network representative be invited to a Personal Advisor Team meeting.

1.    The number of approved foster carers to be included in the Performance Highlights Reports.

2.    An update on work undertaken to address the time taken for a child coming into care to be placed for adoption be presented to a future meeting of the Board