To receive and consider the Looked After Children Framework.
Minutes:
Documents:
· Draft Powys County Council Children’s Services Children Looked After Strategic Framework 2018-2013
Discussion:
· The framework pulls together all the work around Children Looked After for the period 2018-2013. Section 9 outlines that below the Framework are six themed strategies with detail to be specified regarding priorities and measures. It is suggested that this is referred to in the forward or introduction. The meeting expressed concern regarding the inclusion of the following sentence in the introduction ‘we are proud of our achievement over recent years however recognise there remain a number of key challenges and areas for improvement’ and suggested that consideration should be given to re-wording this statement to more accurately capture the challenges that have occurred
· Children and young people were involved in developing the pledge to children looked after
· A definition of children looked after would be included
· The document is to be used by officers and members and a children and young people’s version would be produced. The document would be checked to ensure it could be understood by its different target audiences
· Powys have a number of children placed in residential homes outside of Powys. There are a number of residential homes within Powys which do not have any children placed by Powys. Not all residential homes within Powys would be able to offer suitable placements for children with assessed needs but there is an opportunity to consider using these homes where a child’s needs could be met. There has been no discussion to date regarding providing an in-house residential care service. It may be an option but is challenging and would not necessarily be able to meet the needs that are presented by children and young people. The needs of the children are first and foremost and it is important to ensure that commissioning is working so that the most appropriate and cost effective placements can be found
· The aim of keeping young people local to their community was explored. There are challenges with this in a large rural community and sometimes it is more appropriate for a child or young person to be placed across the border or into another county which would be closer to their home community than within county but at greater distance from home. Alternatively, it may be appropriate for a child or young person to be placed away from their local community and the decisions made will always be based on the assessment of care needed. The difficulty of placing children locally is demonstrated by the area maps which show for example 61 children looked after from North Central Powys with 20 placed in the area. The demographic information contained within the report is welcomed
· Concern was raised that staff turnover amongst social workers was leading to a lack of continuity and colleagues from education were finding this led to difficulties in attendance at meetings
· The cost of in-house foster care is approximately £400 per week, the cost of independent foster care is approximately £800 per week. Residential placements can cost between £3,900 to £5,000 depending on therapy and education requirements. The placement budget at present is a predicted £9.5million/year.
· There is no one reason why foster carers would choose to work for a local authority or a company but it is a combination of the support and training available together with rates of pay. Whilst the cost to Powys for independent foster care is twice that paid to in-house foster care the carers would not receive double rates and the figure paid for Independent Foster Carers to their company includes the cost of the support and training element.
· The Signs of Safety principles are written in language that is hard to understand. It was explained that signs of safety focuses on what the family can do and what safety nets are in place to manage risk. It was confirmed that Signs of Safety would be implemented across the whole of Children’s Services and all partners would know what model the authority was working to
· The intention to re-create a single Leaving Care team is welcomed and the necessity of working closely with colleagues within the organisation such as housing was acknowledged. Children looked after are encouraged to stay in foster care until they are ready to move on under the ‘When I Am Ready’ scheme but more work needs to be undertaken in respect of young people leaving residential placements
· Provision of respite care is important both for children looked after and children in need. This can help prevent placement breakdown and will be considered under the Sufficient supply of high quality care placements strategy. Some children who will actively try and break placements
· The age profile of children looked after generally shows the highest group are teenagers who come into care at the age of 12-13 and stay in long term foster care. There has been an increase in young children coming into care and this age group are mostly placed for adoption. At present there are 24 children on adoption placement orders
· Further work is required regarding children’s participation and understanding the voice of the child but it was stressed that honesty was needed for children to understand what could and could not be achieved.
Outcomes:
· That scrutiny monitors the implementation of the framework by including the separate themes namely
o Permanence
o Closer to Home
o Leaving Care
o Early Help/Edge of Care
o Sufficient supply of high quality care placements
o Participation and voice
within the work programme
· That the following amendments to the draft framework are considered:
Page |
Change |
General |
Fill in gaps in document (eg. p15) |
|
Include a definition of children looked after |
3 or 4 |
That below the framework a series of strategies with work plans, timeframes and monitoring arrangements will sit (cross ref p17) |
4 |
Consider rewording: ‘we are proud of our achievement over recent years however recognise there remain a number of key challenges and areas for improvement’
|
7 |
Remove jargon, reference who Eileen Munro is, ensure all wording fits on page (the bottom line is largely missing on the printed version) |
9 |
Fig 1.1 is all Wales figures which masks the projected decline in population of this age group in Powys – can this be acknowledged? Fig 1.2 is confusing (eg the total for 2016 looks like 650,000) and a date needs to be assigned to the data in the bottom right section |
13 |
The maximum distance a child is placed needs checking – it is understood a child is placed in London which is more than 117 miles. The figures for children placed more than 30 miles from home need checking as they do not match (71 and 85) |
24 |
Check number of residential homes in Powys. Members on audit committee advised there were 34 residential homes in north Powys |
24 |
Are there areas of non-compliance at Golwg Bannau/Camlas, The Malt House, The Potteries, Ty Bronllys or Ty Rhos Bach. If none record as such |
27 |
The spider web doesn’t show anything and the space could be used to show a governance structure |
Supporting documents: