Issue - meetings

In accordance with the guidance arising from The Adoption and Children’s act 2002 an annual report of the work undertaken by Independent Reviewing Officers (IROs) is to be presented to the Director of Children’s Services and will also be  provided to the Committee. Report to follow

 The  Committee were reminded of the statutory  role of the IRO(Independent Reviewing officer. Part of the role was quality assuring the care plan for the  young person/child that was looked after  and there was a prescriptive legal framework under which they operated . there was a need to have  effective challenge and scrutiny   about the care being received by the child or young person in care . legislation  reinforces the requirements for  a care plan to be reviewed within 10-20  days of completion. It was estimated that each Haringey IRO had  around 70  children/Young people in care to  oversee and  this was  number had greatly reduced form previous years meaning there was more opportunities for the IRO’s to participate in the strategic policy initiatives.

 There were a total of 7  full time IRO’s  who were  mostly permanent full time  staff with some agency staff members as well.  The agency IRO’s had a high expertise and were able to share good working practices that they had  gained from working in different boroughs.

There were a total of 1023 reviews completed , this included  visits and assessments made of looked after children that lived outside the borough.

They were currently performing at 95% of reviews completed within timescales.

The IRO report illustrated how children contribute to the reviews and an   explanation was given of how children , young and old,  are encouraged to participate  in the review  to ensure they genuinely express their feelings.  There  had been a positive response to the survey  and  the questionnaire published on viewpoint, the main issues had been the standard of accommodation for care leavers.

The Committee informed the IRO that they had invited Aspire to complete a survey with fellow young people in care and care leavers  from a stakeholder  perspective

The Committee were interested to find out what happens if a child/young person in care  is negative about their foster carers  and  were informed that the IRO will  speak with the social worker about managing the situation and will ensure that the  child/young person feels safe in their placement.  The issues raised will be followed up by the IRO and they will go through the actions arising from the previous meeting .This is in line with their role of being an advocate for the child. The Committee were assured that, depending on the  level of  the matter raised ,the IRO will not wait until the 6 month review to follow up on a actions with the Social Worker to check they have been completed.  In terms of the relationship with the Children in Care service, they welcomed the challenge of the  IRO  and there were  some occasions when an action could get missed  and the IRO was there as  acting as the advocate for the child/ young person to  pick these up. This together with  improved permanency planning, monthly meetings with health   meant there was   a lot of communication between the IRO and the children in care service. The Committee were  advised that where  ...  view the full minutes text for item 246