Issue - meetings

The Committee NOTED the CFPS document entitled “10 questions to ask if you’re scrutinising services for looked after children” which was included in the agenda pack at pages 19-54.

The AD Safeguarding advised the Committee that Members automatically took on responsibility for being corporate parents of looked after children at the point of being elected.  It was noted that looked after children included those looked after under voluntary arrangement with carers (Section 20) and those under Care Orders made by the courts (Section 31). Councils’ exercised their corporate parenting responsibilities through the committee but individual members also retained a duty as corporate parents. The Committee was advised that the CFPS document, along with other guidance produced, was developed with the aim of providing relevant information to help members provide the same basic standard for children in care as would be expected for any other child.

The Chair advised there were two more meetings of the Committee in the current municipal year and her intention was that each agenda would include a focused thematic discussion item. The Chair suggested that this could require having an additional informal meeting between meetings. The Chair put forward that one of these discussion items should be around housing.

Dr Holt suggested that one area could be around a discussion of an up to date profile of the children who were coming in care. The Committee requested that the Corporate Performance Manger develop a brief presentation which showed a breakdown of the LAC population and any trends that had developed. The Chair requested that this was sent round to the Committee outside of the meeting and potentially included as an agenda item for the next meeting.

Action: Margaret Gallagher/Clerk

The Committee also requested that a report be produced for the next meeting which set out the increasingly challenging cohort of children referred with serious issues, including substance misuse problems or involved in gangs etc. Dr Holt suggested that from a health perspective a number of these individuals were likely to have significant mental health issues and would be putting themselves at risk repeatedly.

Action: Dominic Porter-Moore   

The Committee considered what activities were undertaken to celebrate the success of looked after children. Virtual Schools put on a celebration event for Year 11 pupils but the Committee considered that some form of celebratory event should be undertaken at later stages, such as graduation from university. The AD Safeguarding advised that care leavers had recently received impressive university results. The Committee also suggested that the Council could offer mentoring to recent graduates to help their transition into the jobs market. The Chair suggested that there was a wider piece of work required around leaving care support; with one area around what the Council did as the young person was approaching 18, and another around what was done after in terms of longer term support.

Lynn Carrington, Designated Nurse Children in Care advised that there was a national paper being developed around the health of care leavers and agreed  ...  view the full minutes text for item 437