Agenda item

This report provides an analysis of the performance data and trends for an agreed set of measures relating to looked after children on behalf of the Corporate Parenting Advisory Committee.

The Committee considered an analysis of the performance data and trends for an agreed set of measures relating to looked after children.

In response to Member questions the following information was noted:

·         Children and young people in care will be visited by Haringey social workers at their placement what ever the distance.One of the reasons why a child/young person maybe be placed at a distance from the borough, could be due to living with a family member, outside of London, in a kinship carer placement. Generally, the Children’s Service will be striving to place children and young people in the borough and there are currently 20 new foster carer assessments being taken forward to meet this service objective.

·         There were no children’s residential homes managed by the council  but there was one respite centre for disabled children which did receive Regulation 33 visits.

·         There were 64 adoptions and special guardianship orders in the year exceeding the target by a third. There were also no breakdowns in the placements which was also attributed to officer’s use of imaginative ways to find good quality placements. Officer were also maintaining their efforts and focus on keeping siblings together.

·         The Committee noted that for the first 3 years of an adoption there will be a support package provided by the council and this would continue  until the child reaches 18. Members further noted that if an adopted child has special needs then there is also access to financial support which can continue to above the age of 18.

CPAC further sought understanding about how foster care placements are chosen for children/young people in care and information about the work on ensuring the stability of a placement. Noted that the Children’s Service will try to achieve a placement where the needs of the child are best met and there is careful consideration given to the ethnicity of the child when making the placement. The fostering recruitment team will also focus on finding foster carers from all sections of the community. CPAC members asked that the next report contain information about ethnic background of children in foster care placements to give assurance about the suitability of matches.

Further information was provided about the ways that a child/ young person will come into the care of the council apart from a care order. Members noted that this could be due to the following conditions:

·         Where a parent has independently given up parental responsibility for the child/young person. This could be, if the parent can no longer cope with the child/ young person and come into the care of the council  or have  an illness and do have family support to care for the child

·         Young people in remand services

·         Children that have come to the attention of the council from being on child protection plans

·         Unaccompanied minors.

CPAC further noted that the service was working on improving the completion of initial child assessments within the 10 days. There was focus on getting the required strategy meetings organised within the ten days to meet this target.