Agenda item

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 to send a copy of the report to the Clerk when it was published to distribute to the Committee.

Action Lynn Carrington

In response to a question from the Committee, Aspire acknowledged that they had regular interaction with the Who Cares Trust and that one of the Aspire leaders worked for the organisation. The Young People's Involvement Officer acknowledged that Aspire group also supported each other and had means of communication with the wider group, through a number of fora, such as Whats App.

The Young People's Involvement Officer provided SOG with an overview of a meeting with Natasha from a youth engagement company called Silver Lined Horizons. Natasha had significant experience in the field and had established a number of Children in Care Councils across the country, and recently met up with Aspire to undertake a consultation exercise to explore some of the problems faced by those young people. The Committee was advised that 6 sessions would be undertaken in the run up to the end of the year and that Aspire would be encouraged to lead on participation and what those sessions would involve. The Chair commented that there were some clear overlaps between the responses provided by Aspire, around say addiction and lack of guidance, and health outcomes and how to ensure continuing support into adulthood.

In response to a question from the Committee, the Young People's Involvement Officer commented that in her experience some of the most common issues facing LAC were around housing, their future careers including apprenticeship placements, and the stigma involved with being in care. The AD Safeguarding cautioned that the LAC tended to be a very diverse group and the only thing that united them was the fact that they were looked after, some were happy to be engaged with and to be identified as looked after, while some did not. The Committee was advised that the key issue was ensuring that mechanisms existed to ensure that they were being looked after properly and in way that reflected their wishes and individual circumstances. Every looked after young person underwent a statutory review at which point the independent review officer should be assuring themselves about the Care Plan,  their health, their placement and any other concerns that they may have.  The Committee requested sight of the Independent Reviewing Officers reports as per one of the recommendations in the CPFS document. The Chair agreed that these should be brought to a future meeting.

Action: Dominic Porter-Moore

The Committee commented that there had been a previous request for a social worker and/or a foster carer to attend a meeting and discuss their experiences with the committee. The Chair expressed caution that the Committee needed to be mindful that it did not assume the role of Overview and Scrutiny Committee and as such it might be more appropriate to invite social work professionals, for instance, to one of the proposed informal discussion sessions on a related topic. The AD Safeguarding advised that meeting and interacting with social workers might be best suited to inviting both them and the Committee Members to a specific event. The Young People's Involvement Officer suggested that the Foster Carer’s Forum might be a suitable event for Committee Members to attend and that they met twice a month. The Head of Service to send the details to the Chair who would circulate dates to the Committee and agree to arrange a visit.

Action: Dominic Porter-Moore/Chair

The Chair requested that that annual report of The IROs be brought to a future meeting of the Committee. The AD Safeguarding agreed to ascertain when the annual report was published and to liaise with the Clerk to include it on the relevant upcoming agenda.

Action: Neelam Bhardwaja

The Committee AGREED the substantive discussion items for upcoming meetings. The Chair suggested that clearly setting this out would help the Committee make recommendations to the Cabinet Member and to Cabinet as per the Committee’s terms of reference.

• January 2017 – Housing Support
• April 2017 – Voice of the Child including placements and what IRO’s do.
• June 2017 – Leaving care support (and the transition to independent living)