To review the progress of the corporate parenting strategy.

The cabinet member children and families introduced the report and noted the key achievements in 2018/19. She reminded cabinet members of the seven corporate parenting principles in the Children and Social Work Act 2017 and stressed the importance of doing everything possible to support children in the care of the council and care leavers.

The director for children and families endorsed the comments from the cabinet member and noted that this report covered the second year of a three-year strategy. He outlined a number of areas of progress since the end of March 2019 to update cabinet since the end of the financial year.

In discussion of the report, cabinet members noted that:

·         A wide range of initiatives were in place to help recruit and retain social care staff including an individual training allowance, market forces supplement, clear career pathway and one-off payments for agency staff converting to permanent contracts;

·         A social work apprenticeship scheme was planned for introduction in February 2020;

·         A recruitment agency micro site had been established and the director was proactive in contacting individuals who expressed an interest in working in Herefordshire;

·         The council had a good record on retaining permanent staff, with most changes a result of agency workers coming and going or permanent staff moving to other children’s social work roles within the council;

·         A number of councillors had attended the alternatives care panel and all councillors were encouraged to attend to see the work that took place, councillors were also welcome to attend the corporate parenting board;

·         The numbers of children coming into care had been stabilised but was still comparatively high;

·         It was proposed to establish an edge of care service as it was felt this would be beneficial in reducing LAC numbers, the service would work with families when they were at a point of requesting that the children be taken into care and also work to enable children to return home safely;

·         special guardianship orders (SGOs) gave carers parental rights for children up to the age of 18 and were usually granted to extended family members, the same financial assistances was now given to those with a SGO as to foster carers;

·         children were being placed with adoptive families much sooner;

·         it was not viable for the Refugee Action service to continue as numbers were so low, the council would need to consider whether it was viable to commission a replacement service;

·         it was important that the views of children in the care system and care leavers were considered in developing services.

Group leaders were invited to present the views of their group. The update on the strategy was welcomed but concern was expressed regarding the continuing high numbers of LAC. It was noted that:

·         there were a number of ways that councillors could contribute to supporting children in care, including ensuring that services were performing well;

·         looked after children wanted to have normal experiences and did not necessarily want their status as LAC highlighted;

·         it was important to listen  ...  view the full minutes text for item 98

To consider the updated action plan to the corporate parenting strategy and receive a performance report against the objectives. To make recommendations to the cabinet member on the progress of the strategy during 2019/20.

The committee received a report by the cabinet member children and families which provided an annual update on the corporate parenting strategy. The report was introduced by the director children and families who explained that it concerned looked after children and good progress was reported with the introduction of an exemption for care leavers from council tax and the purchase of accommodation for care leavers. It was recognised that there remained some challenges which the strategy would seek to address in the forthcoming year including the educational attainment of care leavers.

The points below were raised by the committee in the debate that followed:

·         It was queried when the care leavers covenant would be available and if an update could be provided to the committee. The head of looked after children (HLAC) explained that it was likely that the covenant would be considered by Cabinet in September.

·         The latest number of looked after children was requested and the proportion with special education needs. The HLAC explained that a response would need to be provided with the data.

·         The issue of runaways and offending by looked after children was raised and the strategies in place at the council to deal with missing children including the provision of mentors. The HLAC explained that the report provided details of 32 children who went missing during the year which was in line with the rate of other local authorities. Mentoring schemes were available and return from missing interviews were conducted to attempt to understand the reasons why looked after children went missing. It was acknowledged that the increase in countylines activity had been a factor in some cases of missing children however it was explained that only a small number of looked after children were involved with the youth offending team.

·         Looked after children accessing mental health services was queried and what work was being undertaken to improve access. The HLAC explained that a business case was being developed by Wye Valley Trust to be considered by the CCG requesting additional resource to expand the LAC health team. Additionally  a multiagency group consisting of the looked after children health team, child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) and the counselling learning development trust (CLD Trust) was being established to ensure that looked after children had the right mental health support and that extra support was in place for foster carers.   

·         It was queried how many looked after children were placed out of county and whether the rate was increasing. The HLAC explained that 23% of looked after children were placed out of county at the time of writing of the annual report; this compared favourably to the English average of 40%. Some looked after children were just over the border but 13% were out of county and 20 miles away which compared to a national average of 15%. The trend to place looked after children out of county was decreasing and work was ongoing to increase fostering capacity in the county to continue this  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8