To receive the annual reports from the fostering and adoption services and consider any outcomes and recommendations. To make recommendations to the cabinet member on the operation of the services during 2018/19.

The committee received a report concerning the fostering and adoption service reports for 2017/18. The Director Children’s Wellbeing (DCWB) introduced the report and explained that the two reports provided an annual review of the previous year and recommendations for the services for the current year.

The committee raised those comments in the discussion which followed:

Adoption report

·         It was noted that there was an income target of £74k for the adoption service and it was queried how challenging this target was to achieve in the context of the overspent budgets in 2017/18 of the fostering service budget and external fostering budget. The DCWB explained that the fostering and adoption services had overspent in order to meet the needs of children and families. The overspent budgets had been taken into account during the budget setting process for 2018/19. There were local, regional and national pressures upon budgets to support looked after children and those moving to adoption in the current year. The income target was affected by the move to regional adoption agencies, which was a national requirement. The Council had been able to apply to a central government fund to recoup some costs involved in the purchase of placements.

·         It was queried whether the recent funding allocated to Children’s Wellbeing would be allocated to address the overspends. The DCWB explained that the £1.6m  funding was dedicated to projects identified as priorities in the service to address capacity issues, including trying to recruit more social workers, family support workers and business support to reduce caseload pressures on social work staff and to enable there to be more capacity to support managers to manage.

·         There was concern expressed at the length of time it had taken to join a regional adoption agency (RAA). The committee requested an update on progress made to join an RAA. The Childrens Social Work Manager - Adoption (CSWMA) advised the committee that Adoption Central England (ACE) had accepted an application but a more detailed case had yet to be presented to the Executive Board of ACE. A date was not yet known when the Council would join the agency but it was hoped that this would occur later in the year. The move to regional adoption agencies was a priority for the government and ACE was now required to determine the membership of the Council. The timing had been affected by national government and periods of elections and purdah.

·         It was queried whether the training provided by the Council for carers was consistent with the standards of ACE and an explanation of the budgetary impacts on the Council of remaining outside of the RAA was requested? The CSWMA explained that ACE had adopted the training framework of the Council and the financial impacts consisted of greater spending on placements. 

·         The Committee commended the adoption service on placements achieved during the year in particular those sibling groups placed together where possible.

·         It was noted that the report referred to gaps in research of a child’s birth family and parents. This had been an issue highlighted previously and it was hoped that it would be addressed in the forthcoming year.

·         It was queried how the adoption service was taking account of the savings proposal to reduce the number of looked after children. The DCWB explained that the service sought to achieve permanent family placements to ensure that children were no longer looked after.

·         The priority for development during 2018-19 of improving timeliness of permanent placements following court authority was raised and it was queried how this was being monitored. The CSWMA confirmed that constant monitoring took place with a robust process in place to track the progress of all children. The Assistant Director Safeguarding and Family Support (ADSFS) explained that communication between the teams working in the child protection/court teams and adoption services was good which enabled consistent and effective monitoring of the progress of children toward permanent placements.

·         The committee discussed recommendations to express concern regarding the lack of progress to join a regional adoption agency and require further briefing in respect of budget overspends

Fostering report

·         The high level of referrals to the fostering service was noted and it was queried how this was being addressed. The DCWB explained that early help services sought to address issues prior to the involvement of social care services. Close work was undertaken with the courts, carers and families to determine the appropriateness of placing children in care but the cabinet had recognised that more needed to be done to have an effective early help offer in the county.

·         The recruitment of foster carers was raised as an issue and whether there was a problem with retiring carers reducing the number of placements available. The Childrens Social Work Manager – Fostering (CSWMF) explained that the carers market was being investigated and placements for adolescents were being targeted.

·         The trend of a significant increase of referrals in June was highlighted. The ADSFS explained that there was always a spike in referrals ahead of the summer holidays.

·         The location of unaccompanied asylum seeker and migrants with families in appropriate areas was raised.

·         The concession offered to looked after children at Halo was raised and it was proposed that other cultural and leisure providers in Herefordshire should be approached to request similar discounts.

RESOLVED: that the committee:

1)    Expresses concern regarding the lack of progress in joining a regional adoption agency and the executive is requested to undertake any available actions to expedite membership of Adoption Central England;

2)    Requests clarification regarding how the overspends of the fostering service and external fostering budget in 2017/18 have been addressed;

3)    Asks the executive to approach local cultural and leisure providers to attempt to secure concessionary rates for looked after children; and

4)    Notes the annual reports 2017/18 for the fostering and adoption services.