Borough of Poole – Corporate Parenting Working Group – 17 January 2012

COPORATE PARENTING WORKING GROUP

17 JANUARY 2012

The Meeting commenced at 4:37pm and ended at 6:00pm.

Present:

Councillor Mrs Moore - Chairman

Councillors Brown, Miss Carpenter, Mrs Le Poidevin and Mrs Walton

Also Present:

Ella Christopher –Senior Advocate, Action for Children

Michelle Cutler – Democratic Support Officer, Legal and Democratic Services

Lynne Giles – Service Manager, Action for Children

Fiona Haughey – Associate Director of Children and Families, Dorset Health Care Trust (DHCT)

Gerry Moore – Head of Children and Young People’s Social Care (CYPSC)

Steve Murray – Principal Manager, CYPSC

Anne Newton – Strategic Director (Children’s Services)

Vicky Wales – Head of Children and Young People’s Integrated Service

  1. CHAIRMAN’S REMARKS

The Chairman welcomed Councillors Brown, Mrs Le Poidevin and Fiona Haughley, Dorset Health Care Trust (DHCT) to their first Meeting and introductions were made.

  1. ELECTION OF VICE-CHAIRMAN

RESOLVED that Councillor Mrs Carpenter be elected as Vice-Chairman of the Corporate Parenting Working Group for the ensuing Municipal Year.

  1. APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

No apologies for absence were received.

  1. DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

Councillor Brown declared a personal interest in all Agenda items as he was a current Foster Carer for the Borough of Poole.

  1. MINUTES

RESOLVED that the Minutes of the Meeting held on 18 October 2011, as previously circulated, be confirmed as a true record and signed by the Chairman.

  1. MATTERS ARISING

M.7 Matters Arising

A Member asked why the Foster Carer’s Charter was not on the Agenda for consideration, as resolved at the last Meeting? The Head of Children and Young People’s Social Care (CYPSC) advised that there had been some slippage with regard to the Forward Plan, however, the Foster Carer Charter was now being progressed and would be presented to the next Meeting.

RESOLVED that the Foster Carer’s Charter be presented to the next Meeting.

  1. THE CORPORATE PARENTING ROLE

The Head of Children and Young People’s Social Care (CYPSC) presented a document entitled ’10 questions to ask if you’re scrutinising services for looked after children’, which gave an overview of the role of corporate parenting to newly elected Members. This item had been deferred from the last Meeting.

The Document had been provided for the benefit of new Members appointed to the Working Group for reference and explained the role and responsibilities of being a corporate parent.

The Working Group was advised that staff working across Children’s Services at the Borough of Poole (BoP), Councillors, Agencies, Managers, Practitioners and Portfolio Holders all had specific responsibilities to improve and maximise the lives of Children in Care (CiC).

The Head of CYPSC explained that she had not prepared a 2012/13 Work Programme for the Working Group as it was for the Working Group to decide what it would like to scrutinise throughout the year. The Document presented and the OFSTED Inspection of Safeguarding and Looked After Children’sServices would help to inform the priorities of the Working Group.

The Head of CYPSC referred to page 7 of the Document and led the Working Group through the ’10 questions top ask if you’re scrutinising services for looked after children’. Key points were summaries as follows:

(1) – ‘How well does your authority do in circumstances of providing services for looked after children, including in comparison with other similar authorities?’This broadly related to what the authority commissioned i.e. the range of placements, support offered and the specific services provided.

(2) – ‘How well do your CIC do at school, both academically and in terms of other kinds of achievements?’This related to education, schooling and achievement in relation to CiC. There was an ‘Enjoy and Achieve Group’ which dealt with this.

(3) – ‘How good is the health and wellbeing of children in your care?’ – This related to the health and wellbeing of CiC, which the ‘Safe and Healthy Group’ dealt with.

(4) – ‘How stable and secure are the lives of your looked after children while they are in your care?’ – This related to placement stability for CiC and the range and quality of the BoP’s Fostering provisions.

(5) – ‘How well does your authority do at finding appropriate adoptive families for children whom it is decided this is the right option?’ – Adoption was currently a national topical issue and the BoP performed very well in this area.

(6) –‘How well do your foster care arrangements work?’ – This related to the BoP’s Foster Care arrangements and the support Foster Carers received. The Working Group was still without a Foster Carer Representative and the Head of CYPSC asked if a representative was still required now that Councillor Brown had been appointed to the Working Group, as he was a Foster Carer for the BoP? The Chairman advised that the Working Group would welcome a Foster Carer Representative, as agreed at the last Meeting.

(7) – ‘How good is the standard of any residential care provided or used by your authority’– The use of residential care was low in the BoP. Residential care came at a high cost and there were significant resource implications.

(8) – ‘What support does your authority provide to young people leaving care and how effective is it?’– This related to how the Authority planned and worked with other Services for Young People leaving care i.e. training and employment.

(9) – ‘How effective is your professional workforce of social workers and others responsible for running services for and working with looked after children?’– This related to the BoP’s own workforce and its capabilities.

(10) – ‘What more could be done to fulfil the Council’s responsibilities as a ‘corporate parent?’– How could the Council do more to care and engage with young people? How could the Council listen to the views of young people more effectively?

The Chairman thanked the Head of CYPSC for presenting the Document and Members of the Working Group commented that it was very useful.

A discussion ensued regarding residential care homes and it was noted that the BoP did not have any. The Head of CYPSC explained that there were five or six children placed in residential care homes outside of the Borough in Kent, Lancashire and Wiltshire. The young person in Lancashire had very special needs.

It was noted that the Complex Needs Panel assessed young people with complex needs and Multi Agency Groups would identify the best resources to put in place. Statutory visiting requirements meant that BoP Social Workers were responsible for regularly visiting their clients, even if they were placed outside of the Borough.

RESOLVED that

  1. the Document be noted; and
  2. the Head of Children and Young People’s Social Care seek to appoint a Foster Carer Representative to the Working Group.
  1. OFSTED INSPECTION OF SAFEGUARDING AND LOOKED AFTER CHILDREN’S SERVICES – POOLE, AND ACTION PLAN

The Head of Children and Young People’s Social Care (CYPSC) tabled a report on the OFSTED Inspection of Safeguarding and Looked after Children’s Services in Poole and an Action Plan.

Key points were summarised as follows:

  • The Inspection was a joint Inspection across Safeguarding and Looked After Children’s Services.
  • The Poole ‘on-site’ Inspection took place during a two week period (31 October 2011 to 11 November 2011) and was extremely comprehensive.
  • Services across Safeguarding and Looked After Children’s Services were evaluated using 21 separate judgements and all 21 areas were judged as ‘Good’, which rated as a consistent, solid and strong local authority performance.
  • No critical actions were identified, however, one area to look at regarding Children in Care (CiC) was the safeguarding aspect i.e. how safe and secure was the provision of care for young people in the Borough of Poole (BoP)?
  • Key recommendations within the Inspection fell into two broad areas:

1) Accommodation and Substance Misuse Services for Care Leavers;

and

2)Corporate Parenting – wider membership of the Corporate Parenting Working Group, induction of Elected Members on corporate parenting responsibilities and further development of the CiCCouncil.

  • An Action Plan had been formulated, which would be monitored and tracked by the Safeguarding and Quality Assurance Managers.

The Head of CYPSC advised that the Membership of the Working Group had been expanded to include two additional Elected Members and a Health Care Representative and that a Foster Carer Representative would also be sought. Representatives from Adult Social Services and Leisure Services would be invited to attend future meetings as and when appropriate.

It was noted that prior to the CiC Council there was a Teens in Care Group. Members of the CiC Council had been invited to meet with the Inspectors and the CiC Council had helped to demonstrate the BoP’s plan of development in this area.

The Head of Children and Young People’s Integrated Service (CYPIS) asked how the outcomes of the Inspection would be fed back to CiC? It was deemed to be appropriate to provide feedback as CiC had participated in the Inspection and the Inspection Report focussed on their needs.

A discussion ensued with regard to Member Training and the Working Group agreed that more needed to be done to train newly Elected Members on their roles and responsibilities as ‘Corporate Parents’. The Chairman and Councillor Mrs Walton, in her role as Portfolio Holder for Children’s Services, agreed to discuss how this could be progressed outside of the Meeting.

Reference was then made to the Action Plan and the following points were discussed:

  • It would be beneficial to invite CiC to meetings of the Working Group, however, the meeting venue would have to be reconsidered and the young people would require support to attend. It was highlighted that the previous Teens in Care Group had attended meetings of the Working Group but had found it to be too formal.
  • The Working Group discussed having two Members of the Working Group in attendance at meetings of the CiC Council and in turn, one or two CiC could attend meetings of the Working Group. The Strategic Director, Children’s Services, advised that young people now attended the Children and Young People’s Overview and Scrutiny Committee and the Shadow Board and that it was important that CiC were given the opportunity to ‘grill’ Members and Officers. In turn, Members and Officers could ask CiC what they expected from their corporate parents.
  • The Working Group discussed the benefits of the ‘Access to Leisure Card Scheme’ and how this could be promoted amongst CiC.
  • The Working Group discussed the use of bed and breakfast accommodation for young people who were Looked After and Care Leavers.It was noted that there were no CiC placed in bed and breakfasts at present and that the range of provision for supported lodgings needed to be expanded. It was highlighted that three new emergency beds had recently been recruited within the BoP’s supported lodgings.
  • There was a dedicated Health Visitor in post who talked to young people about their health. There was also the Young Adults Drugs and Alcohol Service (YADAS), which engaged with young people with substance misuse. Fiona Haughey, Dorset Health Care Trust, advised that scoping work needed to be carried out with the current cohort of CiC in order to understand their issues and the outcomes they were looking for.
  • A Member advised that the Council would benefit from receiving a covering report alongside the Annual Corporate Parenting Report and that Members would like to be kept updated on good news stories.

The Working Group then discussed the diverse needs of asylum seeking children. The Head of CYPSC explained that these children often came with no background history, which created a number of difficulties for their Carers. It was noted that numbers of unaccompanied asylum seeking children in Poole were very low.

The Head of CYPSC advised that she would report back to the Working Group in six months time regarding the progress on the implementation of the Action Plan.

RESOLVED that the Working Group receives an update on the implementation of the Action Plan in six months time.

  1. CHILDREN IN CARE HALF YEARLY PERFORMANCE REPORT – FOR INFORMATION ONLY

The Chairman advised that the ‘Children in Care Half Yearly Performance Report’ should be taken as read as it was for information only.

Members of the Working Group were asked if they had any questions on the content of the Report? They did not.

RESOLVED that the Report be noted.

  1. CHILDREN IN CARE PARTICIPATION PROJECT PLAN

Steve Murray, Principal Manager, Children and Young People’s Social Care (CYPSC) tabled this item at the Meeting.

Key points were summarised as follows:

  • The Borough of Poole (BoP) was now in Partnership with Action for Children for the next three years, which was very exciting in terms of development for the Council.
  • The BoP would listen to the Children in Care (CiC) Counciland adopt the Service it provided to match the needs of CiC accordingly.
  • The CiC Councilhad expressed a desire for improvement in its educational provisions and health care, especially for care leavers.
  • CiCwould like to be able to stay over at their friend’s houses without their friend’s families having to undergo statutory checks.
  • There was a group of older CiC who wanted to help younger CiC by being their mentors and sharing their experiences.
  • The CiC Councilwould also like to reflect to Social Workers and Corporate Parents what it was like to be in care.
  • The above would be achieved under three separate headings:

1. Safe and Healthy

2. Enjoy and Achieve

3. Participation Groups

The Principal Manager raised the issue of the CiC Councilmeeting with Members of the Corporate Parenting Working Group, as the Working Group met in a formal setting. He advised that it was necessary to capture the views of the 150 CiC in the BoP, however, some children were harder to reach than others and some flexibility had to be applied to meeting with them.

The Working Group was asked how it would like to engage with the CiCCouncili.e. how often would it like to meet with them and where? It was noted that as the CiC Councilhad sought change it was necessary to take action immediately.

The Senior Advocate, Action for Children, advised that the CiC Council would like Members of the Working Group to attend the meetings ithad arranged so that it could get to know them. It was highlighted that the CiCCouncilmet once a month and it was recommended that two Members of the Working Group at a time should attend the meetings so that everyone could engage with each other.

The Strategic Director, Children’s Services, asked that a list of meeting dates be made available so that Members could work out who could attend. The Working Group was informed that meetings took place after school and sometimes on a Saturday and that it would be useful to link attendees with what the CiC Council was discussing on its Agenda. The Meetings would take place in two parts. The first part of the Meeting would focus around the theme of the day and the second part would be a fun activity that everyone could participate in. The Meetings would be facilitated by Rachel Rogers, Action for Children.

The Service Manager, Action for Children, advised that she would notify the Clerk of the future dates, times and venues of the CiC Council, which could then be forwarded to Members of the Working Group in order that attendance could be determined.

A discussion ensued with regard to ‘The Pledge’. ‘The Pledge’ was what the Council had promised to its CiC and was due to be reviewed by the CiC Council.

It was noted that some of the BoP’s CiC had been placed outside the Borough and that these children would be able to join their local CiC Councils.

There was a small minority of CiC with disabilities and it was important that links were also established with these children.

RESOLVED that

  1. the work of the Children in Care Participation Project Plan be noted; and
  2. Lynne Giles, Service Manager, Action for Children,supply the Clerk with the future dates, times and venues of the Children in Care Council Meetings so that Members of the Working Group could be invited to attend.

11.2012/13 WORK PROGRAMME

The Head of Children and Young People’s Social Care (CYPSC) advised that she wouldformulate a Work Programme for the Corporate Parenting Working Group that linked in with the Work Programme of the Children in Care Council.