To consider a report and presentation of the Acting Director of Safeguarding.

The Acting Director of Safeguarding went through the presentation which supported the report which had been circulated. The Committee were informed that Out of Borough Placements referred to children who were Trafford residents but needed to be placed outside of the borough.

Research into the impact of placements had found that the further away children were placed from their original home the worse their outcomes were, so Trafford always aimed to place children as close by as possible. The Committee were shown a breakdown of all of Trafford’s placements and their types including Foster Placements with the Council, placed with parents, residential inside and residential outside of borough. Out of 399 children 26 were placed outside of the borough. The Committee were shown the costs of all placements and they were told that there had been a slight increase in the costs since the last time this was reported to Scrutiny.

Because of the difference in price the Councils strategic priorities had been focused on increasing in house fostering within Trafford. This had included increasing the funding for foster carers to bring Trafford’s payments in line with those with other Greater Manchester Councils. The Council had also introduced foster carer plus which was a set of very experienced and resilient foster carers who would be able to provide respite for other foster carers and children on the edge of care. There were plans to introduce a specialist fostering scheme with a high level support and therapeutic approach to enable those carers to look after children who would otherwise require specialist residential care.

The Council had drawn down money from Greater Manchester through a project called no wrong door. The aim of the project was that no child would be seen as un-fosterable so that all young people were able to remain in a family setting.  Key element of the project was creating capacity to deal with Children in Crisis. The Committee were then told about the other work being done to reduce external placements and the role that commissioning played in supporting this work.

Following the presentation the Committee were given the opportunity to ask questions. One Member asked whether children who turned 16 in care had to make a transition. The Director responded that if they were already with a carer they did not have to change their placement however, the regulations relating to children older than 16 were not as robust as for younger children.

Another Member asked whether there were private fostered children in the area and what drove the placements of children to these services. The Director answered that Trafford did have some children placed with private agencies and that there were many factors that could result in children m=being placed with a private foster agency. One reason was if there was a sudden rise in demand and Trafford did not have places available. There were other factors such as the number of children that a foster carer could place and factors surrounding the child such as need for specialist care.

The Specialist Commissioner explained that the commissioning team arranged placements using the North West Framework for providers and then negotiated the price for that particular placement with the provider.

The Committee Member then asked whether it was possible to develop the Councils in house fostering so that they can look after larger family groups.

The Director replied that this was something that Trafford were continually striving to achieve. 

The Chair enquired whether the increase in pay for foster carers had helped with recruitment. The director responded that there had been a large intake of foster carers in the last year and it was hoped that they would get the same again next year.

Another Member asked how long it took to train a foster carer. The Director stated that it took roughly 16 weeks from the expression of interest to them being fully trained. She added that the feedback which had been received from foster carers showed that they liked to feel part of the organisation and liked that they were working for the same employer as the others involved with the children they looked after. 

The Membered then asked how many who applied to be foster carers were rejected. The Director did not have those figures to hand but could get hold of that information for the Committee. They added that there were also a number of potential foster carers who completed the training and then withdrew as they decided that it was not right for them.

A Member of the Committee asked whether Trafford would continue to review the payments made to foster carers to ensure that Trafford did not end up at the bottom of the list again. The Corporate Director assured the Committee that the Council would conduct either conduct reviews either annually or every two years.

RESOLVED:

1)    That the report be noted.

2)    That the number of foster carers rejected or that drop out be provided to the Committee.