Agenda item

LOOKED AFTER CHILDREN

To receive a report of the Corporate Director of Children’s Services.

Minutes:

The Director of Early Help and Children's Social Care introduced the Presentation, went over the request from Scrutiny which was around placement stability and sufficiency.

 

The Specialist Commissioner then went over what sufficiency meant within the Children’s and young people’s environment. The Committee were asked to not that a summary of the Sufficiency strategy was available on the website and the Specialist Commissioner went over a few of the areas the strategy covered.

The Committee were informed of the national context which included that an increased complexity of need being seen across the country and the regional context mirrored the national picture. The difficulties the region faced were exacerbated by the large number of placements by Councils from outside of the northwest in the area. The Committee were then shown comparison with other GM authorities and statistical neighbours for the local context.

 

The Specialist Commissioner handed over to the Head of Service for Provider Services who went over Trafford’s position for cared for children. The Committee were told of the progress that had been made in reducing the number of children in care and it was hoped it would continue. The level of reduction was slowing down as the service had reached a point where the children who were in care needed that support. The services’ sufficiency goal was to increase the number of children who received care within a family setting. Among the older young people in care the focus was upon ensuring that they were placed within suitable accommodation. Of all the children in care 57% were placed within Trafford and it a goal of the service to increase level as wanted children in care to be close to their family, friends, and community. 87% of Children in care were placed within GM and the service also hoped to increase that position further.

 

The Committee were asked to note the benefits of placement stability and were informed of the plans being implemented to improve placement stability within Trafford.  The Head of Service for Provider Services then went through the case studies listed within the presentation. The first case study was of a young person who had had 8 different placements by the age of 10. The Committee were told of the impact the large number of placements had on the young person and the associated costs to the Council. The Committee were informed of the exit plan for the young person which involved placing them with experienced foster carers and having strong wrap around support in place. The second case study was another high-cost placement of a young person who required three members of staff to care for them at all times at a cost of £12,400 per week.

 

The Head of Service for Provider Services and the Specialist Commissioner then went through the next few slides which covered fostering placements. The Committee were informed of the internal fostering provision and the work the Council had been doing to reduce the number of connected person placements. The Specialist Commissioner spoke about Independent Fostering Agencies (IFAs) and explained the similarities and differences between IFAs and the internal provision, which included the differences in cost to the Council.

 

The presentation then moved onto residential placement with the Head of Service for Provider Services covering the Council’s internal provision and the Specialist Commissioner providing details of external and unregulated placements. The Presentation concluded with an outline of the challenges the service faced and the plans to meet those challenges through utilisation of both internal and external placements with a goal of increasing the internal provision where possible to improve consistency and reduce costs. One innovative approach was the GM housing programme where young people were given the opportunity and support to take ownership of a property themselves.

 

Following the presentation Councillor Acton stated that he had seen on the news about a home where residents had been abused and asked how Trafford monitored placements to ensure the young people received the care they needed and weren’t being abused. The Director of Early Help and Children's Social Care noted Councillor Acton’s question and in response gave an overview of the work the Council did as part of their due diligence and the collaboration with other authorities to utilise their knowledge of providers to ensure placements were of sufficient quality. Councillor Acton asked whether the service performed any surprise visits and was told that only Ofsted had the power to perform surprise inspections. The Committee were assured that officers did meet with young people on a regular basis and that they did recognise the Committee’s concerns, especially regarding those young people who had difficulties in communicating. The Corporate Director for Children’s Services also assured the Committee that following the news story a review of Trafford’s placements had been conducted with full assessments being carried out for any placements that were of concern.

 

Councillor Procter raised concerns that only 57% of Trafford’s placements were provided inhouse. The corporate Director of Children’s Services responded that the Head of Service for Provider Services was working on a modernisation plan for foster caring. The service recognised word of mouth and the support of foster carers were key elements to attract more foster carers. The Committee were informed of how the nature of fostering had changed in response to the needs of the young people and that the structure of the fostering service had changed to provide an improved level of support for foster carers.

 

Councillor Procter noted the costs of IFA placements and that the internal placements cost the Council around half the amount and asked what could be done to match their offers. In response the Corporate Director of Children’s Services stated that the council were looking at the possibility of developing not-for profit fostering agencies. The Council also benchmarked what they offered foster carers and looked at what was most important to foster carers to ensure that it was in place within Trafford.

 

Councillor Procter asked about the new for children with complex needs and why the Council did not set up the home themselves. The Corporate Director of Children’s Services responded that there were issues around having the property and staff with the required skills. The Committee were informed of the work being done at a GM level which was looking to develop 9 homes across the conurbation. The Corporate Director of Children’s Services added that the main issues were around placement sufficiency and the home would offer a lot to the Council.

 

Councillor Procter asked what was provided that made the high-cost placements so expensive. The Corporate Director of Children’s Services answered that it was a large amount of staff time, specialised therapy, and security for the young people.

 

Councillor Procter asked about the digital campaign, whether it was utilising existing foster cares, and how they would measure the success. The Head of Service for Provider Services responded that the campaign would be using existing foster carers and success would be recruitment being higher than the loss of foster carers. The success of the campaign would also be measured through increasing enquiries and maintaining or increasing the conversion rate of enquiries to appointment, which took around six months from the first contact.

Councillor Blackburn asked what had led to the reduction in connected person placements over the last year. The Head of Service for Provider Services responded that the reduction had been caused by young people moving into permanent arrangements.

 

Councillor Blackburn asked how many perspective carers drop out or are not found to be suitable. The Corporate Director of Children’s Services answered that once they go to assessment stage the dropout rate was quite low, so it was the early interaction where the Council needed to focus and improve.

 

Councillor Maitland asked whether exit interviews were conducted for foster carers and were there any trends I reasons. The Head of Service for Provider Services responded that exit interviews were offered but there was a low level of take up. The ones that had been completed showed they were leaving due to a range of reasons including change in family circumstances, changes in employment, and change in location but no discernible pattern had been identified.

 

RESOLVED: That the presentation be noted.

 

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