Agenda item

The Committee considered the report of the Interim Corporate Director of Children & Young People’s Services that provided Members with details on the activity of the fostering service (for copy of report, see file of minutes).

The Head of Children’s Services was in attendance to present the report and highlighted the robust marketing strategy to increase the number of fostering applicants to Durham; further develop the Fostering Plus Scheme to provide care for children with complex needs; implement a review of the fostering service to ensure efficient and effective use of resources the outcome of this review is expected Spring 2017 and to deliver initiatives to promote fostering such as social media campaigns, liveried vehicles and targeted recruitment to specialist fostering programmes.

The Chair suggested presenting information on Fostering recruitment to Area Action Partnerships to which the Head of Children’s Services agreed this would be very welcome as they wanted to get the word out far and wide.