Agenda item

The Committee considered a report and presentation of Helen Fergusson, Head of Children’s Social Care on the development of the Corporate Parenting Strategy (for copy of report and presentation see file of minutes).

The Panel noted the strategy outlines the range of work taking place to continue to improve outcomes for children looked after and care leavers.  The Head of Children’s Social Care described eight priority areas and gave the following examples of planned work for the forthcoming year, aligned to the eight strategic priorities:

1.    Work with health partners to increase support for young people with complex mental health needs, including work with Tees Esk and Wear Valley Mental Health Trust to support young people in crisis.

2.    Expansion of the Edge of Care provision and a focus on delivering Family Group Conferences to reach extended family members to ensure that, wherever it is safe to do so, the possibility of children remaining with extended family members is explored.  Work is also being undertaken to embed Signs of Safety to ensure all families who are experiencing difficulty are offered a family network meeting.

3.    Work will continue to ensure placement sufficiency, through the recruitment of foster carers.  The Panel noted a new Children’s Home is due to open imminently, and it is hoped to further increase residential provision to offer more short breaks and respite.  Work is also taking place with providers of smaller, more specialist provision. 

4.    There are plans to extend the pre-birth service to include care leavers who are becoming parents and a dedicated Pause project for County Durham is due to be launched for parents who have repeatedly had children removed from their care, in order to provide them with support to break the cycle.

5.    Work will be done to improve the local offer through increasing employment opportunities and to further develop the Staying Close project where young people leaving care can continue to live close to, and access support from, their former children’s home.  In addition, a plan for a new drop-in centre for young people is being developed.

6.    Clear Cut Communication will be implemented to identify, at an early stage, those children and young people who require additional help with speech and language.

7.    The Virtual School now has increased capacity to include oversight of all children in early years settings as well as school settings, and, within the next year, it also plans to have oversight of post-16 provision.

8.    The service will continue to listen and respond to the views of children looked after and young people.  An issue had come to light during the pandemic with the increase in the use of technology where it became apparent that some of the children’s homes had inadequate wi-fi facilities.  As a result of this feedback from the young people, steps will be taken to improve the wi-fi speed in all Durham County Council’s children’s residential homes.

The Head of Children’s Social Care responded to comments and questions as follows.

In response to a question from Councillor Charlton, the Head of Children’s Social Care said further details would be provided to Councillor Charlton in due course, regarding the location of the drop-in centre.

Councillor Jopling asked what support is provided to those leaving care who find they cannot cope with independent living. The Head of Children’s Social Care explained that every care leaver is assisted by a Young Person’s Adviser and they have access to a wide range of support and accommodation.  It is recognised that all young people are different and a plan is developed for each care leaver to identify exactly what support they need.  The service keeps in touch with all care leavers and  support continues up to the age of 25.  Where a care leaver is not able to live on their own, alternative living arrangements are explored, including supported lodgings and group living arrangements.

Councillor Considine referred to the Fostering to Adopt placements and asked if these had increased and she added that she was pleased to see progress of the Pause and Staying Close projects.  The Head of Children’s Social Care said the service is working closely with colleagues in housing to identify suitable properties to extend the Staying Close project.  With regard to Fostering to Adopt placements, four arrangements are in place, and, the Regional Adoption Agency, which is due to launch next year, will offer additional opportunities. 

Councillor Reed commented on the amount of work planned for the future and extended praise to the staff.  She spoke of those young people who, on reaching secondary school find it difficult to cope, refuse to engage and may go missing from school and asked what provisions are in place to assist young people experiencing difficulty, and, to assist schools to manage these issues.

Melanie Stubbs, Virtual School Head Teacher informed the Panel that there are a variety of service level agreements in place with therapeutic and educational health service professionals and schools are requested to alert the Virtual School as soon as issues occur.  On a positive note, there have been no permanent exclusions from the Virtual School since 2014 and only 2 children looked after had been discussed at Behaviour Panels throughout the county.  Support from the Full Circle is available to schools through a telephone helpline.  With regard to alternative provision, an inclusion base at Lanchester provides respite for young people experiencing difficulties.  The Virtual School head commented that young people looked after require a sense of belonging and the focus is to ensure that stability is maintained as much as possible. 

Councillor Tucker asked what steps are taken when a young person simply refuses to accept help offered.  The Virtual School Head explained that, as a former designated teacher, she never gives up on a child.  She emphasised that a young person must always have someone to turn to and that, in itself, sends a very important message.  When a young person refuses to engage, they strive to find a method that will work. On occasions, it is necessary to engage experts from the health needs team to assist and alternative provision will be investigated if all other methods of intervention have failed.  This year has seen the introduction of the Personal Education Plan caseworker remaining with the child throughout, in order to promote continuity. 

Councillor Tucker asked for information on what is done to ensure that children’s homes are located in suitable locations.  Claire Morris, Strategic Manager responded that close work is carried out with police, housing and planning to ensure that a potential location is suitable in terms of schools, the community, safety, and, importantly, the views of young people are also taken into account. 

Councillor Bainbridge asked whether additional funding had been accessed during the COVID-19 pandemic.  The Head of Children’s Social Care confirmed additional government funding had been obtained to provide support for adopters, kinship carers, special guardianship carers and for peer support opportunities, including a dedicated telephone helpline being set up.  A number of the funding streams are currently under review.

Councillor Smith drew members’ attention to the County Durham Plan, adopted at the Council meeting held on Wednesday 21 October, which includes clear guidance relating to planning decisions on appropriate sites for children’s residential homes.

The Chair thanked members and officers for the useful discussion.

Resolved:

That the report be received.