Agenda item

The committee considered the report of the Corporate Director for Children and Young People’s Service that provided Members with information in relation to the key findings and actions in response to Ofsted focussed visit in July 2021, a copy of which was circulated with the report (for copy of report, see file of minutes).

The Head of Children’s Social Care was in attendance to deliver a presentation that set out the key themes of the focussed Ofsted inspection which took place in July 2021. It also highlighted the services intention to build on strengths identified and any areas where actions were required (for copy of presentation, see file of minutes).

The Head of Service explained that focussed visits were part of the broader inspection framework for children’s services. A full inspection of Children’s Services took place in September 2019 and these full inspections were usually on a three year cycle and within this cycle every local authority can expect to get at least one focussed visit, which concentrate on specific areas of the service and in addition to this there is always an annual conversation between senior officers and Ofsted to discuss their current assessment of their services through a self evaluation.

The Head of Service advised that focussed visits were not graded judgements, but Ofsted provided a detailed letter which incorporates all their findings and any areas for improvement.

The presentation highlighted the key themes and the Head of Service informed members that the feedback from Ofsted was very positive. There were also areas identified where further work was needed such as young people who were in supported living arrangements that required a more thorough assessment of their needs prior to them moving. The service advised inspectors that there was a small number of children living with carers who didn’t meet fostering regulations but who had oversight from the court, and this was an area of work which the service and Ofsted agreed needed some improvement work.

The Service had informed Ofsted prior to the focussed visit that they had some placement sufficiency challenges, which was an issue both regionally and nationally. In order to meet the needs of some of our children and young people they needed to ensure they have sufficient and appropriate placements to meet their needs.

Councillor Reed thanked the officer for her presentation and indicated that she had worked for 10 years as a foster carer for children which was hard work but very rewarding. She indicated that she was successful in those 10 years due to the fantastic team of social workers behind her and was pleased that this had been highlighted by Ofsted.

Councillor Reed added that in her opinion it was better for children and young people who were looked after to be placed in foster care rather than in a children’s home and asked why the authority were considering opening children’s homes and from a financial point of view was it best to open more care homes or to look for more foster carers, as she believed children needed attachment. Councillor Reed said that she was aware that the county council had closed some of their children’s homes in the past and asked what was the thinking behind the U-turn.

The Head of Children’s Social Care thanked Councillor Reed for her comments that she would pass on to staff in the fostering team. She indicated that Councillor Reed was right for the vast majority of children living in a stable foster care placement either with their extended family or through a mainstream foster carer was absolutely what they would want for their children and was the best place in terms of their needs being met. The focus on recruiting new and additional foster carers to meet the needs of children was central to the sufficiency strategy. However, there were some young people usually older children whose experience of family life and sometimes living in foster care had been very traumatic for them and living in a children’s home was a better option for them in terms of meeting their needs. The number of children in care homes was a small percentage of children that the authority cared for and tended to be children with multiple and complex needs as a result of the trauma they had experienced.

County Durham still had two children’s care homes that were relatively large, these larger homes could potentially care for five children but often there was only four children in the home as a result of the needs of children. Going forward, the strategy was about looking for even smaller homes that would only have one of two children within them that reflected the needs of the children, and were carefully matched as they had recognised, they struggled to live alongside lots of other young people. The proposed homes would look and feel very different to historic care homes. Overall, the sufficiency Strategy looked to acknowledge there was a wide range of children in the service with a wide range of needs and therefore required a wide range of options to best meet the needs of each child in their care.

Councillor Gunn also thanked the Officer for her presentation and commented that children’s social care was one of the most challenging services with lots of layers and funding pressures on the service. She fully supported the opening of new Durham County Council children’s residential care homes where it was necessary, and that the officer had pointed out the rationale behind this. This could be done whilst they work with independent residential care provides which was excellent and felt it was a much better option for Durham County Council. She then referred to the action to respond to the quality of assessment for young people living in supported accommodation and the transition for young people in care was one of the key issues that they must address. She asked about working with commissioning colleagues to increase the number of choices for young people and how this was going to be done.

The Head of Children’s Social Care indicated that they had a wide range of providers who they worked with who provided high quality supported living options for some of the older young people where this meets their needs. They wanted to continue to develop this framework so that there was as much choice for young people who might want that option, with a particular focus on younger people who may have more complex needs, particular care leavers over the age of 18. The work undertaken with commissioning colleagues was understanding the needs of the cohort people and have as much choice and options as possible for young of people to be able to access.

Councillor Hunt referred to a recent Children In Care Council (CICC) awards ceremony ran by some of the young people who highlighted that they were not aware of the employability scheme in Durham County Council for children in care and asked if this could be looked at.

The Head of Children’s Social Care responded that this would continue to be part of the work that they do and there was a lot of information, but there was a lot going on for children and young people so was a conversation they needed to continue to have with them to make sure they were aware of some of the opportunities that the council offered to them. All young people had personal assistants if over 18 years, and if under the age of 18 than they would have a social worker who would work with them through their plans in terms of their future. A lot of young people get support from the likes of Durham Works who would help them think about opportunities, work placements, apprenticeships etc. The issues about communication and making sure everyone was aware of what was available to them were continued conversations that they were committed to having with children and young people. A lot of work had been done on the website in terms of care leaver offer over the last year that was easily accessible, they could direct young people to the website but there was nothing better than sitting alongside a young person and really helping them to think through what that might look like for them. She suggested that Members may want to look at opportunities for care leavers at a future meeting.

The Chair thanked the Head of Children’s Social Care for her report and presentation.

Resolved: That the report and presentation be noted.