Agenda and draft minutes

The Chair welcomed members and officers to the meeting and went through the evacuation procedure.

Apologies for Absence

Apologies for Absence

To receive any declarations of interest.

There were no declarations of interest received at this point in the meeting.

The minutes of the Corporate Parenting board held on 18 October 2022 were read and agreed as a true record.

The Board will provided with some information relating to the recent Ofsted visit.

Rachel Farnham, Director of Children’s Care provided the board with a brief summary of the recent Ofsted update.

The visit took place on 1^st and 2^nd November 2022, however the findings of the visit were currently embargoed and a full update would be provided the Board on 11 January 2023.

The Director did however state that the inspection went well and Ofsted agreed with the self-assessment score which was conducted by the Council.

AGREED

·         That the update be noted,

·         That a further update be submitted to the next Corporate Parenting Board on 11 January 2023.

Chief Inspector Deb Fenny, will present the Kingfisher report and discuss the request of becoming a corporate grandparent.

Item deferred.

Kathy Peacock, Voice and Influence Manager will be in attendance to provide an update to the Board. She will be joined by Adam Hart, CAMHS / HeadStart Apprentice and Xavier Davies, Apprentice Youth Training & Development Officer.

The Chair welcomed Kathy Peacock, Voice and Influence Manager and Adam Hart, CAMHS / HeadStart Business Administrator Apprentice who were in attendance to provide the standard item update relating to activities of our care experienced young people 19 October 2022-29 November 2022

Adam provided further information to the Board on activities over the last 6 weeks:

1.     24 October 2022, members of the children in care council (CICC) went for lunch.

2.     During care leavers week ( October half term), a number of Halloween themed events took place, including for example, apple bobbing, pumpkin carving and ‘ what’s in the box’. The young people were joined by senior decision makers and Pathway staff and presented with affirmation cards saying how proud they were of the young people.

3.     Get together meal at Fellinis.

4.     Our young CICC leader (Adam) who is part of the ‘Music producers’ (a collaboration with MusINC and the Participation Team put on their Town Hall take over on 30 October 2022. 85 young people attended included members of CICC.

5.     During the Jump 360 event, 23 looked after young people attended. As well as jumping and eating food, there was an engagement exercise where the young people were asked four questions, asked to help chose a new name of the children in care council, meet with an advisor from the National Youth Advocacy Service  (NYAS) and they told us what they would like for their Christmas party.

6.     The questions and key messages from the engagement event with shared with the board

The Board also heard about the activities that the care experienced people plan over the next few months, including:

1.     Help care leavers write their ‘local offer’ and create an animation (with help from Middlesbrough College students).

2.     Have a children party for children looked after – 22 December 2022

3.     Plan a care leavers celebration in March 2023.

4.     Support the care leavers Christmas day meal- by ensuring as many care leavers as possible attend and raising money through selling raffle tickets to provide presents and hampers for our care leavers.

5.     Arrange for Care experienced young people to meet their corporate parents prior to a Full Council meeting. A date will be arranged in due course.

After the presentation, Kathy requested that if any members would like to donate selection boxes for the young people to get in touch. Members might also like to get involved in the Christmas day meal and further details would be circulated in due course.

The Chair also advised that she had contacted Acklam Hall regarding the Christmas party for care experienced young people but sadly they were not forthcoming.

The officers were thanked for their presentation.

AGREED

That the update be noted.

Rachel Farnham, Director of Children’s care will present the scorecard.

Item deferred.

Victoria Banks, Virtual School Head will present the PROCLAIM initiative.

Victoria Banks, Virtual school Head was in attendance to provide Board members with a succinct overview of the PROCLAIM: Providing Rich Opportunities for Children who are Looked After in Middlesbrough. The model had been designed to improve practice within schools.

The Head provided information on PROCLAIM vision, mission and purpose and explained how the Local Authority will support schools to become ‘attachment aware and trauma-informed’ (AATI).

The Board were made aware that a wide body of research demonstrates that attachment aware and trauma-informed schools provide many short and long-term benefits to children and adults including for example:

• Lower rates of exclusions
• Higher attendance  
• Improved mental health and well-being for pupils and staff
• Improved rates of post 16 education, employment and training
• Reduced risks of criminalisation
• Reduced risks of substance reliance in later life

Some research even suggests that life span could be increased.  

The PROCLAIM initiative is expected to improve the lives and outcomes of all children in Middlesbrough, and will be of particular benefit to the most vulnerable.

The PROCLAIM initiative was a bespoke project designed specifically to meet the needs of children in Middlesbrough and to compliment other work being delivered in schools by partner agencies. The Board were made aware that no other local authority driven strategy is able to address the specific needs of children as set out in the document so comprehensively.

The Board heard that so far 10 schools has signed up to PROCLAIM and the PROCLAIM project aims to support all Middlesbrough schools to become attachment aware and trauma-informed by 2025.

A Board member enquired the length of time for a teacher to become trained in attachment aware and trauma-informed. In response, the Head advised it was like a journey. The project supports them, provides training, support groups and provides them with information on the 5 strands of PROCLAIM.

The board complimented the project and looked forward to further updated.

AGREED

That the information be noted.

Kay Dargue, Head of Service will provide the annual update with specific reference to children looked after.

The Chair welcomed Kay Dargue, Head of South Tees Justice Board to the meeting. The Head of service had provided a report to inform the Board of the annual update of the work of South Tees Youth Justice Service, with specific reference to children looked after.

The Head of service provided some context in relation to the South Tees Youth Justice board (STYJB), advising that the The Youth Justice Board (YJB) are clear that the justice system must see “children as children first, and offenders second”.

In line with the Child First vision, the YJB wants to make sure that children are not unnecessarily criminalised as a result of their vulnerabilities and the challenges they face. South Tees Youth Justice Service is aligned to the values of the YJB, and the ‘child first, offender second’ ethos has been used to inform the values and principles which underpin our work with young people and their families.

The Board were aware that the service was previously known at the South Tees Youth Offending service, however after consultation with young people, they felt this portrayed a negative image and therefore on 1 July 2022, it was launched under the new name of South Tees Youth Justice Board (STYJB).

STYJB have strong partnership arrangements with Children’s safeguarding services at strategic and operational levels and engage at a managerial level at a number of multi- agency forums designed to ensure the safety and well being of young people.

Reducing the number of Children who are Looked After in the criminal justice system is a key priority for STYJS. They seek to work proactively with those young people who experience significant vulnerabilities including children in local authority care. Their work with looked after children is in line with the National protocol on reducing unnecessary criminilisation of looked after children and care leavers 2018. The service works closely with the virtual schools and also the participation team to bring together skills and thoughts.

STYJB offer a range of additional activity for children who are looked after, including:

•               Work with Cleveland Police and Children’s Home staff to ensure those young people in Children’s Homes who offend have their offending behaviour addressed appropriately, including the use of restorative intervention as a solution to minimise prosecution

•               Ensure active STYJS attendance at all planning or strategy meetings for young people with Children looked after status

•               STYJS safeguarding case managers provide an essential link to Children’s Services teams in both Local Authorities as well as providing advice and guidance to colleagues on safeguarding issues and processes.

•               Ensure all Intervention Plans for Children looked after are shared with young people, their carers and colleagues from Children’s Services

•               Joint supervision arrangements between STYJS and Middlesbrough Children’s Services are in place offering the opportunity to share decision making and agree strategies to meet the needs of young people known to both services.

•               A working agreement between STYJS and Early Help is in place to ensure joint planning and supervision  ...  view the full minutes text for item 22/10

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