Agenda item

The Director of Children’s Care will be in attendance to present the Children’s Services Analysis Tool (ChAT) data.

**Owing to overlap in the reports for agenda items 5 and 6, the Board agreed to consider those items simultaneously.**

The Director of Children’s Care provided an update to the Board in respect of performance and Children in care.

The following matters were raised/ discussed:

·        Performance/ statistical information in relation to various areas, including the number of children currently in care; regional vs. national placements; children in care and permanency plans; and rates in respect of adoptions and resident orders.

·        The work being undertaken by dedicated staff to return children back into families; 31 children were currently being assessed.  Work was taking place with courts to progress orders, which  had been successful.

·        The importance of prevention work to deter young people entering care and the escalation of risk.

·        A Member referred to the reasons why care had ceased and queried what these were.  In response, the Director of Children’s Care advised that these would be clarified.

·        The number of children in care was reducing, but it was highlighted that the goal was simply not to reduce numbers; it was about ensuring the best interests of the child and returning them to families where it was safe and able to do so.  It was noted that a new team had recently been established to assist in supporting families and preventing entry to care.  A financial grant had been received from the DfE, which would help to facilitate the return to family work.  Consideration was given to the complexity of workloads and ensuring that the correct decisions were taken for children, from the outset.  Assessment work was completed over several months to achieve the most appropriate outcome for the child/ren; the processes involved in this work were outlined to the Board. 

·        In relation to children missing, the representative from Cleveland Police referred to a child inspection report/ assessment and explained that around 300 missing from home reports were received each month, with about one third of these being CLA (7% of those assessed were deemed high risk; nationally this figure was 12%).  Currently, 35% of overall children missing were classed as high risk.  The Board noted that the number of reports involving children missing from care homes had reduced; reference was made to strategies that had assisted with this, including following the Philomena Protocol.  The Executive Director of Children’s Care commented on the challenges experienced in terms of children missing and referred to the internal procedures and communications currently in place.  It was felt that it would be beneficial for strategic meetings between the police and the Local Authority to review processes and further develop links.  Representatives discussed the involvement of the National Advocacy Service; the role, structure and supporting of return home interviews; monthly reporting mechanisms; safeguarding; and reasons why children went missing. 

·        Young people Not in Education, Employment or Training (NEETs) and the support being provided by the work readiness team and the Employment Hub.  It was felt that the Care Ambassador role could be offered on an ongoing basis.        

·        A Member referred to page 24 of the agenda pack and the accommodation and homelessness statistics provided; some of the information was unknown.  In response, it was explained that the data sets did require further review.

·        A Member referred to Special Guardian Orders and queried the current position.  In response, the Board was advised that a large scale piece of work was taking place as part of the transformation programme.  Consideration was given to the work being carried out by individuals in caring for family members and the support that was being provided to them by the Local Authority.

·        A Member referred to page 18 of the agenda pack and commented on the importance of context when looking at the duration of placements.  The Director of Children’s Care indicated that, historically, permanency plans were not always progressed as wanted, however, these were now reviewed on a regular basis, with care planning meetings taking place.  Reference was made to work currently on-going, which focused on children’s homes, the duration of placements and long term planning.

·        A Member referred to external placements outside of Middlesbrough, which were currently at their lowest level since 2019.  It was queried whether the trajectory was decreasing.  In response, the Board was advised that this was difficult to confirm.  Work focused on making all attempts to keep children within Middlesbrough; care plans were being reviewed and the Family Placement Panel continued to operate.  It was felt that things were moving in the right direction.  It was indicated that a 20-mile boundary had been established in terms of allocating young people to care homes.  In response to a query, the Board heard that the number of young people in external placement varied between 72-77, dependent upon the children entering care and the number of foster carers available.

·        A Care Ambassador referred to the plans for the new children’s homes in Middlesbrough and queried whether, once in operation, feedback boxes could be installed to enable the young people to provide feedback.  In response, it was felt that this would be a positive initiative.

The Chair thanked the officer for the report and contributions to the meeting.

AGREED that:

1.     The Director of Children’s Care would seek clarification regarding the statistics and reasons as to why care sometimes ceased.

2.     The Director of Children’s Care would look to obtain further information regarding the ‘Accommodation types of 19-21 year olds’ statistics.

3.     The information, as presented, was noted.