Agenda item

The Head of Service will be in attendance to provide a presentation in relation to the service.

The Chair welcomed the Team Manager from the Fostering Team to the meeting, to provide the Board with an update on the dataset 2019-2020 (1 April 2019-31 March 2020) since the last meeting the figures were reported to the Board.

Number of Carers and placement

Quarter	Carers	Places
Annual Return –2019/20	141	267
Quarter 1	149	243
Quarter 2	159	263
Quarter 3
Quarter 4

Whilst the Team Manager advised that there had been a net increase in foster carers this had not equated to a direct increase in placements and this was due to a variety of reasons e.g lined to connected carer arrangements and those new to fostering. The service was undertaking a targeted recruitment campaign which was looking for foster carers of siblings.

Number of Carers by Primary Care Type

Primary Care Type:	2019/20	Quarter 1	Quarter 2	Quarter 3	Quarter 4
Long-Term	21	19	17
Short-Term	74	85	89
Fully Approved Connected Persons	27	33	38
Fostering to Adopt	1	1	1
Respite	18	11	11
Total:	141	149	156

The figures are based on the number on the children within the placement and the Board explained that there are a number of foster carers who have dual type e.g. registered to to be a short-term. Long – term or short-term/ respite. The number for short-term carers remained to be high as this was often when there were newly approved foster carers who registered for short-term to ensure fostered was the right path for them.

 In terms of fully approved connected persons, the numbers have increased in quester 2, however the Team Manger outlined that this number would be reported lower for quarter 3. This was a good step as it meant children were on their journey for their final permanency.

Number of Carer Approved

Approved Carers:	2019/20	Quarter 1	Quarter 2	Quarter 3	Quarter 4
Mainstream	22	5	5
Fully Approved Connected Persons	19	5	7
Total:	41	10	12

The Team Manager advised that the service was on target to increase for mainstream carers and in terms of fully approved connected persons, there was an increase in those going to family placement panel.

Number of Carers De-Registrations

De-Registrations	2019/20	Quarter 1	Quarter 2	Quarter 3	Quarter 4
Mainstream	16	2	0
Fully Approved Connected Persons	8	2	2
Total:	24	4	2

The Board were advised that typically, deregistration was when the fully approved connected persons had been granted an legal order, and in terms of mainstream, a foster carer is retiring and another is anticipated in Quarter 3 to move to an independent foster agency (Ifa).

Placements

Age Group:	2019/20	Quarter 1	Quarter 2	Quarter 3	Quarter 4
Number of Children	163	145	174
Number of vacant places	15	5	15
Number of not available places	54	55	56
Number of places used for Respite Care	35	16	16

The Service Manager outlined that in terms of In house provision this was a success story.

The Manager broke down the number of not available placements by the following data:

Not available reason:	2019/20	Quarter 1	Quarter 2	Quarter 3	Quarter 4
Carer taking a break/pending resignation	19	20	18
Needs of child currently in placement	26	26	29
Only available if sibling group placed	6	6	7
Used by CYP Staying Put after turning 18	3	3	2
Total:	54	55	56

There was a number of reasons behind these figures which were explained to the Board. Covid-19 had had an impact as the service focused on matching and ensuring children were placed with the right foster placement and the needs of the foster parents.

Further breakdown of the figures outlined:

Breakdown of Carers taking a break/pending resignation	Quarter 2
Personal / Health Reasons	7
Pending Resignation	2
Current Investigation – Standards of Care	2
Post Adoption	2
Fully Approved Connected Person’s – To be Closed	2
Update Assessment Required	3
Total:	18

In terms of recruitment:

Recruitment:	2019/20	Quarter 1	Quarter 2	Quarter 3	Quarter 4
Initial Enquiries	123	12	19 Stage 1 or stage 2 of assessment- this is exceptionally high.

The Board finally were presented with what’s working well. These were as follows:

•         The service have devised a more robust initial screening process that encourages greater dialogue with applicants early in the assessment process and we anticipate that this will reduce the number of initial home visits that do not progress to assessment.

•         The service have developed plans to streamline the initial enquiry process to reduce the time between initial enquiry and home visit.

•         A foster carer recruitment campaign is being delivered in December and staff have been encouraged to contribute to the planning and consultation with the marketing team.

•         We have recruited a team of Independent Social Workers to complete Form F assessments to ensure that we can meet the demand generated by the recruitment campaign.(recruitment campaign goes live in 01.21

•         There had been a reduction in requests for connected carer assessments due to the greater scrutiny on the range of placement options for children.

•         The service have been developing the Supported Lodgings Provision to ensure robust assessments of potential providers are completed and that subsequent supervision and monitoring of providers is in line with the expectations of mainstream foster carers

The Foster Carer in attendance made a comment in relation to the data and advised sometimes it can become misleading, and in response the Team Manager advised this would be taken into consideration when next reporting.  The Chair thanked the Team Manager for her presentation

AGREED-

·        That the information be noted