Agenda item

RESOLVED:

1.1.         To approve Croydon’s Joint Children’s Social Care and Housing Protocol for Care Experienced Young People which underpins a new way of working to improve outcomes for young people.

1.2.         To note that the effectiveness of the new arrangements and measures of success will be reported through the Corporate Parenting Board and existing directorate performance management frameworks to ensure decisive actions are taken to address any issues.

The Executive Mayor considered the Joint Children’s Social Care and Housing Protocol for Care Experienced Young People.

The report highlighted the collaborative efforts between Housing and Children’s Services to establish an improved pathway that addressed these needs.

The Executive Mayor highlighted that the new approach would not only enable to effectively respond to the increasing demand but also improve the service offered by better addressing both the current and future housing and support needs of young individuals, by ensuring they reached their full potential to become independent confident adults.

The Deputy Mayor and Cabinet Member for Homes, Councillor Lynne Hale shared with Cabinet that the latest statistics had shown that the average aged for young people leaving home had increased to 23 years old, though the transition for care experienced young people was experienced at a much younger age with the accommodation provided below standard. This protocol offered an opportunity to do better to young people who were valued and cared for. As corporate parents, the council’s responsibility was to ensure care and thus the joint protocol was an opportunity to work together and build shared responsibility for supporting care leavers through a successful transition to adulthood. Further, to proactively identify care leavers at risk of homelessness and act to prevent it, in which the protocol provided a swift, safe, and integrated response for.

The Cabinet Member for Children and Young People, Councillor Maria Gatland shared with Cabinet that this protocol was the first big step for a whole council approach into bringing forward an improved pathway for care experienced young people transitioning from care into independence, highlighting that the housing provision was one of the challenges to provide a good standard for young people. Further, Cabinet heard that as the Chair of the Corporate Parenting Panel, the Panel Members had worked very hard to deliver the first Corporate Parenting Strategy for Croydon. Feedback from care experienced young people had highlighted the work the council was to remedy. Cabinet further heard of the local offer, and the joint housing and children social care panel which was to be established and meet regularly to ensure a clear pathway to secure accommodation for the young people.

The Shadow Cabinet Member for Children and Young People, Councillor Amy Foster, welcomed the emphasis that as corporate parents the council should want the best for Croydon’s looked after children, and raised a question relating to homelessness and why Croydon was unable to make an offer to care leavers similarly to neighbouring boroughs, to which the Cabinet Member for Children and Young People responded that  the local offer being made to care leavers were reviewed to be addressed.

The Shadow Cabinet Member for Homes, Councillor Chrishni Reshekaron welcomed the report and the proposed housing protocol and raised a question relating to the guarantee of specialist skilled support to ensure the best outcomes for some of the most vulnerable young people with complex needs.

The Executive Mayor responded that the protocols in place were to ensure better support for Croydon’s young people. The Deputy Mayor and Cabinet Member for Homes, Councillor Lynne Hale, added that part of the staffing restructure was to ensure that skilled workforce was in place to deliver services. 

The Executive Mayor in Cabinet RESOLVED:

1.1.         To approve Croydon’s Joint Children’s Social Care and Housing Protocol for Care Experienced Young People which underpins a new way of working to improve outcomes for young people.

1.2.         To note that the effectiveness of the new arrangements and measures of success will be reported through the Corporate Parenting Board and existing directorate performance management frameworks to ensure decisive actions are taken to address any issues