Agenda item

This report serves to update the Panel on our current cohort of looked after children, and the key issues of placement sufficiency, stability and permanence

Before the start of this item, Councillor Alisa Flemming left and Councillor Fitzpatrick assumed the Chair. Councillors Gatland and Henson left the meeting.

The Head of Service for Corporate Parenting explained it was a statutory requirement under the Children Act that the Council have a sufficient number of placements. This means that there had to be enough of the right kind of placements. The Council published a plan that sets out that the authority knows its children, their needs and could meet those through the right placements. The report included the updated plan which had been subject to consultation, scrutiny and sign-off.

The Commissioning Placements Project Manager described how this was a three year strategy with an annual update based on numbers as of 31 March 2018. There was a positive story to tell on sufficiency. The majority of Croydon’s foster carers were approved by the Council’s fostering service. There was a framework in place for the selection and approval of independent foster carer agencies. To support the management of foster carer recruitment a new contract had been put in place with Coram. Whilst the 232 Croydon registered foster carer households represented a healthy position the aim was to achieve an ongoing increase so that more Looked After Children could be placed locally. The target was an additional 30 households a year. This target was also to address the number of foster carers reaching retirement age.  The relationship with the external market was also described as good with 37 placements in children’s homes. This was a low percentage compared to other authorities.

Through the following discussion, it was identified that:

1.    It was hard to determine the precise number of new fosters carers required given this was influenced by the number of Looked After Children which could not be predicted;

2.    The conversion rate on enquiries to become foster carers in Croydon was 5%;

3.    Foster carer recruitment had been benchmarked against that of other authorities with 15 new foster carers the annual average;

4.    Croydon was hosting the South London Commissioning Programme. This was being set-up to jointly commission residential placements for all 10 of the boroughs involved. The Department for Education had provided £1m of innovation funding for the development. This aimed to support commissioning on a larger scale to get higher quality provision. However, placements would continue to be as local as possible dependent on needs. It was hoped this would decrease the use of independent agencies. The joint commissioning programme would provide the opportunity to be clearer with the market about placements need across South London;

5.    Croydon was fortunate to have a large, committed group of foster carers. Those were the reason why stability was such a feature of the Looked After Children offer;

6.    The target for foster carer recruitment also had to accommodate Looked After Children with complex needs;

7.    The way in which Coram was following-up initial expressions of interest would be checked to ensure that those were being dealt with adequately. It was noted that the contract includes mentoring and training for new foster carers and that the focus was on growing the skills of the service rather than simply replacing those that had retired. Given issues with the previous provider, there was a real focus on the quality of the service being provided by Coram;

8.    After two years, recruitment of foster carers would return in house. Part of the contract with Coram was therefore to support the development of the in-house service;

9.    Approximately 19% of Looked After Children were placed outside of the borough and potentially up to 20 miles away. However, in practice they could be significantly closer than this. Unfortunately, the statutory measure is crude. Placement outside of the borough had to be with the approval of the Director. Those placed in adjacent boroughs could be with the approval of the Head of Service for Corporate Parenting or the Director of Early Help and Children’s Social Care;

10. The 37 Looked After Children currently in residential care were being reviewed. The service was considering what provision for them would look like if they were placed in Croydon; was it possible for them to be in Croydon or at least a lot closer? It was emphasised that sometimes placements needed to be away from the borough for safety; and

11. Highlighted the importance of identifying the right placements for Looked After Children with complex issues. The difficulty of this was stressed. It was explained that the initial presentation may change and develop over time and that sufficiency of provision was about quality and not just numbers.

Having previously vacated the Chair, Councillor Alisa Flemming left the meeting towards the end of this item.

RESOLVED: the Corporate Parenting Panel resolved to:

1.    Agree the report and note the recommendations;

2.    Recommend the report on the 37 children placed in residential care be shared with the Corporate Parenting Panel; and

3.    Recommend further information on the work of the South London Commissioning Programme be shared with the Corporate Parenting Panel.