Agenda item

Mrs Whittle gave an oral update on the following issues:-

The Children’s Services Improvement Plan is progressing with a number of issues:-

• Phase 1 improvements now need to become embedded.

• The focus of Phase 2 is to raise the quality of assessments, and will include workshops and audits.

• A recent meeting of the Staff Advisory Group had identified the need to get supervision right, and this is a key issue.  It is still the aim to increase the establishment of experienced social workers.

• There is still a need for more Adopters and Foster Carers in the areas where LAC are, which will help particularly with reducing the number of LAC from outside the Thanet area being placed there. A dedicated Adoption website is being developed, which will be launched at the County Show in July.

• The contract between the KCC and the Coram charity, to address issues round Adoption, is progressing, and the number of Adopters recruited has risen by 50% in the last year.

• Budget pressures in this area continue to grow, eg accommodation and education support needed for 16–18 year olds, and preventative services.

• The multi-disciplinary Trafficking Sub-group of the Kent Safeguarding Children Board is holding its third meeting on the same day as the POSC. It gives a very useful forum for partners such as the NHS, the Police and the UK Border Agency to highlight and discuss issues around trafficking and missing children. More than 3,000 episodes of a missing child have been recorded, but many children abscond repeatedly and so show up more than once in these figures. 

• The costs to the KCC of dealing with missing children in Kent, as well as the costs associated with the long-standing issue of LAC placed in Kent by other local authorities, should be brought to the attention of the Minister, and Mrs Whittle stated her intention to do this, adding her concern that even children placed within 20 miles of their home, to comply with the 20 mile protocol, are still too far from their family and social networks.

• At a recent meeting of the Dartford Local Children’s Board, Mrs Whittle had heard about some exciting new work being undertaken by a paediatrician.

2.         Mrs Whittle and Mr Ireland responded to comments and questions from Members, and the following points were highlighted:-

a)         the KCC follows the British Adoption and Fostering (BAAF) national guidelines but always welcomes external checks. Martin Narey’s report on Kent’s Adoption Services had recommended a streamlined process, and the Coram charity, in their work with the London Borough of Harrow, had successfully increased the number of Adopters from 200 to 400 and reduced the waiting time for placements to 6 months.  Coram’s expertise could also help address Members’ concern, previously aired by the Committee, that questions asked to prospective Adopters are sometimes irrelevant and unnecessarily intrusive. KCC’s Adoption website should include more emphasis of the rewards and support available to Adopters;

b)         assessing the correct age of UASC when they arrive in the county is a challenge as many do not have any documentary evidence of their age. Without supporting paperwork, there is always some scope for variation in judgements; 

c)         Mrs Whittle undertook to respond to a letter recently received from the Canterbury District Advisory Board of Children’s Centres about the rise in thresholds leading to an increase in the number of Tier 2 and Tier 3 cases which Centres are asked to deal with, and the resultant reduction in the time and resources left to devote to their other work.  She commented that more work is needed to identify the correct role for Children’s Centres and to ensure that the most vulnerable parents are getting the support they need.  A report on the work of Children’s Centres will be made to this Committee’s March meeting; and

d)         Members expressed concern that, when seeking Adoption placements for siblings, older children could be harder than their younger siblings to place, and the family could end up being split to find the best solutions for children of different ages.  Mr Ireland commented that such judgements are always difficult for social workers to have to make, and he undertook to look at a specific local case referred to him by a Member of this Committee.

3.         RESOLVED that the oral updates and the information given in response to comments and questions be noted, with thanks.

4.         The Chairman congratulated Mr Ireland on having ‘hit the ground running’ since taking on the post of Corporate Director of Families and Social Care in November.