Agenda item

– Report of Mrs Jenny Whittle, Cabinet Member for Specialist Children’s Services and Andrew Ireland, Corporate Directorate for Families and Social Care)

(1)     Cabinetreceiveda report seekingapproval of a SufficiencyStrategyfortheCouncil. The adoption of a SufficiencyStrategy was required to evidencethatthe council was takingstepstofulfiltheSufficiencyDutywhichcameintoforce inApril2011and required LocalAuthoritiesto secure,asfarasreasonablypracticable,sufficient accommodationfor ChildreninCareand those children in needwho are atrisk of care or custody.

(2)     The Cabinet MemberforSpecialistChildren’sServicesMrs JennyWhittleintroduced the itemandinparticular referredto thefollowing, that:

(i)     KentCountyCouncil was currentlyresponsiblefor1800youngpeoplein care.  Owingto the numberofchildrenandthe level of supportthatmany of themrequired,thestrategy wouldimpact on a number ofCouncil Directorates and services.

(ii)  The sufficiencyduty, outlinedwithin the report,hadcome in toforce in April2011andrequired Local Authoritiesto secure,asfaras reasonably practicable,sufficientaccommodationforChildreninCareandthosechildren in needwho areat risk ofcareor custody.  Statutoryguidancestatedthat Local Authoritiesshouldmakeprovision for childrenincarethatallowed them to continue to live neartheirfamilyhome,maintaineducation or trainingin the same locality, whereappropriate, andtobeplacedwith siblings.  Inaddition thosechildrenor youngpeoplewith adisabilityshouldhave theirneedsmet. Whereit was safeto doso childrenshould remainwithin theiroriginal local authorityarea.  In particularthisfinalpoint of statutoryguidancehadbeenone which Kent CountyCouncil hadnot onlymademuchefforttoachieve but had alsocampaignedforother localauthoritiestoachieve.  Onecrucial factorin better meeting the requirementsof the duty was to recruit morefostercarers, but this remaineda challengeinlight of the competitionfromindependent agencies recruiting on behalfof over 30 authorities.

(iii)       It wouldbecrucialtomonitorthe success of the strategyin order that objectiveswere achievedandchanges couldbemadewherenecessary.  One of the criticalfactorstobemonitoredwouldbe the overall number of children in care aspart of the work towardsobtaining the right level andmix ofcare. Thiswouldleadnotonlyto areduction in thenumberofchildrenincare but also toa reduction in the length of time spentbyeachchildincare.Already, work done bytheCouncil had resulted inanincreaseinthe numberofchildren beingapprovedforadoption by the courts.The next challengewould beto securethe right number andmix ofadoptive parents in orderthat more childrencouldbeadoptedand morequickly.

(iv)               Workingwith otherorganisationsandothersectorswouldbecrucial to the successfuldeliveryofthe Strategy.Work hadalreadybegunwith the Child andAdolescent MentalHealthService (CAMHS)to ensurethatKent County Council couldsupportplacement stability with appropriate therapeutic provision for childrenwhohadsufferedneglectandabuse.

(v)   In addition, the projectedspendonindependentproviders of carewould be monitoredtoensure that bestvalueformoneywas achieved.The overall spend hadbeenincreasedinorder that,where appropriate,morechildren couldbe placednear to theirfamilyhome.Kent CountyCouncilhad committed to achieving placementswithin 10 miles,not20as legislation required.

(vi)               Thenumber of childrenenteringcareand leavingcare each month would be monitoredby geographicalareaandage.

(vii)   The strategyaimed to improvethe experienceofthose leavingcare at 18 byprovidingthe right supported livingplacementforeachyoungperson.

(viii)  The strategyaimed toeliminatetheuseofBed& Breakfast temporaryaccommodationfor16and17year olds presentingas homelessby working in partnershipwith DistrictCouncils to providebetteralternatives.

(ix)               Work wouldcontinue with the youngpeopleaffectedbythe strategyto establish what theirprioritieswere andcontinuedtobe.Inparticularwork to datehadidentified that youngpeople:

•        Regarded placement suitabilityandstabilityas important.

•        ExperienceddifficultieswhencontinuityofSocialWorkerprovision was broken, to thatend, as discussed atprevious meetings,work continuedto recruitpermanentsocial workers andencouragenewly qualifiedsocial workers to stayat Kent CountyCouncil.

•        Feltthatmoreeffortshouldbemadeto keepsiblings together inthe caresystemandwhere that was not possiblethatcontactbetween siblings shouldbepromotedandfacilitated.

•        Wereconcernedaboutthetransitionfromcare to independent living.  Stabilityat 16, or 18dependingon thechildinquestion,was crucial to the youngpersonsettlingsuccessfullyinto adult life.

         Youngpeople expresseda strongdesire to beconsultedatthistime andto influence what the Council didandhowitwas delivered.  Mrs Whittlebelieveditto bea positive development thatmany young peoplenowchaired theirown‘lookedafter reviews’.

(3)     Mrs Whittleconcluded;the strategy,sheremindedmembers,was extremely comprehensivewithwide-ranging impactsandgoals, ithadbeendebated at the AdultSocialcareandPublicHealth CabinetCommittee andanannual statement would beconsideredbythe Cabinet Committee andbyCabinet in 12 months’time. Thisstatementwouldprovide the opportunityfor members to consider those elementsofthe strategythat had producedthe best resultsand toidentifyareasfor improvement.

(4)     The Leader of theCouncil, Mr Paul Carterwelcomed the strategyand the opportunity for monitoring andcomment thattheannual statementwould provide.  He also requestedthat core measurablecomponentsofthe strategybeincludedinthe quarterlyperformancemonitoringreportsalreadyreceived by Cabinet.  Hefurther commentedthatforthe strategyto succeed,KentCountyCouncil wouldneed towork closely with Housingproviders in the Countyincludingthe DistrictCouncils.In particularhenoted therole that the HomesandCommunityAgencyandprojects

such asthe ‘Foyers’schemes would playin the provisionofsuitablepost16 accommodation,andpreventing youngpeoplestayingincarelonger thannecessary owingto the lack ofsuitableplacements.Importantly,theSufficiencyStrategy would need tolink in with the HousingStrategyadoptedbyKCCandsignedoff by all twelve Districts.

(5)     The Director of StrategicCommissioningforFamiliesand SocialCare, Mark Lobban addressedCabinet, he reminded members that althoughthe strategywas part of a statutoryrequirement it was alsovery goodcommissioning practice.In essence, it would amounttoanextremelydetailedneedsassessment that wouldmapcurrent provisionin order thatgaps in provisioncouldbeidentified andfedinto the strategy further.Inaddition,itwould allowthe Council to identifyareas whereworkwith partnersin the public andothersectorswas neededto improveservices to children and youngpeopleincare.

(6)     The Cabinet Memberfor Community, Mr MikeHill welcomedthe strategy,which he believed exposed theproblemsfacedbychildrenandyoungpeople, and those providingtheircare, excellently.  He particularlyreferred to the work currentlybeing undertaken by the SupportingPeopleProgramme relatedtoneedsassessmentand put forward the possibilityofcreatingsavingsandimprovingservicesbyenabling joint purchasingor provision by that programmeandKCCChildren’s Services.

(7)     The Cabinet MemberforSpecialistChildren’sServices, Mrs JennyWhittletookthe opportunityto respondto comments made, shespokeof the work of Foyers in Kent and thepossibilitythat‘crash pads’ mayberolled out acrossthecountyin order to giveyoungpeopletheopportunityto taketime outfrom difficultfamilysituations, to seek advice andtofinda positive wayforward, includingmediation with theirfamilies where appropriate.Instrumentalto thedeliveryofthiskindofwork wouldbethe monitoring of post16placements.Inthefuture the Council wouldreport the number of youngpeopleforwhom threeormoreplacementshadbrokendown and assess the reasonswhythismight have occurred.

(8)     The Leader askeda question regardingthe necessityandusefulnessof monitoring childrenandyoungpeopleplacedbyotherauthorities intoKentashehadrecently becomeaware thatalthough theprincipleauthoritymaintainedresponsibilityforthese youngpeoplethe authorityto which they were placedalsoinheritedsomelesser responsibilities.

(9)     In response MrsWhittlereportedthat monitoringof such youngpeoplewas currently difficultandthat talks with GreaterLondonauthoritiescontinued to tryto achieve better information sharing.  Inaddition inthe earlyautumna survey would be conductedbyKentwhichwouldincorporate those children placedhere byother authoritiesandtheadditional information collected wouldhelpthe council to investigatethis important areaof work further.However, shemaintainedthat the mosteffectivepath to effectivemanagement of this issuewas to influence the SufficiencyStrategiesofotherauthorities.