Introduction and Scene Setting (14:05)
Theresa Leavy, Executive Director Children
to set the scene of the meeting.
Minutes:
The Executive
Director for Children Services advised members that the number of “looked
after” children currently stood and 437. This was a clear indication of the
number of children coming into and existing the council’s care, were doing so
in a planned way and into permanency.
In response to
questions members were advised that:
·
There
were still significant challenges and pressures (in line with the rest of the
country) around the sufficiency of placements and the offer of “forever
homes”.
·
There
was still a steady interest of people coming forward to foster or adopt, but in
the last quarter there had been a decline in those applications.
·
In
response to a question, there was currently 68 young people in residential care
and 70 teenagers that children services would like to see move back to either
their families or into foster family care.
·
There
was an increased challenge in the south-west a gap in the provision for
children service.
Introduction and Scene Setting (17:05)
Theresa Leavy, Executive Director Children
to set the scene of the meeting.