Agenda item

Matthew Chislett, Service Manager for Corporate Parenting

and Permanence, to report.

Members were informed of a decreasing number of children in care but an increase in asylum seeking children. Currently 41 unaccompanied children which will reach 67. Adoption 18% achieving permanence year to date.

 

Number of children with 3 placement moves or more is 7, significantly lower than national average. The timeliness of Initial Health Assessments remains an area of concern – they must be completed within 20 working days. Trying to improve performance with health colleagues. Some children placed out of area create complexity in achieving 20 working day deadline.

 

Areas of clarification raised by Councillors:

·       Unregulated placements- what are these?

·       Are we seeing more children placed out of area?

·       Number of unaccompanied children reside in Dorset

·       Number of Foster Carers resigning

·       Missing episodes

 

Unregulated placements – what are these?

Supported accommodation placements for children aged 16+ only who need support to live independently rather than care. Unregistered and Unregulated are different. In Dorset we have no children in Unregistered provision. We do have young people 16+ who live in Unregulated provision. Registered provision is regulated through Ofsted.

 

 

Cllr Wheller shared her concerns over Unregulated placements:

·       Would encounter the same group of 17/18 year olds in town centre in early hours while Cllr Wheller was a street pastor. 

·       A lot of asylum seekers where vaccines are not same standards to ours in UK e.g., diphtheria, polio, measles. We need to ensure our Children in Care asylum seekers are fully vaccinated. We need to take responsibility for this.

 

Dorset Council advised there is a robust framework for Quality Assurance of Unregulated placements. We have enhanced visiting for these children and produce a quarterly report to the Senior Leadership Team. Ofsted are planning to bring in new regulations for this cohort of providers. We have been working hard with these providers to adhere to these new regulations. The new regulations will clarify the distinction between care and support. The regulation regime will be proportionate. These providers will be able to provide more appropriate levels of support to our children. 

 

Are we seeing more children placed out of area?

Dorset Council advised the first port of call for children coming into care is always family. Some of our children could be placed out of area due to family living outside Dorset.  Dorset Council advised we want our children in Dorset wherever possible, but a number of our unaccompanied children prefer to be in an urban area – often closer to friends and family. We are looking at taking a different approach for our unaccompanied children.

 

Cllr Stella Jones – welcomed increasing diversity within Dorset.

 

How many unaccompanied children reside in Dorset?

Of our 47 young people all but 4 are placed outside of Dorset Council area. Sometimes it makes sense for these children to be placed out of county and remain in their current placement. They receive the same service as Dorset based children. All those unaccompanied children have the same access to resources.

 

Cllr Richard Biggs – not ideal these children are placed outside Dorset even though there are good reasons. It’s more costly, cannot give them the same support. We should aspire to encourage as many unaccompanied children as possible to be placed in Dorset. 33 young people living in unregulated placements is a high number, those in unregulated placements do not have 24-hour cover. We have a target of 10 for a reason.

 

Number of Foster Carers resigning

We are in a much better position in terms of what we’re presenting - much leaner. A lot of the Foster Carers who have resigned were not currently fostering for Dorset Council. We are concerned about numbers of Foster Carers. We do not have enough. We are all working to recruit more. Local Foster Carers are the best resource for our Children in Care. Paul Dempsey, Louise Drury and Gerry Connell met with around 50 carers last week, developing mockingbird programme, active recruitment, proposals to make Dorset Council a more attractive place to be a Foster Carer including support package and financial support. Any support from Corporate Parenting Board appreciated. Gerry Connell advised the board Dorset Council currently to have 9 mainstream fostering households in assessment and 21 Connected Carers in assessment, a lot of ongoing work.

 

Missing episodes

Missing episodes are often an indicator of other issues going on. Risk of Child Exploitation. We are working with our multi-Agency partners closely and using targeted youth workers to build relationships. We are also starting to map out the connections between different young people going missing and adults they are associating with. Weekly meetings to discuss this. Return Home interviews – independent person will visit young person. Work also undertaken alongside Registered Managers of other children’s homes to ensure that steps taken to locate the young person as any parent would take. The Harbour offering support to other providers. Much better understanding of risk to these young people and whether the child is absent or missing.

Cllr Andrew Parry – We need to understand the reasons for repeated missing episodes. Really good multi agency work taking place. Also, a difference between a young person returning home late and those who are missing.

 

Cllr Stella Jones – sometimes a child is just copying a ‘leader’. Are they told not to follow other children?

Louise Drury reassured members that return home interviews are undertaken to understand the causes of missing episodes. A lot of the time the young person will say they were just out with their friends or seeing family. Where we have those concerning relationships, we will engage with our partners to disrupt that activity. More young people tend to go missing in the summer.

 

Cllr Kerby – previously Dorset Police and Council used to share data on why people go missing. It was confirmed that this information can be accessed on dashboards.