Agenda and minutes

The committee is advised that the public may be excluded from meetings whenever it is likely in view of the nature of the proceedings that exempt information would be disclosed. Meetings of the Corporate Parenting Committee are attended by representatives of Care In Action (CIA), the council’s Children in Care Council. The committee is therefore recommended to exclude the press and public for the duration of the meeting,  as the attendance of CIA representatives necessitates the disclosure of the following category of exempt information, set out in the Local Government Act 1972:  - information which is likely to reveal the identity of an individual.

RESOLVED: that under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the duration of the meeting, on the grounds that the attendance of representatives from the council’s Children in Care council, necessitated the disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraph 2, Part 1 of Schedule 12A, as amended, of the Act, namely: Information which is likely to reveal the identity of an individual.

Apologies were received from Councillor Dixon, who was substituted by Councillor Kennelly.

Members are invited to declare at this stage of the meeting, any relevant disclosable pecuniary, personal or prejudicial interests in the items on this agenda.

None.

To approve the minutes of the previous meeting as a correct record.

None.

To consider any matters arising from the minutes of the previous meeting.

In relation to page 7 of the minutes where officers made a commitment to work with Public Health to improve vaccination rates for HPV immunisations and messaging around eligibility for children, the Committee asked for an update. Kelli Eboji (Head of LAC and Permanency, Brent Council) advised that officers had worked with Public Health at several different forums and meetings over the summer holidays around vaccination across the board for children, but this had not been specific to HPV. The LAC and Permanency Service Manager was working closely with Public Health currently around the way the service recorded and managed LAC immunisations. The Committee asked to receive an update specifically in relation to HPV immunisations for both boys and girls at the next meeting.

This is an opportunity for members of BCJ 2.0 to feedback on activity over the last quarter and facilitate discussion on issues pertinent to Brent children and young people with Members. This will include a progress update on co-produced work relating to our Bright Spots Action Plan.

The Chair welcomed representatives from Brent Care Journeys 2.0 (BCJ 2.0) to the meeting and invited them to provide updates from the group. Prior to hearing from each of the young people present, the Chair advised that this would be J’s final meeting with BCJ 2.0 and offered thanks for his involvement over the years. The Committee wished J well for the future.

K advised that she had recently worked with Nigel Chapman (Corporate Director for Children, Young People and Community Development, Brent Council) and Palvinder Kudhail (Director for Early Help and Social Care, Brent Council) to interview candidates for Heads of Service roles, which had been a great experience for those involved.

N updated the Committee on summer activities, advising members of the summer fun day that took place in August 2025 for foster carers, looked after children and care leavers. There had been a DJ, food and drink, gifts, a bouncy castle and a ball pit.

NA updated the Committee on the residential trip that BCJ 2.0 had taken and presented some pictures from the trip. Activities included a farm visit, axe throwing, and pedalo rides which the organisation running the residential had offered for free. 

S informed the Committee of the Ikea Day that BCJ 2.0 had undertaken following the Cabinet Member for Children, Young People and School’s lobbying for care packages. Those who had attended had been able to make suggestions to the care packages such as a laundry box, kitchen appliances, cutlery, crockery, towels, pillows and lights and the care packages included a living Bonsai tree. The Group presented a video of the day working with Ikea, which had included workshops where BCJ 2.0 learned more about the Company and its values. Following the day, Ikea was now looking to partner with Brent to provide jobs for care leavers, and NA highlighted that it seemed like a good place to work with good benefits.

The Group then made a presentation to the Committee outlining their wants to make BCJ 2.0 a success moving forward. Care leavers had come together across 5 workshops to design the BCJ 2.0 brand, with the aim to take control and ownership of their community, brand and identity. The group had brainstormed what their values were and what they wanted to stand for to create a name, logo and motto. Some of those values were around respect and feeling heard. The agreed name was currently ‘Empire Care Leavers’, and a logo  had been designed representing a building with ladders towards a flag to represent care leavers building something together and reaching their highest potential. The motto was ‘Empire believe in better’ which BCJ 2.0 hoped would give care leavers hope towards a bright future and empower each other.

In outlining the new brand, the Group highlighted the importance of having their own identity, but the need to also consider younger groups, so care leavers would work with younger children to co-design their own brand and ideas that would link and co-align  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

To provide an update to the Council’s Corporate Parenting Committee about the London Protocol on Reducing Criminalisation of Looked After Children and Care Leavers (The Protocol hereafter), published in March 2021. Previous reports have been presented to the Corporate Parenting Committee in April 2019, January 2022, and February 2024.

Afzal Ahmed (Service Manager, LAC and Permanency, Brent Council) introduced the report which updated the Committee on the London Protocol on Reducing Criminalisation of Looked After Children and Care Leavers, published in March 2021. In presenting the report, he highlighted the following key points: 

• This was a joint report between the LAC and Permanency Service and Early Help.
• Emphasis over the past several years had been on prevention, such as through the Covid-19 Pathfinder 3-year Preventative Programme for Overrepresented Children, the investment in trauma recovery by Early Help, and the MOPAC funded disproportionality project that ended in 2023 which funded a range of activities in Brent Family Wellbeing Centres that were co-designed by young people.
• Early Help was now running Turnaround, a project contributing to the decrease in LAC participation in the youth justice system, which would run until 2026.
• He had been involved in the Your Choice programme providing training in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) techniques to youth practitioners working with young people between 11-17 years old at risk of elevated harm. A total of 66 children and young people accessed the programme with 5 reoffending, only one of which was from the LAC cohort.
• Training for both services was delivered which had raised the need for clear protocols outlining when carers or key workers should make contact with the police. A grid system had been agreed and introduced to define when it was appropriate to call the police. The service now wanted to upskill providers to work with young people proactively before going to the police and give providers confidence in managing young people without police involvement. The intention was that every provider or commissioned service working with looked after children signed up to a protocol on this.
• In terms of the impact of the work, it was highlighted that, compared to the previous year, there had been a decrease in the number of care experienced young people involved in the youth justice system. This was attributed to effective partnership work, the preventative approach being taken, the work of the Exploitation, Violence and Vulnerability Panel (EVVP) and increased awareness of the protocol amongst practitioners.

The Chair thanked Afzal Ahmed for the introduction and invited contributions from the Committee, with the following points raised:

The Committee asked whether the London protocol was working as intended, and, if so, what impact it had in Brent. Afzal Ahmed replied that the protocol had emphasised the importance of working in partnership with other stakeholders, as the solution and responsibility did not sit with the local authority on its own and needed partners to make that difference. The people that the LAC and Permanency Service worked with daily, including foster carers and key workers,  needed to be upskilled in terms of their confidence in managing young people without police involvement through a child-focused approach.

Highlighting the reality that care experienced young people were more likely than others to experience the youth justice system, the Chair asked BCJ 2.0 to reflect on what they  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

To provide information to the Council’s Corporate Parenting Committee in relation to adoption performance, progress and activity of Adopt London West, and good outcomes being achieved for children.

Debbie Gabriel (Head of Service, Adopt London West) introduced the report which provided an update on the adoption performance data for the period 1 April 2025 to 30 September 2025, the progress, activity and outcomes of Adopt London West, and the Adopt London West Annual Report 2024-25. She advised that Adopt London West had approved 8 adopter households during the reporting period and had since approved a further 3, and had a target to approve more than 20 adopters by year end. Brent had placed 10 children the previous year which had been the highest for several years and, whilst the numbers were slower this year, Adopt London West was likely to place a few more by the end of Quarter 3.

The Chair thanked Debbie Gabriel for the updates and then invited comments and questions from Committee members with the following raised:

The Committee noted that the average time taken to place a child entering care had increased from 180 days the previous year to 208 days in the reporting period, and asked if there was any insight into why that was. Debbie Gabriel advised that the cohort size was small, so delays with only a few children, as a result of care proceedings or finding a placement for children with complex needs for example, could skew the average number of days. She advised that, when placing a child, the focus was about the particular child and their needs, and it was important to take the time to get that right. She added that the average number of days was still in line with the London average and only slightly outside of the national average.

The Committee asked whether it was easier to find people who wanted to adopt in London compared to other areas of the country. Debbie Gabriel confirmed that there was a steady stream of adopters coming to the attention of Adopt London West, which was not the case nationally and there were parts of the country struggling to attract adopters. The sufficiency issue had not yet affected London, but where Adopt London West were not able to place a child then there was a need to look across the country for adopters which caused delays. Two separate children had recently been placed in Devon. She added that Adopt London West would always place children with the best adopters for their particular needs.

The Committee asked about progress on the Black Adoption Project. Debbie Gabriel stated that the project had been busy with activity outlined in the annual report. There had been a need for some additional funding for a particular initiative which had now been secured and committed, and a Project Manager was leading on several workstreams for the project. A young people’s group was also up and running. Adopt London would be launching phase 2 of the project soon which included a Black Education Programme that young people had specifically asked for. She added that the ‘let’s talk about adoption’ group for Black  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

To provide information to the Corporate Parenting Committee about the general management of the in-house fostering service and how it is achieving good outcomes for children, in accordance with standard 25.7 of the Fostering National Minimum Standards (2011).

Tom Donovan (Service Manager, Looked After Children and Permanency, Brent Council) introduced the report, which provided information about the general management of the in-house fostering service and how it achieved good outcomes for children, including relevant performance data and updates on the functioning and progress of Foster Panel. In introducing the report, he highlighted the following key points:

• The service was focused simultaneously on recruitment and retention of foster carers to ensure Brent had as many foster carers as possible.
• The service had a duty to raise awareness of fostering and did that through a mixture of digital campaigning and outreach. A digital campaign would be launching that week to boost digital awareness raising and see whether that translated into interest.
• Enquiries had increased through Meta to Fostering West London, but the quality of applications through that route were not what the service would want, so there was a need to put more investment into search engines. It was noted that someone was more likely to be ready to foster if they were already doing their own research.
• Foster West London had launched a new application called Care Friends, which was helping people to refer their friends to fostering.
• The Fostering Recruitment Manager, Tee Malik, was supporting the fostering team to set up stalls in different areas to have a physical presence to promote fostering, and had done some promotion in Queen’s Park, libraries, schools, and GP surgeries.
• Good feedback was being received on the Mockingbird Project.
• An upcoming celebration was scheduled to show support for carers, and officers would use that opportunity to get marketing materials through photos and testimonials.
• The service had visited other local authorities to learn from them.

The Chair thanked Tom Donovan for the introduction and invited comments and questions from those present, with the following issues raised:

Noting that the report detailed the role of housing in foster carer application’s being rejected due to the lack of a spare room, the Committee asked how the housing crisis was impacting fostering. Tom Donovan confirmed that, nationally, the housing crisis and cost-of-living crisis was impacting fostering recruitment, which Foster West London had fed back to the previous Children’s Minister. Children were moving out of their parents’ houses much later meaning there were fewer spare rooms for a placement and people were retiring much later. He advised that the service was limited in what it could do to influence the housing crisis, but officers were being creative where possible. For example, when doing outreach work, officers raised the possibility of fostering very young babies if there was no spare room, or to install a fire-safe partition between two rooms. Children could also share bedrooms where they were placed with certain family members such as cousins so there was still energy and focus encouraging kinship placements. Kelli Eboji (Head of LAC and Permanency, Brent Council) added that, previously, if an applicant were in social housing, they could apply for another bedroom to foster, but that was no longer  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9.

Notice of items to be raised under this heading must be given in writing to the Deputy Director Democratic and Corporate Governance or their representative before the meeting in accordance with Standing Order 60.

Brent Care Journeys 2.0 advised the Committee that November marked Care Leavers Month and activities would be shared with members.