Agenda item

The purpose of this report is to provide information to the Council’s Corporate Parenting Committee about the general management of the in-house fostering service and how it is achieving good outcomes for children. This is in accordance with standard 25.7 of the Fostering National Minimum Standards (2011).

The report from the Strategic Director of Children and Young People provided information on the general management of the in-house fostering service and how it was achieving good outcomes for children, in accordance with standard 25.7 of the Fostering National Minimum Standards (2011). The report covered the second quarter of the reporting year and had as an appendix relevant statistical data from the previous reporting year to enable a comparison to be made against other West London boroughs. In introducing the report, Nigel Chapman (Head of Placements) highlighted the key points which included placement activity, efforts made to increase the number of in-house fostering placements and challenges in placing siblings together. Nigel Chapman advised members of a recent fostering promotion event directed at the Somali community, the Foster Carers Annual Conference earlier in the year which was well attended and the learning and development calendar which reflected a comprehensive training list. Discussions have taken place with a provider of Social Pedagogical training with the aim of improving local placement choice and stability. The service has also been working closely with west London boroughs to improve services jointly and develop a cross West London action plan which is being drafted.

In response to members’ enquiries on activities to raise awareness of fostering, Nigel Chapman drew attention to new publicity which had been updated to include pictures, musical references and the website had also been updated and now received an increased number of enquiries. Monitoring arrangements were seen to have improved with only two complaints. Nigel Chapman confirmed that foster carer reviews completed in the period had, on the whole, gone well and offered to provide a more detailed report to a future meeting. He confirmed that foster carers had to have attended training in order to be eligible for enhanced allowances. Members also questioned whether anything further could be done to increase the number of children placed close to home and whether there were any other communities on which promotional attention should be focussed. Nigel Chapman responded that advertisements were place in EU community press and this was felt to be sufficient for the present given their circumstances as new arrivals. It was hoped that more progress would be made with other communities of longer standing. Joint improvement initiative work was taking place with other boroughs. Nigel Chapman confirmed that decisions on placements were primarily based on the needs of the child and residential care was unlikely to be the first course of action.

In response to a question on the placement of sibling groups, Nigel Chapman responded that a number of foster carers were approved to look after more than one child. More were needed and efforts were being made to target those areas of the borough that already had larger accommodation. It was confirmed that house extensions were sometimes authorised for adoptive parents but not foster carers.

Members raised questions on the preparation for the transition to independent living and heard that training courses were available and young people’s readiness for independence was assessed. Each child would have a suitable plan in place from age 16 which identified what services and support would be put into place to support them to reach independence. This would include support from their social worker, Care in Action, their foster carer or semi- independent provider. Over the last three years the department has worked with Fixed for your Future (a Big Lottery programme) which provided mentoring and advice and support to care leavers.

RESOLVED:

that the Fostering Quarterly report for the period 1 July 2014 to 30 September 2014 be noted.