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).

Onder Beter (Head of LAC and Permanency) introduced the Brent Fostering Service monitoring report for the period 1 July to 30 September 2018. Members’ heard that the number of Brent Looked After Children (LAC) within foster placements was 69 percent, an increase of five percent from the same reporting period of previous year. This was positive as it represented a reduction in the number of young people placed in semi-independent accommodation. Onder Beter further highlighted that the number of Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children (UASC) had fallen from 81 in September 2016 to 46 in September 2018. This reduction reflected both a more efficient way of working with UASC and a number of children turning 18 and leaving the care system. In concluding his introduction, Onder Beter drew the committee’s attention to the ‘new developments’ section of the report which included comment on the report ‘Foster Care in England’, published in February 2018 and the government’s response ‘Fostering Better Outcomes’  published in July 2018. The implications for Brent had been considered and the current service plan addressed the areas for which continued improvement was required to respond consistently to each of the ambitions set by the government.

The Chair thanked Onder Beter for his introduction to the report and welcomed Brent Foster Carers, Jose Silva, Julie Long and Samuel Abdullahi to the meeting. Members’ invited the Brent Foster Carers to share their experiences of fostering for Brent and sought particular feedback on the support and training provided by Brent. The committee heard that Brent was a good agency to work with and when issues arose, these were resolved with the help of supervising social workers and team managers. The foster carers expressed that the children they cared for were part of their families, a view shared by their birth children, and though there were challenges to be met, it was rewarding and enjoyable. The foster carers spoke on the importance of involving and consulting their birth children and emphasised that they weren’t just foster parents but rather they were all a foster family. They highlighted the significance of the relationships for their birth children and the challenges that this could pose. A suggestion was made that it would be helpful for birth children from fostering households to be able to meet other children and young people in the same position as themselves. In response to this proposal, Nigel Chapman confirmed that the Fostering Network did undertake work on this matter.

Discussing training, the foster carers stated that the training they received was good and always helpful. It was noted that it was not always easy to attend the training as they tended to be held during the day. Nigel Chapman advised that training could be accessed online and it was felt that there were sufficient training sessions held outside of the usual times. However, it was acknowledged that these arrangements would not be suitable for everyone. Onder Better further explained that this kind of feedback was essential as it meant that officers could identify particular households where more targeted training support could be provided via the supervising social workers. He further informed members that exit interviews were held for any foster carers leaving the service and these included a particular question on training, the information from which would be used to inform the Fostering Learning and Development service. In response to a query from the committee, Onder Beter advised that it was not possible to offer child care for all foster carers to attend training as this would be too costly, instead the training offer was designed to be flexible and further support could be provided directly via the supervising social workers. Gail Tolley explained the role of a nominated carer and advised that this would be an appropriate source of childcare.   In concluding the discussion, members expressed their thanks to the Brent Foster Carers for the care they provided to the children placed with them.

RESOLVED:

That Brent Foster Carers be invited to attend a further meeting of the Corporate Parenting Committee in a year’s time and that if appropriate, the invitation be extended to birth children living in a Brent Fostering Household.