Agenda item

This is an opportunity for members of Care In Action (CIA) and Care Leavers in Action (CLIA) to feedback on recent activity.

J (Care Leavers in Action) informed the Committee that he had been involved in speaking to Ofsted during their recent inspection of local authority children’s services in Brent. J had been asked about what services were available to care leavers and what could be improved, and care leavers had given some ideas of services they would like to see. One idea was subsidised driving lessons. The inspectors had been very friendly and spoke to each care leaver representative individually to understand the viewpoint of different types of care leavers. Another project that J had been involved in was around housing, looking at where care leavers could go to find information for accommodation when they became independent. They had made the suggestion that all services should be available in one place as a ‘one-stop shop’, and that it was important to ensure there were staff available who could communicate with people who had language barriers.

C (Care Leavers in Action) told the Committee about the trip that Care Leavers in Action (CLIA) had been preparing for, to see Wicked in the West End. CLIA had been on trips in the past, but it had been a while since the last one. CLIA would get the opportunity to meet the cast after the show and talk about inclusivity in the group, to look at ways to increase the membership of CLIA. The Committee heard that the work around building trusted relationships had been completed at the last CLIA session. That piece of work would be tracked to see its impact. One way this was being done was through a QR code on posters about building trusted relationships, where the reader could scan the code to be brought to a survey and feed back about the information on the poster. The group had also spoke about the national consultation and found it very interesting because the group had already been looking at ideas on a national scale, looking to other boroughs to see what they did.

The Chair thanked those present for their contributions and invited members of the Committee to ask questions to the CIA / CLIA representatives. The following questions were raised:

The Committee noted that the previous (2018) looked after children sub-judgement within the Ofsted inspection of children’s services had been rated ‘outstanding’ in comparison to the new rating of ‘good’. They asked what the members of CLIA felt had declined over the last few years to have reduced the Ofsted rating. C explained that Covid had a big impact on services everywhere. He felt there was a much more severe impact on care leavers, because many had reached the point where they lived alone, so when lockdown had been in effect care leavers’ mental health had took a decline as a result of loneliness and social isolation. C highlighted that healthy social interaction had a positive impact on mental health, and so it was difficult for care leavers without that. In addition, there had been a change in the office where, previously, care leavers had been able to drop in to say hello to staff from the LAC and care leaver team, and now they were no longer able to so. As a result, he felt that there was not anything in particular within the service that had declined, but that the service was going through an adjustment period where things had changed so quickly and drastically following Covid.

The Committee asked whether there was enough support from community organisations to support the ambitions of looked after children and care leavers. C felt it would be a good idea to further tap into different communities using community organisations as there were looked after children and care leavers from different ethnic backgrounds, religions and cultures and it was important that there was integration and recognition for those young people.

In noting the update from C about trying to get more members involved in CLIA, the Committee asked what had been done so far. C told the Committee that he had spoken to friends who were also care leavers in Brent to get them to come to CLIA, but it was difficult to get new people because it was a difficult concept to explain and because the group had involved the same people for the past 5-6 years. The Committee expressed that they were grateful to young people for their efforts in engaging peers to come along.

Nigel Chapman (Corporate Director Children and Young People, Brent Council) advised the Committee that they had been looking at the membership for CLIA, and were considering bringing together the 2 groups of CLIA and Brent Care Journeys, which Barnardo’s were currently running. The Council were also working with the Young Brent Foundation looking at a space to use as a long-term base for young people in care and care leavers. At the moment, Kelli Eboji (Head of LAC and Permanency, Brent Council) highlighted that she had secured the space in The Curve for children and young people to use.

The Committee thanked the representatives for the updates and RESOLVED:

That the updates by the representatives of Care in Action/Care Leavers in Action be noted.