Agenda item

To provide information to the Corporate Parenting Committee on the updated Brent Pledge for Children in Care.

Alice Weavers (Participation and Engagement Manager, Brent Council) introduced the report, which set out the revised Brent Pledge to children and young people in care. She advised that the Pledge set out what the Council wanted to achieve for children in care to ensure all young people received the same service and knew their rights. Empire 11-17 had looked at the existing pledge and provided feedback on what commitments should change, the design of the pledge, and asked for contact details to be included. As a result, every child’s social worker would now sign the pledge and provide their contact details to each child in care. The documentation would also include information about Empire.

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

The Committee commended the document, pleased that the language of the Pledge helped to give young people the words to advocate for themselves if they were not receiving what was set out in the Pledge. They felt the document was clear and concise and it was clear that children and young people had been involved in the revised Pledge and that the voice of the child was being reflected in what the Council did.

Noting that every social worker would be asked to sign the Pledge, the Committee asked how the service would ensure that, when new hires were appointed, they would understand the importance of the Pledge and sign the document. Kelli Eboji (Head of LAC and Permanency, Brent Council) advised that the Pledge and companion documents would be shared with new starters. Joint learning was captured in staff forums throughout the year where staff were kept refreshed on the Pledge and their obligations, and this would be a standing item in all staff forums.

In response to whether there was a way to monitor compliance with the signing of the Pledge and what questions young people were raising in relation to the Pledge, Kelli Eboji advised that there was no standard way of measuring that as it would form more qualitative data. The service would need to consider how some of that information could be captured as part of supervision and management oversight of cases, and ensure that managers were checking in with practitioners to understand that information. Palvinder Kudhail (Director of Early Help and Social Care, Brent Council) added that the service had a comprehensive audit programme and did themed audits periodically, such as educational outcomes and placement stability, all of which linked with the promises made to young people. There were also surveys and feedback forums, therefore she felt there were a number of ways to triangulate information to ensure the Pledge was being adhered to and taken seriously. Children in care also had annual meetings with their Independent Reviewing Officer (IRO) where the IRO checked the young person had received all of the information they needed.

As no further issues were raised, the Committee RESOLVED:

i)               To approve the proposed plan for changes to the Brent Pledge.

ii)              To approve the plan to co-produce an additional companion guide.

iii)             For all councillors, as corporate parents, to receive the Pledge to understand the Council’s commitments to children in care.