Agenda for Corporate Parenting Board on Monday, 19th March, 2018, 2.30 pm

Agenda and minutes

Venue: Ground Floor Committee Room - Loxley House, Station Street, Nottingham, NG2 3NG. View directions

Contact: Phil Wye  Email: phil.wye@nottinghamcity.gov.uk

Items
No. Item

52.

Apologies for absence

Minutes:

Councillor Sue Johnson – other Council business

Councillor Ginny Klein – personal reasons

TM (foster carer representative)

53.

Declarations of Interests

Minutes:

None

54.

Minutes pdf icon PDF 231 KB

Minutes of the meeting held on 15 January 2018, to be confirmed.

Minutes:

The minutes of the meeting held on 15 January 2018 were agreed as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

55.

Reducing Offending Behaviour pdf icon PDF 303 KB

Report of the Director of Children’s Integrated Services

Minutes:

Natalie Pink, Nottingham Youth Offending Team Lead for Children in care, and Sam Flint, Children in Care Police Officer, introduced the report, highlighting the following:

 

(a)  for the year 2016/17 5% of children in care in Nottingham City, aged between 10-17, have received a Youth Caution, Youth Conditional Caution or conviction within a year. This figure has reduced continuously over 5 years;

(b)  a protocol aimed at reducing the criminalisation of children in care, embedding restorative justice and early intervention, was ratified by the Youth Offending Team Board in July 2017. A multi-agency training event is planned in March to launch this formally;

(c)  an Arrest Screening Programme has been devised to pro-actively divert children in care from prosecution where appropriate;

(d)  the Children in Care Police Officer chairs the Concerns Network meeting, a multi-agency forum which collates and distributes pieces of information where concerns for potential child sexual exploitation (CSE) have been identified. CSE awareness training has been provided to hotels;

The following points were raised during the discussion which followed:

 

(e)  the Council will be required to produce a local offer for care leavers, and this presents an opportunity to replicate the good work done for children in care;

(f)  CSE training is provided for taxi drivers, and completion of this is a condition for license renewal.

 

RESOLVED to

 

(1)  recognise the significance of the 5 year trend in reducing offending behaviour within the children in care population;

(2)  recognise the importance of sustaining the work of the Children in Care Police Officer to continue to improve outcomes for children in care;

(3)  recognise the further development of the Youth Offending Team Lead role, and the benefits of broadening its scope to the wider directorate;

(4)  note the continued drive for early identification and intervention in offending within the children in care population, to target resources and inform service development, and embed the use of restorative approaches to reduce the risk of offending across residential, semi-independent and foster care settings.

56.

Edge of Care Services pdf icon PDF 224 KB

Report of the Director of Children’s Integrated Services

Minutes:

Donna Stenton-Groves, Multi-Systemic Therapy (MST) Supervisor, and Mark Ball, Edge of Care Hub Manager, introduced the report updating the Board on the current menu of services provided at the edge of care to prevent family breakdown, and providing a brief overview of the effectiveness of these services in keeping families together and building resilience in order to avoid children coming into care. The following information was highlighted:

 

(a)  the Edge of Care Panel meet every Tuesday, and consists of members from the Edge of Care Hub, the Multi-Systemic Team, the Youth Offending Team, the Targeted Support Team, the police, NSPCC, housing, Child Adolescence Mental Health Services, Placement Services, and Safe Families for Children and Education. Up to 5 cases a week are presented to the Panel, where there is a risk of family breakdown and a service is required to help prevent this;

(b)  services that can intervene in these cases include the Targeted Family Support Team, who provide an emergency response to families at imminent risk of breakdown, Safe Families for Children, and Multi-Systemic Therapy (MST);

(c)  MST Standard has worked with a total of 165 families since 2013. Of these, only 17 young people have come into care. MST Child Abuse and Neglact (MSTCAN) is a service for families where children are subject to child protection plans or within public law outline. 104 children have been supported by MSTCAN. Of these, 33 have closed completely to Children’s Services;

(d)  the Edge of Care Hub (EOCH) began in November 2013 and provides intensive family support and therapeutic support to children for approximately 6-9 months, visiting 3-5 times a week. It specialises in working with pregnant or peri-natal women and families who present with multiple complex issues;

(e)  the EOCH has 4 years of evidence based practice that shows it has been successful in supporting children to remain at home where it is safe to do so, and addressing complex issues such as mental health, domestic violence and substance misuse.

 

RESOLVED to continue to invest in Edge of Care Services.

57.

The Response to Missing Children pdf icon PDF 238 KB

Report of the Director for Children’s Integrated Services

Minutes:

Rachael Osborne, CSE Coordinator and Missing Children’s Team Manager, introduced the report setting out the local arrangements in place to respond to children who go missing from home or care, highlighting the following:

 

(a)  children from all backgrounds go missing, but children in care are more likely than others. Children who go missing face an increased risk of significant harm, including being exposed to the risk of alcohol and drugs, criminal and sexual exploitation and trafficking;

(b)  the police no longer record children as absent, following changes to statutory guidance. These are now recorded as missing with medium/high risk. The City Council has maintained the same approach, which is to not differentiate according to the police risk levels;

(c)  in local arrangements, the Multi Agency Sexual Exploitation (MASE) Panel receives information about children who are at risk of sexual exploitation that go missing, and the police have recently employed a Missings Coordinator. Every month there is a meeting between the police and children’s social care staff to discuss those children that have been reported missing most frequently;

(d)  if a child goes missing on two or more occasions, is identified as being vulnerable, has been missing overnight or is under the age of 13, they are offered a return interview. These are carried out by somebody independent of the day to day care of the child. The Missing Children’s Team Manager  reviews and authorises all return interviews;

The following points were raised during the discussion which followed:

 

(e)  the police make the decision as to whether a missing child is at no apparent risk, medium risk or high risk. This is reviewed every 6 hours in light of any new information;

(f)  a number of children recorded as missing are reported by parents and then arrive home a short time afterwards;

(g)  when a return interview is conducted, the interviewer also speaks to the parents to address any concerns. They can also hand leaflets ad information to the children about risks.

 

RESOLVED to note the content of the report.

58.

Educational Attainment of Children in Care pdf icon PDF 265 KB

Report of the Director for Children’s Integrated Services

Minutes:

Jasmin Howell, Service Manager, Virtual School, introduced the report providing an update of the work of the Nottingham City Virtual School and detailing attainment in the 2016-17 academic year, highlighting the following:

 

(a)  the Virtual School is currently experiencing capacity issues within the team due to two vacant posts and a long-term absence, and is currently prioritising the monitoring of statutory school aged children in care over post 16 and early years children. It is expected that the vacant posts will be filled shortly;

(b)  over 70% of CiC are in schools judged by Ofsted to be good or outstanding. If a child is on roll at a school the requires improvement or is inadequate, then this usually happened after the child went on roll there;

(c)  the attainment of children in care has improved in most areas for the 2016-17 academic year, and has seen particularly strong improvements in Key Stage 4;

(d)  approximately 61% of looked after children have an up to date Personal Education Plan (PEP)

 

Board Members commented that they still have concerns about the number of CiC with an up to date PEP and were reassured that this is recognised as an area for improvement.

 

RESOLVED to

 

(1)  note the recent trends and current levels of educational attainment for Nottingham City’s children in care in comparison to the performance of all children in care nationally;

(2)  note the current work and interventions of the Virtual School to promote and support the educational achievement of Nottingham City looked after children;

(3)  approve the actions identified and developments necessary to improve and enhance the work of the Nottingham City Virtual School.

58a

Children in Care Council – 2017 Have Your Say Survey Results pdf icon PDF 275 KB

Report of the Director for Children’s Integrated Services

Minutes:

Jon Rea, Engagement and Participation Lead, and Steven Tuckwood, ‘Your Voice’ Care Leavers' Participation Group, introduced the report and delivered a presentation, highlighting the following:

 

(a)  questions in the survey were based on the commitments made by the Corporate Parenting Board in the Children in Care and Care Leavers’ Charter. The survey was perceptual including both qualitative and quantitative questions;

(b)  despite a communications exercise and changes to the way the survey is presented, the response rate to the survey remained low at 19%;

(c)  Children in Care (CiC) and Care Leavers (CLs) are generally happy that they are treated with respect, have time and help to understand their circumstances, have the right place to live, have a home life that is stable and safe and get the right support to be as healthy as possible;

(d)  CiC and CLs are generally, with some exceptions, aware of and know how to access advocacy and complaints processes, and are listened to in the planning for their care;

(e)  more needs to be done to avoid unnecessary change in the lives of CiC and CLs, and to ensure they receive the support they need with their pathway plans to facilitate transition into adulthood;

(f)  more needs to be done to ensure CiC and CLs receive the support they need to achieve in school and elsewhere;


The following points were raised during the discussion which followed:

(g)  the survey uses a simple grading system, along with optional text boxes. There is also a simplified version for under 8s with smiley faces. Support can be provided by social workers or foster carers, but children in care and care leavers are encouraged to complete the survey themselves. The survey was partially designed by the Children in Care Council;

(h)  there could be exploration of a shorter survey in addition to the full survey, possibly online. A new development called Mind of My Own (MOMO) has the potential to improve communication with CiC and CLs;

(i)  the percentage of younger respondents at ages 3-8 is higher than the average for older CiC and CLs;

(j)  despite the low response rate, the survey still provides a useful, consistent year-by-year overview of the views of CiC and CLs;

(k)  Charter Commitment 6 (We will help them to achieve at school and elsewhere to the very best of their ability) has been rated as amber/red, despite improvements in educational attainment. The young people have asked for a focus on this due to a small but serous issue around the right to privacy at school around their CiC or CL status.

 

RESOLVED to

 

(1)  use the findings from the survey results to inform relevant service and corporate action and business plans;

(2)  recognise the hard work done by the Children in Care Council and Your Voice (Care Leavers) groups in the planning and assessment of the Have Your Say survey, and acknowledge their role in the co-production of services across children’s social care;

(3)  implement the findings of the 2017 Have Your Say survey as appropriate.

59.

Forward Planner for the 2018/19 municipal year pdf icon PDF 242 KB

Minutes:

The forward planner was noted.