Venue: Ground Floor Committee Room - Loxley House, Station Street, Nottingham, NG2 3NG. View directions
Contact: Phil Wye Email: phil.wye@nottinghamcity.gov.uk
No. | Item |
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Appointment of Vice-Chair Minutes: RESOLVED to appoint Councillor Ginny Klein as Vice-Chair of the Board for the 2016/17 municipal year |
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Apologies for absence Minutes: Councillor Sue Johnson – unwell Councillor Ginny Klein – personal reasons
Gill Moy TM Kwesi Williams |
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Declarations of Interests Minutes: None. |
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Last meeting held on 21 March 2016 (for confirmation) Minutes: The minutes of the meeting held on 21 March 2016 were confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chair. |
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Report of the Director of Children’s Integrated Services Minutes: Kay Sutt, Service Manager, Residential and Targeted Support, introduced the report giving an overview of Regulation 44 visits to children’s homes and units run by Nottingham City Council. Kay highlighted the following:
(a)
Regulation 44 of The Children’s Home (England) Regulations
2015 requires monthly visits to be completed of all
children’s homes and units run by a local authority or
independent children’s home provider by a person not employed
at the home or directly responsible for it; (b)
written records are examined, with
particular reference to daily logs, significant events and
notifiable incidents including any complaints or compliments
received. Written or verbal consent from the child or young person
themselves, or parents/carers in the case of a child or young
person with complex disabilities where communication is not
possible, must be obtained; (c)
children or young people are also interviewed as well as parents,
relatives, other professionals and staff as the inspectors feel
necessary; (d)
the independent inspector will write a
report after a visit and form an opinion as to whether the children
or young people are effectively safeguarded and the conduct of the home promotes
children’s wellbeing. The report may make recommendations for
the registered manager to take in order to improve the general
running of the home; (e)
the inspectors on the Regulation 44 rota
are colleagues, professionals or volunteers. They are assessed to
see that they have the relevant experience, skills and
qualifications. Training takes place a few times a year on
standards and regulations and who to contact; (f)
Ofsted use Regulation 44 reports during their own inspections to
make sure that action plans have been addressed by the Registered
Manager and staff team; (g)
the reports in Nottingham describe the
homes as pleasant, clean, well maintained and nicely decorated with
a homely feel. Young people are very complimentary about the care
and support they receive, with very few complaints; (h)
young people’s access to education
and employment is improving. All of the children and young people
are offered relevant education packages and support with getting
into work or further education; (i) there are now 13 settled beds in 5 Children’s Homes including a 4 bed home for children and young people with complex needs and disabilities, 4 emergency beds and an increase from 16 to 18 semi-independence beds throughout the city. An increase in beds prevents children and young people from having to be settled outside the city;
The following answers were given in response to questions from the Board:
(j)
if a problem or suggested change is noted at one home, this can be
shared among the managers of all homes if deemed
relevant; (k)
the private, semi-independent homes must make their own
arrangements for Regulation 44 inspections; (l)
the homes are very regulated with monthly inspections, but they
generally enjoy the inspections as they understand that they
contribute to improving the service; (m)members of the Corporate
Parenting Board are encouraged to volunteer for quality assurance
visits of unregulated semi-independent homes for care
leavers; (n) the number of Children in Care that are in the criminal justice system has reduced. This is because police involvement is avoided where possible, with the Youth Offending Team and the Children in Care Police Officer working together. The Children in Care Police Officer has recently been commended for her successful work.
RESOLVED to
(1)
support continued involvement and recruitment of
relevant independent professionals undertaking Regulation 44
visits; (2) to involve members’ in quality assurance visits of unregulated semi-independent homes for care leavers. |
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Adoption and Permanency PDF 207 KB Report of the Director of Children’s Social Care Minutes: Sonia Cain, Service Manager Fostering and Adoption, introduced the report providing an overview of the child permanency performance of the Local Authority and the number of children placed for adoption and Special Guardianship. Sonia highlighted the following:
(a) adoption is a legal transfer to transfer all parental rights to a new parent, whereas a Special Guardianship is where the rights are shared. A Special Guardianship still makes the majority of decisions regarding a child but cannot do some things such as changing the child’s name;
(b) the government has directed that Local Authorities come together regionally for adoption services, and so by 2020 there will be a regional Est Midlands adoption service;
(c) the authority is currently home finding for 25 children. This can be very complex if there are sibling groups or children with complex needs. However, a recent success story is that a sibling group of 6 children was successfully adopted together;
(d) the government monitors the timescales for adoption, from when a child is taken into care to when an adoption order is made;
(e) 11 children’s plans for adoption were rescinded. The majority of these have remained with foster carers;
(f) Recruitment of adopters is going well, with 36 currently being assessed and lots of interest. Potential adopters are given photos and DVDs of the children and some children can have 3 or 4 parents interested in adopting them;
(g) there has been a national review of Special Guardianship Orders and there is now a clear expectation that the assessment of prospective Special Guardians is thorough and demonstrates the carer’s ability to parent the child;
The following points were made during the discussion which followed:
(h)
if a child’s plan changes, Nottingham waits longer than many
other local authorities to see if a suitable match can be found
before rescinding their adoption plan; (i)
the recent Queen’s speech had wide
ranging measures aimed at attracting more adopters and making the
adoption process quicker. The full details are not yet evident and
there is likely to be a time delay until measures come
in; (j)
when a child’s adoption plan is
rescinded this is a joint decision between the child and the
authority, with analysis of the prospect of finding a family. In
Nottingham the aim is to keep siblings together and place older
children even when this can be a challenge. This can be at odds
with government targets which tend to be for shorter
timescales; (k)
post adoption support is available for
adoptive parents, and allowances are paid for some more difficult
children. Adopters are also invited to activities and help can be
sought for those who are struggling financially; (l) regional working on adoption could be a challenge as different local authorities have differing ways of working, for example some tend towards long term fostering for children with additional needs rather than adoption.
RESOLVED to
(1)
note the performance to date in adoption and Special
Guardianship and the activities being undertaken to minimise
delays; (2)
present the Adoption and Permanency report to the Corporate Parenting Board in May in future
as this will enable the Adoption Leadership Board data to be
considered for the previous year and provide accurate data for the
year end to be collated; (3) request a report to a future meeting of the Board on measures from the Queen’s speech when they become more evident. |
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Performance Report (Q3 and Q4 2016/17) PDF 301 KB Minutes: Steve Comb, Head of Children in Care, presented the report providing the Board with the most up to date performance overview in relation to Children in Care and highlighting results from October 2015 to March 2016. Steve highlighted the following:
(a)
the overall number of children in care
is slightly lower than statistical neighbours. This is partially
due to lots of activity around supporting families to safely keep
their own children; (b)
the target for the number of children in care who have become
adopted or placed under a Special Guardianship Order has been
surpassed, however timeliness in completing adoptions remains a
challenge, in part due to the complexity of adoption
cases; (c)
the percentage of children in care that
have had three or more placement moves in 12 months is too high.
This is partially due to a larger number of Children in Care and
fewer foster carers; (d) the number of Children in Care with an up-to-date health assessment has reduced. There have been some problems with administrative capacity to ensure assessments are booked in a timely way;
RESOLVED to
(1)
note the performance against key indicators; (2) reassess the target for 15/16 on the percentage of care leavers in employment, education or training (17-21 years old). |
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Children in Care Council Verbal update Minutes: Jon Rea, Engagement and Participation Officer, gave a verbal update, highlighting the following:
(a)
three of the most experienced members of the Children in Care
Council have recently left, but some newer members may come to
Board meetings in future in their place; (b)
a recent meeting of the Children in Care Council discussed the
importance of networks with trusted adults for Children in Care, so
that they leave care with a strong network of adults; (c)
recruitment to the Council is always a
subject at meetings. Two new members will be attending the next
session. A new group has also been established for younger
children, aimed at 8-13 year olds; (d)
the Virtual School Board is looking for a new member, which could
be a current member of the Children in Care Council or somebody
new; (e) work is currently been undertaken to see how Children in Care can be better digitally enabled to contact social workers.
RESOLVED to note the update |
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Minutes: RESOLVED to note the forward plan |
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Future meeting dates 18 July 2016 19 September 2016 21 November 2016 23 January 2017 20 March 2017 Minutes: AGREED to meet at 2.30pm on the following dates:
18 July 2016 19 September 2016 21 November 2016 23 January 2017 20 March 2017 |