Agenda item

Report of the Head of Children’s Social Care

The Committee considered the report of the Head of Children’s Social Care that provided information about the Fostering Service and outcomes for children and young people looked after by Sefton Council, from 1st April 2016 to 31 March 2017. The purpose of the annual report was to inform the public, Elected Member’s, Partners and staff of the progress and developments in the Service during this period.

The report indicated that in 2016/17 the Fostering Service had continued to develop and improve practice to meet the needs of children and young people looked after by Sefton and address the requirements of national guidance and fostering standards.

The remit of the Fostering Service was highly circumscribed by legislation and regulations. The Children and Young Persons Act 2008 and the Fostering Services (England) Regulations 2011 were the primary sources of legislation that guided fostering practice, but the service also took account of other child care legislation such as the Care Planning, Placement and Case Review (England) Regulations 2010 and the Care Leavers (England) Regulation 2010.

When a child or young person became looked after, it was one of the most important and significant changes in their life and it was critical that the families who looked after these most vulnerable children/young people through foster care were the best they could be. Sefton Council wanted to create a fairer future for our most vulnerable children/young people and their families; the Council wanted every child/young person to grow up in a safe, stable and loving home. For those young children who could not remain or return home safely to their birth families, good quality foster care offered them the best opportunity to experience a warm and loving family environment while appropriate plans were made for their future.

The aim of the Fostering Service was to provide high quality care for children and young people in safe, secure and nurturing families by means of recruiting and developing highly skilled foster carers.

Sefton currently had 86 mainstream fostering households, comprised of 70 couples and 16 single carers, with a total capacity of 130 children placed in short-term and long-term placements. A number of these places were not currently available at the end of March 2017. This had been explored and a plan developed to make better use of the available capacity and to monitor this more regularly. There were 58 Connected persons / kinship households, 96 carers, 38 couples, and 20 single carers. Sefton foster carers carried out a good job in supporting children and young people who did not move placements frequently as a rule and they stayed with their carer(s) until either the outcome of care proceedings or when the care plan was for them to return to the care of birth parents.

The Sefton Fostering Service Annual report 2016-17 was attached to the report as an Appendix and detailed the activities during 2016 – 2017.

RESOLVED:

That the activity that has taken place in relation to fostering in the year 2016 -17 be noted.