Meeting documents

To consider presentation from Jayne Shelbourne-Barrow, Strategic Manager CLA and Leaving Care –  Presentation (to follow)

Note: The Chair will be allowing 1 hour for this agenda item to allow time for discussion.

The Committee received a PowerPoint presentation from the Council’s Strategic Manager CLA and Leaving Care, Jayne Shelbourne-Barrow on the experience of younger children in care.

The presentation covered the following areas: -

-      what we are trying to achieve in Somerset – best outcomes for all children and keeping children in families where it is safe do so; for those children who do come into our care, achieving permanence at the earliest opportunity; as a Corporate Parent, we should always consider with partner agencies how we promote and enable children to achieve their full potential in life and ‘is this good enough for my child?;

-       what we know about younger children in our care and for the purposes of the presentation, looking at those under 8 years of age;

-      what we want to know more about / to better understand – including placement moves; blocks around Special Guardianship Orders for example;

-      what young children say about being looked after in Somerset - role of the new Participation and Development Officer; social work practice evaluations & assessment work to bring the child’s voice through

The Committee asked detailed questions and made comments, which were responded to by officers, as follows: -

-      would be useful to see similar data on children under 8 years from our statistical neighbours – happy to make contact with statistical neighbours / other good authorities for this information

-      delays in Court process mentioned – the Council’s Deputy Director  Children’s Services, Claire Winter said that it is a complicated picture and reflects the continuing impact of the pandemic on the volume of cases and pressures in Public law and also Private law; the number of Judges available; the volume of work for a limited pool of expert witnesses and the availability of court time. Officers, lawyers, CAFCASS and private practice lawyers  meet regularly with the Designated Family Judge for Somerset and all are working hard to reduce delays but the volume of work in the system makes this difficult.

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The Chair mentioned that the issue of tribunals and appeals relating to education had been raised by Councillor Munt at the Scrutiny Committee meeting on 27 January 2021 and had been asked to provide more information. It would be useful to see response provided by the Council’s Assistant Director and this be added to the work plan if necessary.

In conclusion the Chair thanked officers for the detailed presentation and made the plea that the Council is still looking for more foster carers and adoptive parents.

Agreed that the presentation be welcomed and noted.