Issue - meetings

Background:

The purpose of this report was to provide a summary of the business and operations of Medway Fostering Service during the financial year 2024-2025. It included relevant data on the service's performance and activities, as well as updates on the functioning and progress of the Fostering Panel. Additionally, the report outlined the developments that had taken place in the Service throughout the year, as well as  planned initiatives for the upcoming 2025-2026 period.

The Council’s Fostering Service provided safe, regulated foster care placements for children in care and contributed to improving outcomes for the most vulnerable children. The key priority for the service was to ensure that all children who were in the care of Medway Council, whether the arrangement was short or long term would be cared for in loving, secure and stable families.

The report has previously been considered by the Children and Young People Overview and Scrutiny Committee on 7 August 2025, the comments of which were set out in section 7 of the report.

Reasons:

The National Minimum Standards for Fostering (2011) require that Fostering Agencies report the activity of the fostering service to its governing bodies.