Agenda item

This report provides a summary update to members on progress and developments within Children’s Social Care and in specific relation to the wider service Improvement Plan.  This annual update is brought  to members of Overview and Scrutiny to support the committee in its role in reviewing and scrutinising performance of the Councils Children’s Social Care Services

Discussion:

The Assistant Director, Children’s Social Care introduced the report which updated the Committee on the progress and developments being made within Children’s Social Care Service and in specific relation to the wider service Improvement Plan.  The Assistant Director commented on the developments in multi-agency approaches to the service, the co-location of Children’s Social Care Staff and other agencies and new systems that have improved decision making and the effective operation and delivery of the service.  He also confirmed that the Council was currently undergoing an inspection by OFSTED into services for children in need of help and protection, children looked after and care leavers, as well as reviewing the Local Safeguarding Children Board.

Members then raised a number of points and questions including:

·           Voice of children, young people and their families – in response to a question as to what evidence there was to demonstrate that these views and experiences were gathered and used to inform improvements, officers confirmed that themed audits into case work demonstrated that the views of children and young people were being captured on a more frequent basis and there was a strong advocacy service and good representation from young people on the Children in Care Council and the Corporate Parenting Board.  In addition, the Medway Safeguarding Children Board (MSCB) had a routine item at its meetings relating to the voice of the child and this was achieved by attendance of children where appropriate but also video clips and other methods were used to capture the views of children who were less confident to share their views directly in meetings.  A shadow Children’s Board to the MSCB had also recently been set up.  There were therefore a number of mechanisms to hear views and experiences at an individual and strategic level.

·           Proactive work – in response to a question about how pro-active the service is, officers explained that the service was becoming very pro-active in relation to the targeted early intervention work being undertaken by the Integrated Family Support Service.

·           Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) – in relation to a concern raised about long waiting lists officers confirmed that members of the Children and Adults Directorate Management Team attended regular performance meetings with the provider of CAMHS and waiting lists and response times were improving.  There was also ongoing engagement with a wide group of providers offering emotional wellbeing support whom social care staff could access through the single point of access.  Work was also ongoing with colleagues in Public Health to investigate the possibility of School Nurses having a wider brief in relation to emotional health and wellbeing.

·           Numbers of children on Child Protection Plans – in response to a question as to why Medway had such a high number of children on Child Protection Plans officers explained that there had been a sharp rise in this number following the notice to improve due to more rigorous management oversight.  It was considered that staff were now making much better decisions and managing risk more appropriately and this had been validated by independent reviews that had taken place.  Additional investment had been made into the service to manage capacity and workloads.  With more early intervention services in place it was anticipated that the number of children on a Child Protection Plan in Medway would reduce over time.

·           Specialist co-located Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE) Investigation Unit – in response to a question as to whether this new multi-agency unit was now up and running officers confirmed it was and Medway had appointed two new members of staff to work directly in this unit but they were not due to start in these posts until October/November 2015.

·           Children who are unaccompanied asylum seekers, forced into marriage or subject to female genital mutation (FGM) – in response to concern raised about what Medway can do to prevent these issues and support those affected officers explained that because Medway was not a main port of entry it was not anticipated to receive many, if any, unaccompanied asylum seeking children. In relation to the latter two issues, officers explained that challenges relating to CSE, missing children and risk of radicalisation needed to be looked at collectively.  There was a multi-agency approach to these issues and specific targeted work was being undertaken within the early intervention part of the service.  Schools were also being trained in providing support and prevention.  There was also a role for Councillors in raising awareness of these issues.

·           Your Future Your Choice booklet – in response to a question as to how available this was officers confirmed that the Virtual School ensured that young people received this booklet along with support as they reach the appropriate age, as do social workers.  Officers also undertook to confirm the number of looked after children who attended the ‘Steps to Success’ event, which was run for those that are not in employment, education and training.

Decision:

The Committee noted the report, the progress made and the continued implementation of the Improvement Plan.