Agenda item

In August 2014, following a far reaching and extensive review the Support for Care Leavers Task Group made a number of recommendations to support improved outcomes for care leavers.  The Task group considered 8 key lines of enquiry and heard evidence from a number of sources including young people.  This report and attached action plan (Appendix 1)  summarise progress against each recommendation.

Discussion:

The Director of Children and Adult Services and the Leaving Care Team Manager introduced the report which provided the Committee with a summary of the progress made against the recommendations.  It was explained that in the Council’s recent Ofsted inspection into Children’s Social Care, services for care leavers had been graded as ‘good’ and thanks for this were given to the Leaving Care Tam Manager and the Support for Care Leavers Task Group for its work and contribution.

Members of the Committee congratulated officers for the progress made and the achievements of the Leaving Care Service.  Members then raised the following points and questions, which included:

·           Your Choice in Medway – one Member alerted officers that an old version of the Your Choice in Medway Guide was still available on the website which detailed historic information and officers undertook to address this.

·           Mentoring scheme – in relation to recommendation 14, which related to the potential commissioning of a mentoring scheme, a member asked for more information on this being actioned.  Officers explained that this would still be explored and added that some young people had already indicated their interest in becoming mentors.

·           Care Leavers in education, employment or training (EET) – in response to a question about the gap between the percentage of care leavers in EET, which was 47%, and the target of 55%, officers explained that these figures related to a group of very vulnerable young people who were often very disadvantaged.  They added that if figures did not include care leavers who were young parents, in custody or able to claim Employment and Support Allowance due to illness, the figure would be around 70%. It was also commented that a number of Care Leavers had returned to the service and had gone on to university or college late, beyond the age of 21 and these young people were not included in the EET figures due to their age.

·           Care Leavers in custody – in response to a question about how care leavers in custody are supported, officers explained that their Personal Advisor visits them a minimum of once every eight weeks.  When they come towards the end of their custodial sentence, work was done to ensure a package of support was available.  The Leaving Care Service worked with the Princes Trust Talent Match Programme, which helps young people aged 18-24 who have been out of work for more than 12 months.  They also work to secure appropriate accommodation to ensure it is ready for their release.  The team were also working to improve communication and information sharing with the Probation Service to help with tracking young people.

·           Links with Care Leavers and Medway Youth Parliament (MYP) – in response to a question it was confirmed that Care Leavers had previously been members of MYP and MYP also had links with the Children in Care Council.  Officers added that there was also a Leaving Care Consultation Group, which was able to provide feedback and participate in shaping and improving the service.

Decision:

The Committee noted the report and thanked the Leaving Care Team Manager for her work in achieving the ‘good’ rating for services to care leavers in the recent Ofsted inspection.