Foreword
Our city's ambition is to be the Best City for Children and Young people to grow up in.
Read the full foreword from Councillor Venner, Tom Riordan and Sal Tariq
Our city's ambition is to be the Best City for Children and Young people to grow up in.
An important measure of this ambition will be in how well the city can support the children, young people and families facing the most challenges in life, and a first test should be how well we care for the children and young people in our care and those who have left that care to start their adult lives.
Leeds is a great city with enormous resources amongst its services, businesses, and communities and so there is no reason why we cannot provide these children and young people with the very best care and support, and why these children cannot have all the opportunities, happiness and success in life enjoyed by other children in the city.
In Leeds, as in the rest of the country, children looked after do less well in school than their peers and are more likely to suffer ill health, particularly poor mental health. Care Leavers are more likely than others to be out of work and learning and much less likely to go to college and university. Furthermore, this disadvantage persists, as adults with a history of care are more likely to have poorer outcomes throughout their later life.
If we are to make Leeds a truly Child Friendly City, we need to do more. We need to work together in new ways if we are to improve the lives of these children and young people. The Council has the main legal duty as 'corporate parent' for these children and young people, but it does this on behalf of the city as a whole. Council services like social workers can make a big difference but to truly make a change everyone needs to play a part, from foster carers to schools, and from doctors to neighbours and friends.
We want every child in our care or a young person leaving care to be seen as 'a Child of Leeds' – that everyone in the city can contribute in some way to making the lives of these children and young people better, to think as parents and to always ask – 'is this good enough for my child?'. We also want every child or young person to be able to achieve their full potential. This strategy sets out how, along with our partners, we are going to deliver that ambition for our children and young people.
- Cllr. Venner, Lead Member for Children and Families
- Tom Riordan, Chief Executive, Leeds City Council
- Sal Tariq, Director Children and Families Services
Introduction
Welcome to 'A Child of Leeds', the Leeds Corporate Parenting Strategy 2021-2024.
'Corporate Parenting is the term used to refer to the responsibility of the council, to provide the best possible care and protection for children and young people who are 'looked after'. At the core of this responsibility is the moral duty to provide the kind of support that any good parents would provide their own children. This includes enhancing the quality of life of looked after children as well as simply keeping them safe.'
- House of Commons Children, Schools and Family Committee March 2009
In February 2018 The Department for Education published Statutory Guidance for Local Authorities for applying Corporate Parenting Principles for children in their care and care leavers. As corporate parents, elected members and council officers have a statutory responsibility for the wellbeing of children in care. Elected members play a large part in holding officers and partners to account as well as being proactive in the corporate parenting role themselves.
This Corporate Parenting strategy describes how the local authority and its partners, such as housing, health services, Police and schools, act as 'responsible parents' to children and young people living within their care. Effective corporate parenting requires everyone involved including elected members, officers, teachers, GP's etc. to recognise their role as corporate parents and understand what they can contribute to enable us be the best corporate parents we can be to all children and young people in our care.
When providing a service for our children and young people in care we should always challenge ourselves by asking, 'would this be good enough for my child?'.
It is our responsibility to make sure that children and young people for whom we are responsible feel safe and secure, have stability in their lives, and that they are supported to achieve their full potential and fulfil their ambitions and aspirations.
Our strategy demonstrates our Partnership's commitment to ensuring that the life chances of every child and young person in our care are improved in-line with their peers. This requires us all to be strong advocates to ensure their needs are met in the best way possible, and to prioritise access to our resources.
Our commitment to supporting our children in care is set out within our 'Promise' which details our commitment to children and young people in our care along with and with our Care Leavers 'promise' setting out our commitment to ongoing support.
We are accountable for the delivery of our plan to:
- Have a Voice Council (children looked after)
- Care Leavers Council
- Leeds Corporate Parenting Board
- Leeds Children and Families Scrutiny Board
Whilst set out as a three year strategy delivery will be supported through a series of live action plans that are driven within specific priority theme groups led by partners/officers and supported by elected member champions.
The strategic priorities in our strategy have been determined by both local and national priorities for children in care and care leavers and through consultation with children and young people. They are:
- Supporting engagement and achievement in education, training, and employment.
- Ensuring that our children in care and care leavers have stable homes and secure support.
- Listening and responding to the voice of our children, young people, and care leavers.
- Ensuring that our children, young people, and care leavers are healthy and are supported in the physical and emotional wellbeing.
- Developing a highly effective Care Leavers partnership.
- Supporting children and young people and care leavers to have fun and new experiences and develop their own interests.
The six key priorities are consistent with the Vision, Outcomes, Priorities and Obsessions set out within the
Leeds Children and Young People's Plan 2018 - 2023.
Achieving the ambition
We will achieve our ambitions through:
- Strong leadership and robust performance management.
- Maintaining the engagement and involvement of children, young people and care leavers in developing and implementing our strategy.
- Inclusive and effective partnership working across Leeds City Council with support from identified elected member champions to each priority theme.
Our promise to children and young people in care
We have a series of promises that we make to all young people in care. Find out what our promises are and how to let us know if we're not keeping them.
Our promise to children and young people in care.
The promise
We promise to:
- help and support you to stay safe and have a healthy lifestyle
- involve you in all decisions about your life
- have high aspirations for you and encourage you to reach your full potential
- support you throughout your education and to plan for the future
- listen and make sure you know what will happen next
- celebrate your achievements
- make sure you have lots of different people to support you
- help you have new experiences and develop your own interests
We developed these promises with the Have a Voice Council – a group of young people in care in Leeds who work to improve how we look after you.
Your social worker should have already shared the promise card with you and helped you to understand it. If they haven't done this or you want to know more, please ask them.
Let us know if we're keeping our promises
We want you to tell us how we're doing at keeping our promises to you. Let us know if:
- we have not kept any of our promises to you
- you're unhappy with the support we've given you
- someone has worked hard to support you and you think they should be recognised and praised
Share your experience of care with us, good or bad
As a first step, you should always speak to someone who can make a difference.
Tell your social worker, carer, or independent reviewing officer about how we have done - good or bad. If you think we have not kept our promises, this person could help you solve the problem.
If you want to take things further, you can message us on
Tell Us, We Care!
This message will go to senior leaders at our children and families' service. It is our job is to make sure you are supported, safe, healthy, happy and listened to.
The corporate parenting principles
In delivering our strategy we will ensure that the local authority and all our partners have regards when exercising their functions:
- To act in the best interests, and promote the physical and mental health and wellbeing, of those children and young people.
- To encourage those children and young people to express their views, wishes and feelings.
- To take into account the views, wishes and feelings of those children and young people.
- To help those children and young people gain access to, and make the best use of, services provided by the local authority and its relevant partners.
- To promote high aspirations, and seek to secure the best outcomes, for those children and young people.
- For those children and young people to be safe, and for stability in their home lives, relationships and education or work; and
- To prepare those children and young people for adulthood and independent living.
Corporate Parenting Oversight
Corporate Parenting is the term used to describe the responsibility of local authorities towards children and young people in care.
Corporate Parenting emphasises the collective responsibility of the local authority and its partners to achieve 'good parenting' for all children in care.
Corporate Parenting is not the sole responsibility of the children's social work services. It is the responsibility of the whole council, including councillors, our health service, and other partners.
'Good parenting' includes ensuring the child / young person's health, wellbeing, and safety as well as things like succeeding in school or other hobbies and interests based on their individual abilities and aspirations.
All Elected Members automatically hold Corporate Parenting Responsibilities. There are many different ways in which Elected Members can promote their Corporate Parenting responsibilities.
A summary of elected Members' Corporate Parenting responsibilities can be found towards the end of this strategy document
Governance Arrangements
The Corporate Parenting Board provides the strategic partnership to oversee and drive our arrangements for ensuring that children looked after by Leeds local authority, and those adults previously looked after, achieve the best possible outcomes. The board is made up of elected members, key service leaders and service providers including council officers and representatives from wider public services.
The Corporate Parenting Board provides a leadership role by championing the specific needs of children and young people who are, or have been, looked after by the local authority. It does this through working with all elected members, officers within the Council, with colleagues from partner agencies and with children and young people. This is done by overseeing the work undertaken in specific services to ensure a corporate approach is being taken from a range of Council departments and agencies and ensure that the services support children that are or have been looked after to have the full benefit of the widest possible resources to support successful outcomes.
Democratic Involvement and Accountability
The Corporate Parenting Board is able to refer matters for, and provide information to, the Children's Services Scrutiny Board. Minutes of the board will be available to the Children and Families Partnership (formed out of the Children and Families Trust Board and the Leeds Safeguarding Children Partnership) for review and action where needed.
Participation of Children and Young People
The voice of children and young people will be a consistent and influential feature of the Corporate Parenting Board. Participation will be steered through the Care Leavers Council and 'Have a Voice' Children in Care Council. The Corporate Parenting Board youth representatives (members of the Have a Voice Council and Care Leavers council aged 15+) will receive training and join the board as board members for three evening meetings a year. One of these meetings will be the annual takeover by the members of the Have a Voice Council and Care Leavers Council. The Head of Service will meet at least three times a year with both the Care Leavers Council and 'Have a Voice' Children in Care Council to share progress and discuss priorities.
Operational Delivery
In delivering the ambitions for our children looked after and care leavers set out within the strategy, a representative multi-agency delivery partnership, the 'Corporate Parenting Operational Group' is in place reporting directly to the Corporate Parenting board.
Each of the board's six priorities are led by senior officers from the relevant service area to oversee and drive improvements in respect of each individual lead area. These priority themes are then reported back to the Corporate Parenting Board in turn in a yearly cycle. The illustration in Figure 1 below sets out the process of reporting.
Corporate parenting training and awareness
To support effective governance and oversight from Corporate Parenting Board a programme of training in respect of responsibilities and understanding of children looked after and care leaver needs has been co-designed with our Voice and Influence team. The Head of Service for Children Looked After, Corporate Parenting and Youth Services is responsible to provide a programme of training across the partnership to board members.
Strategic Priority 1
Looking after learning: supporting engagement and achievement in education, training, and employment
Vision
Parents want their children to have the best start in life and to reach their full potential. Leeds is an ambitious city for all its children and young people and, like any good parent, has especially high aspirations for the children in our care.
Our vision is to ensure that all aspects of learning from early childhood development to preparation for adulthood and independence are a top priority for all those involved in the lives of our children and young people. We want to ensure they can learn and develop, attend, and engage, attain and achieve at every stage of their learning journey from their earliest years to school, to further and higher education and go on to benefit from the excellent opportunities for work experience, training, apprenticeships and employment in a city with a strong economy that's also vibrant, compassionate and caring.
As leaders responsible for ensuring that the local authority discharges its duty to promote the educational achievement of their looked-after children, the Chief Executive of the Council, the Lead Member for Children and Families and the Director of Children's Services will ensure that top priority is given to creating a culture of high educational aspirations for looked-after children and care leavers across the council and its partners.
What is the Challenge?
Although Leeds is not alone in the challenge of securing universally and consistently good outcomes linked to education, training and employment for our looked after young people and care leavers, Leeds does have a positive story to tell in many aspects of its services and provision impacting on a number of measures where our young people fare better than those looked after by other local authorities and in comparison, to national data sets.
There is a plethora of creative and innovative approaches to how we deliver our services and provide support, some of which have had national attention and recognition. Highlights include our LEAPlets 'readiness for school' programme, the work around reducing the criminalisation of looked after children (ROCLA) and the Youth Justice Service partnership with the Virtual School, the development of the Leeds City College 'Progression Champion' role supporting young people into post-16 provision, working in partnership with the Regional Adoption Agency to deliver the 'new' statutory duty for previously looked after children and Go Higher West Yorkshire's (GHWY) support for care leaver progression into higher education.
As for many local authorities, there remain some areas where we have not realised the outcomes we aspire to and the work of the corporate parenting board seeks to address these areas as we strive to be the best city for this most important group of children and young people.
Key challenges are:
- Children who attain well at the end of Key Stage 2 don't realise that potential in key stage 4
- Children with identified SEND do least well
- The link between well-being and learning: there is a strong correlation to poor outcomes for young people who have an elevated score in their strengths and difficulties questionnaire (SDQ – a scaling tool to measure young people's well-being) and those have not had a SDQ questionnaire completed
- Supporting positive, planned transitions in both care and education as they are so intrinsically linked
- Ensuring the voice of young people is clear and evident in personal education plans so they experience a sense of agency and investment in their learning journey
- Young people transitioning to care leaver status, adulthood and independence with secure EET outcomes and pathways that reflect their potential
What will we do?
All aspects of the statutory duty to promote the education of looked after children and care leavers will align to three priority corporate parenting principles: to promote high aspirations and seek to secure the best outcomes for children and young people; for children and young people to be safe, and for stability in their home lives, relationships and education or work; and to prepare those children and young people for adulthood and independent living.
All aspects of this work start with, and depend on, the knowledge and skills of the workforce in bringing our corporate parenting duties to life through practice. In addition, having a high quality and effective personal education plan (PEP) is the vehicle through which we deliver improved outcomes.
- Deliver a targeted training and CPD across all corporate parenting roles including members of the board, social care child protection and looked after teams, IROs, residential teams, care leaver services and personal advisers, foster carers and supervising social workers, kinship care and SGO teams, designated teachers and school governors and report to the board on the themes/content and the coverage and uptake.
- Continue to focus on the theme of 'transition': starting school in reception, moving to high school, moving into post-16, leaving statutory engagement in education, training and employment, leaving care, changing care placements and changing schools, leaving a secure children's home, returning to live with family etc.
- Build capacity and skills across schools and services by investing in intensive training and development in practice and provision around the impact of relational loss, trauma and attachment so that children's social, emotional and mental health needs can be identified and understood in the context of their care and education so that this is not a barrier to their attainment and progress.
- Develop a shared/multi-agency process for quality assuring PEPs, commensurate with an overview of the child's provision, where children have other significant vulnerabilities e.g., those at risk of criminal exploitation, those who are the highest attainers and at risk of not achieving their potential, those who have score highly on their SDQ or don't have an SDQ etc.
- Ensure that quality PEPs reflect the early identification of SEND and evidence the graduated approach, securing effective and inclusive practice in schools and settings.
- Ensure that SDQs and other measures of well-being inform quality PEPs to address the social, emotional and mental health needs of our young people.
- Ensure that quality PEPs reflect and celebrate the achievements of our young people and show how they are enjoying learning and having fun.
- Ensure that young people's voice is a quality measure in PEP completion.
- Strengthen the quality and visibility of careers education, information and guidance in PEPs at every age and stage.
- Harness the breadth of potential opportunities that could be offered by both the Council and the Child Friendly Ambassador partnership supporting work experience and employment for looked after children and care leavers.
What success will look like?
| Outcome Statement | Outcome Measure |
|---|
The Virtual School priority development plan and annual report | Existence of action plan |
Children will be making at least if not better than expected progress across the range of statutory measures | EYFS, KS2, 4 and 5 outcomes and measures of in-year progress |
Children Looked After will be attending and engaging in education, training, and employment from 3 - 18 | % CLA persistently absent % CLA with at least one FTEx % CLA and Care Leavers NEET in years 12 and 13 % CLA and Care Leavers participating in work experience |
All CLA will have access to a full-time school offer | No. of children on part time timetable No. children awaiting a school place |
All CLA on school roll within 20 days of a placement move that has been identified as being best placed to meet their needs | No. of children not on a school roll No. children in school/setting not appropriate to their needs |
CLA will attend schools that are Good or Outstanding or where not the case the school has been identified as being best placed to meet their needs | % children attending good or outstanding schools |
All children in care have a high-quality personal education plan and pathway plan that sets out how they will be supported to achieve their potential at every age and stage | % children aged 3-18 who have a PEP % of children who have a PEP completed within 20 working days of placement % children who have a quality pathway plan that reflects their goals and ambitions |
CLA and CL will be supported to access higher education opportunities Leeds will increase the number of care experienced students accessing higher education | No. of Care Leavers accessing graduate and post graduate courses from 18-25 |
Children in care and care leavers will have their SEMH needs understood and addressed in their PEPs | % Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaires completed % PEPs with Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaires scores included |
Key Partners for this strategic priority are:
- Virtual School
- Schools
- SENSAP
- Social work – area teams and children Looked After Services
- Fostering, Kinship and Special Guardianship Order (SGO) Services
- Residential Services
- Care Leavers Service
- Independent Reviewing Officer (IRO) Service
Strategic Priority 2
Ensuring that our children in care and care leavers have stable homes and secure support
Vision
Leeds children will be supported to live within families. When they require local authority care, we will provide a range of fostering placements to meet children's needs and, where necessary provide, residential care placements suitable to meet the needs of children.
Leeds children will be cared for whenever possible within Leeds, minimising the need for external placements.
Changes in placements will be planned with children and will take place in a predictable and measured way.
What is the challenge?
The demands on Local Authorities in respect of ensuring that they have sufficient placements of the appropriate skill level is increasing with a national rise in the numbers of children in care. Increasing the ability of placements to cope with challenging behaviour and responding better to placements that are under pressure.
What more can we do/ what will we do:
- Complete our sufficiency analysis.
- Where we have known pressures (solo/ duo provision) – develop business case for the evolution of existing provision.
- Audit circumstances of children who have significant number of placement moves.
- Develop definition of fragile placements and process to respond.
- Develop a specific placement support offer (people, programmes, approach) and deploy to fragile placements.
What success will look like?
| Outcome Statement | Outcome Measure |
|---|
Children will be placed in stable placements | % of children with 3 or more placements % of children (aged under 16) looked after for at least 2.5 years in same placements for at least 2 years |
Children will be placed in Leeds (when this is suitable for their needs) | % of children placed 20 miles or over from home % of children placed outside of Leeds Number of foster placements available via Foster4Leeds |
We will respond effectively to placements at risk of breakdown | Clear definition of fragile placements Reduction in short notice placement moves Reduction in children with more than one placement Clear offer of support to fragile placements |
Children will be able to 'stay put' or 'stay close' to their placement on becoming a care leaver | % of young people staying put % young people staying close |
Increase the number of Local Authority foster carers | Enquiry to assessment to approval No. foster carers |
The Quality of care provided by our foster carers will equip our children to reach their full potential | No. of foster carers accessing training and progressing in levels of payment for skills. |
Key Partners for this strategic priority are:
- Health Services
- West Yorkshire Police
- Children's Commissioning Service
- Adults and Health Commissioning Service
- Children looked after social work teams
- Placements Team
- Foster Carers and Fostering Service
- Children's Residential Services
- LCC Housing
- Independent Placement Providers
Strategic Priority 3
Listening and responding to the voice of our children, young people, and care leavers
Vision
Children, young people, and care leavers are supported to express their views, wishes and feelings and that their views, wishes and feelings are taken into account when decisions are made that affect their lives. We will work in partnership with children, young people, and care leavers to ensure they have a voice and influence over the design, delivery and review of the services that are provided to them.
What is the challenge?
- To support staff to improve their skills and confidence in finding ways to help children, young people and care leavers express their views, wishes and feelings, and have an influence in decisions which affect their lives.
- To develop a range of approaches that enable children, young people, and care leavers to work in partnership with senior leaders and services to influence priorities, policy and practice.
What we will do
Through this priority we will ensure we provide advice, guidance and training for social care staff and develop a youth voice model that enables children, young people and care leavers to share their ideas, issues and experiences with decision makers and evidence how their views have influenced service improvement. Our approach will include:
- Work in partnership with managers and staff on voice and influence projects and provide advice and guidance to social care staff and external partners to enable the voice and influence of children, young people and care leavers to influence service improvement.
- Deliver Voice of the Child briefings for social care students and staff.
- Facilitate new Total Respect Training which will be delivered by care experienced young people for elected members, corporate parenting board and social care staff.
- Support members of the Care Leavers Council to deliver training for foster carers as part of the skills for foster programme.
- Train and support youth representatives to be members of the Corporate Parenting Board and facilitate an annual takeover by the Have a Voice Council and Care Leavers Council.
- Regular meetings between the Head of Children Looked After and the Have a Voice Council and Care Leavers Council and partnership projects developed with the Corporate Parenting Operational Leads.
- Supporting care experienced young people to participate in the recruitment and selection of senior social care staff and the commissioning panels of social care services.
- Develop a youth voice model with identified voice and influence leads in teams working directly with children and young people who are Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children or care leavers who are former UASC, children and young people and care leavers with SEND, care experienced parents, children, young people and care leavers who live out of area.
- Develop online surveys to be able to capture the direct feedback, views and experiences of looked after children and care leavers.
- Produce six monthly voice of the child in social care voice and influence reports which highlight key issues raised by young people and care leavers and demonstrate good practice from across the service. The reports will be shared with the corporate parenting board and include updates on promise issues raised and complaints made by children, young people and care leavers.
What success will look like?
| Outcome Statement | Outcome Measure |
|---|
Staff feel confident in supporting children, young people, and care leavers to express their views, wishes and feelings and are aware of what qualities and behaviours young people feel make a good social worker. | % of staff who feedback that they feel more confident in supporting CYP and care leavers to express their views wishes and feelings. (evaluation completed at end of training by participants collected annually) |
Children and young people have been given promise documentation by their social worker and the promise has been explained. | % children and young people who report that their current social worker has given them promise information and explained it to them. (IRO data collected quarterly) |
Children, young people and care leavers thoughts, wishes and feelings are central to their plans developed by services | % children and young people's plans that evidence that the child has been meaningfully involved in their development and review (IRO data collected quarterly) |
Priorities raised by young people and care leavers are included within corporate parenting operational group lead plans and leads work in partnership with Have a Voice Council and Care Leavers Council to improve services | Examples of how corporate parenting operational group leads are listening to the views and priorities of CYP and working in partnership with the Have a Voice Council and Care Leavers Council are evidenced in the six monthly voice and influence reports and from updates presented at Corporate Parenting Board by lead staff at themed meetings. |
Key Partners for this strategic priority are:
- HAV Council
- Care Leavers Council
- Leeds Childrens Rights
- Voice Influence and Change Team
- IRO Service
- Care Leavers Service
- Looked After Childrens Teams
- Virtual School
- CPOG priority Leads
- Residential service
Strategic Priority 4
Ensuring that our children, young people and care leavers are healthy and are supported in the physical and emotional wellbeing
Vision
We want our children to be happy and healthy both physically and emotionally, to be safe and protected from harm and exploitation. We want them to be supported to become successful independent adults who can thrive, manage their own health needs, seek support when needed and be able to achieve their potential in life.
What is the challenge?
Many of our children and young people who are in care or care experienced, have had a difficult start in life. Life expectancy and the likelihood of developing physical and mental health problems are strongly linked to experience. Where you live (type of housing), access to services and how you are treated – especially in the early part of your life, can amplify the risks of health inequalities. Children and young people who are care experienced are more likely to develop problems with their mental health and suffer health inequalities if they have faced one or more of the following, with risk increasing as more are experienced: the child young person is in the care system or care experienced; they are new to the country and asylum seekers; they have experienced trauma; they are excluded from school; they have special education needs; they live in poverty; or they have experienced the youth justice system.
The effect of poor physical and mental health and health inequalities impacts throughout people's lives. It is strongly linked to their ability to achieve and attain within education, their employment opportunities, and their earning potential and life chances.
What we will do
We will listen and involve our children and young people; they have been asked what the priorities for the Corporate Parenting Board should be (in 2021) and the number one priority was to support their physical and emotional health and wellbeing, and the second priority was for their voice to be heard and for them to be involved.
We will use evidence-based trauma and attachment informed services, to promote healing and support our children and young people to be able to cope with the pressures live brings. We will support children in care and care leavers to improve their health and wellbeing and will provide services of a high standard to support their needs including their physical, mental and sexual health. We will know this is being achieved when all our children have access to the health services they need.
We will continue to monitor outcomes that we know make a difference: - immunisations status, the percentage of completed SDQ's and if they are used to inform practice, GP Registrations timeliness of dental reviews and timeliness and quality of Health assessments.
What will success look like?
| Outcome Statement | Outcome Measure |
|---|
For children and young people in care to be supported to have improving emotional and mental health and wellbeing. Be assured that the SDQ is informing care, education planning and support for our children and young people as per guidance. | To have 100% SDQ completion. We will report on SDQ year on year scores to examine trends; and sample 20 children 10 medium and 10 high to be assured that SDQ's whilst being completed are also being used to inform care. |
Practitioners understand the health needs of unaccompanied asylum seekers and how to access specialist services. | Training to be provided to health professionals (e.g., GP's– targeting practices in areas that have higher UASC population.) This will be monitored by the CLA health and safeguarding subgroup thorough the service improvement plan |
Initial Health Needs Assessment to be completed as per statutory guidance (DfE 2015)
To ensure all relevant information is available to inform Initial Health Needs Assessments and subsequent Health Plans. | Consent to be provided by the appropriate social worker to the health team within 3 days of child / young person coming into care to enable health assessment to be completed within 20 working days. Social worker to attend 100% Initial health assessments. |
Care leavers have access to services that meet their needs. This to include mental and emotional health, sexual health, peri, and postnatal health care services. | All actions currently in development the following will be available and monitored as part of the services continuous action plan. Fast track for care leavers for sexual health to be in place. Health outreach workers to be available at the care leaver hub. C card scheme to be available at care leaver hub. Peri and Post-natal health provision to be available at care leaver hub. |
To have clear pathways of support available for looked after young people moving to adult services. Themes include: Mental Health, Transitional safeguarding and transitions for those young people who do not have a diagnosis and yet will continue to need support from social care (including FASD and addictions). - To have knowledge of current and potential future demand for mental health services.
- To be able to identify within the Looked After cohort those Young people aged 14-25 who are known to at least one mental health professional,
- To identify those Young people aged 14-25 who are not already known to a mental health professional but will need to use mental health services for the first time during this age range,
- To identify Young people aged 14-25 who also have a diagnosis of learning difficulties and/or disability, ADHD or Autism.
- To use this information to inform service provision.
| All actions currently in development the following will be available and monitored as part of the services continuous action plan. Young people aged 14-25 who are leaving care to have access to mental health services when needed. FASD diagnosis and support services to be available for children and young people in care and care leavers. Drug and alcohol services to be available. To monitor service provision annually with 2021 baseline. |
Key Partners for this strategic priority are:
- Designated Doctor
- Designated Nurse
- Children's Commissioning Lead - CCG
Strategic Priority 5
Developing a highly effective Care Leavers partnership
Vision
Young people will be successfully supported from care to independence with a high standard of care from a range of partners. Corporate parenting responsibilities will be understood by all Leeds City Council partners and the Care Leaver Offer will clearly lay out what support or service Care Leavers are entitled to.
The government report Keep on Caring 2016 identifies 5 key outcomes for young people leaving care as:
- All young people leaving care should be better prepared and supported to live independently.
- Improved access to education, employment, and training.
- Care leavers should experience stability in their lives and feel safe and secure.
- Improved access to health support.
- Care leavers should achieve financial stability.
What is the challenge?
Nationally, outcomes for care leavers remain much worse than for their counterparts in the general population, as an example; in 2015 only 14% of care leavers achieved A*-C grades in their GCSEs compared with 55% of the population and only 6% of care leavers were in university compared with 38% of the population. 25% of homeless people are care experienced and 46% of care leavers are estimated to have mental health support needs. Care Leavers are 4 times more likely to be involved in the criminal justice system and 25% of prisoners are care experienced.
Find out more in the Looked-after Children - The Silent Crisis publication.
In February 2018,
PA support for Care Leavers was extended from 21 to 25.
What we will do:
- Develop a Hub of services with partners to deliver a 'one stop shop' service for our care leavers.
- Ensure the Hub provides a range of socialisation and support opportunities as well as information, advice, and guidance.
- Ensure sufficient accommodation is available that meets the needs of young people through our partnerships with OWLs, Leeds Homes and through the development of a guarantor scheme.
- Develop a Care Leavers Housing policy with partners from Leeds Homes.
- Promote Staying Put for Children Looked After who are in foster care and reaching 18 and develop a Staying Close policy with the Leeds residential service.
- Create a multi-agency support service for Care Leavers who are planning a family or who already have children.
- Increase participation and engagement with Care Leavers to develop our partnerships.
- Develop our social media and website to communicate in a way that care leavers want and reach more people.
- The Care Leavers EET team (also known as the ESIF team as funded by the European Structural Investment Fund) will support all care leavers to access Education, Employment and Training and support their preparedness and long-term engagement.
What success will look like?
| Outcome Statement | Outcome Measure |
|---|
Care leavers are in touch and receiving services | 100% of care leavers in touch with their PA every 8 weeks |
Care leavers are supported to develop meaningful plans to help them prepare for the future | 100% care leavers with and up to date pathway plan |
Care leavers understand their Pathway Plans and find them useful | Feedback from young people at leaving care review and through Interactive File Audits |
Have somewhere safe to live after they leave care | 100% Care leavers in suitable accommodation |
Care leavers report they feel supported to achieve their personal goals | Pathway Plan reviews evidence good progress and pride at achieving personal goals |
Fewer children of Care Leavers have statutory social work involvement, fewer pre-birth assessments are undertaken. | - Mosaic reports to evidence a 'turn in the curve'.
- Care leavers voice group feedback experiences of positive support.
|
More Care Leavers are engaged in education or employment opportunities. | - Mosaic reports evidence a turn in the curve
- Pathway plans evidence progress and outcomes
- ESIF reports will evidence positive outcomes
|
Key Partners for this strategic priority are:
- Have a Voice Council
- Care leavers Council
- Children looked after and area social work teams
- Residential Services
- Fostering
- Employment and Skills Service
- Public Health / CCG
- Housing
- Third sector partners
- Corporate Business Partners
Priority 6
Support children and young people and care leavers to have fun and new experiences and develop their own interests
Vision
In line with Leeds' whole child friendly approach, and with our the 3As strategy, we not only want to improve Attendance and Attainment but also to ensure children and young people have the chance to Achieve and enjoy positive opportunities for development such as in sports and the arts to have fun and new experiences and to develop and pursue their own interests. This is echoed below:
'All children have the right to rest, play and take part in cultural and artistic activities'
- The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child
'Support children and young people and care leavers to have fun and new experiences and develop their own interests'
- Children and Care Leavers promise
'Having fun and things to do in a young person's spare time encourages social interactions, self-esteem and confidence. This also gives the young person a sense of "normal" and not being restricted to certain activities 'just because' they are in the care system'.
- Young Person - Corporate Parenting Board Strategy - Children and Young People's survey results
'Hobbies are so important as they build personality. They open up opportunities.'
- Young person - Independent Reviewing Service - Annual report 2020
What is the challenge?
One of the best bits about childhood is doing the things you enjoy outside of the classroom. Yet research suggests that children and young people from disadvantaged backgrounds never get the chance. As a result, they lose out on the benefits:
- Increased confidence which helps social interaction.
- Aspiration to go onto higher or further education.
- Soft skills and a sense of health and wellbeing and belonging.
In addition, extra-curricular activities are vital in developing networks which those from affluent backgrounds often have ready- made'.
Social Mobility Commission - An Unequal Playing Field: Extra-Curricular Activities, Soft Skills and Social Mobility (2019)
In addition: 'We found that different types of participation are valued differently by carers, representatives of corporate parents, and young people in care themselves.
Following this we found that the 'everyday participation' and preferences of young people in care are often overlooked. And yet our findings suggest that where facilitation is embedded and related to the everyday interests and activities of the young person there is an increased likelihood of engagement and participation leading to the established benefits of participation for wellbeing and personal development.'
Valuing Participation: The cultural and everyday activities of young people in care (2015)
Also: 'With regard to young people's health and happiness, many reported that engaging in physical activities made them feel healthy, gain fitness, allowed them to exercise and be active. These types of activities also offered a form of stress relief and were inherently relaxing and thus had an impact on their overall wellbeing. As expected, many also reported that being able to have fun and enjoy activities was vital and directly impacted their happiness. However, missing out on activities was reported by some to impact on both their health and their happiness.'
Leeds Beckett University - exploring the free time use of children looked after in Leeds (2015)
And lastly, the Leeds Independent Reviewing Service - Annual report 2020, highlighted the need to celebrate achievements in and out of school:
'The 2018/19 Annual Report was summarised and shared with representatives from the Have a Voice Council. Feedback from HAV members suggested that young people feel that, very often, their achievements, especially outside of school, are overlooked or not recognised.'
What will we do?
- Establish a cross service working group, to ensure a joined up and strategic approach to delivering Priority 6 -Support children and young people and care leavers to have fun and new experience develop their own interests.
- Use an OBA approach to develop an action plan and establish clear criteria for measuring success.
- Share and consult with the Have a Voice and Care Leavers Council on the action plan and desired outcomes.
- Share research and look to increase knowledge across services, around the value and importance of participation for care experienced young people, in order to influence strategy and inform thinking and practice.
- Identify and remove barriers to participation and engagement in leisure activity for care experienced young people.
- Ensure the specific challenges experienced by children and young people in residential settings are properly understood and addressed.
- Improve communication across services to ensure children and young people have access to a rich menu of opportunities and can pursue and develop their own interests.
- Promote the activities available in Leeds for children and young people with foster carers, independent visitors, teachers, and other professionals to increase awareness of opportunities and how they can be accessed.
- To help practitioners in the arts and sports sector to better understand the barriers and challenges for care experienced young people in accessing sport, leisure, and cultural activities in order to develop their practice and be effective advocates.
- To develop sector knowledge and understanding with this agenda, through the sharing of research, information, and good practice.
What will success look like?
| Outcome Statement | Outcome Measure |
|---|
- Increased engagement in sport and leisure activity for children and young people looked after and care leavers
- Ensure all care expensed children and young people have a Breeze card.
- Ensure all care experienced children and young people have a library card.
- Targeted projects/programmes to support participation and engagement.
- Increased opportunity for children and young people in residential settings to engage in regular activities.
- Evidence based and research informed models of best practice.
- All care experienced young people feel that their achievements, especially outside of school, are recognised and valued.
| This Priority will share joint outcomes measures across all priority group. |
Key Partners for this strategic priority are:
- Fostering Recruitment/Enrichment team
- ArtForms Music and Arts Service
- Leeds VIC and Enrichment Team
- Leeds Music Education Partnership
- Residential Service
- Leeds Cultural Education Partnership
- Foster Carer Association
- Breeze
- Looked After Team
- Active Leeds - Leeds City Council
- Care Leaver service
- Leeds Museums and Galleries
- IRO team
- Leeds Libraries
- Independent Visitor Scheme
- Go Higher West Yorkshire
- Have a Voice and Care leavers Council
- Leeds Arts University
- Virtual School
- Leeds Beckett University
- Youth Offer
- Max Card
- Health for All Leeds
Elected Members Corporate Parenting Responsibilities
All Elected Members automatically hold Corporate Parenting Responsibilities. There are many different ways in which Elected Members can promote their Corporate Parenting responsibilities.
Children's Social Work Services will support Elected Members in understanding their role as Corporate Parent through providing training sessions as a key part of the induction for all Councillors.
Effective Corporate Parents:
- Have a clear understanding and awareness of the issues for children looked after and care leavers in the authority area including those placed out of area
- Are able to ask questions and constructively challenge outcomes for children looked after and care leavers
- Have effective communication with children looked after and care leavers and their services
- Ensure that children and young people have a say in how decisions are made about the services that affect them and that they are able to influence those decisions positively
- Ensure that they are familiar with our 'Promise' and challenge whether the Council, as corporate parent, is keeping the promise
- Ask how all elements of council business and change have an impact for children looked after
- Make connections and links between council plans, strategies and decision-making impacting on children looked after and care leavers
- Consistently ask in decision making and meetings impacting on children looked after 'Would this be good enough for my own child?'
Whilst all elected members have corporate parenting responsibility, the tasks that need to be undertaken will differ according to the role(s) that individual members have taken on. The different levels of responsibility can be summarised as follows:
Universal Responsibility (Level 1)
All councillors must ask themselves:
- Do I understand why children need to be looked after, and the legal and policy framework that governs this?
- Am I aware of the governance arrangements for corporate parenting within my council?
- Do I know about the profile of the children looked after by the council – and the outcomes they are achieving compared with other local children?
- Can I be sure that we are providing the best care possible for our looked after children and care-leavers? Would it be good enough for my child?
- Am I aware of our local Promise to children looked after and how I can contribute towards fulfilling it?
- Does the council have a corporate parenting strategy and, if so, what are the key points?
- Am I taking responsibility for promoting the welfare of children looked after and care-leavers in all my work for the council – and in my other capacities?
- Are there any celebrations or other events that I can attend in order to demonstrate directly to children and young people in care that I want them to do well?
- Do I know what the most important issues are for our children looked after and care-leavers?
Targeted Responsibility (Level 2)
For councillors who undertake visits to children's homes, are part of the Children's Services Scrutiny arrangements and/or are members of the Corporate Parenting Board, their role will be more extensive. In addition to the above, they will need to ask themselves:
- Are the right structures and systems in place in order for my council to be an effective corporate parent, and are all the right partners involved?
- Am I up to date on current (and proposed) government expectations regarding the service to children looked after and care leavers?
- Do I have access to both qualitative and quantitative information on the service, and enough knowledge to understand and evaluate this information?
- Do I know how well my council is doing in comparison with other councils, and our own past performance?
- Are there sound mechanisms within my council for hearing and responding to the views of looked after children, care leavers and their parents/carers?
- Do I have a good picture of which needs we are meeting well and which we are failing to meet?
- Is there an action plan across the council and involving partner agencies to improve the service and to ensure it responds to changing needs?
- Do I know what our children looked after and care leavers think about the service we are providing?
Specialist Responsibility (Level 3)
Finally, there will be key roles where corporate parenting is at the heart of an individual's role. The Lead Member for Children, Young People and Families, Chair of Children's Scrutiny Board and the Chair of the Corporate Parenting Board will need to work closely with the Director of Children Services and Head of Service for Children Looked After, Corporate Parenting and Youth Services to ask themselves, in addition to the above:
- Are we providing both political and operational leadership in safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children looked after and care leavers?
- Are effective governance arrangements in place to implement any decisions regarding children looked after and care leavers across the authority and partner agencies?
- Have we undertaken an in-depth analysis of the needs of the council's care population and how far services are meeting those needs so as to inform future action?
- Is there a review process to ensure adaptation to changing needs?
- Have we made sure that the strategic plans of the children's services authority and joint plans with partner agencies meet the needs of looked after children and care leavers?
- Are we up to date with emerging research findings and new initiatives that should inform the direction of services?
- Do we have strong links with the Children in Care Council and does that body have all the support it needs to be effective?
Link Members to our Children's Homes
Within Leeds our children social work services provide a number of children's residential homes across the city which provide a mixture of specialist care in group living settings. All of our homes are registered with Ofsted as the regulatory body for providing children's residential care services and each have arrangements for independent scrutiny and oversight as required by regulations.
Our Corporate Parenting Board also has a function to oversee and support and champion our children's residential homes and of course the young people supported by them.
Our Board arrangements include for individual Elected Members, who are also Corporate Parenting Board members and children's champions, to be linked to our children's homes to provide support for our homes within their communities and provide a direct connection between our homes and corporate parents.
The role of link Elected Member includes maintaining contact through the registered manager of the home with the home and staff and children within it along with providing support within the community as necessary. The Head of Service for Children Looked After, also the Responsible Individual for the children's homes, will provide a single point of contact for all Elected Members who are corporate parenting link members to our homes and facilitate and support visits and ensure that information on inspections or critical incidents are shared appropriately.
Board members supporting Strategic Priority Themes
Within our Corporate Parenting Strategy, we have set out six priority themes that will provide a focus for services and partners to ensure that there is continuous effort to improve key outcomes for our children looked after and care leavers. Each priority theme will be led by a council officer or equivalent manager within a relevant partner and work to deliver the outcomes set out in our strategy. Our corporate parenting board arrangements include for the regular review, challenge, and support for these priorities, and this will also be supported through individual 'priority champion' board members.
The Corporate Parenting Board members 'priority champion' role will involve individual elected members from the Corporate Parenting Board working with the operational lead for their identified priority theme. The 'priority champion' will provide support and challenge on progress and support the operational lead in promoting the priority within relevant forums including committees, meetings, decision making forums and wider council and community events as relevant. The elected member priority champion will receive updates from the operational lead as agreed and prior to reports being presented to the corporate parenting board.
Officers
Officers have a crucial role to play in ensuring that services are developed and delivered to a high standard and that they inform Elected Members of the progress of the plan and any challenges that are being faced. They need to know about the children who are in our care and strive at all times to deliver the highest quality service. They are responsible for advising the panel and ensuring that any agreed actions are carried out as well as:
- Reporting to the Corporate Parenting Board on performance relating to children in care and care leavers.
- Reporting on information relating to fostering, adoption and small group home provision.
- Ensuring that Corporate Parenting Board has all relevant information to ensure that they can provide robust monitoring of services provided to children in care and make decisions based on the most up to date information.
The Head of Services for Children Looked After, Corporate Parenting and Youth Justice Services meets with both the Have a Voice Council and Care Leavers Council three times a year and will liaise with elected member champions to support reporting in each theme to the board.
