LEICESTER CITY COUNCIL
CHILDREN’S SOCIAL CARE
&
EARLY HELP DIVISION
LOOKED AFTER
CHILDREN'S HERITAGE
PANEL
INFORMATION PACK
May 2016
Page 1
Membership of Looked After Children's Heritage Panel
Looked After Children’s Service
Placements & Commissioning Team
Adoption Team
Fostering Team
Children & Family Support Team
Virtual School Team
CAMHS
Barnes Heath House YPRH
Dunblane Avenue YPRH
Tatlow Road YPRH
Netherhall Road YPRH
Wigston Lane YPRH
Persons From Abroad Team
Field Work Service
Contact Service
Advisers/Consultants/Occasional members
Service Manager (Placements) LAC
Service Manager Safeguarding Unit
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LOOKED AFTER CHILDREN’S HERITAGE PANEL
1.
Introduction
The Looked After Children’s Heritage Panel has been set up to promote positive
and relevant social work practice and resources in relation to meeting the needs
of Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) children and young people who are looked
after by the Local Authority.
Children who fall under the purview of the Panel are BME young people who are
cared for by the Local Authority’s own Young People’s Residential Homes
(YPRH’s) and Foster Placements; or commissioned by the Local Authority i.e.
external Residential and Foster Placements, and Secure Accommodation.
The focus of the Panel is to include consideration highlighted by the MacPherson
Inquiry Report, especially given institutional racism issues and meeting children’s
heritage needs from a Local Authority viewpoint. Information will be fed back via
the Extended Senior Management Team (ESMT) to promote resources, and to
inform future policy and planning in Children's Services.
2.
Aims
2.1
The Panel exists to help promote positive and relevant social work practice and
resources in relation to BME young people who are looked after by the Local
Authority, in accordance with the Local Authority’s Equal Opportunity Policy, the
Children Acts 1989 and 2004, the Service’s Equal Opportunities Action Plans
etc. This will include children and young people from newer communities to the
City.
2.2
The Panel will act to raise the awareness of the needs of BME children in receipt
of services and explore ways in which the Local Authority & partners can
respond more effectively and sensitively to those needs. By virtue of the
functioning of the Panel, it will also promote the need for a high level awareness
within Fostering, Residential and Social Work Teams, in the context of this field
of Social Work practice.
2.3
The Panel will provide a forum to ensure that the specific needs of BME young
people are promptly and specifically identified and recorded within the
Care/Action Plan. We would want any identified strengths/weaknesses to form
part of a planning, decision-making process in respect to the child’s future.
2.4
The Panel will systematically monitor the progress of Care/Action Plans, to
ensure that recommendations and decisions related to these specific issues are
comprehensively implemented. Panel decisions and recommendations will be
distributed to Team Managers, Key Workers and Supervising Social Workers
and Independent Reviewing Officers for use in supervision and should be fed
back into LAC Review Meetings and Team Meetings, as appropriate.
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2.5
The Panel will monitor the child’s progress and monitor carers’ accountability and
evaluation in line with best quality & value principles and Section 22(c) of the
Children Act 1989. The Panel will identify shortfalls in provision and make
recommendations as to how these might be met. They will communicate any
potential gaps in service provision as previously stated to the Extended Senior
Management Team, Social Workers, Key Workers and their Team Managers, as
appropriate, and pursue outcomes.
2.6
The Panel will act as a resource & information exchange in meeting the needs of
BME young people/children.
2.7
The Panel will contribute to the Service’s review processes. This will include a
statistical analysis of service-users and services provided. The report should
identify areas of progress and those requiring extra resources or development.
Such a review should take place on an annual basis.
3.
Constitution
3.1
It is proposed that the Panel should comprise of up to 15 members of staff.
Membership should include staff from a range of heritages with a variety of skills,
knowledge and values to promote diversity in culture, gender, disability, sexual
orientation and anti-discriminatory practice. The Panel members involved should
be from a variety of levels of service provision at the practitioner and up to senior
management level. Mike Evans, Service Manager, or another member of the
Extended Senior Management Team will usually chair the Panel.
3.2
It is important that Panel members feel motivated for the task, and that they are
enabled to attend meetings with a high degree of frequency. Consistency of the
Panel and development of a group identity is important if work is to be effective.
Similarly, when Panel members leave, immediate arrangements will be made for
a replacement.
3.3.
It is particularly important that staff who are not members of the Panel (and this
will be the vast majority) see themselves as having a relationship with the Panel.
Staff will need to contribute information, observations and ideas to the Panel in
order for it to develop, to essentially meet and achieve its aims and objectives. At
the same time, the Panel will be providing regular feedback and
recommendations, which should add to both personal and professional
knowledge and awareness of heritage issues. This is planned to increase ability
to provide a quality service to the BME children and young people who are
looked after.
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4.
Procedure
4.1
The Panel will meet on a monthly basis. It will target selected groups of BME
children and young people, who are looked after by the Local Authority for more
than one month, this includes young people who receive short breaks provided
by the Department.
4.2
It is accepted that the Looked After Children’s Heritage Panel will be unable to
review all the BME Children/Young People that are looked after by the
Department. Therefore, the Panel will seek to review up to 3 cases per month
with a selection of children/young people, from different settings, recognising the
diversity of their heritages. It is intended that this will serve to overview the
impact and the quality of service provision to BME children, who are looked after,
by the Authority. The purpose remains one of acknowledging good practice,
alongside monitoring areas for improvement, individually as well as
departmentally.
4.3
The Panel will review up to 3 cases (this will include sibling groups) per month
from various care settings provided by or on behalf of the Local Authority. This
will continue on a rolling programme and will be monitored and reviewed by
Panel members for efficiency and effectiveness.
4.4
The Keyworker, Supervising Social Worker / and Placing Social Worker to the
selected child/young person, will be given at least 1 month’s notice to attend the
Panel forum. Staff will be provided with a protocol of areas/issues considered at
the panel meeting. Relevant staff will provide a written and verbal report to Panel
members, covering the stated issues/areas as outlined within the protocol. (See
Section 5 p10-19). The presenting workers will be given the opportunity to
identify strengths and weaknesses met/unmet needs within the Local Authority
service provision to children who are looked after.
4.5
It is recognised that some children identified and reviewed within this Panel could
also be reviewed within other Heritage / Equality Panels, such as Children in
Need and Youth Offending.
4.6
The Panel, together with the presenting worker(s), will consider the services that
are being provided to the child/young person, under a number of subject
headings.
4.7
Recommendations will be recorded on the Panel Feedback Form (See Section 6
P 20-21), These recommendations are to be a tool for Social Workers/Key
Workers and Team Managers to be used within supervision, in planning and
meeting the child’s needs appropriately, now and in the future.
The
recommendations should be included in statutory meetings such as LAC
Reviews, Fostering Reviews, as relevant.
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4.8
The Social Worker will be invited to share views of other partner colleagues
within any Care Plan, such as Supervising Social Worker, Residential Key
Worker, Youth Offending Service, Children & Family Support Team, as well as
outside agencies if relevant.
4.9
The presenting worker(s) will be requested to complete a Questionnaire
regarding their experience of attending the Panel (See Section 7 P22-24). This is
for the purpose of monitoring and evaluating the Panel’s purpose and
effectiveness.
5.
Review
5.1
The process and outcomes of the Looked After Children’s Heritage Panel will be
subject to annual reviews. These will be undertaken to include a statistical
analysis compiled to evidence recommendations for policy, practice and
resource shortfalls within meeting the needs of BME children looked after by the
Local Authority.
6.
Overview Forum
6.1
The Equality & Heritage Overview Forum meets quarterly and is chaired by the
Service Manager, LAC (Placements) Services. The membership comprises all
the chairs of Black Cases Panels/Forums. This provides a platform for
consistency and discussion and a system to collate wider policy and
developmental issues arising from the different panels and feed it to the
Directorate.
LCC/ME/LAC
April 2016
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