LOOKED AFTER CHILDREN
PLACEMENT STRATEGY
2011 - 2014
Version Control
Version 26 Aug
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JOINT MESSAGE FROM PORTFOLIO HOLDER AND DIRECTOR
The Looked After Children (LAC) Placement Strategy provides an important
opportunity to continue work to improve services and outcomes for Looked
After Children. This is a key priority for us as ‘Corporate Parents’ to over 300
children and young people. This strategy supports and contributes to the
Calderdale ambition to be a place where we value everyone being different
and through our actions we demonstrate that everyone matters.
Looked After Children need all services to work together to meet their needs
and this can only be achieved when everyone understands and accepts their
responsibilities for this group of children and young people. We are committed
to ensuring that every Looked After Child has the best possible start in life, is
given help to achieve their potential and experiences safe and positive
parenting.
Insert SIGNATURES AND PICTURES
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Contents
Page
1. Background
1.1 Why we need a strategy
2. Introduction
2.1 What does a “looked after” child (LAC) mean?
3. Context
3.1 Becoming a Looked After Child – The Journey into Care
3.2 Continuum of Need
3.3 Model of Placements
3.4 What do we know about LAC in Calderdale?
3.5 What do we know about current placements
3.6 Cost of placements
3.7 Population changes/Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA)
3.8 Future demand predictions
4. What is our aspiration in Calderdale?
5. Key Principals
5.1 Support families to stay together
5.2 Manage risk confidently and support families on the edge of care
5.3 Provide and commission a flexible and affordable range of high
quality placements
5.4 Ensure all looked after children and young people get a good
education
5.5 Ensure that children and young people have clearly planned
journeys through their looked after years
6. What are the current issues we need to address?
7. Gaps in Provision – our Response
8. Future Threats
9. Future Opportunities
10. What we need to do – Fostering Service
11. Adoption Service
12. Areas For Development (Adoption Services) – what we need to do
13. Residential Care
14. Areas for development (Residential Care)
15. Care Leavers Service and Transition
16. The Strategy
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17. Early Intervention
18. How are we going to meet it and by when?
19. What will it cost?
20.
1. BACKGROUND
1.1 Why we need a strategy?
Children and young people looked after by their local authority rather than
their parents are amongst the most vulnerable groups in our society. As
corporate parents, it is our responsibility to keep them safe, make sure their
experiences in care are positive and improve their ongoing life chances.
This strategy describes the placements we want to provide and commission
for our Looked After Children and focuses on what arrangements are required
to improve the lives of the children and young people in our care.
Throughout this strategy the term ‘child’ will be used to describe any child or
young person aged between 0 -18 years.
2. INTRODUCTION
2.1 What does “looked after child” (LAC) mean?
The term ‘looked after’ is applied to a child for whom the Local Authority is
providing accommodation, either by a Court Order or in agreement with the
child’s parent or guardian (introduced by the Children Act 1989). Children with
disabilities who receive a regular series of short breaks are also classed as
looked after.
A child may become looked after as a result of temporary or permanent
problems facing their parents, as a result of abuse or neglect of the child,
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because there is no one with parental responsibility for the child or because of
the child needs additional support which their parents cannot provide.
The length of time a child will spend being “looked after” will depend upon the
child’s needs and the family circumstances. Parents continue to have
responsibility for their children while they are away from home. This
responsibility is shared with the Local Authority if the child is subject to a
voluntary arrangement and in some circumstances where there is a Care
Order.
Reference will be made throughout this document to the terms ‘child’ or
‘children’ as defined under the 1989 Children Act. Where reference is specific
the term young person or young people will be used.
3. CONTEXT
3.1 Becoming looked after – the journey into care
Every child living in Calderdale has the right to universal services however
some children and families require extra support for a period of time to solve
problems and prevent them from becoming worse.
Some children at risk of significant harm if targeted and specialist support is
not provided. These children may require a safe and secure place to live
because it is not safe or possible to live with their immediate family y or
extended family network. These children are accommodated by the Local
authority, using a range of placements including such options as foster carers,
residential home or adoption.
A child may become looked after as a result of temporary or permanent
problems facing parents. The children then become looked after and enter the
care of Calderdale council either through a Care Order, obtained through
court proceedings, or they become accommodated through a voluntary
agreement made between the child’s parents or Guardian and the council.
The reasons why children and young people enter care are varied and include
physical, sexual and emotional abuse, neglect or family breakdown.
Children and young people looked after are individuals, come from all walks of
life and have different aspirations, ambitions and cultural identities. Corporate
parenting is the term used for the collective responsibility of the council and
it’s partners to ensure safe, meaningful and effective protection of children
and young people in care. As corporate Parents elected members have the
responsibility for ensuring that the range and choice of placements is
sufficient to meet needs.
3.2 Continuum of Need
In Calderdale the council and its partners have adopted the Continuum of
Need framework which enables each agency to assess where families will be
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able to access services to best meet their needs. Central to the approach is
the strong focus on using universal, early intervention and prevention services
wherever possible and appropriate and only using heavy end more intensive
and sometimes more expensive specialist services when this is necessary.
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Central to the Continuum of Need framework is the recognition that it is better
for children and families to receive support services from within local universal
at an early enough stage before problems escalate. Additionally this is the
most cost effective way to deploy the limited resources that we have.
Interventions for looked after children can be viewed in terms of the
Continuum of need - Children looked after fall into the higher end intervention
category of the Continuum (levels 4- 5). A key feature of our approach as
commissioners is to manage demand for specialist services and ensure that
children receive the care required linked to the best possible outcomes for
them.
3.3 Model of Placements
Placement of looked after children can be within a range of settings which can
include the following;
Special guardianship
Adoption
Family and friends carers
In House fostering
Generally Better
External fostering
Outcomes
In house residential
External residential
Specialist or secure placements
Generally More
Expensive
The type of placement used will depend on the child’s needs and the
outcomes being sought.
3.4
What do we know about LAC in Calderdale?
Calderdale’s numbers of looked after children have been rising steadily since
2004, reflecting national trend.

During 2010 Calderdale rates rose much faster than national rates,
19% in Calderdale versus 6% nationally, regionally the increase was
also higher than national.

2011 has seen further rises, from 320 in April to 350 in June , which
equates to an increase of 10.6%. Indications is that this increase will
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continue in line with what is happening nationally.
(The tables below illustrate the trends).

Despite the higher than national rise in numbers the Calderdale Looked
after children rate per 10,000 population was 59 which was in line with
national rate (58), but and well below statistical neighbours (70) –
indicating that historically too few children were becoming looked after
in Calderdale
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
3.5
In 2011 as numbers continue to rise so does the rate per 10,000
population which was 71 by June 11. Whilst higher than national
average, this figure is close to the performance of statistical neighbours
and is an indication that Calderdale has improved its performance and
is now looking after an appropriate number of children.
What do We Know About Current Placements?
The table above shows that;



Interim Care Orders are increasing
Placement Orders (adoption) are also increasing
The number of children cared for under voluntary agreement has remained stable
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100
Table 2: Total LAC by Age and Gender (as at
end May 2011)
Male
80
39
43
48
Female
60
34
40
47
20
0
45
45
8
10
Under 1
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1-4
5-9
10 - 15
16 plus
The age and gender of looked after children’s is set out in the above graph is based on
end of year figures for 2010/11. The largest numbers of LAC are concentrated in the age
group the age 0 – 4 (101) ). The next largest group is 10 – 15 year olds (93). Numbers
are generally equally split between males and females.
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Ethnicity
In relation to the ethnic make-up of the LAC population, the May 2010 indicates that;
 The majority of Calderdale’s looked after children are White. As at the end of May
there were 85% White, 8% Mixed, 1% Asian, 5% information not obtained or
refused and 1% from other ethnic background.

Out of 342 LAC at the end of May, there were 290 White children, 26 children of
‘Mixed’ ethnic origin, 5 Asian or Asian British, 4 children in the ‘Other’ ethnic groups
and 1 child of Black or Black British ethnic origin.
There were 16 children whose ethnicity could not be obtained or was refused
TYPE OF PLACEMENT USED – (Graph to be updated when new data
available)
A variety of placements are used – the following graph illustrates the position
at the end of March 2011
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The following graph illustrates the reasons why children become looked after
and the pattern of activity over recent years. abuse and neglect remains the
chief reason whny children become looked after.
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

3.6
Abuse and neglect levels are rising
Family dysfunction is rising
Costs of Placements

In 2010 Calderdale’s costs per LAC was below the national average,,
£771 vs £870
Costs vary between the different types of placements
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The above graph shows the average costs per LAC last year. Costs for external
placements are higher than foster care placements in Calderdale and that on
average our costs are lower per child than independent providers.
Foster care placements remain the most cost effective way of providing care
The following figures outline the costs per child by age to the council depending on
the type of placement used.
LAC Placement Age
Calderdale Homes
External Placement
Fostering
IFA
None Placement
Other
Calderdale average
AVERAGE COST PER CHILD
Under 1 1 to 4
5 to 9
10 to 15
£0.00
£0.00
£8,956.73 £42,939.05
£0.00
£0.00 £94,458.12 £58,258.61
£7,140.
98 £12,994.12 £11,575.50 £16,285.40
£0.00 £23,193.97 £19,960.57 £28,539.90
£0.00
£6,013.
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16 or Over
£50,323.16
£72,969.46
18 or over
Grand Total
£38,378.06
£43,280.43
£91,158.31
£69,361.22
£15,647.52
£26,249.18
£10,321.77
£20,411.26
£13,286.48
£25,331.78
£0.00
£54.11
£0.00
£0.00
£0.00
£14.15
£11,024.51
£11,388.31
£24,636.62
£33,387.09
£32,084.85
£19,173.15
NB - This information can be broken down by weekly and can be given
national comparators
According to the CIPFA Looked After Children Benchmarking Data for
2009/10, the average CIPFA 2010 cost of an in-house foster placement in
Calderdale was £343 per week compared with an average of £397 per week
across other local authorities involved in the benchmarking scheme. The
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average cost of foster placements purchased by Calderdale was £803 per
week compared with £872 in other local authorities. From this data,
Calderdale appears to be providing these placements cost effectively when
compared with other local authorities.

The majority of the budget is spent on foster care placements and
external placements.
We are developing our commissioning approach to purchasing external
placements to ensure we make best use of our resources ands achieve best
value. At the time of writing we have achieved around £100k savings having
successfully negotiated reductions with providers. We have recently
commissioned work to further reduce costs of placements. V4 have been
commissioned to undertake this work.
Joint Strategic Needs Assessment, JSNA – Population Changes
Considerations
3.7
The JSNA aims to collate information on the needs of a local population in
order to:
•
•
identify the population changes over the next 10 years
identify the major issues affecting the local population regarding health
and wellbeing now and over the next 5-10 years
Such information assists with service planning and predictions.
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In terms of looked after children some facts indicate that the rising levels are
likely to continue:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
3.8
Gap between best and most deprived area getting larger
Lifestyle improvements are static at best
Increasing benefit claimants /free school meal eligibility
Continued ward variation in health and well being
Global economic recession continues to have an impact on local
economy including jobs
Numbers of children and young people are rising and will continue to
rise
A further 8% of households consist of lone parents with dependent
children, expected to grow to 11% by 2033.
Calderdale has three wards in the top quartile in relation to teenage
pregnancy which are significantly higher than the national rate: Elland,
Mixenden and Sowerby Bridge.
Future demand predictions
Over the last year increasing numbers of children have become looked after
reflecting national and regional trends. It is difficult to predict exactly the rate
of this increase in the future but recent performance indicates at least a 10%
rise over the next year.
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We are developing our early intervention and family support strategy and over
time this will have a direct impact on numbers of families facing breakdown
but until this multi-agency strategy is implemented the impact will not take
effect. Increasing use is being made of family friends arrangements and we
have plans in place to make better use of special guardianship arrangements
thereby reducing the looked after children numbers.
4 What is Our aspiration in Calderdale?







To have a range of placements available to meet the needs of all
Calderdale’s looked after children.
That wherever possible children should remain within their family.
Where this is not possible plans should progress to adoption for all
young children where adoption is in their best interests.
Most children who become looked after should be returned home as
quickly as is possible where this is in line with their needs.
For children who require short term, medium term and long term
placements these should be with in- house foster carers wherever
possible.
For some young people a fostering placement will not be the best
option and for those residential child care should be seen as a positive
choice.
Only children with very complex needs which cannot be met within
Calderdale should be placed in out of district residential placements.
The use of independent fostering agency placements should be
minimized and where such placements are used they should be as
geographically close to Calderdale as possible
Thus our aspiration is that,
We will plan on the basis of a 10% over capacity to ensure for all children
there is real choice of where they are to be placed.
5.
Key Principles
A number of key principles underpin our work to reduce the need for children
to become looked after and if they do to ensure they have the best possible
experience and preparation to leave care.
5.1
Support families to stay together
Children’s needs are best served in their own families if this can be safely
supported. Helping families stay together must therefore be a key focus for all
of Children’s Services and it begins with early identification of need
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and effective early intervention.
5.2
Manage risk confidently and support families at the edge of care
We need to ensure the right children become looked after at the right times.
To do this we need to be able to mange risk successfully with families that are
approaching the threshold for care; providing effective interventions which
support families to make changes whilst always ensuring that
children and young people are kept safe.
5.3
Provide and commission a flexible and affordable range of high
quality placements
For children and young people in care we need to make sure we have the
right range of placements which promote positive experiences whatever their
needs.
At present we do not have sufficient placements available in Calderdale to
meet all types of need, which means that too many children have placements
too far from their home and community.
We also need our range of placements to be good value for money and
affordable within the budget available.
5.4
Ensure all looked after children and young people get a good
education
If looked after children are to thrive, finding the right education setting is just
as important as providing a suitable home environment.
Becoming looked after means a dramatic change in the home life of a child or
young person. If it results in a change of school at the same time that means
a break from all previous routines, friendship groups and support networks
simultaneously. Where possible looked after children should be maintained in
their school unless and until they are in a long term placement where it may
be more appropriate to attend a school with their local peers.
For children already looked after, a breakdown of a school placement is very
often a trigger for the breakdown of their home placement and, similarly,
problems at home very often manifest themselves at school. This dynamic
relationship between home and school life makes providing and maintaining
the right education a crucial element of our strategy for Looked After Children.
Can the Virtual School Head add to this.
5.5
Ensure that children and young people have clearly planned
journeys through their looked after years
For children and young people who are looked after, having a clear plan is
essential. A good plan ensures that children come into and exit care at the
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right times and that throughout they have the security and confidence of
knowing what the future holds.
We need to ensure that children do not ‘drift’ in the system, but have clearlyplanned journeys which allow them to be reunited with family and friends
where possible, have stable placements with alternative carers and exit the
care system positively at whatever age this happens. To this end we have
ensured that all looked after children and young people have a named social
worker to coordinate their plan.
Reviewing children’s plans is key to ensuring that children are being properly
supported to achieve the best they can. We have well established
arrangements in place to review children’s plans to make sure plans remain
well focussed and that children achieve good outcomes. Greater emphasis is
being put on encouraging more children and young people to have their say
and to coordinate their own reviews and to play a greater part in putting their
plans together. The council has recently invested more resources in the
conference and review services which will support these developments more
effectively.
6.
Current Issues and Challenges - Summary
6.1
The current issues we need to address:








6.2
Rising numbers of children needing to be looked after some with
complex needs
Increasing costs at a time when efficiency savings need to be made
Insufficient local placements, particularly in house foster care
Insufficient choice
Increasing use of placements from the independent sector
Ensuring that we have an effective strategy for recruiting and retaining
a good range foster carers – the rate at which LAC numbers have
increased has been greater than our ability to recruit our own carers to
meet the rising demand
Within the region there is growing numbers of children entering care,
competition for places is immense
Increasing use of independent external providers increases our costs
The increase in number of children looked after over the past 2 years
has placed considerable pressures on local in house placements. The
death of baby P has led to increases in numbers of LAC and for older
children there are additional pressure following Southwark Judgement
which requires the Local Authority to assess and accommodate
homeless 16-17 year olds.
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6.3
The establishment of a small Intensive Family Support team,
undertaking court based assessment work, helped to reduce the
authority’s reliance on residential family centre assessments in the
context of care proceedings.
6.4
However, whilst the overall number of purchased residential
placements fell in 2009/10 further independent residential placements
have been necessary in 20110/11 due to the lack of vacancies inhouse.
6.5
We place a number of children and young people in independent
children’s homes and residential schools – around 30 young people 20
of whom are placed outside the local authority boundary. A number of
these are joint or tripartite funded due to complex health, education and
care needs. More work needs to be done to ensure we have local
services within Calderdale so as to reduce the need to send children
out of are. Additionally we need to reduce single agency funding and
increase joint commissioning arrangements so as to share the costs of
such placements. increase is due to the lack of services locally and inhouse.
6.6
We know that present that we are purchasing placements externally
where we traditionally have not done so – for instance when we
consider factors such as the age profile of the children it is clear that
we have independent foster care agencies to provide placements for
children under 5. These children tend to have needs which are more
easily met and it would be more appropriate and much more cost
effective to provide these within Calderdale via local authority carers.
There is a need to recruit more in house foster carers to look after this
age group.
6.7
In general, placements of young children via independent out of
authority providers have been limited to children with older siblings
(who themselves were under 5 when placed) and to placements for
assessment in the context of care proceedings - for example mother
and baby
7.
Gaps in Provision – Our Response
7.1
We have 87 Local Authority Carers and 29 family and friends carers
(Connected Persons), providing approximately 146 in house
placements.
7.2
To reduce our reliance on independent fostering placements and
create capacity for placement choice we will need to recruit an
additional 82 in house placements. This is probably unrealistic and our
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target should be 50 additional placements with an acceptance that we
will continue to have some independent fostering placements
commissioned.
7.3
The fostering service was judged to be ‘Satisfactory’ at the last
inspection with good features. The fostering team manages
recruitment, assessment, approval and support of all carers including
family and friends carers.
The foster placement team service is experiencing pressures due to
demand for placements and due to the rise in the need for viability
assessment of family and friends as possible carers – linked to
increased number of court proceedings.
7.4
The service operates a skill based fees and allowances scheme foster
carers which compares well with other authorities. Allowances are set
at National Fostering Network rates. A pilot project to support foster
carers who may wish to convert to Special Guardianship is in place funding has been made available from the Early Intervention Grant to
develop a support service for friend and family carers through the
children’s centers. This service is early in development but long term it
is designed to better support carers in looking after children and reduce
the risk of breakdown.
7.5
Foster carers place a high value upon the support they receive and
Calderdale foster carers have the benefit of advice and support from
the looked after education service and dedicated health professionals,
which includes the designated and named nurse and experienced
mental health practitioners.
7.6
There are shortages of local authority foster carers nationally and
regionally. Calderdale’s neighboring authorities are currently
competitors when it comes to fostering recruitment - these Authorities
have made significant investments in recruitment. For example Kirklees
have a dedicated recruitment team. Calderdale have one temporary
arketing officer currently covering both fostering and adoption activity.
7.7
Independent fostering agencies are becoming inundated with
placement requests from Local Authorities which they are struggling to
meet. A shortage of both in house and independent fostering
placements increases the risk of needing to commissioning external
residential placements at much higher cost. (we could do a
benchmarking exercise to make sure our fees and allowances are
competitive enough)
7.8
Foster carers are reaching retirement age. We need to do further work
to analyse and predict when our foster carers will retire and to build this
into our recruitment strategy. Throughout the UK retirement rate is 1021
15% pa.
7.9
A potential increase in the take up of Special Guardianship by foster
carers will reduce the number of looked after children but may impact
on a future fostering resource as carers no longer become available for
new children .
7.10
An increase in the use of family and friends carers who are offered the
same resources from the fostering service, but who may not offer a
general resource to the wider looked after population.
7.11
There is a shortage of ‘moving on’ placements for looked after children
such as supported lodgings and semi independent living

More access to emergency short term placements are needed to give
family relief and to enable the local authority to consider options.

A significant number of older children enter the looked after system
under voluntary agreements having complex and challenging needs
which are not easily met by existing resources

Increased pressure on foster cares to take children outside of their age
group or registration and to manage contact and transport, impacts on
the quality of care with increased risk of instability and breakdown in
placement

We have no dedicated fostering provision for young people remanded
to local authority care by the courts.
7.12
There is competition from independent agencies with a number of
Independent agencies operating within or near Calderdale’s
boundaries. They pay additional fees and allowances and generally
offer more comprehensive support packages.
7.13
Foster Care Payment scheme
Calderdale operates a skills based scheme which pays the following fee
as a ‘reward element’

Level 1 £85

Level 2 £137

Level 3 £277
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
Level 4 £385
The combination of fees and allowances is comparatively high and
enables carers to be paid at different rates depending on the needs of the
child and the skills they have.
8.
Future threats
8.1
Numbers of children looked after could rise further due to the risks
associated with increasing austerity and fiscal pressures on families,
ongoing generational substance misuse and domestic violence, and
increasing numbers of children living in dysfunctional families due to a
variety of problems faced by their carers. The child population in
Calderdale is also rising and this is likely to result in an increase in
looked after children numbers.
9.
Future opportunities
9.1
Continued economic pressures and further cuts to local services could
lead to redundancy and re-deployment for some households who may
then consider fostering as an alternative career. There is the potential
to attract appropriate adults to the fostering market.
10.
Foster Carers What we need to do Areas for Development
This section needs further work - particularly on the solutions we will
put in place
Foster Carers
20.1
20.2
20.3
20.4
There is a clear need to improve our recruitment of mainstream inhouse carers, including carers for pre- school children. A draft
Recruitment strategy has been written and is in the process of being
implemented. The service would benefit from either a permanent
marketing officer or dedicated resource from the corporate
communications team..
This is also an opportunity to develop a range of schemes for short
term support, or for older children who may require care over the age
of 18 as in the Staying Put and Right2Bcared for pilot schemes that
have been successful in other authorities. Such schemes could link
with the supported lodging scheme, and would be part of our
sufficiency activity, but would require different rates or retainer fees to
be agreed.
We need to consider the need for a remand fostering scheme to
prevent court ordered secure remands and future high costs to the
local authority.
We should explore using the child minding service more effectively for
short term/overnight care of under 8’s through section 17, as an
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20.5
20.6
10.7
10.8
alternative to care.
Access to peer support for carers will be developed as part of a
recruitment and retention strategy
Respite an practical support to carers needs to be developed
Use opportunities to apply funding through Government initiatives for
training programmes such as KEEP and Fostering Changes and
support initiatives such as Multi dimensional Treatment foster care to
provide support for children on the edge of care
Continue to develop effective commissioning of placements through
external providers that meet the needs of children and young people,
while achieving value for money, through monitoring of standards and
outcomes
11.
Adoption Service
11.1
The implementation of the Adoption and Children Act 2002 has raised
the status of adoption as a permanence option for children in care.
The New Adoption Regulations, Guidance and Standards (April 2011)
provide new challenges to the Adoption Service in all areas of policy
and practice and we are in the process of implementing these.
11.2
It is planned that the year 2011-12 will see an increased number of
Calderdale Looked After Children being placed successfully for
adoption (data to be inserted). Support Service in place for
Calderdale adoptive families and their relatives alongside improved
birth relative support services. Data please.
11.3
The most significant challenge facing the adoption team is the
increased number of “hard to place “we will insert description here
who cannot be placed within Calderdale and the lack of
approved
adopters within the Yorkshire Consortium. (we need to
insert
some data hers to illustrate
what it costs to secure a
placement against what the LAC placement costs are).
11.4
Calderdale has an increasing number of families wishing to become
approved adopters, but the majority are not a resource for Calderdale
Looked After Children either due to their wish to adopt children who are
not “hard to place” or due to concerns in relation to placing children
close to their family of origin.
11.5
At the same time the numbers of children being referred to the
Adoption Team is increasing as evidenced by the significant increase
in the last quarter of the year. Calderdale like other small authorities is
reliant on the regional and national market for successful placement of
children This involves using adoptive families from the regional
consortium, voluntary agencies or other authorities, all of which attracts
a charging policy, in order to achieve the placement of children..
In Calderdale the average age at placement is 25 months. A key performance
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indicator in adoption work relates to the placement of children for adoption
within timescales. (performance data will be inserted here)
12. Areas For Development (Adoption Services) – what we need to do
12.1
A recruitment strategy is shared with the fostering service but will be
aimed at increasing the number of prospective adopters coming
forward who are willing to care for hard to place children. The
recruitment strategy will include any necessary changes for responding
to prospective adopters, information sessions and preparation and
assessment processes.
12.2
Hard to place children by definition require ongoing adoption support
based upon a comprehensive assessment of need.
12.3
There are a number of foster carers who have expressed an interest in
adopting children in their care. It is important that a reduction in income
should not be a disincentive, and that carers are unwilling to adopt to
care for fear of losing either their income or their support.
13.
Residential Care
13.1
There are three mainstream residential children’s homes operating in
Calderdale, each with 5 beds(15 places) based at Elland, Ovenden
and Illingworth. All three homes have regularly been rated as Good or
Outstanding in recent Ofsted reports.
13.2
They have developed a clear theoretical and therapeutic framework for
their work, along with a stated value base and standards. This work
has been with the aim of enabling staff to step up within their current
roles, thereby improving and re defining the status of residential care
in Calderdale. (see previous tables)
13.3. Residential care is a more expensive option than a foster placement,
but costs of residential care in Calderdale compare well to other
authorities, as occupancy rates are generally high. It is a much less
expensive option than externally purchased residential care.
13.4
Residential care is a positive option for some young people who have
experienced family breakdown or numerous foster care placements,
and who do not wish to live in a family setting. In these cases
residential care is often able to meet their needs. The outcomes for
children who have lived in residential care are as good as for those in
foster care. For some, however, residential care is the last resort,
when all other options have been tried and failed, thus it becomes a
self fulfilling argument. Lack of placement choice exacerbates this
problem.
13.5
Getting sufficiently suitable accommodation for care leavers has direct
25
impact on the availability of residential resources for younger
adolescents within Calderdale. The possibility of planning for 16year
olds who have been placed out of authority to return to Calderdale on
completion of year 11, would be enhanced if there was greater choice
of supported living arrangements. At present most choose to stay and
go to college in their ’new authority’ which increase costs in terms of
ongoing support to them as care leavers. For some young people
remaining out of area is a positive option.
14.
Areas for development (Residential Care)
14.1
The recent Ofsted report on ‘Outstanding children’s homes’ (March
2011) included an area of transition where young people are prepared
for independent living within residential care, but have the opportunity
to move onto a ‘trainer flat’ where they continue to be supported, and
this has improved outcomes for care leavers. This is an important
resource to develop in Calderdale with partners in both the Authority
and the third sector Housing Associations.
14.2
Westgarth and Alloefield View are established and developing as
therapeutic residential providers with good support from the health and
education services. These homes should be maintained and continue
their development to ensure they can meet the needs of young people
who would otherwise have gone into out of authority placements.
14.3
Cousin Lane could be developed as a semi independence unit for 1618 year olds Members will need consider such a decision as to retain
this as in house provision or commission from an external provider.
SUMMARY OF SHORTFALLS INPLACEMENT PROVISION this is the gap
This section needs further work as it introduces new information not
already mentioned above – this needs to be in the relevant sections then
pulled into a summary
Other Shortfalls which need to be considered are:

Young people whose behaviour presents a high level of risk through
self harm, sexual abuse and exploitation, missing from care, or
offending behaviour.

Young people with attachment difficulties, or emotional difficulties,
especially children who have experienced numerous placements,
adoptive family breakdown or failed rehabilitation to family

Young people who present as homeless or who are ‘sofa surfing’

Sibling groups with a range of ages.

Children aged 5-9 who do not have adoption as their plan but who
26
require permanent families away from their birth family

A range of Supported semi independent living arrangements for Care
leavers aged 16-19, and unaccompanied young people from abroad,
and including emergency care provision, assessment and outreach
support

Respite care for birth families including Child minders for under 8’s
short term care

Short term or shared care for disabled children

Carers from BME groups

Mother and baby assessment placements – we need to decide whether
we provide this through specialist fostering – how many do we need in
a year? Or is it effective to commission or provide ?
15.
Care Leavers Service And Transition
15.1
Accommodation for 16-17 year olds who want their independence but
who may not be fully ready or prepared is in short supply. There are
however, local providers with opportunities to develop this choice
further. The work includes specific budget management and tenancy
readiness training.
15.2
Achieving sufficiency includes developing a relationship with local
landlords who may be willing to accept a reduced rent on the basis of
secure payment rent and support to the tenant. (Recent changes to the
housing allowance available have a direct impact on 18+ care leavers
as most rents are currently above the limit of the allowance which has
been reduced to £346.00 per calendar month, with most rents being in
the region of £375 to £400).
15.3
The development of ongoing tenancy or outreach support in the
community could potentially reduce the time that teenagers stay in care
on the basis that they require ongoing support in the community, due to
emotional and behavioural or mental health issues. The cost of a
tenancy support worker is far lower than the cost of a social worker and
there is an opportunity to work more closely with colleagues in Housing
to develop this service.
15.4
Tenancy support and Pathway support for young parents is a key area
for development with family support services and the intensive family
intervention team.
27
15.5 A revised protocol with the Youth Offending Service is required in
order to support care leavers who enter custody (in line with revised
regulations and Guidance Children Act 2008)’
16. The Strategy (this section needs further work)
16.1
Under the 2008 Children Act the overarching duty of the Authority is to
safeguard and promote the welfare of children. The first priority must
be to re unite the child or young person with their family if it is in their
best interests and the child can be safely supported by the family.
Where this is not possible suitable placement must be available which
meets the child’s needs.
16.2
Getting the best possible placement is crucial. A child who has had an
unsatisfactory journey through care (this sentence needs to be cross
referenced much earlier in the report) multiple placements, and poorly
managed transition, costs the state £393,579 over 7 years. By contrast
a child who receives early intervention, minimum delay, stability during
care and supported transition is likely to cost the state £353,053 over
14 years - a difference of £41,526p.
16.3
In annual costs per year this translates as £23,470 for a stable care
journey and £56,225.57 for an unstable care journey once the length of
stay in care is taken into account. Investment in early intervention and
a stable looked after placement must be seen as a positive investment.
21. EARLY INTERVENTION - children on the edge of care.
17.1
A recent Government response to the select committee report on
Looked after children outlined priority areas to improve outcomes for
children in care. The report stated that in some circumstances, care
should be seen as the best available option rather than a last resort’
17.2
The Government have set aside any notion of ‘target numbers ‘of
children in care, but instead have placed greater priority upon using
research, guidance and performance monitoring on ensuring the
quality and promptness of decision making about individual children.
17.3
Children who enter the care system after years of abuse or neglect are
harder to help and may never escape the damage caused earlier in
their lives. Evidence shows that children whose entry to care has been
delayed are more likely to have persisting behavioural and emotional
difficulties and are less likely to a stable and effective care placement.
To this end the increase in numbers of looked after children in
Calderdale through earlier intervention is a positive development.
17.4
A fine balance is to be achieved between providing family support on
28
the basis that family is best, and maintaining a child with family and
then making the ‘late’ decision to bring a child into care. Social
workers and managers need to have the confidence to intervene
and remove the child if the evidence of improved parenting is not
clear within a timescale which is reasonable for the child. It is
important to remember that a delay of 6 months in taking action
for a child aged 2 years is 25% of the child’s life to date.
17.5
There is research which tells us that returning a child to a family home
from care and subsequently failing can be more emotionally damaging
than for the child to have remained in care. A proportion (need to say
how many/what proportion ?) of children in care have experienced at
least one failed return home, the main reason being lack of robust
assessment and poor re unification support. Most of these children are
unable to return to their former foster carer who may well have taken
other placements.
17.6
The dilemma of where to invest scarce resources remains - investing
in family support services has to be balanced with investment in the
care system but for some children- remaining in care is a positive
choice and outcome.
17.7
Consider the Munro report and what will be done to free up social
worker from Bureaucracy in order that they can spend more time
listening and having contact with children and families.
More work needed on above section under headings;
Early Intervention
Adoption
Placement Choice
Placement Stability
Fostering
IFA
Residential care
22.
How are we going to meet it and by when?
Improving Sufficiency and Reducing Costs .
18.1
In January 2010 work was undertaken analyse children currently
placed via independent fostering agency providers according to current
care plan and the type of placement they were likely to require. It was
possible to show that an increase in Calderdale carers as substitute
for independent carers might reduce costs over a period of time
29
18.2
In some instances, children have been placed with independent
fostering agency carers outside the local authority boundary simply by
default i.e. due to a lack of capacity of local, in-house placements.
Increasing capacity within our own service is clearly a priority which is
being addressed in the Fostering Recruitment and Marketing Strategy
18.3
Reinvestment in in-house provision is by no means the only alternative
to the current arrangements e.g. Calderdale could adopt different
approaches to commissioning other providers and/or working in
collaboration with other local authorities. There are local providers who
are used by neighbouring authorities and who may well be able to meet
a gap in our current provision if quality and value can be assured.
18.4
Limited availability of supported living accommodation within
Calderdale does restrict choices for older young people and it places
pressure on in-house residential provision. It limits our opportunities to
plan for their return to Calderdale beyond Year 11 (age 15 – 16), and
thus, ongoing support to care leavers as vulnerable young adults
continues to be costly. In some cases there is a need to place children
and young people out of authority for safety reasons.
18.5
There are a number of providers in Calderdale Local Authority who
currently provide resources for older children including residential care
with educational provision, and supported living as transition to
independence. There is also an opportunity to consider outsourcing the
management of one residential home to an external provider, as well
as developing a more positive working relationship with local
providers with a view to future commissioning of resources locally.
COMMISSIONING AND PARTNERSHIP FOR APPROPRIATE PROVISION
Calderdale uses a number of internally and externally commissioned
resources including private sector (purchased) placements.
18.6
Currently we have insufficient knowledge to know whether higher cost
placements are delivering the outcomes that we require and
commensurate with the investment. Further work is required on the
evaluation of external placements in line with the regional contracting
standards.
18.7
Working in partnership with a range of agencies is a key strategic
action for support of looked after children and young people. Includes
housing, health, adult services, local employers and training agencies.
Improved service planning and delivery across local authority
30
education and health boundaries between child and adult mental health
services, can bring real improvement to children’s lives.
18.8
Protocols and corporate strategies between leaving care services and
housing have improved accommodation choice for young people.
18.9
Calderdale has a number of providers within the Authority Boundaries.
It may now be appropriate to commission purchased care within the
authority or re commission the management of some care facilities.
Some of this work has already started in respect of purchased foster
care placements.
18.10 SUMMARY OF ACTIONS REQUIRED
 Use the independent sector for bespoke services where outcomes are
closely monitored and reviewed.

Have in place support services that are transparent and available

Divert young people away from youth justice services

Develop better management information arrangements to improve
sufficiency of choice against projected need

Develop Step down services (meeting needs with minimum costs)

Very vulnerable children benefit from early targeted intense joined up
support for those who leave care younger, those with social and
emotional problems, offenders including those with a history of
violence, young people who run away.

Improve placement choice for young adults separated from their
families abroad and experiencing mental health problems through
trauma
19. What will it cost?
FINANCING THE PLACEMENT STRATEGY.
19.1
The cost of placements is increasing due in part to the sharp rise in the
numbers of looked after children coming into the system at a time when
Calderdale has not recruited significant additional carers, both in-house
foster carers and a wide enough range of carers to meet needs such
as, caring for sibling groups. Importantly there are insufficient in-house
31
carers to enable children under 5 years of age who are not deemed
hard to place, to be placed within Calderdale’s boundaries.
19.2
The costs of placements is becoming more evident to social workers
and team managers as part of their planning and decision making
process. Decision making arrangements have been strengthened and
placement can be made externally without the permission of the Head
of Service. Effective use is being made of Panels to ensure placements
are commissioned appropriately including the use of tri-partite funding
arrangements.
19.3
Taking the year end the looked after children’s figures for figures for
2009/10 (270) and comparing this with the figures for April 2011 (334),
over the last year there has an additional 55 children and young people
entering the looked after system. The cost of these extra children
depends on the type of placement in which they are placed. We
estimate that the average cost over all placements is £83.40 per night.
Over a twelve month period this equates to £30,441 per looked after
child. Therefore any increase presents significant challenges and
places pressures on the placement budget. We presently estimate a
possible £1.6m additional spend to meet present pressures.
19.4
Through the commissioning team, work is already underway to drive
down costs and at the time of writing this report, over £100,000 of
savings have already been achieved following negotiations with
external providers with further reductions expected. The Council also
contracted with an external group, V4, to support further work to
achieve savings of £330,000.
19.5
The benefit of reducing expenditure and reliance on external
placements has the potential to create funding to remove financial
disincentives for foster cares who want to adopt or become special
guardians or for prospective foster carers to give up work away from
home to care for a child full time. It would also allows us to reinvest in
appropriate support services.
19.6
Unit care costs in Calderdale are good compared to other authorities.
The cost of increasing foster care placements by 10% per year and
converting Foster Care placements into Special Guardianship
placements has longer term benefits, not all of these are financial
19.7
It is estimated that increasing foster care numbers by 15 to 20 would
be necessary to have cost benefits, but this is unlikely to be achieved
without some initial investment or increase in costs.
19.8
More detailed work is needed to identify where we can enter into
partnership arrangements with external providers to commission out
some of our residential resources and to commission additional
resources that better meet the needs of our older young people who
are making the transition to adult life.
32
Remands to Custody and to Secure Custody – impact of government
legislative changes on budgets
19.9
Longer term we need to ready for the proposed changes being planned
by national government and which are due to take effect from 2014, to
charge Local authorities the full costs of remanding young people to
secure custody. At present the costs are shared between the Youth
Justice Board (two thirds) and local councils (one third). From present
figures we know that costs of remands have risen from £95,423 in
2007/08 to £175,932 in 2008/09 and to 217,906 in 2009/10, the most
recent available data. The LA contribution has risen from £16, 674 in
2008/09 to £41,588 in 2009/10. If these costs continue to rise the
impact on the placement budget will be significant, adding to an
already challenging situation at a time when savings need to be found.
19.10 Through the government’s initiative under the Payments by Results
scheme initiatives are in place designed to reduce the number of young
people remanded to care. Remands to custody remain stubbornly high.
In Calderdale we are already responding to reduce numbers remanded
to custody and secure custody through a range of community based
activities.
19.11 A history of domestic violence, substance misuse, peer pressure and
parenting issues are all identified as being significant factors with
young people being remanded and /or receiving a custodial sentence
and we are exploring additional programmes to will not only support
young people but would also increase the courts confidence in any bail
or community programmes.
19.12 The number of young people subject to secure remands is small (3)
and we could potentially reduce the risk further, by securing suitable
remand foster beds supported by a YOT programme. In respect of
remands in custody (29) we are endeavouring to develop a whole
range of interventions to reduce offending and thereby reduce the
frequency that young people are remanded and sentenced to custody.
Comparison fostering costs with CIPFA
members
Cost per child per week
2009/10
(estimate)
2009/20110 final
2010/2011 estimate
Inhouse Fostering
£343
£328
£426
Average cost of CIPFA benchmarking members
£397
£469
£440
Purchased Fostercare (IFA's)
£803
£907
£803
Average cost of CIPFA benchmarking members
£867
£862
£867
33
OCCUPANCY COSTS
Cost per
Night
Budget
Projected
Spend
Projected
over/(under)
spend
£
£
£
£
Projected
Nights
48.07 Fostering
3,246,090
3,237,462.50
27.80 Guardianship
199,250
200,495.46
116.57 IFA
1,566,910
1,952,324.45
385,414.45 13,979
246.05 Calderdale Homes
1,245,559
1,255,132.47
9,573.47 5,232
300.81 External Residential
2,048,420
2,585,635.39
537,215.39 8,078
8,306,229
9,231,050.27
924,821.27 98,884
91.48
TOTALS
8,306,229
-8,627.50 65,025
1,245.46 6,570
£924,821.27
* Occupancy from Residential Occupancy Return
@ Occupancy from best guess used all 2010/11 ( Guardianship 18*365= 6270)
34