Integrated Placement & Sufficiency
Strategy
For Looked After Children
2014 - 16
Version 1.1
Updated: June 2015
Next Review: April 2016
1
1.
Introduction and Background
The aim of this strategy is to outline how Wakefield intends to meet the
Sufficiency Duty as laid down in section 22G of the Children Act 1989
and should be read alongside the relevant ‘Statement of Purpose’
documents for associated Teams and Services.
It describes Wakefield Council’s strategy in meeting its role and
responsibilities to the children and young people for whom we are the
corporate parents and as such is consistent with the Looked After
Children’s Pledge, approved by our Corporate Parents, to offer children
and young people the best placements that meet their needs and
which provide a happy, safe and settled environment. The Council
takes the role of corporate parent extremely seriously and is committed
to ensuring that all those that we look after have the opportunity to
achieve to their full potential. It has a priority to secure the very best
care and outcomes for every looked after child, care leaver and
adopted child.
The related Looked after Children & Care Leavers Strategy and action
plan set out our plans to transform the lives of children in care and care
leavers through a combination of aspirations, high quality professional
practice and innovative ways of working, to fulfil our ambitions for all
looked after children and care leavers, and adopted children. Our
aspiration for our Looked After Children forms a part of our vision that
all children and young people in the District will be healthy, safe, enjoy
and achieve in learning, and will have the skills, abilities, self-esteem
and outlook to access sustainable employment, make a positive
contribution to society and be successful in adult life. There are a
number of key priorities for the District’s Children’s Partnership, in
terms of improving outcomes for children and young people, as
articulated within the refreshed District Outcomes Framework 2015/16
and these include:
1. Help children who are in care to find adoptive families sooner and to
do better in school
2. Help the most disadvantaged children do well at school
Sitting behind these priorities are several targets;
•
Increasing the percentage of children waiting less than 20
months between entering care and moving in with their
adoptive family from 58% (3 year average to December
2013) to 68% by March 2015. The figure was 62.9% as at
December 2014.
2
•
By 2016 every Looked after Child will make expected
progress in their educational outcomes. As at March 2015
the figure was 86.6% for Primary and 83.6% for Secondary.
•
Reduce gap in educational attainment between advantaged
and disadvantaged children:
o Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) – from 22%
(2013) to 16% by 2016
o KS2 at level 4 or above (Reading/Writing/Maths) from 25% (2013) to 16% by 2016
o KS4 from 30% (2013) to 20% by 2016
The strategy describes the activity that we are undertaking, and will
undertake in the future, to ensure that children on the edge of care,
commonly defined as those on a Child in Need or Child Protection Plan,
are given appropriate support that will help them to remain safely at
home with their own families. We are committed to the belief that,
however well we care for our looked after children, their life chances
are more likely to be improved if they remain within their family. We
know that looked after children are usually less likely, than those living
with their own family, to progress to university, and are more likely to
enter the criminal justice system, more likely to be involved with drugs
and more likely to become parents whilst still in their teens.
The strategy is reflective of the Safeguarding and Family Support
Service Delivery Plan and has a focus on fulfilling the sufficiency duty
which requires a number and range of placement options, and better
integration between Looked after Children’s services, universal
services and specialist services. The strategy is congruent with the
continuum of need and is underpinned by developing sound
collaborative operational and strategic relations with our partners. The
overall approach of the strategy will connect with the need for us to
safely reduce the number of children looked after, improve individual
outcomes and, secure value for money in the placements we secure.
The inspection of services for Looked after children and care leavers
by Ofsted in 2010, judged the service as ‘good’ in a number of aspects.
Additionally, aspects of looked after children services and those
vulnerable to entering care were considered as part of the children’s
services assessment in 2011 and the 2012 unannounced inspection of
child protection arrangements. The strategy is to build on this and the
need to drive further progress, working in an integrated way with
partners who share the ambition and responsibility to improve
outcomes for looked after children. The strategy therefore is to:
• Safely reduce the number of children and young people entering
the care and child protection system, aligned with the work of the
Early Help Teams, universal services and the ‘Troubled
3
Families’ initiative.
• Integrate the commissioning and delivery of services at a place
level thus reducing considerably the number of children who are
currently looked after in placements outside of the District. The
strategy will create a more integrated care pathway to safely
prevent a child or young
person entering care through
building resilience in the child and family. This will require clear
and effective integrated pathways with partners including Clinical
Psychology, Educational Psychology and Children and
Adolescent Mental Health Services.
2.
Governance
•
•
•
•
•
This strategy is connected through the LAC Strategy Partnership
Board whose work is underpinned by a number of work streams.
The Board membership includes commissioners from the
Central
Clinical
Commissioning
Group
(who
have
commissioning responsibility for children’s services and
CAMHS) as well as membership from the Virtual Headteacher,
representatives from the police, third sector and other agencies
where appropriate. The LAC Strategy Partnership Board reports
to the Supported and Safe Improvement Board.
The Young People and Children Overview and Scrutiny
Committee will receive regular updates on the progress and
impact of the strategy.
The Corporate Parenting Panel have the strategy as a standing
item on the agenda and have an overview of the impact of the
strategy on outcomes for Looked After Children and Care
Leavers.
Regulation 33 Visits – Regulation 33 visits are a regulatory
requirement for registered children’s homes and provide a key
independent quality assurance mechanism in which elected
member’s, and others, play a significant role. It is the intention to
establish a Regulation 33 Visitors Reference Group. This group
will bring together members and officers involved in the visits to
provide additional
challenge and
insight
into any
decommissioning activity and service remodelling.
The Children in Care Council (CiCC) is a representative group of
young people who are in care or who are care leavers. The
CiCC has a critical role and contribution to make in regard to the
Integrated Placement Strategy. We believe it essential that
young people who have experience of being cared for are able
to influence current and future practice and provision and as
such will be consulted with as outlined in Wakefield’s
Participation Strategy.
4
3.
Wakefield’s Demographics
Wakefield district covers some 350 square kilometres and forms one of
five districts which make up West Yorkshire. The main centres of
population are Wakefield city; the five towns of the north east
(Pontefract, Castleford, Knottingley, Normanton and Featherstone);
Ossett and Horbury in the west and Hemsworth, South Elmsall and
South Kirkby in the south-east. In mid-2014 the size of the total
population was 327,627, making the district the 20th largest local
authority area in England and Wales at this time.
Population projections from mid-2010 ONS (Office of National
Statistics) estimates show the under 18 population in Wakefield
increasing year on year, up from 68,381 in 2012 to 68,540 in 2014 and
69,105 in 2016. A corresponding increase in our LAC population
between 2012 and 2016 would have equated to an extra 5 looked after
children by 2016. However, trends in our LAC numbers suggest they
have little correlation with population data and they have increased at a
much faster rate over the same period.
The Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) 2010 shows Wakefield as the
67th most deprived district in England (out of 326 districts). The IMD
2010 also shows that 40,459 people in the district were living in
neighbourhoods amongst the top-10% most deprived in England,
which represented 12.5% of the district’s population. Whilst this was an
improvement by 2.1% upon the same figure in 2007 there were 13,740
children aged under-16 (23% of this age group) living in out-of-work
benefit households across the district in 2012 compared to the national
rate of 19%. In addition the government estimated there were around
930 troubled families in Wakefield. By March 2014, 795 families in
Wakefield had been successfully turned around under the programme
and 930 Families were being worked with.
It is clear we face many challenges ahead and our aim is to ensure that
we are looking after the right children, at the right time and in the right
place and we closely analyse figures of all children in our care to help
us to safely reduce the number of children looked after and improve
individual outcomes for those children we do look after.
4.
Looked After Children profile and needs analysis
As at 31 March 2015 there were 498 children looked after. The figure
at the end of March 2014 was 492. Over the same period numbers of
children on child protection plans dropped from 384 as at March 2014
to 300 in March 2015, representing a decrease of nearly 25%.
The figures given below are from the SSDA 903 returns as at 31st
March for 2014, 2013 and 2012. Provisional data for 2015 has also
been included. It is recognized that due to the point in time nature of
data returns that figures will not reflect in-year movement.
5
Looked After Children by Age:
Boys
Under 1
1-4
5-9
10-14
16 - 17
Total
% LAC
population
Grand Total
Girls
2015
(provisional)
2014
2013
2012
2015
(provisional)
2014
2013
2012
17
17
19
15
18
17
19
14
66
74
69
69
48
49
48
41
69
58
44
49
52
52
46
49
83
81
75
76
71
74
62
62
33
34
39
34
41
36
25
24
268
264
246
243
230
228
200
190
53.80%
53.70%
55.20%
56.10%
46.20%
46.30%
44.80%
43.90%
498
492
446
433
Key points from the above data are:
•
The overall number of looked after children has increased by 15%
between 2012 and 2015.
•
Across all age groups for boys, there continues to be a rise in the
numbers at age 5-9 up by 40% over the 4 years. The 10-14 age group
remains the most prevalent.
6
•
Across all age groups for girls, there continues to be a rise in the
numbers at age 16-17 up by 71% over the 4 years. The 10-14 age
group remains the most prevalent.
•
The overall LAC population continues to be biased towards boys but
the gap has closed over the past 2 years.
Looked After Children by Legal Status
2015
2014
2013
2012
63
113
108
131
267
212
166
154
Voluntary Agreement (S.20)
82
77
91
93
Placement Order
86
87
83
54
On remand, committed for trial or
detained
0
3
1
0
Emergency orders or police protection
0
0
0
1
498
492
446
433
(Provisional)
Care Order: Interim
Care Order: Full
Total
7
Key Points to note from the data above are:
•
There is a clear shift from interim care orders to full care orders. Full
Care Orders have increased 73% over the 4 years.
•
The overall trend is that Section 20s are decreasing, however there
was a slight rise in the provisional outturn for 2015.
•
After a significant increase of 54% from 2012 to 2013 the figure for
Placement Orders has since remained static.
Looked After Children by Placement Type
PLACEMENT
Foster Placement (F&F)
In house Foster Placement
External Foster Placement
Secure Unit
In house Residential Placement
External Residential Placement
Placed for Adoption
Placed with Parents
Independent Living
Mother & Baby
Residential School
YOI/Prison
Other
2015
2012
35
206
108
0
28
13
20
18
4
0
0
0
1
8
2013
24
212
87
1
27
21
38
28
3
0
2
1
2
2014
32
215
88
3
19
26
53
39
10
1
4
2
0
(Provisional)
44
180
92
0
19
29
50
62
13
4
3
1
1
Key Points from the data above are:
•
Whilst there is an overall downward trend with use of external foster
care there has been a slight increase of 4.5% over the 12 months to
March 2015.
•
Over the 4 year period internal residential provision has gone down by
32%, whilst the external residential provision has actually more than
doubled over the same time. There has been a reconfiguration of the
in-house provision with the establishment of the new Residential
Family Support Team (previously Dacre Avenue), and this may have
impacted on internal capacity. However, the main reason has been an
increase for residential placements for difficult to place children / young
people with specific difficulties who require specialist / external
placements.
•
There has been a significant increase in those placed with own
parents. This has more than trebled over the 4 years to March 2015.
•
In the 3 years to 2014 there were significant year on year increases in
those placed for adoption, however there was a very slight drop in
March 2015 which may suggest a levelling off.
Looked After Children by Category of Need
NEED CODE
Abuse or Neglect
Disability (Child)
Parental Illness/Disability
Family in Acute Stress
Family Dysfunction
Socially Unacceptable Behaviour
Absent Parenting
2015
2012
309
22
28
17
29
8
20
433
9
2013
327
24
27
22
20
14
12
446
2014
348
25
23
28
45
11
12
492
(Provisional)
322
21
18
22
101
5
9
498
Whilst some caution is advised in interpretation of the above data due to the
subjective nature of applying need categories at the point of referral the key
messages are:
•
Whilst abuse or neglect remains the primary category of need there
was a slight decrease in the numbers to the year March 2015.
•
The category that has seen the highest increases is family dysfunction,
which includes families where the low parenting capacity is at risk of, or
actually is, impairing the child’s health and development. This has risen
by 348% over the 4 years.
•
Parental illness / disability has steadily declined year on year over the 4
year period.
•
Absent parenting has also witnessed a declining number over the 4
years and has more than halved since 2012.
Children Looked After by Ethnicity
2015
Ethnicity
2012
2013
2014
(Provisional)
White
391
381
397
460
Mixed
13
14
13
16
Asian or Asian British
14
8
7
11
6
4
5
7
9
39
70
4
433
446
492
498
Black or Black British
Other ethnic groups (inc
not knowns)
Total
10
Key Points from the data above are:
•
Over the 12 months to March 2015 greater emphasis has been
afforded to the determination of ethnicity. This has resulted in a surge
in those coded as White with those previously not known dropping to
almost zero. Caution is therefore advised in year on year comparison.
•
There has been a steady increase in those of Asian or Asian British
over the past 12 months, however this is still below levels seen in
2012.
The profile of our looked after children, as at February 2015, is attached at
Appendix A. Whilst there has been a fluctuating trend during the 12 months to
February, provisional March 2015 data tells us the overall net gain of 6
children is only marginally higher than it was in March 2014, 492 to 498. With
a moderate increase in our under-18 population the rate per 10,000, as at
February, has remained commensurate with the outturn for March 2014.
However, the rate per 10,000 is still much higher than the Yorkshire and
Humber average (65.0) but is lower than our comparator group average rate
(approx. 76.0).
5.
Our Commitment
The Council is committed to the following key assumptions in regard to
its approach as a corporate parent as defined in the Looked after
Children and Care Leavers Strategy.
•
Adherence to the ‘Pledge’ written by the Wakefield Children in
Care Council in partnership with the Corporate Parent.
•
Supporting increasing numbers of families to stay safely together
through an effective early help strategy and continuum of need
which is supported by a new delivery model for early years.
•
That new ways of working, such as the implementation of the
Signs of Safety practice will result in more effective working with
families which will safely reduce the number of children in care.
•
Developing a clear, planned pathway through care so that, at
the earliest point, children and young people can be reunited
with family and friends where appropriate, have permanent
stable placements and leave care positively and prepared for
adult life. Creating a dynamic culture of permanency planning
and exit routes at all levels.
•
All our internal services will work towards obtaining, or
remaining, “good” to “outstanding” as judged by Ofsted.
•
Commissioning a range of flexible, affordable and high quality,
11
local placements that offer choice and the best outcomes for the
child or young person by allowing them to live locally, access
local services, remaining at the same school and maintaining
contact with family and friends where appropriate.
6.
•
All placements to aspire to a no disruption principle. Where
necessary, children and young people must only move
placements if the change is absolutely in their best interest.
Changes will be planned and managed with safety, sensitivity
and utmost care.
•
Over the life of this strategy there will be a re-balancing of the
resource profile from high cost placement to the prevention of
children, young people and families entering care.
•
Ensuring that we maintain an effective, quality service for those
young people leaving care and entering young adulthood.
Providing support allowing care leavers to access
accommodation, welfare support, education and employment
opportunities.
•
There will be a continued drive for further efficiencies through
continuing to review contracts and speeding up some decision
making.
Views of Children and Young People about Choice and
Sufficiency of Placement
There are mechanisms in place to engage and consult with children
and young people and involve them in the design and delivery of
services.
The table below identifies the opportunities that children and young
people have to feedback their comments on their placement and/or to
influence the quality of placements we provide.
Opportunities that exist for young people to express their views
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Exit Interviews
Looked After Children’s Reviews
Foster Carer Reviews
Care Monitor Survey
Children in Care Council
16+ Forum and other participation forums
Annual Foster Carer Conference
Induction Groups / Skills to Foster Training
Care Leaver on Fostering Panel
12
Comments from young people
•
•
•
•
•
In June 2015 comments were gathered from the 16+ forum on
the most important factors when considering leaving care
‘accommodation’. The young people identified choice as the
main priority. In response to this the Leaving Care Team has
recruited a project worker to develop more choice in
accommodation, especially in the areas of staying put and
supported lodgings. A consultation with young people has been
completed.
In July 2015, in response to our Children in Care Council, who
said ‘we want more information about future placements to
enable us to cope better and settle in quicker’, we created a ‘pen
portraits’ document entitled ‘what we want to know before we
go’, which is a child-friendly document designed by young
people aimed to give information about a new placement. Young
people told us that this would reduce anxiety upon finding out
about a placement move and enable them to have more
transparent information in the planning of in the move. This has
now been implemented by the Wakefield Fostering Team, it is
hoped that this will contribute to the reduction in placement
disruptions.
In February 2015, the Children in Care Council members agreed
that ‘we need more long term foster placements and placements
we can stay at beyond the age of 18’. In response to this, we
have created a new approach to foster carer training, with
respect to the Foster Carer Conferences where we engaged
with an audience of over 80 foster carers at one event. The key
message and learning objective was for them to understand the
importance of stability and permanence for young people who
presented their messages at the conference and branded the
key phrase of ‘stickability’ to emphasise this message. As a
result of the conference we had 2 carers requesting to change
their preferences to long term fostering. After analysing
feedback it was also evident that carers felt empowered by the
messages from young people in terms of stability and stated that
they would reflect/ change practices as a result.
Members of CICC also said there is a fear of moving placements,
what helps is to have memories and life story work when you
move around care to help you understand where you have been
and why – there has been an action plan agreed and a whole
scheme of development work, information and promotion in the
field of life story work. This further supports placement stability.
Agreement between several young people that there is a fear of
leaving care and living alone – more work is required in this area
– in terms of placement options and this is being addressed with
the service and the 16 plus forum.
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7.
Priorities
Priority Areas
Transformation will be achieved by:
Reducing Demand
Changes in social work culture and practice with
active management and support in decision making
processes at all levels of the Service.
Reducing the need to receive children and young
people into care by introducing effective evidence
based interventions (Targeted Youth Service team;
short break and respite provision for the 11-17 age
groups.
Increasing the use of a range of family orientated
engagement activity - developed and used through
the Troubled Families work.
Reducing subsequent demand for services through
the effective use of universal services, multi-agency
working and early intervention.
To develop the effective use of Family Group
Conferencing.
Making more availability of short break/respite
provision to provide individuals and families time to
address issues.
Developing consistent management in response to
homelessness for 16 and 17 year olds with housing.
Residential
Reducing the use, except where clearly the best
option, of residential children’s homes – in particular
those located some distance away from Wakefield.
Ensuring that the future use of residential provision
will be more versatile to meet need; will be as local
as possible, and offer better value for money.
Foster Care
Developing strategies to support the recruitment of a
sufficient number of carers to provide an additional
40 placements focused on the needs of the children
and young people, and to allow movement away from
the use of residential and care settings.
Ensuring that, wherever possible, placements are
local – allowing children and young people to remain
close to the communities and networks with whom
they are familiar.
14
Working with external independent fostering agencies
to ensure sufficiency of suitable local placements.
Continuing to work with the other local authorities in
to maximize value for money through a framework
arrangement.
To further develop a placement panel to manage all
external placements – with a focus upon improving
outcomes, costs and effective transition planning.
Permanence
Speeding-up adoption by exploring the delivery of the
adoption process in partnership with a voluntary
sector adoption agency.
Developing robust quality assurance processes,
effective and timely decision-making to create a
culture of permanency planning across the services.
Improving services to care leavers and access to
education, employment, training and supported
housing, integrating with Adult Services to provide a
single transition pathway to adulthood.
Contract efficiencies
Making efficiencies on existing placements contracts
through renegotiation and more imaginative
approaches to decommissioning.
Negotiating down the cost of high cost placements.
15
8.
Revision Control
There are a number of key drivers which will influence future Placement &
Sufficiency Strategies. They include:
•
•
•
•
•
•
Political and legislative action to improve services for looked after
children and care leavers
Case law which places obligations upon Children Services
Outcomes of inspections undertaken by regulatory bodies
Departmental priorities and targets
Financial constraints
Changes to the delivery of front line services
A project is currently being undertaken to analyse our looked after children
population in depth and for reduction measures to be identified that could help
us to safely reduce the number of children and young people in our care. In
addition, 3 reviews are also ongoing focusing on Fostering, Adoption and the
White Rose Framework (A collaborative purchasing agreement between a
number of Yorkshire authorities to secure sufficient independent foster care
and to meet local demand for looked after children).
In recognition of the above this strategy will be an evolving document that will
require reviewing on at least an annual basis and revising as appropriate. In
the event of a revision to the strategy it will be re-published on the website.
16
Appendix A
WAKEFIELD LAC PROFILE
Number/Rate of Looked After Children
Nov-13
Dec-13
Jan-14
Feb-14
Mar-14
Apr-14
May-14
Jun-14
Jul-14
Aug-14
Sep-14
Oct-14
Nov-14
Dec-14
Jan-15
Feb-15
Numbers
474
467
486
497
492
501
505
499
512
509
512
516
508
510
511
499
Rate per 10,000 population
69.3
68.3
71.1
72.7
71.9
73.2
73.8
73.0
74.9
74.4
74.9
75.4
73.8
74.1
74.3
72.5
Key Facts:
Continued downward trend in the number of LAC in the last 6 months
The Wakefield rate is now lower than the Comparator Group average rate
17
General Trend