Children looked after and placement sufficiency strategy 2021 to 2024

If we are to achieve the best outcomes for all these children, we need to ensure that all our placement services are fit for purpose and continue to grow and develop. Across all of the services we deliver, we seek to make sure that all decisions are centred on the views of the child and family. We also aim to focus on reducing wasted time or resource so that we can focus on achieving the right outcomes for our children who are looked after. As a result of the increasing numbers of children in care and the pressure resulting from this, it is now more important than ever that we make sure that we focus on achieving these aims.

Ensure that all internal processes are focused on the child and maximise the impact of money spent to ensure that the best outcomes are achieved.

Actions:

1. make sure that the voice of the child is at the centre of everything that we do
2. ensure that all processes are as efficient as possible and minimise any potential wasting of resources

Expected outcomes:

• increased value for money achieved across all placements
• clear decision-making processes and clarity around roles and responsibilities throughout the placement process
• better communication between teams and improved information sharing
• all systems are fit for purpose and support effective management of information throughout process

To work effectively in partnership across the whole of Children’s Services to ensure that young people are effectively safeguarded in all placements, both internal and external, and that there are clear processes and procedures in place to manage this. This should include:

• managing self-harm including putting in place additional training for staff and carers
• ensuring all unregulated placements for over 16’s provide high quality support and meet the needs of our young people and support referrals to CAMHS when appropriate
• regular quality assurance monitoring across the service

Actions:

1. all staff to regularly renew child protection training
2. implement improved processes around tracking of LADO and safeguarding investigations and issues
3. ensuring information is shared appropriately where transitions take place between service areas

Expected outcomes:

• clear decision-making processes and clarity around roles and responsibilities throughout the placement process
• better communication between teams and improved information sharing

Increasing complexity of need presented.

Actions:

1. review availability of in-house therapeutic support to allow us to provide more support to those children placed in-house.
2. work closely together in partnership with services supporting looked after children with special educational needs.
3. increase number of children in Staying Put arrangements

Outcomes:

• better value for money
• higher proportion of children within residential placements located within the county and nearer to their home
• earlier recognition of any issues within placements to improve outcomes for our children who are looked after

There is not always sufficient support available for children to achieve their long-term care plans and so looked after children are remaining in placements which may not best meet their needs.

Actions:

1. continue to complete regular monitoring of the permanence arrangements and identify opportunities to remove blockers
2. put in place necessary support for our carers and children in care to enable long term placements. This covers placement support such as therapeutic intervention but also investment such as capital funding to ensure the carer’s home can meet the needs of the children placed with them
3. continue to raise awareness of and assist carers to apply for Special Guardianship Orders wherever suitable to ensure that this option is available to achieve permanence for children who are looked after
4. review all approved connected carers at 6 months to see whether an SGO would be more appropriate to meet the child’s long-term needs

Expected outcomes:

• increase placement stability and so minimise the damaging effects of additional placement moves for already vulnerable children
• granting more SGO arrangements will:
  • enable young people to escape the intrusion and stigma that are sometimes attached to being looked after
  • young people have the security of knowing that they are legally part of their carer’s family

Further develop our long-term placement support services to achieve and secure improvements in service delivery.

Actions:

1. increase our early intervention and therapeutic offer to provide the additional support for adopters funded through the Adoption Support Fund (government funding to provide therapeutic support to adoptive families) and also to special guardians
2. integrating our approach to adoption and special guardianship so that all long-term placement receives an equivalent level of support
3. implement a digital project to raise awareness of the support that is available to adopters and special guardians

Expected outcome:

• reduced placement breakdowns through ensuring placements are adequately supported, helping us avoid further disruption for vulnerable children

Continuing to recruit sufficient adopters including targeting specialist carers for those who are longer to place.

We have used foster to adopt (Reg 24 or Reg 25) to place children with siblings already with adopters. Increased use of Early Permanence fostering and adoption of older children by their foster carers.

Actions:

1. raise awareness of support for those who have adopted through more effective use of social media
2. put in place recruitment activity to identify potential adopters to meet the ethnicity and needs of all young people placed for adoption
3. maintain quality and quantity of matches through a review of processes to ensure they are robust and achieve what is right for the child

Expected outcomes:

• prevent placement escalation and support permanence
• reduce risks for a child resulting from being looked after: already separated from the birth family and foster carer, breakdown of a placement with their permanent carers can be extremely disruptive for a child

Providing a range of offers for those aged 18 and over to ensure they are able to continue to meet their potential once they cease to be looked after.

Actions:

1. put in place a supported lodgings offer through recruitment of foster carers who can provide a bed to those who are aged 18 and over within a family environment
2. support those who are moving back home
3. work with our housing teams to ensure that all young people are prepared for independence prior to their 18th birthday and where appropriate they are supported to access appropriate housing
4. continue to develop our in-house semi-independence offer to provide a range of provisions for those aged over 16
5. ensure a smooth transition process is in place where young people are moving on to be supported by adult social care services

Expected outcomes:

• increased availability of accommodation for Buckinghamshire young people particularly in the south of the county where there is currently a deficit
• increased placement stability and outcomes through better quality testing of local provisions to ensure they can meet young people’s needs
• better local offer available to young people in terms of choice of locations and styles of accommodation and support

The need to continue to grow our in-house services to meet the needs of more young people who need a fostering placement.

Actions:

1. continue to review and improve our offer to potential carers to encourage them to foster with Buckinghamshire Council rather than an independent agency
2. increase support and training for our carers to enable them to meet the needs of young people with more complex needs
3. implement specialist recruitment to meet the needs of young people who have more complex needs, are aged over 10 and those who are part of larger sibling groups

Expected outcomes:

• continue to grow our in-house fostering service and meet the needs of all our young people
• reduce the number of young people placed outside of the county

Our limited control over the market is resulting in pressures within our external placements budgets and difficulty in identifying suitable placements for all children within the required timescales. We need to ensure that all young people regardless of where they are placed are supported effectively.

Actions:

1. use business intelligence to direct commissioning practice and ensure a joined-up approach to managing placements whether in-house or through an external agency
2. review and improve our unregulated placements to ensure these are always effectively monitored and meet the expected quality standards
3. improve placement planning and deliver a joined-up approach to identification of specialist residential provision to reduce reliance on emergency placements
4. work with our advocacy services to understand the needs of all young people placed with external agencies
5. continue to integrate our in-house and external placement teams to ensure effective joint working

Expected outcomes:

• ensure value for money within services which are commissioned
• a joined-up approach to commissioning all services which we cannot provide in house
• closer working with partners to ensure effective coordination of our needs and their offer

The demand driven nature of preventative work which results in us not being able to provide support early enough to some of our most vulnerable children.

Actions:

1. more effective use of business intelligence to develop our edge of care service offer so that we can achieve the maximum impact in supporting vulnerable families and return children home.
2. continue to extend our support offer to those involved in the adoption process including renewal of contract to support parents whose children have been removed
3. put in place a contract to support those at high risk of repeat removals and explore putting in a PAUSE approach for vulnerable young people

Expected outcomes:

• earlier support for families, to prevent escalation of issues and where possible keep children at home.
• give individuals the tools to help them solve their own problems and also be more resilient in the future while making sure they know where they can go for help when they need it

The high proportion of children placed out of county. While this is appropriate for some young people due to their specific needs and complex circumstances, it has significant financial implications and can impact on positive outcomes for children.

Actions:

1. embed our new children’s home offer to deliver a consistent high-quality service to all young people placed in in-house residential
2. explore opportunities to share spare capacity within our children’s homes with other local authorities
3. explore opportunities for additional block contracts to provide a level of pre-paid private residential placements within the county
4. work closely with our partners in the CAMHS service to support all young people placed out of county

Expected outcomes:

• a higher proportion of children within residential placements located within the county and nearer to their home
• increased residential placement stability through more in-depth assessment of need and better-quality testing of local provision
• improved value for money through reduced use of high cost external residential placements where this does not reflect the level of need