Agenda item

The Strategic Director of Social Care and Education submits a presentation outlining the Council’s Corporate Parenting Strategy. A second presentation will also be provided by a care experienced young person. The Committee is asked to note the presentation.

The Strategic Director of Social Care and Education submitted a presentation outlining the Council’s Corporate Parenting Strategy. The Head of Corporate Parenting presented the item, it was noted that:

·         The overarching principle to the Council’s approach to Corporate Parenting was ‘as if this were my child’.

·         There were currently 640 Children Looked After in the city alongside Care Leavers.

·         Elected Members had been involved in developing the Strategy alongside Officers from across a wide range of Council services.

·         One of the key principles of the Strategy was around participation for CLA and Care Leavers. This participation model was based on the Lundy model and Officers across the Council would be trained in this model.

·         Another key principle of the Strategy was a focus on wellbeing both physical and mental.

·         Preparing CLA for later life both with housing and independent living was also covered by the Strategy.

·         The Strategy also detailed the pledges for CLA and Care Leavers.

·         Future priorities included educating a wide range of Officers and new Councillors on their role as Corporate Parents.

·         The Council was keen to set an example as an employer of Care Leavers and had a number of current Apprenticeships for Care Leavers.

·         Training was available for all Councillors on Corporate Parenting and all Councillors were encouraged to attend the Corporate Parenting Board.

Representatives of the Care Experience Consultants were present to provide a presentation on their input and thoughts on the Strategy. It was noted that:

·         The Strategy was focused on ensuring that CLA were happy and could succeed.

·         The principle of the Lundy Model was added by the Generation Select panel.

·         An area for further development was the current level of implementation of Corporate Parenting principles across the Council.

·         Some of the language was felt to be too obscure for young people and this could be addressed to make the document more accessible. It was also suggested that the statistics in the Strategy could also include UK-wide data.

·         Generation Select had found that CLA who were consulted didn’t know what a Corporate Parent was. It was agreed that the term shouldn’t be changed but more should be done to clarify the role.

In response to questions from Members it was noted that:

·         In relation to terminology, the change in language from Looked After Children to Children Looked After was to change the culture of the service and put their status as children first before being looked after. 

·         The term Lundy Model was used as a shorthand when talking about the general principles of participation.

·         With regard to wider department involvement in Corporate Parenting, the broader role for all staff in Corporate Parenting was a work in progress. However, Leicester was further ahead of this than many Councils where only Children’s services were involved. All new Social Workers had an induction on Corporate Parenting.

·         In response to concerns about the title of the Strategy it was noted that this was decided by the Generation Select panel.

In response to a question from a Youth Representative it was noted that Generation Select had agreed to continue using the term Corporate Parenting as it was now widely understood.

The young person presenting the presentation shared her own experience of support provided for independent living and made further suggestions as to how this could be improved.   

The Chair noted his hope that all Councillors new and old would attend Corporate Parenting training as part of the post-election induction.

AGREED:

1.    The Committee notes the update.

2.    The Committee requests a further report to come to a future meeting setting out progress on actions.