Agenda and minutes

None.

To confirm the minutes of the previous meeting held on 21 February 2024.

RESOLVED – that the minutes of the meeting held on 21 February 2024 be confirmed and signed by the Chair. 

To review the Council’s policy in relation to Foster Carer Recruitment.

The Committee received a presentation from the Director: Children’s Safeguarding and Family Support and the Service Delivery Manager for Fostering, Adoption and Performance on the Council’s approach to Foster Carer recruitment and retention.

The recruitment and retention of Foster Carers was a continued challenge for local authorities across the country and at the time of the meeting an estimated 7,200 foster families would be needed over the next 12 months. Since 2019, the number if mainstream local authority households had fallen by 11% and the number of kinship foster care households had increased by 21%.

Local authorities had recently experienced a reduction in approved Foster Carers, however the Council’s Fostering Service had performed above most statistical neighbours in the number of fostering household applications completed and approved for 2022/23. At the time of the meeting, there were 173 approved foster care households and 183 children placed with carers. In the last year, the Council had received 25 applications for prospective fostering households compared to neighbouring authorities such as Dudley and Walsall who had received a lower number of applications. Since April 2023, a total of 37 teenagers had come into care with 21 placed in internal fostering, 9 placed in external fostering and 7 in residential placements.

Members were informed that the key priorities for the Council in relation to its fostering service was to increase foster carer capacity by focusing on recruitment and retention to enable more Telford and Wrekin children who are looked after to stay local. The Council would also be working to maximise utilisation of capacity to prevent external and residential placements where possible and support its carers through development of skills and resilience.

As part of its recruitment and retention aims, Members were advised that the Council would continue its efforts to recruit the right carers, at the right time, in the right place to meet its sufficiency needs. The Council was also keen to deliver the right support for its foster carers through continuous coproduction and ensure that those foster carers who are recruited reflect the culture and diversity of cared for children. The Council had commenced its Foster Carer Sufficiency Strategy last year to exceed targets but also to manage current foster carers to avoid placement breakdowns and to continue to support children who have significant or additional needs.

The Service Delivery Manager for Fostering, Adoption and Performance informed Members that between April 2023 – March 2024 as part of its ongoing recruitment activity the Council had delivered 6 recruitment campaigns delivered via diverse mediums including paid search engine marketing, social media led generation and retargeting. The Council had also hosted 5 recruitment events alongside regular drop-in events and facilitated numerous advertising initiatives including a fostering flyer distributed to all borough households. The Foster Carer Fortnight and Annual Conference was also held to thank carers for their efforts and to enable the Fostering Team to consult the current cohort o how the service can further improve their experience as a foster carer.

In  ...  view the full minutes text for item CYP26

To review the updated Work Programme for the Children & Young People Scrutiny Committee.

The Senior Democracy Officer (Scrutiny) presented the updated work programme to the Committee. As this was the last meeting of the municipal year, Members were informed that the work programme was currently being reviewed and Members had been invited to submit suggestions for the 2024/25 municipal year as part of this process.

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