Issue - meetings

[Alice Vickers, Corporate Parenting Officer to present, followed by a presentation of the Draft Action Plan for Looked After Children]

Alice Vickers, Corporate Parenting Officer presented the Corporate Parenting Strategy 2018 - 2021 to the Board and made reference to the Strategic Group for Corporate Parenting workshop facilitated by Mark Taylor, Strategic Director for People on 17 May 2018.

This workshop was attended by various officers and partners and its purpose was to rework what was known as the Corporate Parenting Senior Officers Group and its terms of reference. Its main focus was barriers faced by looked after children and what the authority and its partnerships could do to remove them.

The resulting draft action plan drawn up from the findings from this workshop was then submitted to the group in the form of a visual presentation.

The main areas where barriers were identified were:

Housing

This included the communities in which looked after children and care leavers were housed and focused on maintaining strong links and networks within that community. It was also identified that young people leaving custody were then considered care leavers after the age of 16 and needed additional, continuing support in order to re-enter the community.

Finance

It was highlighted that one issue faced by care leavers was how to manage their own money and that many young people had experienced problems with debt or accessing benefits. The plan going forward was to ensure young people were enabled to make sound financial decisions and learn how to access financial help or claim benefits.

Career Opportunities

The main key points that were identified here were ensuring young people were receiving a good education, provided with opportunities for work placements and encouraged to have high aspirations. An example given was a collaboration with Zurich, who offered opportunities for paid work placements for children in care.

Health

Removing the barrier to eating well and living healthily was highlighted next, which could be achieved with better access to GPs when placements changed, access to affordable or free leisure activities, more support with transitions to adult services and continuation of support with lifelong illnesses. The Group were advised that there was a statutory duty to provide a summary of health for care leavers, however this could be improved upon further by allowing young people to have access to their health history.

Local Community Support

This was focused on improving access to the local offer of activities, involving young people with their community and improving mental health by engaging in enjoyable activities. Ensuring young people had access to positive role models was also a key point and mentoring schemes such as those provided by the mayor and The Way were given as examples of good ways to provide this.

The importance of the authority’s continued engagement with partnerships and the role played by those partnerships to remove the aforementioned barriers was stressed to the Board. How the authority would measure success and how to know what success would look like were also of equal importance.

In addition, a report would be going to cabinet in September with a list of services  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9

That Cabinet recommends that Council:

1. Approve the Corporate Parenting Strategy for three years from April 2018 to March 2021.

2. That authority be delegated to the Cabinet Member for Children and Young People, in consultation with the Director of Children’s Services, to make any final amendments before publication.

1. That it be noted that the Corporate Parenting Strategy will be presented at the Corporate Parenting Board on 24 May 2018.

Councillor Val Gibson presented the Corporate Parenting Strategy 2018-2021 for approval and recommendation to Council. The Children and Social Work Act 2017 required local authorities to evidence how they

met the seven Corporate Parenting Principles in relation to looked after children and care leavers. The refreshed strategy provided a framework for both the City of Wolverhampton Council and its partners to ensure that services provided effective support for children and young people in or leaving care.

That Cabinet recommends that Council:

1. Approve the Corporate Parenting Strategy for three years from April 2018 to March 2021.

2. That authority be delegated to the Cabinet Member for Children and Young People, in consultation with the Director of Children’s Services, to make any final amendments before publication.

Cabinet resolved:

1. That it be noted that the Corporate Parenting Strategy would be presented at the Corporate Parenting Board on 24 May 2018.