Agenda item

(To consider a report from Nicola Corby, Acting Principal Lawyer, which provides the Corporate Parenting Panel with the end of year report (April 2018 to March 2019) for Legal Services Lincolnshire)

Consideration was given to a report from Nicola Corby, Acting Principal Lawyer, which provided the Corporate Parenting Panel with the end of year report (April 2018 to March 2019) for Legal Services Lincolnshire.

The Committee was advised of the two types of proceedings in which Children's Services were involved, these were Public Law Proceedings and Private Law Proceedings.  Pages 13 and 14 provided the Panel with an explanation of the two types of proceedings.  Page 15 of the report provided the Panel with details of the number of care proceedings issued between April 2018 and March 2019. Page 17 of the report provided an analysis of outcomes for children who had been the subject of care proceedings.  The analysis highlighted that there had been a reduction in the number of Care and Placement Orders as well as Supervision Orders.  It was highlighted that for 2017/18 132 applications had been issued in respect of 135 children and in 2018/19 156 applications had been issued in respect of 184 children.  It was highlighted further that for the 184 children there had been 156 applications for Care Orders and 28 applications for Supervision Orders.  A pie chart on page 20 of the report provided the Panel with pictorial evidence of the number of Orders granted in 2018/19.

The Committee was advised that Special Guardianship Orders had been introduced by the Adoption and Children Act 2002; and that they were initially intended as a permanent legal action for older children, who had a pre-existing relationship with a relative/long term foster carer/family friend.  Pages 26 and 27 of the report provided the Panel with details relating to the number of Special Guardianship Orders granted in 2018/19; as well as comparative information to 2017/18; and an analysis of ages. It was reported that half the children subject to proceedings concluded 2018/19, were of an age where a plan of adoption could be progressed 0 to 5.  It was highlighted that the average timescale for proceeding in 2018/19 was 36.5 weeks, in contrast to 34 weeks in 2017/18.  Details relating to timescale for 2018/19 were shown on pages 29 and 30 of the report.

The Panel was advised that the shortest case had been five weeks and the longest case had been 87 weeks. Details of each of the aforementioned cases were shown on pages 30 to 34 of the report.

In conclusion, the Panel noted that in 2018/19 the number of cases concluded had remained static compared to the number of cases concluded in 2017/18 as only a decrease of 1% had occurred.

During discussion, the Panel raised the following points:-

·         In terms of pre-proceedings, it was queried whether the proposed changes would increase the workload of the children's services department.  The Panel was advised that this would increase the workload initially, however, if the assessments were robust enough, this may avoid long court proceedings.  It was highlighted to members that if this process could be got right, it would be a positive thing as children would not have to go through court proceedings.  If the changes were to come into force, in Lincolnshire there would only need to be a few changes to how things were done, rather than a wholesale change of processes.

·         It was highlighted that page 20 of the agenda pack referred to support services being provided by the local authority for up to three years when a Special Guardianship Order was granted, and it was queried what happened if the child reached the age of 18 before the 3 years.  It was reported that SGO support would lapse at 18, but the young person would become eligible for leaving care support.

·         It was queried whether there were any differences in the breakdown of placements for SGO's when compared to other placements and if there was anything the authority could do to prevent the breakdown. The Board was advised that significant work was being undertaken on the disruption policy.  However, it was noted that disruption for an SGO would be after the order had been granted.  Work was ongoing on a support package for carers, to ensure they knew they were able to come for a review at any time. 

·         As part of the kinship agenda, officers looked robustly at how to make SGO's work.  It was important that people knew they were able to come back to the authority for support, and the plans needed to be as robust as possible.

·         SGO support groups were starting to be developed, which were similar to those for foster carers.

·         It was noted that kinship assessments were incredibly robust, and went through a Panel process.  By the time it got to court, officers could say with confidence that the relative was able to meet the needs of the child.

·         It was queried whether there was any mechanism where the authority reached out to people.  It was noted that this was the case for those carers that received a financial payment as their finances were assessed annually.

·         It was commented that SGO's were really positive, as it was important to keep vulnerable children within their own families.  The same checks were applied to SGO's as fosterers.  It would be ensured that there were not any generational issues which could impact on the child.

·         It was queried whether step family members would be considered, and the Board was advised that social workers would look at families to establish who would be the most appropriate person to care for that child within Lincolnshire.

·         It was noted that in terms of support for SGO's, it was work in progress, and the Adoption Team was looking into providing support and ensuring that what was provided for adoptive families was also provided for SGO's.  The timescale for completing this work was the end of 2019.  However, it was noted that this was a big piece of work and was looking at a number of issues, including the financing of placements, and practical and emotional support that was offered to families and children.

·         It was noted that Looked After Children, once they left care were entitled to £2300 pupil premium, for schools to provide appropriate support.  It was commented that it was understood that under the new Ofsted framework, this was not something that would be examined in the future.  It was queried whether something would be put in place to ensure that schools were accountable for how they used that money.  It was noted that Ofsted would still be looking at performance of children with protected characteristics and it was expected that inspectors would be interested in the number of Looked After Children and how they were progressing.

RESOLVED   

            That the Legal Services Lincolnshire End of Year Report be noted.