City of York Corporate Parenting Board
Terms of Reference
We are committed to York being an effective, caring, and ambitious corporate parent and we will do everything we can to make sure that children in our care and care leavers receive the best possible care and support.
The overarching vision of City of York Council is “A better start for children and young people” and we look to achieve this through our mission statement; “every conversation starts with the child.”
Through our practice, we have agreed to adhere to our values that ensure we can deliver positive outcomes:
• Everyone feels safe
• Risk is understood and managed well
• Practice is consistently good
We want our children and young people to be happy and healthy, both physically and emotionally, to be safe and protected from harm and exploitation, to achieve their potential and to be supported each step of the way to adult life.
The council has strong engagement with children and young people in care and care leavers who tell us what more we should be doing to further improve their lives and future outcomes. The Council highly values their experiences and we are committed to acting on what they tell us and involving them in decisions that affect their lives.
Our Corporate Parenting and Children in Care Strategy sets out our ambition for our children and young people and care leavers and how we intend to fulfil our corporate parenting responsibilities and strategic priorities in a way which puts children and young people and care leavers at the centre of improvements in the planning, delivery and evaluation of our services.
· To raise awareness of the Council’s corporate parenting responsibilities and develop expertise and knowledge among elected Members and officers.
· To advise, guide and provide leadership to the Council on issues relating to looked after children and its corporate parenting responsibility.
· To support and make recommendations to relevant Council bodies on matters related to corporate parenting.
To meet this purpose the Corporate Parenting Board will:
· Provide leadership across the city to create a more effective and efficient health and wellbeing for children and young people in care and care leavers
· Make sure that the whole council and relevant partner agencies commit to excellent standards of corporate parenting.
· Set high expectations and stable relationships for all children and young people in care
· Seek improved long term outcomes for children and young people in care and their families – for their happiness; well-being; educational success; and future prospects
· Make sure that the voice of the child and young person in care influences both policy and the services that they receive, and that young people are engaged with any action intended to develop and improve services or to recruit key staff members
· Oversee and monitor key performance indicators for the health, well-being and education of looked after children
· Champion the provision of Council based work placements and apprenticeships for children and young people in care and care leavers.
· Review and monitor progress on the actions identified in the Corporate Parenting and Children in Care Strategy
· Monitor the delivery of York’s Guarantee to children and young people in care
· Consider the outcomes of regulatory visits and inspection reports on provision for children in care
· Celebrate the achievements of children and young people in care and their carers
· Determine ways in which the role of corporate parenting can be improved, using examples from other local authorities/organisations.
Support to the Board
· Administrative and governance support to the Corporate Parenting Board will be provided by Democratic Services. A Democracy Officer will be responsible for organising meetings, publishing agenda papers, attending meetings and publishing minutes of each meeting. This officer will also advise the Board on constitutional procedures where necessary.
· Technical support in preparing reports for the Board and giving advice to the Board in relation to children in care and care leavers will be provided by the Corporate Directorate of People and the Director of Children’s Services/Assistant Director, Children’s Services
Details
1. Name
1.1 The Board will be known as the York Corporate Parenting Board (“the Board”)
2. Membership
2.1 The Membership of the Board will consist of:
Elected Members drawn from:
§ The Executive Member for Education, Children and Young People’s Services.
§ The elected Members on the Adoption Panel and Fostering and Sharing Care Panel.
§ The elected Members on the Show Me That I matter Panel (children in care council).
§ The elected Members who visit Wenlock Terrace and The Glen.
§ Another appropriate elected Member.
The Board will also have the power to co-opt Members and to include the following:
§ Corporate Director of People/Director of Children’s Services
§ Assistant Director of Children’s Services
§ Group Manager – Achieved Permanence
§ Assistant Director - Education/Virtual School Head
§ Representative from Health
§ A care experienced young person
§ Up to 2 Foster carers
§ Other significant agencies/services involved in corporate parenting as appropriate
The Board can make changes to the co-opted representation at any time.
3. Constitutional Status
3.1 The Corporate Parenting Board is established in the Council’s Constitution and as such will adhere to its constitutional rules around the convening of meetings and publication of business.
4. Quorum
4.1 The Quorum shall be 3 members
5. Chair
5.1 The Chair and Vice-Chair of the Board shall be elected from the membership of the Board at the first meeting and thereafter will be agreed by full Council annually.
5.2 In the absence of the Chair the Vice-Chair shall chair the meeting.
6. Frequency of Meetings
6.1 The Board shall meet no less often than four times a year.
7. Access to Meetings
7.1 The public shall have the same right of access to meetings, agendas, reports and background papers as apply to any other advisory body supported by the Council.
7.2 The public shall have the same rights to address the meeting as apply at all meetings of the Council under the Public Participation Scheme.
8. Conduct
8.1 The Board and its members will operate in accordance with the standards of behaviour and principles required by the Council’s Code of Conduct, which applies to both councillors and any person appointed as a co-opted member to a board or committee of the Council.