Agenda and minutes

At this point in the meeting, Members will be invited to declare any personal, prejudicial or disclosable pecuniary interests they may have in the business on this agenda.

At this point in the meeting Members were asked to declare any personal, prejudicial or disclosable pecuniary interests they might have in relation to the business on the agenda or other general interests they might have within the remit of the Board.

Cllr Scott expressed a non prejudicial personal interest that he had attended a meeting about becoming a potential Foster Parent with his wife.

To approve and sign the minutes of the meeting held on Tuesday 10 July 2012.

RESOLVED:       That the minutes of the last meeting of the Corporate Parenting Board held on 10 July 2012 be approved and signed by the chair as a correct record.

At this point in the meeting members of the public who have

registered their wish to speak regarding an item on the agenda or

an issue within the Board’s remit can do so. The deadline for registering is 5pm the working day before the meeting, in this case 5pm on Friday 28 September 2012.

To register, or for further information, please contact the Democracy Officer for the meeting using the details at the foot of this agenda. 

It was reported that there had been one registration to speak under the Council’s Public Participation Scheme.

Paul Kind spoke on matters within the remit of the Committee. Firstly he informed Members that he was a Foster Carer and the Chair of the Foster Association. He expressed his concerns with the YorOK Board’s new Terms of Reference and that they were no longer meeting in public. He expressed concerns that decisions on Looked After Children (LAC) would be made in private with no public scrutiny or press involvement. He felt this was a backwards step and urged the Corporate Parenting Board (CPB) to raise these issues with the YorOk Board. He also suggested that the Foster Association attends a future CPB meeting

Members thanked Mr Kind for his comments and it was suggested that the YorOk Board should be invited to a future meeting to allow the CPB to understand which Strategic Partnership they feed into.

Members will consider a series of specific areas of interest, related to the Looked After Children’s Strategy. The focus in this report will be upon good, safe placements, education and care leaving services.

Members considered a report that focussed on a series of specific areas of interest relating to the Looked After Children’s Strategy.

Officers gave an update on the annual report on the Adoption Service in York and informed Members that York had always been a high performing adoption agency that performed well in respect of placing a high percentage of children with a prospective adoptive family, usually within 12 months of the plan for adoption being agreed.  Officers stated that due to York’s geographical size they could not usually place York children with York adopters.

In answer to Members’ questions, officers confirmed that:

·        sibling group adoption was considered carefully because for some it could reawaken trauma. If siblings were separated then the adoptive families would be encouraged to have direct contact with each other.

·        children who had been legally adopted were no longer the authorities responsibility.

·        Any legally adopted children would become the Local Authorities responsibility where they were currently living if the adoption broke down but if they were not legally adopted they would return to our Local Authority.

·        Children that were not adopted continue to live with long term foster parents.

Members thanked officers for their update and requested they receive a more detailed report at a future meeting which explains all the adoption statistics.³

Officers gave an update on the Fostering Service and stated that:

·        They were inspected by Ofsted.

·        Some foster carers in York offer homes to children right through to 18 years and beyond.

·        they had a wide range of foster carers across the City.

·        high volumes of training was given to potential foster carers and a child was always matched with a suitable carer.

·        Management Teams received 3 monthly reports.

·        The assessment progress for all potential foster carers was recommended via the Foster Panel.

·        All foster carers had social workers to support them.

It was reported that the Service Manager for Fostering was a key member of the Council’s Strategic Partnership for Looked After Children (LAC) and had led on achieving good safe placements and worked collaboratively with other key partners to promote best practice. The Strategic Partnership for LAC Committee would be reporting to the newly established Corporate Parenting Board (CPB).

In answer to some of Members questions it was confirmed that:

·        A review would always take place when Foster Carers resign.

·        Their resignation would go forward to the Foster Panel where questions would be asked as to why they had chosen to no longer foster.

·        Any complaints made about a foster carer were taken seriously and a decision would be made by the Foster Panel as to whether they could continue to foster.

Members thanked officers for their update and agreed to invite the Foster Association to a future meeting and to maintain regular dialogue with them.¹ Members also felt it would be beneficial to invite the Chair and some young people from the ‘Show Me that I Matter’ panel.²

The new virtual team were present at the meeting  ...  view the full minutes text for item 11.

Members are asked to confirm a work plan of the Board for 2012-13 Municipal Year and to set dates for 2013.

Members consider the Board’s 2012/13 work plan.

RESOLVED:

(i)      That the Chair and Head of Services Resources meet to consider the agenda for future meetings.

(ii)      That the YorOk Board be invited to a future meeting.

(iii)     That LAC in Education be considered at the meeting in April 2013.

REASON:

 To progress the work of the Board.