Meeting documents

For the Committee to assess the arrangements in place to support children and young people leaving care.

Contributors:

·       Mr W Whyte, Cabinet Member for Children’s Services

·       Mr T Vouyioukas, Executive Director of Children’s Services

·       Ms G Hancock, Service Director Children’s Social Care

The Chairman welcomed:

Robin, We Do Care Champion

Mr W Whyte, Cabinet Member, Children’s Services

Mr T Vouyioukas, Executive Director, Children’s Services

Ms G Hancock, Interim Service Director, Children’s Social Care

Robin explained his role as a We Do Care Champion.  He spoke about his own experience of the leaving care process and views he had gathered from 30 young people about their experiences of the process.  In summary, Robin reported that:

·       Feedback was not all positive. There are serious issue of concern about Personal Advisors (PAs) not being able to give relevant information to care leavers – in some cases the young person had no information at all.

·       A ‘Welcome to Bucks’ pack should be made a priority so young people are informed what their PA can do.

·       Transitions from looked after to care-leaving must be explained clearly by the PA; too often this does not happen. 

·       Education and employment assistance by the PA was also a high priority – giving young people a goal of working towards something and contributing to society.

·       Urgent priority should be given to ensuring PAs were supporting looked after young people with accurate and timely information with the emphasis on putting much more effort into the pre-transition stage.

In response to Members’ questions Robin confirmed:

·       His Stay Put Plan was unclear and he had not been given the right information.  This had made the experience hectic and stressful.  He agreed that other young people who did not have opportunity to stay would struggle with transition.

·       The general consensus among the care leavers was negative.  The process of transitioning to independent living was extremely stressful due to poor or no information from PAs.  Some young people had not been told who their PA was and were left in limbo.

·       Care leavers were not receiving consistent support from their PA and as a result depression and anxiety were common issues.   Some care leavers were not given any information about where they would be living.

Mr Whyte added that he understood that the Staying Put Policy had recently been re-drafted to make it easier to understand.   He welcomed Robin’s constructive comments and would be exploring with him outside the Committee meeting whether the restructure of the Service had made any difference to care leavers’ experience.

Members made the following points:

·       children should be free from fear and anxiety when they are in our care.

·       PAs should have the skills and the time to identify a young person’s need and then signpost to organisations that can help them transition to adulthood. 

·       An assessment should be undertaken to determine the effectiveness of the individual PAs

·       A caseload of 20 young people for each PA seemed high – could this be reduced?

In response Ms Hancock confirmed the PA’s role was advisory but also to coordinate, engage and direct towards all the support for the young person.

Mr Whyte advised the Committee that the organisation of social workers and PAs had changed during last year, and hoped that many of the issues raised by the We Do Care Champion would already be improved due to better team working.

Mr Vouyioukas explained that the Leaving Care Team were working hard to put things right; it was important that Robin and others care leavers were fully supported, however an increase in resources was unlikely, therefore smarter working was key.

The Chairman thanked Robin for his honesty and openness which was very much appreciated.  On behalf of the Committee he wished Robin very well with his future and hoped the Cabinet Member and Executive Director would follow up on the issues which had been raised.