Children looked after and placement sufficiency strategy 2021 to 2024

Details: Make sure that the voice of the child is at the centre of everything that we do

Deadline: August 2021

Lead individual: Head of Children's Care Services

Progress update March 2021:

As corporate parents we are working with our children and young people in care to ensure that they are given the opportunity to shape the services provided to them.Text here

Details: Ensure all processes are efficient and minimise any potential waste of resources

Deadline: October 2021

Lead individual: Head of Children's Care Services

Progress update March 2021:

A number of policy process reviews have been completed in the last year.

Over the last year we have been members of the ‘West London Alliance’ which gives us access to more placements and helps us to ensure we are achieving best value for money options for external placements.

Details: All staff to regularly renew child protection training

Deadline: Commencing April 2021, biannually thereafter

Lead individual: Head of Children's Care Services

Progress update March 2021:

A training audit has been completed for all staff to ensure they remain compliant with all mandatory training including safeguarding training.

Details: Review and implement improved processes around tracking of LADO and safeguarding investigations and issues

Deadline: May 2021

Lead individual: Head of Children's Care Services

Progress update March 2021:

A review of the joint working protocol was completed in March 2021. The LADO service continue to provide a high level of support to the teams to ensure that all allegations against persons of trust are dealt with appropriately.

Details: Ensuring information is shared appropriately where transitions take place between service areas

Deadline: Placement planning meetings held within 72 hours of a child being placed.

Lead individual: Head of Children's Care Services

Progress update March 2021:

Regular meetings take place between placements teams to manage placement transitions and ensure any safeguarding concerns are shared effectively.

Details: Review all looked after children placements to understand where there are opportunities to support permanence

Deadline: Regular review through resource panel and additional extraordinary panels where required

Lead individual: Head of Children's Care Services

Progress update March 2021:

A twice weekly resource panel is held to review all new and extended placements to ensure that they continue to meet the child’s needs.

A monthly permanency tracking panel is in place to ensure that permanency plans are progressed within the child’s timescales.

Details: Update processes for placement review via LCS to ensure all placements are regularly brought before resource panel and the details are captured within the child’s records.

Deadline: Annual review October 2021

Lead individual: Head of Children's Care Services

Progress update March 2021: Process review has been completed and changes implemented.

Details: Ensure all children who are at the edge of care and those becoming looked after are part of a Family Group Conference/Meeting.

Maximise the FGC mediation offer for all 16 plus who have left home where there are no safeguarding concerns.

Deadline: September 2021

Lead individual: Director for Children's Social Care

Progress update March 2021: On track

Details: Put in place therapeutic intervention, training, and investment for our carers to support placement permanence.

Review of CAMH’s contract March 2022.

Lead individual: Head of Children's Care Services

Progress update March 2021:

We have commissioned a CAMH’s worker to work solely with the children placed within our children’s homes.

We have named CAMH’s Practitioners who have case discussions to the fostering/adoption teams.

CAMH’s are supporting the delivery of mentalization training for all carers – fostering, residential and adopters.

Details: Raise awareness of and assist carers to apply for SGO wherever possible.

Identify a worker to lead on IFA carers who would support an SGO if the support package covered the financial support required.

Deadline: April 2021

Lead individual: Head of Children's Care Services

Progress update March 2021:

We continue to prioritise SGOs and have seen a steady increase in the number of SGO assessments and placements made over the past 18 months. Last year 17 SGOs were granted.

Details: Increase the number of life story workers available to work with all children whether their care plan is SGO, long term fostering or adoption

Deadline: May 2021

Lead individual: Head of Children's Care Services

Progress update March 2021: On track

Details: Review all approved connected carers at 6 months to see whether an SGO would be more appropriate to meet the child’s long-term needs

Deadline: June 2021

Lead individual: Head of Children's Care Services

Progress update March 2021: On track

Details: Increase our early intervention and therapeutic offer to provide the additional support for adopters funded through the Adoption Support Fund, government funding to provide therapeutic support to adoptive families

Deadline: March 2022

Lead individual: Head of Children's Care Services

Progress update March 2021:

We continue to grow and extend the support available to our adopters/SGO.

The Adoption support fund has been agreed until March 22. We are in the process of exploring with Early Help Colleagues from Children and Adult Services what interventions they may be able to offer should the funding cease.

Details: Use social media to raise awareness of adoption

Deadline: Comms plan review to be completed by May 2021

Lead individual: Head of Children's Care Services

Progress update March 2021:

Our move to digital recruitment over the last year has yielded positive results with 30 adopters being recruited. For the next 3 years we need to refine our recruit process to ensure we are able to recruit adopters who can accept children with additional needs, sibling groups and children from black and minority ethnic groups. We have held 2 focused ‘it takes a village’ recruitment campaigns and we aim to build on the success with future campaigns.

We have seen positive engagement with our social media. We have delivered campaigns across this platform e.g. National Adoption Week, LGBT+ A&F week, Pride Month. Taking the purple ribbon theme, we have developed a colour and strapline to signal Bucks Adoption.

Details: Increase targeted support groups for carers to allow early intervention where a placement might be at risk of breaking down

Deadline: June 2021

Lead individual: Head of Children's Care Services

Progress update March 2021:

To enhance our universal offer to families we have embarked on a programme of training for staff in the team so that we can deliver additional group work and offer more services.

We have recently put in place a younger people’s group which has received a positive response.

Details: Maintain quality and quantity of matches through a review of processes to ensure they are robust – what’s right for the child, as praised within the Ofsted report

Deadline: Quarterly feedback to be provided by Adoption and Fostering Advisors at Team Meetings, commencing June 2021

Lead individual: Head of Children's Care Services

Progress update March 2021:

We have recruited 30 adopters in 2020/21, we aim to build on this success to recruit adopters for harder to place children.

Details: Develop 32 block beds to develop equal provision in both the north and south of the county

Deadline: June 2021

Lead individual: Head of integrated commissioning

Progress update March 2021:

This service offer is currently under review by the commissioning team

Details: Put in place the support for those moving home when they reach 18

Deadline: Impact and Outcomes review to be completed September 2021

Lead individual: Director for Children's Social Care

Progress update March 2021:

We are currently undertaking a pilot of 3 young people to complete this work

Details: Review the journey of all foster carers recruited over the last 3 years to assess whether any changes/improvements can be made to our offer to foster carers

Deadline: May 21

Lead individual: Head of Children's Care Services

Progress update March 2021: On track

Details: Increase support and training for carers so that they will want to carry on working for us

Deadline: June 2021

Lead individual: Head of Children's Care Services

Progress update March 2021:

During the pandemic all of our training has been provided virtually, as we move out of the restrictions, we will assess whether this continues to be the case or whether we will return to a mixture of virtual and classroom training.

Details: Raise awareness of fostering with Buckinghamshire. Support the fostering friendly scheme and encourage other businesses to become fostering friendly employers

Deadline: Comms plan review to be completed by May 2021

Lead individual: Head of Children's Care Services

Progress update March 2021:

We continue to work with local businesses to engage them to support fostering. We have attended the Buckinghamshire Supplier Event to raise awareness of what we do as a fostering team and will also attend the next one of these. As a result of this one of our suppliers has registered as fostering friendly.

Details: Use business intelligence to drive effective commissioning practice including use of a Dynamic Purchasing System or equivalent

Deadline: Quarterly reviews of the data commencing June 2021

Lead individual: Head of integrated commissioning

Progress update March 2021:

Through our membership of the West London Alliance, we have access to the ‘Care Place’ Dynamic Purchasing Vehicle. This helps us to make sure we have access to the most placements and that we are paying a fair price for each placement. In parallel we are also working closely with providers to help them to understand our needs and help them develop their offer to be sustainable.

Details: Work with SEN to deliver specialist residential provision for looked after children with a high level of needs

Deadline: SEN recruitment of specialist commissioner for residential schools and day schools July 2021

Lead individual: Head of Service for SEN

Progress update March 2021:

Review of joint working currently being undertaken between SEN and social care to ensure that we have clear remits, protocols, and procedures in place.

Details: Review all out of county placements at least every six months and where it is safe and appropriate to do so, we consider alternative placement arrangements.

Deadline: Every 6 months

Lead individual: Head of Children's Care Services

Progress update March 2021:

Every placement is reviewed through the weekly resource panel on a 6monthly basis. This ensures we have regular oversight of all placements. As mentioned above the proportion of placements with external providers has reduced significantly in the past year which has meant we have been able to keep more young people within the county.

Details: Increase in house residential provision by opening four additional homes

Deadline: June 2021

Lead individual: Head of Children's Care Services

Progress update March 2021: Our fourth Buckinghamshire County Council home for looked after children is on track to open in May 2021. The project to develop our fifth home is currently under review to ensure that this is the best use of resources.

Details: Develop a home with a welfare bed to reduce our dependence on external emergency placements

Deadline: Complete

Lead individual: Head of Children's Care Services

Progress update March 2021: Completed. Our third home has one welfare bed which can be used to place children for a short period of time ahead of them moving into a longer-term placement.

Details: Review our therapeutic support to allow us to increase support to those children placed in-house

Deadline: March 2022

Lead individual: Head of Children's Care Services

Progress update March 2021: Completed. Working in partnership with CAMHS we have developed specialist support for our homes including access to a clinical psychologist and support with placement matching.

Contract to be reviewed in March 2022

Details: Work more closely in partnership to support those with special educational needs or disabilities

Deadline: Ongoing

Lead individual: Director for Children's Social Care

Progress update March 2021: SEND improvement project is working to ensure a joined-up approach to service delivery