Issue - meetings

To receive reports on the following:

4.1     Children in Need, Child Protection & Looked After Children in Enfield 2015/16

To receive a report from Julian Edwards, Interim Assistant Director, Children’s Social Care

4.2     Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO) Annual Report 2015/16 &  Safeguarding & Quality Assurance Service Independent Review Officer (IRO) Annual report 2015/16

To receive reports from Ann Stoker, Head of Safeguarding, Quality & Principal Social Worker, Schools & Children’s Services

Julian Edwards, the Interim AD Children’s Social Care introduced this report to update the Overview and Scrutiny Committee about workload/ activity levels and trends for the service. It gave information about levels of activity locally for children defined as being ‘in need’.  This includes children for who the local authority has had to initiate child protection processes and children who are in the care of the Council. 

He highlighted the following:

• There has been a significant change in the size and nature of Enfield’s population over the last few years with an increase in child population and an increase in the number of children who are living in poverty. Data shows Enfield is the 5^th most deprived borough in London and Enfield has the largest number of children living in poverty of all London boroughs.
• There has been an increase in referrals to Enfield’s Children’s social care services with a 50% increase over the last 3 years.
• The main factors that have led to an increase in referrals are believed to be - demographic, child sexual exploitation, FGM (female genital mutilation) and greater awareness of domestic violence.
• The numbers of children subject to Child Protection Plans has varied during the last year with approximately 200 currently in effect.
• The number of children adopted during 2015/16 is slightly less than in previous years
• The percentage of Enfield’s LAC children with a diagnosed disability is approximately the same as previous years.
• There have been 7 unaccompanied adolescent asylum seekers in Enfield of whom 4 were dispersed to other boroughs and 3 have stayed with us.

The following points/ questions were raised:

• It was confirmed that none of the 7 unaccompanied adolescent asylum seekers had come from Syria.
• When asked how adolescent asylum seekers come to Enfield it was confirmed that there is no particular reason why this happens. Some boroughs have larger numbers than others such as the higher numbers in Kent, Croydon, and Hounslow. A large number of adolescents are Albanians they also come from countries such as Afghanistan and Eritrea.  When children arrive in Enfield we have a duty to look after them.
• It was pointed out that only a small minority of Enfield’s LAC (Looked after Children) are in residential care, there would always be a few in residential care as a result of the Court system.  The aim would always be for children to move out of residential care as children benefit from being in a family situation.
• When asked about the impact of costs on the service Julian Edwards said foster care is much cheaper than paying for residential care, which can be very expensive i.e up to £5k a week. This is because specialist/ environment care may be necessary. 
• It was confirmed that when unaccompanied children arrive in the borough, the government provides a contribution towards the cost. For over 18’s there is no government contribution, although it may be necessary for some form of care to be provided. Local Authorities are lobbying the Government  ...  view the full minutes text for item 132