Agenda item

To receive an update on the Children’s Self Evaluation 2019 from Angela Bent,  Head of Service Practice Improvement & Partnerships, Children’s Services.

Anne Stoker (Director of Children and Family Services) and Angela Bent (Head of Service Practice Improvement & Partnerships, Children’s Services) presented the report which updated the committee on the Children Self Evaluation (SEF) 2019.  The SEF is the Children’s Services self- evaluation of the quality and impact of social work practice in the borough over the past year.

The report covers six core areas and the Self- Evaluation should answer three questions:

• What do you know about the quality and impact of social work practice in your local authority?
• How do you know it?
• What are your improvement plans for the next 12 months?

The following was highlighted

• The self-evaluation of the quality and impact of social work practice shows that across children’s service practice is improving.
• The introduction of a 6-weekly in-team audit and moderation process gives oversight and provides assurance to senior officers.
• There have been ‘Practice days’ and we now have ‘Practice weeks’ which supports protected learning time and enables senior managers to understand how practitioners work with children and their families through practice observations.
• There has been a significant increase in the number of referrals coming through.
• Where a decision has been taken to initiate a Section 47 investigation (the LA statutory duty to make enquiries when a child is suspected to be suffering or likely to suffer harm) a review found the decision making and application of threshold had been appropriate and proportionate.
• There had been an increase in the number of unaccompanied asylum- seeking young people needing to be looked after by the local authority.
• There had been an increase in children that have been adopted.  Enfield is to become part of the regional adoption agency – Adopt London North Regional Adoption Agency
• There are pressures on the team, and it is important that we manage to retain staff

The following issues were raised:

·         It was asked why there had been a reduction in the number of adoptive families approved during 18/19 compared to the previous year. An answer was given that matching can be an issue. As Enfield had joined the Adopt London North Regional Adoption Agency from October 2019 it was hoped that there would be a ‘bigger pool’ which should be beneficial.

·         A question was asked about the decrease in the number of foster carer approvals and whether the level of deprivation in the borough would have an effect on this?  Anne Stoker referred to a change in legislation which had resulted in less children being adopted, and more being looked after by friends and families under ‘special guardianship orders’. She pointed out however that the same processes are undertaken beforehand to determine their suitability. She said deprivation in the borough was not a factor in the number of foster carers.

·          The report had referred to there being 382 children in care at the end of March 2019 an increase of 10% from the previous year. A Member stated that the number of children adopted was very small compared to this, and asked approximately how many special guardianship orders were granted in a year?  There were approximately 20 guardianship orders granted and of these approximately half were for children who were LAC (Looked after children).

·         It was noted that between April 2018 to March 2019 there were 487 episodes of children going missing which was attributable to 158 children. The danger of these children being involved in criminal activity such as ‘county lines’ was raised.  Anne Stoker confirmed that this was of great concern and, also to a greater extent there was a risk to these children of sexual exploitation. She said regular partnership meetings were held through the MASH (Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub) and a debriefing system is in place here as it is important to ascertain information and put in place interventions as soon as possible.  Members were informed of plays that had been presented primarily for children - ‘Chelsea’s Choice’ and one on County Lines to raise awareness of these issues.  It was noted that the plays had also resulted in some disclosures being given.

AGREED

1. Members of OSC supported the development priorities for 2019/20 as outlined within the self-evaluation

Officers were thanked for their reports