Background. Policy reference Policy product type LGiU/csn essential policy briefing Published date 23/11/2009. This covers England.

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1 Page 1 of 5 Care Matters: Ministerial Stocktake Report 2009 Policy reference Policy product type LGiU/csn essential policy briefing Published date 23/11/2009 Author Leonie Jordan This covers England Overview The Report was launched by the Children s Secretary Ed Balls at a conference on 16 November 2009 and provides the government s account of what has been achieved under the Care Matters programme initiated in It focuses on getting Corporate Parenting right for children and young people in care and leaving care, emphasising the need for strong leadership from Directors of Children s Services and Lead Members of Children s Services. There are a number of key proposals for local authorities, Children s Trusts and partner agencies, addressing care placements, health and education. Family and parenting support services to avoid family breakdown and to enable children and young people in care to return successfully to their families are also considered. The Report is not only an account of progress: it sets out the government s strategic intentions for 2010 and what will be expected of local authorities and Children s Trusts. In addition, the Report identifies examples of effective service delivery in a number of local authorities, which are likely to be useful for those authorities reviewing and developing services for children and young people in care. Children and young people were consulted as part of the stock take and their views and messages are incorporated into the Report. The Children s Secretary has also written to every child and young person in care currently over 60,000 - to tell them about legal changes proposed as part of the reform agenda. In addition, a Young Person s version has also been published. Briefing in full Background The Care Matters White Paper issued in 2007 set out the government s programme to improve outcomes for children in care. The legislative framework is the Children and Young Persons Act 2008, which is not yet fully implemented: meanwhile various pilots and initiatives have been underway and this Report sets out what the government says has been achieved, identifies initiatives taken by local authorities and gives the messages that children and young people have for elected members, policy makers and service providers about their experience of being in care. The Report addresses seven areas; Corporate Parenting particularly the role of Children s Trusts and strategy setting through the Children and Young People s Plan Family and Parenting Support with emphasis on early intervention strategies and proposals for supporting kinship care Care placements with proposals for additional support for foster carers and quality standards for residential care homes Education addressing improving the education attainments for young people in care and building on the priority given to children in care in the admission process

2 Page 2 of 5 Health and well-being new statutory guidance has been issued to local authorities, Strategic Health Authorities and Primary Care Trusts Supports for Care Leavers the Care2 Work programme will be extended as well as funding to enable young people to remain in their placements beyond 18 Proposals to support recruitment and retention of skilled social workers and strengthen the role of the Independent Reviewing Officer. The next steps Corporate Parenting Embedding this concept and its delivery at the strategic level across all sectors involved with children and young people in care is seen as central to improving outcomes. Its effectiveness at local level will be a central aspect of the Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission three year inspection programme. The Children s Rights Director is already carrying out surveys of children and young people and care leavers as part of the inspection process. Local authorities will be required to set up a Children in Care Council to provide the structure for consulting with children in care to inform operational, strategic and personal decision making; many have done so or are planning to do so. The C&YP Plan needs to ensure that not only are the needs of parents and carers for adult services identified but also that the transition supports for young people are co-ordinated effectively. The government intends to continue to disseminate good practice and will continue to fund A National Voice to assist local authorities to develop Children in Care Councils. Family support and parenting Think family approaches with emphasis on kinship care are a cornerstone to the government s current policy and over 80 million was allocated to local authorities in 2009/10 to develop services including Family Intervention Projects (FIPs). A Family Drug and Alcohol Court in London is currently in a pilot phase and an interim report was published in August. Increased funding to support short breaks or respite care for children with disabilities and their carers and sibling has had some success. Priorities for 2010 include working with local authorities to support think family approaches to practice through the National Family Intervention Strategy Group, updating care planning guidance and establishing a framework for family and friends care, supported by revised Care Planning Placement and Review Regulations. This will require a child who is returning home to have a child in need plan. The government also intends to amend the Children Act 1989 to the effect that where a child meets the criteria for looked after status and that child is place with a relative, the local authority will remain legally and financially responsible for them. This will have significant resource implications which are not spelt out. In addition, the regulatory framework for short break care to support families will be improved. Care placements The Children and Young People Act 2008 requires local authorities to provide sufficient accommodation for children in care in their area. The government has now established a minimum allowance for foster carers and is supporting a range of training and support programmes. The Multi dimensional Treatment Foster Care pilots, now in their 6th year, are indicating good outcomes, particularly in relation to offending behaviour. The intention is to extend elements of MTFC to foster care services generally and to ensure foster carers are supported through training and a named supervising social worker. The national standards for adoption, fostering and children s homes are being revised, as well as regulations. The challenge to support the work force in the residential care sector remains

3 Page 3 of 5 and the government will continue to work with the Children s Workforce Development Council to promote evidence based practice. Findings from the Adoption Research Initiative will be disseminated to support good practice in care planning for children who cannot remain within their family network. Education Local authorities have PSA targets on education attainments for children in care and the government sees improvement in this area as key to better outcomes for this disadvantaged group of young people. Guidance has been issued, including the responsibilities of Virtual School Heads and designated teachers, which became a statutory requirement from September The Making Good Progress Pilot in schools appears to have benefited children in care and their performance has improved faster than that of other disadvantaged groups. Local authorities are now required to pay a 2000 bursary to care leavers who undertake a designated course of higher education. The gap between children in care and those not in care getting good GCSE grades has widened, although there has been some progress particularly in the overall number of changes of school. From 2009 qualifications the equivalent of GCSEs will be included in data figures: 14% of children in care achieved 5 A* - C grade GCSEs but this compares to 65% of all children. The needs of marginalised children and young people need to be directly addressed by DCS and LMCS in assessments and Personal Education Plans. The government will expect children in care to be included as a priority group in the national roll-out of one to one tuition schemes. Local authorities are to provide support and training for designated teachers. Regulations which strengthen the role of the Independent Reviewing Officer will emphasise that significant changes to care plans, such as a change of placement or school move, should only take place after a review, where the views of the child or young person and family members are properly taken into consideration. Health and well-being Children in care when consulted said they wanted the focus to be on promoting good health, not tackling ill health. Thus the government will expect as part of inspection evidence of improvements in the well being of children and young people in care. This will be supported by the recently issued statutory guidance to local authorities and also to PCTs and SHAs for the delivery of health services through Children s Trusts to this group of children and young people. A national indicator, NI 58 to measure the emotional health of children in care is now in place. Regulations have clarified which PCT has commissioning responsibility for children placed outside their authority. The majority of PCTs now have designated doctors and nurses for children in care. Local authorities are required to improve activities for children and young people in care including free access to leisure facilities. The government recognises that areas of concern for practitioners and managers remain, including: Administering drugs safely in residential setting Securing health services for children placed out of authority Waiting time for assessments and treatments from the CAMHS A central issue for many children in care is access to local mental health services, to get timely support the child and their carer. The government s priorities focus on improving joint working to establish data at national and local level to identify need, particularly to address emotional well being and so improve planning and commissioning of services.

4 Page 4 of 5 Supports for care leavers The Children (Leaving Care) Act 2000 has resulted in some improvements for care leavers but too many vulnerable young people exit care without a gradual transition and adequate preparation. The Care Matters agenda stressed to local authorities the need young people to benefit from remaining in a care placement either foster care or residential care until age 21. The government has funded the Right2BCared4 pilots in eleven authorities and also the Staying Put: 18+ Family Care pilots to enable young people to remain with their foster carer beyond age 18. At the recent conference the government launched the From Care2Work programme, through which it is intended to give care leavers a guaranteed opportunity to get training, mentoring and access to jobs. Thirty of the country s biggest employers have committed to supporting care leavers into employment, including Tesco, O2, Aviva and Marks and Spencer. Local authorities are required to work through this scheme to enable the 6,000 young people leaving the care system in the next year to have the opportunity to find employment and skills. To date, 30 employers and 124 local authorities have signed up to the scheme. The impact of the recession is likely to reduce the availability of work opportunities for care leavers. The Apprenticeships, Skills Children and Learners Bill currently before Parliament will extend apprenticeship entitlement to care leavers aged 19 to 25. The data for young people leaving care and participating in education, employment and training whilst improving is not encouraging and there are wide variations between authorities. Seven per cent of care leavers now go to university. The government intends to continue funding the Staying Put schemes and will be publishing evaluations. Guidance on planning transitions to adulthood are to be revised with emphasis on enabling a gradual process and particularly to assist vulnerable and excluded groups such as young people with disabilities, asylum seekers and unaccompanied minors. Supporting people who work with children and young people in care Children and young people had clear ideas about what they wanted from practitioners, particularly wanting a person who listened, who cared and who was reliable, stayed in the job and who made things clear and happen. This is rightly a high level of skills and the recommendations from the Social Work Task Force on longer term reform are due by the end of the year. The CYPA 2008 has enabled new models of social work practice to be piloted. The government has funded the Newly Qualified Social Worker and the Early Professional Development programs to support professional development and address retention issues. The role of the Independent Reviewing Officer has been strengthened. The IRO must be independent of case management and is expected to challenge either a lack of or poor care planning. Children in care are entitled to an independent advocate when they are making a complaint. The government expects DCS and LMCS to ensure that there is a strategy for staff recruitment, support and retention which is regularly reviewed, with rigorous monitoring of effectiveness of training. From Autumn 2010 the government plans to support 200 people to train to become social workers through the employment based training route. Comment This Report is a timely summary of the government s account of progress on the Care Matters agenda and also indicates its priorities for These are likely to shape inspections in the coming year and this will assist planning quality assurance audits in the next 12/18 months. Children and young people have been consulted about their

5 Page 5 of 5 experience of being in care and, as the Report puts it, their voices have been taken into account. Local authorities are required to set up and support Children in Care Councils and we wait to see what impact that will have on service development and delivery. Examples are given of ways in which local authorities have undertaken consultation. The proposals to support early intervention are welcome but as others have stated this requires both resources and well supported professionals across all agencies, including adult services, to sustain effective think family approaches to early intervention. There are currently serious deficits in the provision of CAMHS services in many areas and, whilst making children and young people in care a priority is welcome, this will not provide the speedy assessment and therapeutic support that many of these children need to avoid placements breaking down. The proposals which recognise the important role of foster carers and residential care workers in the lives of children in care are also welcome. The government is promoting kin care schemes, which create even greater expectations of local authorities and the guidance which is anticipated shortly is likely to be closely considered. Proposals to enable young people to make a more gradual transition into adulthood from being in care by supporting them to take on the responsibilities of independence has been foreshadowed in the Children and Young People Act Opportunities for continuing education, apprenticeships and employment are central to successful independence and action at national and local level to achieve is essential to deliver this. Housing is a key concern for many families particularly at the point of early intervention - and for young people leaving care. Local authorities are struggling to create sufficient housing stock to enable families and young people to obtain secure and safe homes. The government has high expectations in this regard. The Report is useful in identifying local authorities who have pilot schemes or have set up services in a particular way to respond to the aspirations of the Care Matters agenda. Policy makers and planners developing services are likely to find ideas in the Report and will be able to make links with other authorities to find out about various schemes. Directors of Children Services and Lead Members need to be aware of what the government is requiring from local authorities as well as proposing and the Report provides a framework for reviewing service delivery and development. The Young Person s version will provide a resource and starting point to inform young people in care of service development and context for the letter the Children s Secretary has recently sent to children and young people in care. External links Care Matters: Ministerial Stocktake Report 2009 Downloads Related briefings Related events