The Corporate Parenting Panel of Durham County Council met on 11 April 2025 to discuss the annual update from the Children with Disabilities Team, regulation 44 visits to external children's homes, and updates from Ofsted. The panel was also scheduled to receive verbal updates on the number of children in care and care leavers, proud moments, and Care Day 2025.

Children with Disabilities Annual Update

The Corporate Parenting Panel were scheduled to receive a report and presentation from Rachel Farnham, Head of Children’s Social Care, CYPS, DCC, providing an annual update on the progress of the Children with Disabilities Team (CwD).

The report stated that the CwD Team supports children and young people aged 0 to 18 with permanent or severe disabilities, who cannot access targeted provision within the Local Offer¹. As of 13 January 2025, the team had 306 children open to them, 28 of whom were children in care. The team also supports children subject to child protection plans, and provides social work support and services under Section 17 of the Children Act 1989².

The report stated that the CwD Team works closely with the Navigation Team to support young people to transition into independence. All children aged 14 or over who are open to the CwD team have been presented at the Navigation Forum and will be allocated a navigation worker.

The report also provided updates on the following areas:

• Preparation for Adulthood: All young people aged 14 and over have a ‘transitions implications’ aspect of their child and family assessment completed.
• Social Care advice: Social care advice is completed alongside every annual reassessment and shared with education provisions.
• Communication: The team continues to develop new and creative ways of communicating with children who do not have words to communicate, using tools such as the Picture Exchange Communication System³, symbols, signs, Mind of My Own Express, pictures and social stories.
• Short Breaks: Durham County Council has developed a flexible framework of providers who can support in identifying short breaks for disabled children. The SEND Empowering Inclusive Communities (SENDEIC) has continued to grow capacity and increase access to universal community activities.
• Specialist Homes: The team continues to work closely with the home finder team around identifying specialist homes for disabled children close to home.

The report also included feedback from the SEND inspection of Durham Local Area Partnership, which highlighted the positive work of the CwD Team.

The report shared the stories of three children with disabilities in residential children’s homes: Ann, Emily, and Hendrix.

• Ann went on holiday to a caravan park near Scarborough. She also had her bedroom redecorated and enjoys spending time with her mother and sister.
• Hendrix moved into a new specialist home and enjoys the swimming pool and social activities.
• Emily returned to education after a long gap, loves college, and enjoys visiting the local BMW garage.

The report concluded that the CwD team are passionate and committed about achieving the best possible outcomes for children and young people in their care with disabilities.

Regulation 44 Visits - External Children's Homes

The Corporate Parenting Panel were scheduled to receive a report from the Head of Integrated Commissioning Service regarding Regulation 44 visits to external children's homes.

Regulation 44 of the Children's Homes Regulations 2015⁴ requires that children's homes are visited at least once a month by an independent person (known as a Regulation 44 visitor) who is not connected with the running of the home. The purpose of these visits is to monitor the quality of care provided in the home and to ensure that the home is meeting the needs of the children living there.

Other Business

The agenda for the meeting also included:

• Verbal updates from the Head of Children's Social Care and Head of Early Help, Inclusion and Vulnerable Children on the number of children in care and care leavers, and Ofsted updates.
• Verbal updates from Strategic Managers on proud moments.
• A verbal update from young people from the Children in Care Council (CiCC) on Care Day 2025.