Decision

Following debate it was RESOLVED that:

The Children, Young Person & Education Scrutiny Committee

a)     Noted the current position in relation to Children in Care, fostering sufficiency, placement stability and placement demand within Northamptonshire Children's Trust.

b)     Noted the continued increase in the Children in Care population and the challenges arising from increasing complexity of need, placement sufficiency and ongoing market pressures within fostering and residential care.

c)     Noted the positive contribution of fostering, kinship care and local provision in supporting improved outcomes for children and young people, promoting placement stability and reducing reliance on external placements.

d)     Noted the progress being made to increase local sufficiency through fostering recruitment and retention activity, development of kinship care arrangements, strengthening support to carers, expansion of local children's homes provision and growth in supported accommodation.

e)     Supported the Trust's continued whole-system approach to reviewing pathways for children and young people, including prevention and edge of care services, entry into care, placement sufficiency, placement stability, permanence planning and transitions from care, to ensure children receive the right support at the right time and resources are utilised effectively.

f)       Noted that reducing reliance on high-cost external residential placements remains a key strategic priority and requires continued collaboration across operational services, commissioning, finance and corporate support functions.

g)     Noted that future sufficiency planning will continue to consider opportunities to strengthen specialist fostering provision and targeted placement support arrangements for children and young people with more complex needs. This includes consideration of enhanced support models that promote placement stability, support carers to sustain placements and reduce the likelihood of children requiring external residential care.

h)     Requested that officers report and update the data and subsequent reports to ensure that the provided statistics are accurate in relation to the vacancies for foster care accommodation

i)        Requested that officers provide an update in 12 months time in relation to the Fostering, Sufficiency and Placement Stability programme to monitor performance and progress against key actions and outputs.