The Corporate Parenting Committee of Brent Council was scheduled to consider updates on participation activities for young people, the development of regional care cooperatives, and reports on adoption and fostering services. The meeting was also scheduled to receive an update from representatives of Brent Care Journeys (BCJ) 2.0.

Update from Brent Care Journeys - Empire (BCJ 2.0) Representatives

Representatives from BCJ 2.0 were scheduled to provide feedback on recent activities. BCJ 2.0 is Brent's participation programme for children in care and care leavers, designed to allow young people to share their views on service development and be involved in decision-making.

Annual Participation Report

The committee was scheduled to review the Annual Participation Report for 2025-26, which was scheduled to provide an overview of participation activities led or supported by the participation team. This includes work with Brent Youth Parliament (BYP), BCJ 2.0, and other Children and Young People teams. The report was scheduled to highlight how young people have been involved in decision-making and service development, aligning with the Brent CYP Participation and Engagement Strategy 2024-2027. The report noted that the participation team had experienced staff vacancies but recruitment was underway. It detailed various projects and events undertaken in 2025/26, including arts programmes, residential trips, and workshops with external organisations like Ikea. The report also outlined how young people had participated in decision-making processes, including co-designing the rebranding of BCJ 2.0, contributing to staff recruitment panels, and refreshing the Brent Pledge. Care Quality Ambassadors were also scheduled to report on their involvement in quality assurance visits.

Briefing on Regional Care Cooperatives

A briefing was scheduled to provide senior local authority officers and lead members with an overview of London's Regional Care Cooperative (RCC) following the award of Department for Education (DfE) funding. The briefing was scheduled to explain the purpose of the RCC, London's implementation approach, and key areas of work during its mobilisation and early delivery phases. It was also scheduled to outline the role of Lead Members as the programme develops. The RCC is designed to help local authorities collaborate on challenges such as foster care recruitment, placement sufficiency, and the commissioning and management of the children's care market. The briefing highlighted that London's RCC aims to increase the number of children living in family-based homes by strengthening fostering and kinship care, improving recruitment and retention of foster carers, and developing a more sustainable care system. A 'One Customer' approach was to be adopted to align services around the needs of children and families.

Six-monthly Adoption Report from Adopt London West

The committee was scheduled to receive information on adoption performance, progress, and activity from Adopt London West (ALW), a Regional Adoption Agency (RAA) for Brent, Ealing, Hammersmith & Fulham, and Hounslow. The report was scheduled to cover the period from 1 April 2026 to 30 September 2026 and was to include ALW's annual report for 2025/26. ALW is responsible for the recruitment, assessment, and support of prospective adopters, as well as providing post-placement support. The report was scheduled to detail performance data, including timescales for adoption processes, the number of children placed, and adopter approvals. It was also scheduled to highlight the work of the wider Adopt London partnership, including initiatives focused on the Black Adoption Project, peer support, and digital engagement. The report was to outline priorities for 2026/27, such as completing a service review and financial modelling, and continuing to lead on practice development in areas like Keeping in Touch arrangements and multidisciplinary team interventions.

Six-monthly Fostering Service Report

A six-monthly monitoring report for Brent's in-house fostering service was scheduled to be presented, covering the period from 1 April 2026 to 30 September 2026. The report was to detail the general management of the service and how it was achieving good outcomes for children. It was scheduled to include data on performance, activities, and the functioning of the Fostering Panel. The report was to outline service priorities for 2026/27, focusing on recruitment, assessment, and approval of new foster carers, enhancing support for foster and kinship carers, and improving outcomes for children in care. Progress against these priorities was to be detailed, including recruitment figures, placement stability, and the rollout of the new fostering offer. The report was also scheduled to cover staffing arrangements, placement activity, and recruitment and assessment of new foster carers, including outreach work and digital marketing efforts. Support from supervising social workers, training and development for foster carers, and monitoring of reviews, allegations, and complaints were also to be discussed. The report was to provide an update on the Kinship Care Team's activities, including assessments and support for families. Finally, the report was scheduled to detail the work of the Fostering Panel and training and development opportunities for foster carers.