This meeting of the Corporate Parenting Panel was scheduled to receive several verbal updates and consider two reports, one about the Placement & Sufficiency Strategy for children in care, and the other about the Foster for Bradford Annual Report.

Placement & Sufficiency Strategy 2022-2025

The most significant topic scheduled for discussion was an update on the Placement and Sufficiency Strategy 2022-2025. The report included for discussion was written by Charlotte Ramsden, Chief Executive Officer of Bradford Children and Families Trust, and stated that Bradford Council is required to ensure it has access to enough suitable places for children in its care. The report goes on to describe a number of different pieces of work, some underway, and others proposed, that are designed to ensure Bradford can look after its children locally.

The Challenge

The report states that there is a national shortage of places for children in care and goes on to explain that this is particularly impacting Bradford.

A national sufficiency crisis, compounded by increasing costs in the external placements sector, has placed significant pressures on Children's Services budgets.

The report says that kinship care is often explored as a first resort to keep children within their families, but explains that this often comes at the cost of having fewer traditional foster care placements available for other children.

In Bradford, whilst the number of children exiting care is positive, the shortage of foster families is reflected in our reliance on purchased provision, sometimes at the expense of keeping children local.

The report goes on to explain that the Trust currently does not have enough suitable placements for children with more complex needs.

There are few suitable placement options locally for a small number of children with complex social, emotional and behavioural needs.

Existing Work

The report details a number of initiatives the Trust is undertaking to try to ensure they can care for their children locally. These include:

• Developing an 'Edge of Care' provision to reduce the need for children to be looked after
• Increasing short breaks provision to enable more children to be cared for by their families
• Developing the in-house fostering service, Foster for Bradford
• Maximising the number of beds in the in-house Residential Service
• Reducing the use of external residential care
• Increasing the external residential block contract from 11 beds to 20 beds
• Developing residential provision for children with complex emotional and behavioural needs
• Developing a joint-funded residential provision for children in care with acute mental health needs to prevent an escalation to a NHSE Tier 4 provision or to provide a “step-down” from this level of intervention
• Maximising the range of registered supported accommodation for young people aged 16-17 years
• Improving planning for suitable accommodation for young people aged 18+

Foster for Bradford

The report contains a lot of information about Foster for Bradford, detailing its successes, challenges, and plans. For example, it details Foster for Bradford's recent Ofsted inspection.

Foster for Bradford was inspected as an independent fostering agency in May 2024 and received a judgement of Requires Improvement.

The report explains that Foster for Bradford is prioritising recruiting foster carers from diverse communities.

The service also launched a Faith in Fostering campaign in recognition of the need to attract carers from ethnically diverse communities to reflect the needs of children in care in Bradford.

The report details a number of initiatives that are planned to help increase the number of foster carers in Bradford, including:

• Increased investment in social media
• Increased presence in the community
• Continuation of the Faith in Fostering campaign
• Online and face-to-face information events
• Launch of the new Foster for Bradford website
• Video campaign (in collaboration with local authorities in the Yorkshire and Humber region)
• Collaboration with Bradford Bulls
• Foster Care Fortnight
• Fostering Friendly Employer status
• Refer a Friend campaign
• Engaging Foster Carer Ambassadors in recruitment and campaigning activity
• Focusing on the assessment experience

In-house Residential Service

The report states that Bradford Children and Families Trust runs 7 mainstream residential homes, and is currently refurbishing two of them.

The in-house Residential Service consists of 7 mainstream and 2 short break homes and long-term homes for children with complex health and disabilities.

The report explains that these homes are currently understaffed.

Staffing sufficiency is a risk for the service currently. The number of external residential provisions in the Bradford District and neighbouring local authorities results in a limited number of staff available to apply for vacant positions.

Under 11s

The report goes on to explain that the Trust is working to reduce the number of children aged under 11 that end up being placed in residential care.

Increasing levels of complexity as a result of children’s experience of trauma, abuse and neglect, has led to 66 children aged 11 years and under experiencing placement breakdowns and being placed in external residential provision from foster care (in-house and purchased) since 2019.

Capital Projects

The report describes three capital projects that are being considered to address the challenges the Trust faces looking after children. These include:

• Strengthening Families Outreach: A plan to buy a building to provide short-term emergency accommodation and intensive support for children and families .
• Joint-funded Tier 3.5 Provision: A proposal to create a joint funded project with the NHS to look after children with complex mental health and social care support needs .
• Increasing Fostering Capacity: A proposal to help foster carers extend their properties so they can look after more children.

The Strengthening Families Outreach Project is the most advanced, having secured approval for funding and identified a building.

A capital bid which outlined an immediate opportunity to purchase a building to deliver short-term emergency accommodation and intensive support for children and families was discussed at PAG in October 2024. The provision will build on the strong foundations already established through the emergency support offered by Breaking the Cycle via the crisis bed provision at Highcroft Youth Centre. The proposal was supported by PAG and an offer, subject to survey has been made, on a property.

Supported Accommodation

The report goes on to say that the Trust is retendering its framework contract for providers of Supported Accommodation.

A review and re-tender of this contract is in progress to respond more effectively to the changing needs of young people and to ensure that new providers are able to be included on our framework.

Care Leavers Accommodation

The report details some of the challenges faced by care leavers in finding suitable accommodation, and explains how the Trust is working to improve this.

A shortage of suitable accommodation options to enable young people to move to the right home with an appropriate level of support when they are ready has led to a significant number of care leavers remaining in supported accommodation once they have turned 18 (despite this type of accommodation no longer meeting their needs), and to them not claiming the benefits to which they are entitled.

Room Makers Scheme

The report contains a proposal for a 'Room Makers Scheme' to help foster carers provide space for additional children.

In response to a Foster for Bradford survey in April 2024 to get a better understanding of the property and housing circumstances that might affect carers ability to care for more children and young people, 87.5% of respondents said that they already have a space in their property which could potentially be used for fostering, and that with help to redecorate, renovate or refurbish the room, they could care for another child.

Foster for Bradford Annual Reports

The second report included for discussion, Foster for Bradford Annual Reports, is a detailed analysis of Foster for Bradford's performance during the previous year. It contains a lot of information about staffing, the number of foster carers, the challenges of recruiting and retaining foster carers, the training that is provided to foster carers, and the number of children looked after by Foster for Bradford. The report is structured around ten key themes:

Introduction

The report starts by providing some basic information about Foster for Bradford, and summarising its recent Ofsted Inspection.

Foster for Bradford was launched as an Independent Fostering Agency under Bradford Children and Families Trust in April 2023. This report provides an overview of the fostering agency and plans for service development through the Foster for Bradford Annual Report and the Fostering Panel Annual Report for 2023-24, and provides assurance that the service is being delivered in line with the Fostering Regulations (2011).

The report goes on to summarise the six recommendations made by Ofsted during the recent inspection, and the work that is underway to address them.

Summary Data

The second section provides a lot of data about the number of foster carers and children looked after by Foster for Bradford. For example, it tells us the number of kinship carers approved by Foster for Bradford:

71 kinship carers were approved in the period.

Detailed Data

The third section goes into more detail about Foster for Bradford's safeguarding performance during the previous year. It breaks the analysis down into several topics, including:

• Accidents, injuries and illnesses
• Medication, medical treatment and first aid administered
• Measures of control, restraint or discipline
• Complaints in relation to children/about foster carers, and their outcomes
• Allegations or suspicions of abuse or neglect, and investigation outcomes
• Children missing without permission
• Allegations that a child has committed a serious offence
• Serious incident necessitating police being called to the foster carer’s home

Staffing

This section provides information about the number of staff working for Foster for Bradford, how they're managed, and the training they receive. It tells us, for example, that Foster for Bradford had a 100% reliance on agency workers to supervise and support kinship carers.

2 x Agency Kinship Assessment Social Workers covering maternity leave and providing additional capacity to the service due to demand.

The report explains that a new dedicated Training Officer will be joining the team.

The service has now appointed a dedicated learning and development officer for foster carers who commenced the role in March 2024.

Fostering Panel

This section provides details about the Fostering Panel that is responsible for approving foster carers. It explains that the Panel was very busy during the previous year as it was responsible for reapproving all of the existing foster carers in Bradford.

To accommodate the transition to becoming an Independent Fostering Agency 38 virtual re-approval Panels were held between April-July 2023 to consider approval of all existing Bradford foster carers into the new entity as an IFA under the Trust umbrella.

The report explains that the Panel aims to reflect the diversity of Bradford's population.

Panel diversity is a key recruitment focus for the service at this time. We are working on building Panel central lists that reflects the diverse nature of Bradford District.

Consultation with Children and Young People

This section explains the mechanisms that Foster for Bradford uses to obtain the views of the children it looks after. These include:

• Mind Of My Own
• The Children in Care Council

The report acknowledges that more needs to be done to improve Foster for Bradford's consultation with children.

We are focussed on developing our means of consulting with and communicating with our children and young people as part of our service development plans in line with the recommendation from OFSTED in the March 2024 inspection.

Consultation with Foster Carers

This section details the different mechanisms that Foster for Bradford uses to obtain the views of its foster carers. These include:

• Foster Carer Forums
• Bradford Independent Foster Carers Association
• Foster Carer Ambassadors

Consultation with Placing Authorities

This section explains how Foster for Bradford consults with the Trust, the local authority responsible for placing children in care.

Equality and Diversity

This section details Foster for Bradford's commitment to diversity, and details a number of initiatives designed to ensure that the foster carers in Bradford represent the diversity of the children that need to be cared for. It explains, for example, that Foster for Bradford launched a Faith in Fostering campaign.

Foster for Bradford has recognised the need to attract more carers from ethically diverse communities to represent the care needs of children in Bradford. As a result, we launched a ‘Faith in Fostering’ campaign in 2023. This was primarily led by a social worker in the fostering assessment team and overseen by the Team Manager.

The report acknowledges that more needs to be done to improve the diversity of the Fostering Panels.

Our workforce and our foster carer population are both relatively reflective of our local population however we recognise that our Foster Panels currently do not and we are actively seeking applications to make them more balanced in terms of peoples lived experiences.

Other Developmental Work

The final section of the report sets out Foster for Bradford's developmental plan for the year ahead.

Verbal Updates

The Panel was scheduled to receive verbal updates on the following topics:

• Corporate Parenting Co-ordinator Update: John O’Loughlin, the Corporate Parenting Co-ordinator, was scheduled to give a verbal update on the progress of the Panel's work.
• You Said/We Did/Voice & Influence Update: Patsy Burrows and Helen Cliffe were scheduled to give a verbal update on the YOU SAID WE DID TEMPLATE November 2024 . This appears to describe work that is being undertaken to address issues raised by children.
• Corporate Parenting Dashboard: Patsy Burrows and Lucy Kavanagh were scheduled to give a verbal update on the Corporate Parenting Dashboard.
• Residential Service Update: Patsy Burrows was scheduled to give a verbal update on the Residential service.

IRO Annual Report

The final document included for discussion, the IRO Annual Report, was written by Ruth Terry, Executive Director of Social Care and Practice for Bradford Children and Families Trust. It provides an overview of the IRO service. An IRO, or Independent Reviewing Officer, is responsible for chairing meetings to review the care plans of children in care.

Key findings

The report states that the number of children entering care has decreased since the previous year.

From April 2023 to March 2024, 502 children entered care and 601 left care. From April 2022 to March 2023, 601 children and young people entered care and 459 left care. This is a decrease of 16% in children entering care and 30% increase in children leaving care.

The report goes on to detail a number of other findings about the children entering and leaving care in Bradford, including:

• There has been a significant decrease in the number of children entering care via Police Protection Powers.
• There has been a significant decrease in the number of Interim Care Orders awarded by the courts.
• The number of children entering care subject to a Section 20 has remained relatively stable.
• The number of Placement Orders awarded by the Courts has increased by 26%.
• There has been a 30% reduction in children remaining in care whilst living with a parent.
• There has been a 19% increase in children being placed in adoptive placements.
• The numbers of children exiting care via all routes other than adoption have increased.
• There has been a 15% decrease in the number of children and young people who were on child protection plans prior to entering care.

Dispute Resolution

The report goes on to explain how IROs can use a formal process to raise concerns when the care plan of a child is not being followed properly. It details how many times this process has been used.

Between 1st April 2023 and 31st March 2024, 393 informal dispute resolution discussions took place. This is a reduction of 26% from 2022/23.

Between 1st April 2023 and 31st March 2024, 19 dispute resolution discussions took place with partner agencies. This is a 137% increase, but the numbers remain very low given that many children in care have EHCP’s, alternative education packages, requirements for therapeutic input and family finding for adoptive placements.

Stage 1 Dispute Resolutions increased by 34% and Stage 2 challenges increased by 56%. However, Stage 3 decreased by 71%.

Performance Data

The report states that the number of cases per IRO has generally been between 90 and 93.

IRO caseloads mainly been around 90 - 93 per FTE for the last financial year as numbers of total children in care peaked at 1600.

Child Participation

The report states that there has been a 7% increase in the number of children actively involved in their review meetings.

There has been a 7% increase in children and young people being actively involved in their review meeting which is means that children and young people are engaged in their care planning.

The report goes on to explain how IROs can use a number of different mechanisms to obtain the views of the children they work with.

Development Priorities

The report concludes by detailing the IRO service's development priorities for the year ahead. These include:

• Continuing to maintain a stable and permanent workforce
• Continuing to embed improvements on child participation and IRO consultation
• Re-establishing IROs undertaking audits
• Promoting dispute resolution with partner agencies
• Ensuring effective IRO oversight
• Reducing drift and delay in care planning
• Maintaining positive working relationships with Social Care and Partner agencies
• Listening to children and young people about how to improve the service.