The Corporate Parenting Board of Lancashire Council met on Wednesday, 11 March 2026, to discuss a range of updates and reports concerning children in care and care leavers. Key topics included an update from the Participation Team, annual reports on fostering, adoption, and private fostering, and the National Youth Advocacy Service (NYAS) annual report.

Participation Team Update

Young people from LINX (Lancashire's Children in Care Council) and the Care Leavers Forum (CLF) were scheduled to provide an update on their activities since the last Board meeting. This included highlighting achievements from 2025, such as their involvement in the Virtual School Headteacher Conference, the PROUD Awards, and the Corporate Parenting Board Youth Takeover event. Planned priorities for 2026 were also to be discussed, including the commissioning of a care leaver app, project planning across groups, recruitment for the Burnley Care Leavers Forum, and the potential reinstatement of a residential trip.

Fostering, Adoption, and Private Fostering Annual Reports

Heidi Fliegauf and Paul Dolan from Adolescent Services, Fostering and Adoption at Lancashire County Council were scheduled to present a summary of the annual reports for Fostering, Adoption, and Private Fostering.

The Fostering Service Annual Report 2024-25 highlighted an increase in approved mainstream foster carers, bucking national trends, and a rise in the number of children living with Lancashire's foster carers. The report also detailed efforts to support foster carers through initiatives like the Mentoring Academy and a Family Fun Day, and outlined future priorities such as developing the Where Our Children Live initiative and enhancing recruitment campaigns.

The Adoption Lancashire and Blackpool report detailed the service's role in matching children with adoptive families, recruiting and training adopters, and providing support to adopted children and their families. It noted a rising demand for adoptive placements and a growing gap between the number of adopters needed and those available, partly due to staffing issues. The report also outlined priorities for the upcoming year, including a renewed focus on Early Permanence and improving keeping in touch arrangements between adopted children and their birth families.

National Youth Advocacy Service (NYAS) Annual Report

Kirsty Clarke from the National Youth Advocacy Service (NYAS) was scheduled to present the Annual Report 2024-2025, focusing on Advocacy and Independent Visiting services. The report detailed the number of referrals received for both advocacy and independent visiting, outlining the types of issues addressed and the demographics of the young people supported. It also highlighted successes such as the continued blended model of virtual and face-to-face support, positive feedback from young people, and successful campaigns like My Things Matter and Missing the Point, which aim to improve the experiences of children in care. Key challenges, including volunteer recruitment and the increasing complexity of issues presented by young people, were also to be discussed.

District Team Update

The Board was scheduled to receive an overview from the Lancaster District team, including a Team Manager and care-experienced young people, on the situation for care-experienced young people at a district level.

House Project Update

Young people from The House Project were scheduled to provide an update on their project.

Other Scheduled Discussions

The meeting agenda also included the confirmation of the notes from the previous meeting on 21 January 2026, and a slot for any other business. The date and time of the next meeting were set for Wednesday, 20 May 2026, at 6.00 pm.