The Committee received a presentation from the Group Manager Integrated Working and Family, and Family Support Services Manager which updated the Committee on progress with the Connecting Families Edge of Care work.

The presentation provided the following information to Committee:

• Between 2007/8 and 2011/12, the Bridgend LAC population increased by 40% compared to a 24% increase across Wales
• Children under 2 and young people aged between 14 to 16 accounted for almost 50% of BCBC’s LAC population between 2008 and 2013

The LAC population in Bridgend had reduced from 410 as at April 2014 to 384 as at today. 

The Family Support Services Manager highlighted the Edge of Care proposal to Committee which was:

• The high number of children coming into the care system was a focus of an LSB workshop in January 2014

• There was an agreement to subsequently to focus some Connecting Families resources on targeting those children on the edge of care to avoid LAC status
• An Annual target set of working with 20 children (and their families) aged 11-16 years at high risk of entering the care system
• Initial age focus informed by high numbers of teenagers entering the care system

He further added that the approach Connecting Families would take would be targeted support that would be offered based on research of the current data to include:

·         children of high risk of becoming looked after

·         children currently or previously on the Child Protection register or previously LAC

·         Families known to the probation service

·         Families affected by domestic violence, substance misuse and mental health

·         Families with a history of School Exclusions

·         Families affected by housing issues

The Family Support Services Manager informed the Committee of progress of the Edge of Care project and explained that the service went live on the 1^st May 2014.  He also stated that 30 families accessed the Edge of Care service during 2014-15 which included 52 children (including siblings) which significantly exceeded the target.  He added that some of those families are now utilising support via Early Help Hubs.

He added that prior to intervention each family on average had cost Public Services approximately £40k per annum.  Following public intervention the average costs avoided for public services was reduced to a projected £23k per annum.  He stated that the total costs avoided to the Public Sector were approximately £707k once the service costs of £135k for Connecting Families were deducted, producing significant cost avoidance / savings.  

The Family Support Services Manager concluded that the developments and next steps for the Connecting Families Service were:

• The Family Support Team has been amalgamated into Connecting Families
• All eight Family Support Workers/ Intervention specialists now completing work around children at risk of entering care system. Those in care (including rehab home) and general family support work
• Group work developed including Parenting, Sexual Exploitation Prevention, Attachment and Dads Group

The Committee thanked the officers for their informative presentation.

The Chairperson of the Children & Young People Overview and Scrutiny Committee expressed the Committee’s concern regarding the burden on Social Workers’ caseloads.  The Interim Head of Safeguarding and Family Support informed the Committee that the authority aimed to have children at home with their families and there was a balance to be struck between reasonable caseloads for Social Workers and for children to be supported appropriately at the right time and place to enable them to be safe.  The Chairperson commented that the authority had invested in the Safeguarding Team and that if the LAC population continues to fall, the caseloads of Social Workers would become more manageable which would enable them to do more direct work with families.  The Group Manager Integrated Working and Family informed the Committee that his team works very closely with the Safeguarding Team and that targets were set to reduce the numbers of Looked After Children.  The Corporate Director Education and Transformation informed the Committee that good progress had been made, despite that the integrated teams had only been up and running for the past 3 months.  She stated there is pressure to reduce the budget for non-statutory functions.  If the pressure on children’s social services were alleviated there would be an opportunity to utilise resources more flexibly.

The Corporate Resources and Improvement Overview and Scrutiny Committee Champion questioned the sufficiency in the budget for looked after children; the latest numbers and costs of looked after children; whether the trend is increasing or decreasing and also, the impact on the increase in the number of adoption placements on looked after children.  The Corporate Director Social Services & Wellbeing informed the Committee that it was about the service does in relation to its resources and ensuring value for money.  She stated that looked after children are very clearly a statutory requirement which is at the top of the agenda corporately.  A whole systems approach had been adopted for looked after children which involved working with partner agencies.  She explained that children come into care for various reasons due to substance and alcohol abuse and also due to court orders.  The numbers coming into care is very volatile which would also attribute to the budget for the service being volatile.  She stated that there was now a downward trend for looked after children numbers and this needed to be the case over a sustained period.  The biggest cost was out of county placements which is the focus of attention for the service.  The number of looked after children had reduced from 410 in April 2014 down to 388 and as at today stood at 384.  There was a need to reduce looked after numbers safely which was uppermost for the service.  The Corporate Director Social Services & Wellbeing informed the Committee there is a need to invest in early intervention services.  There is tracking of children of where they are placed and the cost of their placements.  The Corporate Director Social Services & Wellbeing informed the Committee there is an overspend on fostering services due to an increase in in-house fostering which had seen a reduction in the amounts paid to fostering agencies. 

In response to a question from the Committee, the Head of Safeguarding and Family Support informed the Committee that it was a challenge to attract foster carers for teenage children due to very complex behavioural issues they may have.  The Cabinet Member Children’s Social Services and Equalities complemented the work of the Fostering Panel in placing large sibling groups with foster carers.

RESOLVED:               That the report be noted.