The Group Manager Childrens Regulated Services submitted a report to Committee with a proposal to establish and provide an in house parent and child fostering service and also to update the Committee on the current arrangements for commissioning the placements from external providers and outlined the potential benefits of taking a new approach which included reduced costs.

The Group Manager Childrens Regulated Services explained that BCBC was currently unable to provide an in-house service offering parent and child fostering placements. She explained that if required, parent and child (typically mother and baby only) placements were provided by commissioning the placements through a range of independent fostering agencies (IFA’s) via the children commissioning support resource (CCSR).  She added that the cost of commissioning the external parent and child placements was

significant, totalling an expenditure of £248,256.06 in 2014/2015.

The Group Manager Childrens Regulated Services informed Members that it was determined via the Children’s Commissioning Consortium Cymru (4C’s) that there was a gap in provision for parent and child placements across Wales and in response a number of the larger independent fostering agencies (IFA’s) established such a provision, within the framework parameters. Currently, the standard level 1 parent and child placement costs were £1,364.70 per week and a level 2 placement costs were £1,650 per week. Placements were initially set up for a 12-16 week assessment period but could last the length of care proceedings, namely 26 weeks.  She added that the Local Authority commissioned 12 parent and child placements in 2014/2015, 11 at level 1 and 1 at level 2, resulting in a cumulative spend of £247,656.25.    The Group Manager Childrens Regulated Services further added that as at 18th September 2015, there were 13 active mother and baby placements that had, in the financial year, cost the Local Authority £266,587.03 and as at the 31st October 2015 we have 8 referrals (a further 3 at the time of Committee) for potential parent and child placements for unborn babies.

The Corporate Director Social Services and Wellbeing concluded that she was positive that BCBC could provide a better in house service which would also include a provision for the fathers which was currently not on offer through the IFAs

A Member welcomed the report and stated that were would be a lot of positives to come from it, he added that it was good that BCBC would be able to keep more children in the Borough and was pleased to hear that the standards would not be lowered.

A Member asked how the cost savings were so high which equated to an almost 50% saving, he was concerned that BCBC would have to lower the standard of service in order to achieve such a high level of savings.  The Group Manager Childrens Regulated Services stated that there would be no difference in the level of service offered with the in house provision and that the costs were currently high because there was a niche in the market so the IFAs were making a large profit.  She added that many different local authorities had made provisions for their own in house services and were seeing vast savings.

A Member noted from the report that an IFA Parent and Child placement would end after a 12 week assessment but that the Authority had been faced with significant delays with courts directing that the parent and child placement should continue until the Final Hearing at 26 weeks.  He asked Officers if they had any knowledge when this would resolve as it was having a financial impact on the Authority. The Group Manager Childrens Regulated Services stated that the Authority could not remove the child too early and that children were assessed if they were at risk of harm.  She added that they go through a Legal surgery process for each child and if they removed a child too early they would be seen to be predetermining the decisions of the Courts

The Leader stated that he was pleased to see the improvement of service for clients and welcomed the report.  He added that the savings would be very beneficial to the Authority and questioned why this could not have been put in place sooner and asked what stage in commissioning the service the Authority were at.  The Group Manager Childrens Regulated Services replied that it had not been an easy scheme to set up and the Authority had to set up to very specific regulations and ensure that specific training was available to foster carers.  The Corporate Director Social Services and Wellbeing added that a tight project plan would be put in place to drive the project forward to be operational within a 6-9month time-frame, she added that a number of foster carers had already expressed an interest to the Authority in being a part of the service. 

A Member asked how the foster carers would monitor the parent of the child that they have in their care.  The Group Manager Childrens Regulated Services stated that all homes were checked by the Health and Safety team and that the mother and child would be in the same bedroom together with an understanding that the foster carer could enter at any time.

A Member asked if the Authority would speak to the existing foster carers at the IFAs to see if they would be interested in coming over to the Authority.  The Corporate Director Social Services and Wellbeing stated that the Authority would be offering competitive allowances and an excellent bespoke training package.  She added that there would also be a marketing campaign launched to attract potential foster carers. 

The Deputy Leader welcomed the report and asked if it was possible to now get the process started as soon as was practicably possible, including the amendment and approval to the Statement of Purpose to avoid any delays in the project.

RESOLVED: That the Corporate Parenting Cabinet Committee:

1.     Took note of the information contained within the report and agreed to bring forward proposals to make changes to the existing Bridgend Foster Care Statement of Purpose to include the ability to offer parent and child foster placements in house.

2.    Agreed that a Parent and Child fostering service be added to the Statement of Purpose for Bridgend Foster Care.