Agenda item

Report by the Director of Children’s Services.

72.1     The Panel considered a report by the Director of Children’s Services which provided an update on Looked After Children (LAC) statistics introduced by Sally Carnie, Head of Looked After Service.

72.2     The Panel heard that in the last quarter there has been an increase in LAC from 691 to 698 (increase of 7). There were 61 children admitted to care and 44 children discharged from care which impacted the overall number. This was made up of several large sibling groups, increased numbers of children being accommodated and a group of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children (UASC) being transferred via the National Transfer Scheme (NTS).

72.4     As part of our approach to enabling more children to live safely with their families the service has been focused on supporting children to be reunited with their families or wider network where it is possible to do so.  In the last quarter 25 children were supported in being successfully reunified with family/friends.

72.5        A total of 435 children were living in foster care at the end of December 2024, this is 62% of the total number of looked after children. Of that number, 259 (60%) were living with approved ESCC carers which includes 23 who were placed long term with fully approved family and friends’ carers. 5 children were placed with foster carers who were also approved adopters as part of the Fostering for Adoption pathway which includes 1 child placed in a Foster to Adopt placements with an agency adopter that is not part of the Regional Adoption Agency. 101 children were living with external agency carers. In addition, there were 2 children placed with Other Local Authority foster carers. At the end of the quarter, the number of children who were living with temporary approved family and friends foster carers was 68.

72.6        There were 16 children placed for adoption at the end of December 2024 which is an increase of 4 since the previous quarter. This is 2% of the total number of looked after children.

72.7        There were 95 young people living in supported accommodation and unregistered provision which is a decrease of 4 since the previous quarter. This is 14% of the total number of looked after children. This figure of 95 includes 17 children placed in unregistered provision, the majority of these unregistered placements are where the providers are in the process of registering with Ofsted. Of the 17 unregistered placements there are 4 children that are under 16 years old. These placements are only used in exceptional circumstances where no suitable alternative regulated provision is available. In these circumstances robust risk assessments and monitoring plans are made to ensure children are cared for safely.

72.8     At the end of December 2024, the number of children living in regulated residential children’s homes decreased from 122 to 120. This represents 17% of all looked after children. Of these 120 children, 23 were living in ESCC run children’s homes, and 97 were placed in external residential homes. This represents a downward trend in using external placements which is very positive

72.9        The improved financial offer that ESCC made to support the recruitment of local foster carers is continuing to drive up our recruitment success. The number of fostering enquiries for Q1 to Q3 is up to 202, as compared to 171 from the same period in 23/24.  The number of initial visits increased to 64 this year compared to 34 in the same period last year. The number of approvals rose to 24 at the end of Quarter 3 already exceeding last year’s 4 Quarter figure. There are nine potential households to approve in Quarter 4 which if achieved will mean we have recruited 33 households in total.

72.10     ESCC fully participates in the National Transfer Scheme (NTS) for separated children. The number of separated children was 77 at the end of Q3, a reduction of 7 from the previous quarter. In addition, there were 153 asylum seeking young people who were Care Leavers during this period which is an increase of 4 from the previous quarter (125 18 - 21 year olds and 28 21-25 year olds).  The numbers of children being referred through the NTS has reduced during this quarter with no referrals being received in November at all.  Separated children’s asylum claims appear to have been processed more swiftly in Q2 and 3. 

72.11   The Panel approved the new report format and would welcome mental health data as part of the revised format.

72.12   The Panel noted that officers will be formalising a reunification support plan to provide great help to families particularly unplanned reunifications where comprehensive plans are required at pace.

72.13     The Panel RESOLVED to note the report.