Agenda item

Report of the Assistant Director Children’s Services

The Assistant Director, Children’s Services, submitted a report (previously circulated) to provide Members with a summary of the Government Response to the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care, entitled “Stable Homes, Built with Love”.

The submitted report stated that the Government had published a response to the Independent Review which took the form of a strategy which identified six pillars upon which the reform of Children’s Social Care would be based. The submitted report informed Members that the Council were already actively involved in a Regional Fostering Pathfinder Project, alongside other North-East local authorities, and that the Scrutiny Committee could play a critical role in shaping how Children’s Services responded to, and implemented, the other pillars identified within the report.

Members were keen to recognise that, whilst it was preferable that children remain with birth parents, or placed with wider family, families should not always be considered safe spaces for children, and were keen to discover more about how the Council ensured that extended families provided safe spaces.

Members noted that, in relation to the six pillars, it was pleasing to learn that the Council had initiatives in place to address each. Members were particularly interested in hearing more in relation to the fostering and retention programme, and ensuring that this was something that was delivering.

RESOLVED – That the contents of the report be noted.