CYP(3) PCC 11

Children and Young People Committee

Inquiry into Arrangements for the Placement of Children into Care in Wales

Response from Rhondda Cynon Taf CBC Fostering and Placement Services.

RCT uses a comprehensive placement request form which needs to be completed by the Child’s Social Worker prior to any placement searches being undertaken.  This request form requires the social worker to provide background information on the family and the reasons/circumstances why a care placement is required.

The Social Worker has to determine the type of placement being requested e.g fostering or residential and the perceived duration of the placement e.g assessment period, long term etc.

The placement form then focuses on the needs of the child and replicates the services that are required of the placement as identified in the service section of the Children’s Commissioning Support Resource Database (CCSR) to assist the matching process.

There is a detailed section identifying both health and education needs within the placement form.  Placement officers then conduct a detailed search of in-house and external placement options.  These options are then shortlisted to a maximum of three placements.  The Social Worker, Young person and an officer from Ymbarel (RCT’s multi disciplinary LAC support team) all have the opportunity to express their opinions regarding the suitability of the proposed match before a decision is reached by either the Senior Placement Officer, Head of Service or, in relation only to all externally commissioned placements, the Service Director..  

In some cases the Social Worker and on occassions the child will have the opportunity to visit potential placements prior to a decision being made.  This is usually dependant on the urgency the placement is required.

RCT is also piloting, within it’s Taf offices an outcome based commissioning approach to placements.  The placement request shifts the focus from an exclusive concern with needs s and requires the Care planning process to identify desired outcomes that a given care provider  should work towards and achieve in relation to a given child.

Confidential information relating to a child is provided to prospective carers/providers in an anonymised form.

Within RCT there is clear accountability for decision making in relation to all placements.

Inter-agency communications and processes are well established through the monthly Multi Agency Placement Panel (MAPP) and fortnightly inter-departmental (Ymbarel) placement meetings.

The Multi Agency Placement Panel either confirms or makes recommendations regarding specialist placements where children need to be placed outside of the boundaries of RCT in accordance with Towards a Stable Life and Brighter Future guidance.  The terms of reference of this group ensure there is clear decision making and accountability; attending officers have clear budgetry responsibilities and information is routinely shared across departments to assist the decision making process.

Using that Information

The Children’s Commissioning Support Resource Database (CCSR) has been a useful addition to assist Placement Officers in their role.  It is especially useful in filtering searches on a geographical basis which has assisted RCT in its attempt to secure more local placements.

The CCSR is currently not used to identify in-house fostering and residential vacancies.  Although the data base has the potential to provide this information internal systems are more efficient and timely.

The CCSR is used for the majority of all external searches where in house options have been exhausted.  The exception to this is for emergency placements, or placements that need to be turned around within the working day.

The drawback of the database is that it is not always regularly updated by providers and therefore potential matches are withdrawn as the carer does not have a vacancy.

Any potential matches have to be explored in detail with providers and therefore the time taken to complete the referral information onto the CCSR system can be seen as duplicating what takes place subsequently during direct dialogue with potential providers.

The data base could be improved to allow Local Authorities to search by individual providers which would allow Local Authorities where they have entered into preferred provider arrangements to filter out other potential providers to reduce the search and matching workloads on staff.  

The data base needs to be streamlined to provide a more timely repsonse to emergency and same day referrals.

Planning

Placement plans in both foster & residential care are linked to the child’s care plan and are reviewed regularly in accordance with LAC proceedures.  Placement plans in some cases are discussed in the court environment where the Local Authority is still applying for Care Orders.

The identified care plans are reflected in the Placement Request form.

On occassions, due to a lack of placement choice, some young people may be placed with short term foster carers when the identified care plan is for long term.  This creates drift in the planning process and can lead to poorly matched placements and untimely movement.

Risks to Carers

Placement Officers will initially discuss potential placaements with the supervising social worker of the foster carer to establish if the placement is suitable and does not expose the foster carer to any unnecessary risk.

If it is determined by the supervising social worker that the potential carer may be suitably matched, the placement officer will go through the placement referral in detail with the carer outlining any potential risk and behavioural management issues.

The exception to this is unplanned out of hours emergencies when a full profile of the young person may not be known.  Foster carers have the choice as to whether they want their contact details held on the database of the Emergency Duty Team to avoid such situations.

Young People’s Participation

Young people’s participation in the placement process is dependent on the child’s age, level of understanding, time constraints and available choice of placements.  

Where  placements or placement moves within RCTCBC fostering can be planned, opportunities exist for pre-placement visits and short stays to take place but choice is limited by supply.

Where placements are externally purchased or where placements are made using the outcome based commissioning pilot approach, young people have the opportunity to have theirviews presented on the options appraisal form as part of the tendering process.

Social Worker Engagement

Once a foster placement is made the Social Worker remains responsible for monitoring the care plan.  Some delegation of responsibility is made to other staff members

General Comments

The CCSR has been a useful tool in providing comprehensive details on the placement market.  However, it has not been the most effective and efficient mechanism to identify placement matches and is no substitute for real intelligence developed over time by expert  placement officers exercising  effective judgement

Towards a Stable Life Guidance has played a useful role in formalising the engagement of partners with regard to their responsibilities in meeting the needs of LAC and those with complex needs.  Health partners appear however to have a parallel decision-making process that is in effect not consistent with the guidnace. Namely, that whereas the guidance requires attendees at the panel to budget holders from each agency who can make decisions on their own authority, health representatives attending panel can only refer recommendations to yet another panel within health; this introduces delay and obfuscation. It is too early to judge whether the presence of health commissioners has had any impact on the extent to which professionals responible for assessing children work more effectively together to achieve genuinely shared objectives, but there is little evidence that this has changed.