The Islington Plan for Looked After Children and ... - Islington Council

Priority 6:
To provide sufficient, suitable and stable
care placements to meet the needs of
children looked after and care leavers
5.6.1 The current position
a. Once a decision is made for a child to become looked after, the Council is
committed to ensuring a successful route out of care via a return to birth
parents if it is safe and appropriate to do so or by ensuring that alternative
family solutions can be found in a timely way thus avoiding drift and
unnecessary delay.
b. Changes have been made to the regulations and National Minimum
Standards to ensure that the Adoption Services works more effectively for
all children in care who would benefit from this as an option for
permanence. This would involve less delay and timely matching
particularly for children from Black and Ethnic Minority groups (for whom
consideration of all needs must take precedence over matching ethnicity)
and better use of the voluntary sector.
c. There have also been changes to the statutory guidance on family and
friends care to ensure that children who are unable to live with their birth
parents and who are living with relatives or friends receive the support that
they and their carers need to safeguard their welfare. The essence of the
guidance is that local authorities should have a family and friends policy
setting out the support available for family and friends carers and that
these families receive equitable services.
d. The Children Looked After Service has focused its efforts on ensuring that
wherever possible children looked after do not experience instability and
unhelpful placement moves. This is achieved through providing
placements that are of a high quality and which promote the development
of strong and secure attachments and where good parenting is
championed.
e. There are currently 145 Islington foster carers (as at 31st August 2011),
including family and friend carers, delivering corporate parenting to looked
after children. A sustained programme of training and development,
including achieving the Children's Workforce Development Council
(CWDC) standards and the management of emotional and mental health
issues has been provided. A key goal has been to ensure that the
parenting offered by Islington foster carers, external fostering agency
carers and family and friend’s carers is consistent, effective and supports
children and young people to feel safe, secure and achieve their full
potential.
f. The support offered to carers has been a key factor in maintaining the
stability of placements. This has been achieved through the commitment
of the partner agencies within the integrated Children Looked After
Service who work together as a team to support each placement.
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