Annual Report of the Independent Reviewing Officer (IRO) Service 2012-2013
1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
1.1 The IRO Service is well established and is effective in promoting the well being of Children in Care in Poole. Systems to challenge and influence Care Planning for Children in Care are embedded and actively used.
1.2 Despite the challenges of high numbers of Children in Care, services and outcomes for Children in Care in Poole are generally good and where there are areas for improvement the IROs play a part in identifying and addressing this.
1.3 The voice of the child is a high priority of the IRO Service. There has continued to be high performance in the rates of participation in Child in Care Reviews.
1.4 Achieving Child in Care Reviews within a statutory number of days has improved to 93% and there is a plan in place to reach the 100% goal.
2. PURPOSE OF THIS REPORT
2.1 This report fulfils the Statutory Requirement to make available an Annual Report of the Independent Reviewing Officer Service for scrutiny by Members and the Corporate Parenting Board.
2.2 It sets out to help Members understand the role and how it has been used in 2012/2013 to improve quality of plans, services and interventions for children in care in Poole.
2.3 To provide members with an independent view of services for children in care as part of their corporate parenting role.
3. THE STATUTORY DUTIES OF THE INDEPENDENT REVIEIWING OFFICER
3.1 The IRO’s primary focus is to quality assure the care planning and review process for each child in care and to ensure that his/her current wishes and feelings are given full consideration. The IRO is responsible for assessing whether the plan meets the needs of the child, to monitor and review the child’s case and, where necessary, challenge poor practice.
3.2 The IRO is responsible for monitoring the child’s case on an ongoing basis, but it is not the responsibility of the IRO to manage the case, supervise the social worker or devise the care plan.
3.3 Although it is important for the IRO to develop a consistent relationship with the child, this should not undermine or replace the relationship between the social worker and the child.
3.4 Care planning and Children in Care Review meetings are about bringing together children who are looked after, their families, carers and professionals, in order to plan for the care of the child and to review that plan on a regular basis. Effective care planning and review is underpinned by careful assessment of the needs of a child and making the right decisions about how best to meet those needs.
3.5 The involvement of young people in this process is essential and their voices (wishes and feelings) are able to influence their plan.
3.6 The IRO is charged with the responsibility of documenting reasons why a plan may not fully meet the assessed needs of a child in care. The IROs will use the Quality Assurance Framework and Escalation Processes set out in Section 8 to raise concerns when they feel that a child’s needs are not being met satisfactorily.
4. IRO SERVICE IN POOLE
4.1 The IRO Service in Poole has a role in enabling members to be assured of the quality of services to Children in Care.
4.2 The IRO Service in Poole is based in the Safeguarding Team, Commissioning and Improvement. There are four experienced and qualified post holders (2 full time and 2 part time) carrying out the IRO functions for all Children in Care in Poole. These post holders have additional responsibilities alongside their IRO role.
4.3 All Children in Care in Poole have an allocated IRO and the IROs provide a consistent and sometimes long-term relationship with children in care. The IRO is often the same professional working with a child in care’s sibling when they are in different placements offering another valuable dimension in the service offered.
4.4 One specific challenge for Poole IROs has been the fact that there are no black and ethnic minority workers in the Child in Care Team and all four IROs are White British. At March 2013 9.7% of children in care were from BME backgrounds. IROs have all attended diversity training and are very aware of multi-faith and diverse cultural aspects of care. In 2012/2013 a Children’s Services BME Group was established and is working to ensure that the needs of BME children in placements are met.
4.5 Fluctuations in numbers of children in care can place demands on the team . Work is being undertaken to build in more contingency plans to deal with capacity at times when activity increases.
4.6 IROs will attend not only Child in Care Reviews, but other key planning meetings for Children in Care. These include meetings to agree long-term plans (Permanence Planning Meetings), meetings to agree Legal Action for Children in Care (Legal Gateway Meetings / Letter Before Proceedings Meetings),meetings to monitor progress of cases (eg.Adoption Tracking Meetings) and other professional planning meetings. In this way they are able to contribute their views and maintain an oversight of the care planning for all Children in Care in Poole.
4.7 IROs in Poole are enabled to carry out their role more effectively by having:
· informal working relationships and access to colleagues at Social Care;
· access to the Social Care records kept on all Children in Care;
· the ability to link with children, carers, parents and other key professionals;
· liaison with children’s guardians;
· an integral role in the Children’s Social Care Quality Assurance Framework;
· participating in and bringing challenge to Children’s Social Care management meetings.
· a line of reporting to the Director of Children’s Services. (A role held by the Strategic Director People Theme)
4.8 The Safeguarding Team are supported by a competent and committed Business Support Service who undertake the different administrative functions of the Team.
5. CHILDREN IN CARE IN BOROUGH OF POOLE
5.1 Detail about Children in Care and their outcomes is set out for Members in the Annual Corporate Parenting Report. This section aims to describe some key detail, related to the IRO Services.
5.2 Children in Care in Poole have steadily increased since March 2008 (116) with a peak in September 2012 (166) decreasing to 145 Children in Care in March 2013.
5.3 It is important to note a significant difference in the turnover of Children in Care during a year as this is a truer reflection of the numbers of children receiving a service from the IROs each year.
Year / Children in Care on 31st March in this year / Children in Care during year2011 / 134 / 181
2012 / 157 / 209
2013 / 145 / 223
5.4 In 2011–2012 there were 429 Child Care Reviews and in 2012-2013 this increased to 466 reviews.
5.5 These figures include children with disabilities who spend over 75 nights per year receiving care outside of their families (Short-breaks). There are a number of additional children who receive fewer nights of short-breaks. These are not classified as children in care and their plans are reviewed by the Child Health and Disability Team.
5.6 Of the 223 children in care in 2012-2013, a significant number of children were reunited with parents / relatives, adopted, made subject of orders (eg. Special Guardianship) or reached independence.
5.7 The majority of Children in Care in Poole are cared for in local family placements which meet their needs. The strength of the in-house Fostering Service means that only the children and young people in care with the most complex needs access out of area / independent care placements.
6. MEETING THE STATUTORY REQUIREMENTS FOR TIMING OF REVIEWS
6.1 Systems are in place to monitor the compliance with statutory requirements about the timing of Reviews. There is monitoring and oversight in place as well as mechanisms to identify when reviews are due.
6.2 93% of child in care reviews were within the timescale set by Regulations. The reviews on time between 2012 and 2013 totalled 433 of the 466 that took place. (the target is for 100% of reviews to be on time)
6.3 Reasons for missing the deadline are recorded by the IRO on quality assurance sheets and sent to the Social Care Team Manager and available for supervision of staff. Performance on meeting reviews is then discussed in Quality Assurance meetings with Children’s Social Care senior management team.
6.4 Reasons for the 34 late reviews in 2012/2013 were connected to high caseloads in the Child in Care team, sickness and a vacancy (now resolved).
6.5 Action is being taken to further address factors which contribute to delays in reviews.
7. EXTENT OF PARTICIPATION OF CHILDREN AND THEIR PARENTS
7.1 The IRO has key statutory duties to ensure that any ascertained wishes and feelings of the child concerning the care are given due consideration and to ensure that children have been informed of their rights including how to make a complaint.
7.2 Poole has had consistently high performance in the involvement of children and young people in their Child in Care Reviews. (82% are involved in their reviews). All children and young people are involved in their review in an age appropriate manner. All children and young people are given the choice about attending, how the meeting is chaired, setting the agenda for the process and also consideration is given about who else attends. The young people always have a choice about participation and some do not wish to attend a meeting, share their views or talk to a third party.
7.3 The 2010 Care Planning Regulations require IROs to meet with young people outside the review meeting process. In Poole this does not occur in all cases because the young person is often in a stable placement and the requirement is met by the IRO having some time alone with the child as part of their Review. In some circumstances the IRO will have phone or have written communications with children in care. In a number of cases though the IRO will meet with children and young people outside of the review and this has proved very useful to establish the relationship and to understand well the child’s perspective.
7.4 Below is a pie chart showing the methods of participation and actual involvement of young people in their care planning review process.
7.5 Finding ways to encourage and enable the 18% who ‘do not attend reviews and their views are not conveyed’ to be heard remains a target for 2013 to 2014.
7.6 Advocacy is available to all young people in care aged 8 to 18 years old. Advocacy is commissioned from Action for Children and this contract is monitored on a quarterly basis by the IRO Manager and Principal Manager at social care. This is a contact reviewed on a three yearly basis.
7.7 Advocacy has provided very successful support for a small number of young people in care in Poole. Advocacy has been used more extensively for safeguarding issues and child protection conferences. In 2012 / 2013 this process has been reviewed and more emphasis has been placed on ensuring advocacy for children in care.
7.8 The Care Planning Guidance recommends a more extensive use of Independent Visitor support for young people in care and this is an area for improved oversight by the IROs in 2013/2014. Independent visitors are volunteers who befriend and support children and young people aged up to 18 who are looked after by the local authority. They take an active interest in the lives, hopes and concerns of young people and are there to listen and help.
7.9 Birth parents are routinely consulted with before reviews and invited to them when this is in the child’s best interest. Consideration of involvement is recorded by the IRO at every review meeting. IRO’s must check that the birth or legal parent’s rights of involvement are considered. It is known that when a child is in a long term placement birth parents are less frequently involved in Reviews.
8. QUALITY ASSURANCE AND PROCESSES FOR RESOLVING DISPUTES
8.1 IROs have a system of quality assurance which fits into the Children’s Social Care Quality Assurance Framework.
· After every Child in Care Review IROs complete a QA template with feedback to the Team Manager about the Review and the progress of the Care Plan for the child. This will include compliments as well as areas to be addressed.
· The IROs attend regular Quality Assurance Meetings with the services who work with Children in Care and at these meetings themes and issues are discussed and resolved.
· The IROs then also contribute to a six monthly Quality Assurance Report which captures strengths and areas for development, reported to the Children’s Social Care Management Meeting.
· The IROs manager reports to the Safeguarding for Children’s Services Meeting, Chaired by the DCS and including the Lead member.
· The IRO service must provide an annual report to the Corporate Parenting Board and Overview and Scrutiny Committee.
8.2 IROs also have a Dispute Resolution process to use where issues are identified. Initially attempts will be made to resolve these through discussion with social worker and others involved. The next step, where a resolution has not been agreed, is that it is formally put to the Team Manager, requesting a written response. There is then a hierarchical process for escalating an unresolved concern to Principal Manager, Service Unit Head and ultimately the DCS. The IRO has the power to refer the matter to Cafcass at any point in the escalation process and may consider it necessary to make a concurrent referral to Cafcass at the same time that s/he instigates the dispute resolution process.
8.3 So far Issues raised by IROs have never required escalation to CAFCASS. Issues are either resolved easily or are robustly challenged with Team Managers and Principal Managers until a resolution is agreed that is in the best interest of the child.