Agenda and minutes

To receive disclosures of personal interest from Members in accordance with the Code of Conduct

Note:

1.     Members are requested to identify the item number and subject matter that their interest relates to and signify the nature of the personal interest: and

2.   Where Members withdraw from a meeting as a consequence of the disclosure of a prejudicial interest they must notify the Chairman when they leave.

In accordance with the Council’s Code of Conduct, there were no declarations made pertaining to the agenda.

The Chair took the opportunity to welcome officers from Voices from Care Cymru to the meeting with a particular welcome to a young person representative.

Apologies for absence were received from County Borough Councillors G Hopkins, S Rees, S Rees Owen and E Griffiths.

To approve the minutes of the previous meetings of the Board held on the 13^th September and 12^th October 2021.

Resolved to approve as an accurate record, the minutes of the meeting of the Corporate Parenting Board held on the 13^th September and 12^th October 2021 respectively.

To receive the Annual summary report from Voices from Care

The Director of Operations, Voices from Care Cymru (VfCC) provided Members with a summary of achievements made by VfCC towards the outreach of Young People within the Rhondda Cynon Taff. Members were advised of the activities and support arrangements taken forward over the past 6 months to encourage independent living, sharing ideas and the generation of support Networks taken forward.

The Officer acknowledged the significance of Young People’s voices across the area as a stimulus of positive change.

The Director of operations introduced a young person representative who has been a part of Voices for Care for the past 6 years to highlight their positive experiences with the group and its impact in their life. The young person spoke positively of the activities undertaken as part of the forum which provided access to community networks, independence, and the attainment of new skills. The young person also spoke of the positive role of the forum through the pandemic, with the continued support to young people.

Officers from the Forum took the opportunity to advise of the hurdles faced by the service through the pandemic, which the Forum were able to overcome through new ways of working. Details of the support arrangements currently made available to young people were advised upon with Members being advised of the support arrangements available through certain Library locations across the County Borough and the future work to be taken forward with Schools and Residential Homes. Officers also discusses the need to promote the right message to ensure maximum engagement with young people with officers stressing the importance of the young person’s voice to ensure positive change for the young people of the County Borough and generations to come. 

The Chair thanked the Director of Operations and the young person representative for their contributions and positive work undertaken targeting young people within RCT. The Chair commented on the accessibility of venues across the County Borough for the forum to utilise and suggested that further meetings with the Director of Children services and other relevant officers be taken forward to progress the matter.

Fellow Members of the Board commented on the update and took the opportunity to thank the Forum for their work undertaken with reference to the support provisions that were put in place during the pandemic.

Following discussions it was RESOLVED:

-          To note the update provided to the board and to receive a further progress report to a future meeting of the Board.

To receive the report of the Group Director, Community & Children’s Services which provides Corporate Parenting Board members an update on the work of the Miskin Teams and Therapeutic Families Team set out in the services’ annual reports for 2020-2021.

The Service Manager provided Members with an update on the work of the Miskin Teams and Therapeutic Families Team set out in the services annual reports for 2020-2021 and drew Member’s attention to the achievements of the two teams and their initiatives in keeping families together within RCT.

The Service manager informed Members that the Miskin team comprised of 5 people and 40+ personnel all aiding in improving parenting capacity to enable families to care for children with minimum statutory involvement. He added that over the years the Miskin team has become well established within the community due to its interventions, highlighting that in 2020-21, 91% of children remained with their parents or immediate family after the intervention.

Details of the Therapeutic Family Team (TFT) services were provided including details of consultations, therapeutic assessments and interventions to children and families in RCT. Similarly, to Miskin, the Therapeutic Family team has seen a continual improvement since its inaugural year by supporting and engaging with families and producing a positive outcome. 

The Chair thanked the Service Manager for the report and was pleased to see the broad scope of initiatives in place to support families and children within RCT.

One member thanked the team for all the efforts and positive impact towards families and children.

The Corporate Parenting Board Resolved:

-       To Acknowledge the information contained within the report.

To consider the advancements made to the Children Looked After Website.

An officer from the Safeguarding and Reviewing Management Team provided Members with an overview of the advancements made on the Children looked after website which was due to be launched in the New Year. The officer highlighted that the website was two sided and specifically made for children and young people within RCT.

The Officer advised that the website would be beneficial to Social Workers as a resource that could be utilised to share information and engage with children and young people in RCT. Members learnt that the team intended on working in partnership with the Fostering and Residential teams to take forward opportunities through usage of the website as part of their key working sessions.

Despite the successes of the website the officer did recognise the challenges experienced with the development of the website and further areas of improvement to ensure a better experience for service users commenting on aspects of improved interactive content and a need to improve the incentive for children and young people to return to access the website. Members were advised that the team had taken forward work with Wicid.tv to provide interactive content which allows children and young people to participate in activities, competitions, and educational opportunities.

Members were advised that the website had an online Consultation Document (My voice review document) which permitted young people to post their reviews on aspects they were enjoying and areas for improvement, which assisted the service in taking forward open discussions.

The officer did recognise the opportunity to collaborate with Voice of Care Cymru (VfCC) as part of the consultation with young people.

The Chair welcomed the update and the news that the website would be launched in the New Year, which would be a beneficial tool to service users.

Members recognised the difficulties experienced by the team in respect of engagement of children and young people and praised the service for the work undertaken to date to improve these aspects. Members welcomed future collaboration with Voices from Care Cymru (VfCC) to assist in the developments of the website going forward.

The Corporate Parenting Board RESOLVED:

-       To note the content of the update.

To receive the Tros Gynnal Plant (TGP) Cymru quarterly progress report

The Board received an update from the Service Director of Children Services on the progress made by Tros Gynnal Plant (TGP) Cymru. The Service Director began by discussing Quarter Two Advocacy statistics relating to Children Looked After (CLA). Based on the Active Offer in Quarter Two, 87 children and young people became eligible for Active Offer; out of these only 8 young people were CLA; one person was referred; however, the rest declined the opportunity to meet with an advocate.

In quarter two TGP Cymru received 17 Active offer referrals; Out of the 17 one person was CLA. The Service Director advised that there had been a significant increase in referrals compared to previous years quarters. Members were advised that TGP had met with officers from within the Council to take forward approaches to allow the Council to advise of potential reasons why Active Offers were being declined.

The Service Director advised that the Visiting Advocacy would continue across the four community homes within RCT with the support being provided virtually at present with weekly contact: however, plans were in place to offer Face-to-Face contact during the next quarter following discussions with community homes managers.

The Chair thanked the Service Director of Children’ Services for the verbal update on Tros Gynnal Plant (TGP) and spoke of the importance of the Face-to-Face engagement through active referrals and welcomes the reintroduction of this provision as soon as it was safe to do so.

It was RESOLVED:

-       To note the report

-       To receive updates on future progress made by TGP

The chair advised members that the following reports were presented to the Board for information purposes only, although welcomed the opportunity for any questions in respect of each of the reports.

The care inspectorate wales report was provided to the board for information purposes to which the board RESOLVED to note.

“That the press and public be excluded from the meeting under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act, 1972 (as amended) for the next item of business on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph 13 of Part 4 of Schedule 12A of the Act.”

It was RESOLVEDthat the press and public be excluded from the meeting under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act (as amended) for the following items of business on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of the exempt information as defined in paragraph 14 of Part 4 of the Schedule 12A of the Act.

To receive the report of the Group Director, Community & Children’s Services providing the Corporate Parenting Board with an overview of the operation and effectiveness of the statutory Social Services complaints procedure.

The Social Services quarterly complaints and compliments report was presented to Members for information which contained exempt information.  Members RESOLVED to note the report for information.

To receive the report from the Group Director, Community & Children’s Services, containing exempt information

The Regulation 73 reports were presented to Members for information.  The Director of Children Services referenced a query raised at the previous meeting of the Board in respect of the outcome of the inspection outcome at Beddau residential home and Members were advised that the outcome of the inspection was contained within the report provided.

Members RESOLVED to note the contents of the report for information purposes.

-       To note the contents of the report for information purposes.