Children's Services Policies, Values and Principles

1. Introduction

This policy sets out the framework within which Children's Services work with children, young people and their families. It is underpinned by a range of legislation including, but not limited to:

• Children Acts 1989 and 2004;
• Children (Leaving Care) Act 2000;
• Care Standards Act 2000;
• United Nations Convention on the Rights of The Child;
• Human Rights Act 1998;
• Adoption and Children Act 2002;
• Data Protection Legislation;
• Children and Families Act 2014;
• Children and Social Work Act 2017;
• Working Together to Safeguard Children 2023;
• Children’s Social Care National Framework 2023.

It is largely directed towards the work that Children's Services undertakes with Children in Need and Cared for children; which is carried out in partnership with all sectors of the Local Authority and with other statutory, independent and voluntary sector services.

We adopt the Signs of Safety principles in all of our work with children, young people and their families. This provides a theoretical basis for strengths based, solution focussed practice which has the child/young person at the centre of practice but also ensuring that families and their networks are fully involved. This includes families and their networks ensuring that plans and interventions that work for them in their family are at the heart of our practice.

2. A Shared Responsibility

Working Together to Safeguard Children emphasises the importance of multi-agency working ensuring a child-centred approach while also considering the family context. The guidance recognises the need to build positive, trusting and co-operative relationships with parents and carers to deliver support which is individually tailored to the needs of the family.

There are fundamental expectations to endeavour to work cooperatively which apply to all individuals, agencies and organisations working with children and families.

The Children's Social Care National Framework contains national standards for how these services should be delivered.

This is statutory guidance and must be adhered to unless there is a valid reason not to do so.

3. Corporate Parenting

3.1 Corporate Parenting Responsibilities

The Children and Social Work Act 2017 legally defines the responsibility of corporate parents. It is the collective responsibility of the council, elected members, employees and partner agencies to provide the best possible care and safeguarding for the children who are looked after by the local authority. The role that councils play in looking after children is one of the most important things they do. Local authorities have a unique responsibility to the children they look after and their care experienced young people.

The term 'corporate parent' is broadly understood by Directors of Children's Services and Lead Members for Children, as well as those working directly in Children's Services, in relation to how local authorities should approach their responsibilities for cared for children and care experienced young people. A strong ethos of corporate parenting means that sense of vision and responsibility towards the children they look after and their care experienced young people is a priority for everyone. Corporate Parenting is an important part of the Ofsted inspection framework and the Corporate Parenting Principles are referenced in Ofsted's Inspecting Local Authority Children's Services.

The Corporate Parenting Principles are intended to facilitate as far as possible secure, nurturing, and positive experiences for cared for children and young people and enable positive outcomes for them.

The experiences of looked-after children and care experienced young people, particularly in regards to whether they feel cared for and listened to, will therefore be an important measure of how successfully local authorities embed these principles.

3.2 Corporate Parenting Principles

The Corporate Parenting Principles set out seven principles that local authorities will have regard to when exercising their functions in relation to cared for children and young people, as follows:

• To act in the best interests, and promote the physical and mental health and wellbeing, of those children and young people;
• To encourage those children and young people to express their views, wishes and feelings;
• To take into account the views, wishes and feelings of those children and young people;
• To help those children and young people gain access to, and make the best use of, services provided by the local authority and its relevant partners;
• To promote high aspirations, and seek to secure the best outcomes, for those children and young people;
• For those children and young people to be safe, and for stability in their home lives, relationships and education or work; and
• To prepare those children and young people for adulthood and independent living.

The Corporate Parenting Principles do not replace or change existing legal duties, The principles are intended to encourage local authorities to be ambitious and aspirational for their looked-after children and care experienced young people.

In addition, section 10 of the Children Act 2004 sets out the responsibility to make arrangements to promote co-operation between 'relevant partners' with a view to improving the well-being of children in their area. This should include arrangements in relation to looked-after children and care experienced young people. Section 10(5) of the 2004 Act places a duty on relevant partners to co-operate with the local authority in the making of these arrangements, therefore promoting and ensuring a joined-up approach to improving the well-being of children in their area.

See DfE, Applying Corporate Parenting Principles to Looked-after Children and Care Leavers – Statutory Guidance (February 2018).

4. Key Outcomes

The key outcomes for all children identified in the Children Act 2004 remain relevant and enable the local authority and other members of the Children and Young People Strategic partnership to focus on the key aspects for all children.

We will work together to achieve the best outcomes for children, young people and their families through the following Meaningful Measures:

Meaningful Measure 1: Keeping children safe, supported, and improving their lives.

Meaningful Measure 2: Making sure we are working with children, parents, important family and friends so that they are fully involved in developing plans that are clear about who will do what and when.

Meaningful Measure 3: Making sure that children are living safely and securely as soon as possible.

Meaningful Measure 4: Making sure families and staff from all services work with each other to make things better for children.

Meaningful Measure 5: Offer the right training and supervision to improve confidence, skills and knowledge of workers.

5. Key Principles

Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children will always be at the centre of the work Local Authorities and their partners undertake with children and their families. The child's needs are paramount, and the needs and wishes of each child, be they a baby or infant, or an older child, should be put first, so that every child receives the support they need before a problem escalates.

Children's Services, together with their local authority colleagues as corporate parents, will work to secure the above measures, reflecting the Signs of Safety model, and by working to enable a child's own family including their wider family to meet their needs. They will facilitate services to support children and families consistent with the child's safety and well-being.

Where a child cannot be cared for within his or her immediate family, strenuous efforts will be made to identify potential carers within the wider network of the child who are able and willing to meet the needs and best interests of the child. If continuing care within his/her family is not possible, every effort will be made to identify suitable alternative carers through other forms of permanence. Efforts to secure the child's future must be timely and avoid delay. Children's Services will ensure that permanence plans are made for all cared for children within 4 months of their becoming looked after.

Children's Services will ensure that children who are looked after are placed in properly approved placements, suitable to meet their needs and that, wherever possible and appropriate, siblings are placed together. They will be placed in a family placement unless there are assessed reasons why residential care or an alternative type of placement is the better option. Time with their birth family should be promoted, and where required, supported, except where this may be contrary to the child's best interests.

If a young person remains in care until adulthood Children's Services will ensure that they are supported when they leave care, including through remaining in their foster placement (Staying Put), at least until they are 25 if in full time education, to give them a positive start to independent living. This support will include personal assistance with living independently and with accessing and making the most of education and employment opportunities.

Children, their parents and other significant adults will be consulted about plans for their care and these plans will be subject to regular independent review. Children and their families will be encouraged to take part in their reviews and can expect that their views will be listened to and will help shape the child's Plan.

Children's Services will ensure that children have access to advocacy services that will assist them in being heard, where this is appropriate.

6. Our Strategy

The Strategy of the Children's Services will be to harness Government policy and funding opportunities to develop evidence-based services that meet the needs of children and families.

To reflect on and consider feedback on local and national issues and to promote a learning and development culture that will work to provide:

• Sustainable and cost-effective structures and services;
• Partnerships with other statutory services and locally based providers;
• Well-trained and supported staff who are able to carry out their responsibilities effectively;
• A commitment to seek the views of children and families/stakeholders and to use their input as a key method for evaluating current services and improving future service delivery;
• A clear sense of corporate responsibility throughout the Council which ensures that children and their families have their needs met within the community.

This will deliver a range of universal, targeted and specialist services. These services will aim to reduce the numbers of children becoming children in need and concentrate specialist services on children most in need to give them the best possible life chances.

The aim is to develop strengths-based but safe plans through working partnerships with families that support children to have the best possible outcomes, living with their families wherever possible.

Our vision is to be a service where meeting the needs of children, young people and families is the focus so that children and young people get the best out of their life.

7. Children’s Social Care National Framework

The Children’s Social Care National Framework is a statutory guidance document that outlines the principles and objectives of children’s social care in England.

The purpose of the National Framework is to bring together essential information for those working in local authority children’s social care. It clarifies the purpose of children’s social care, factors enabling good practice, and the desired outcomes for children and young people.

It provides guidance on what practitioners must do to comply with the law. It serves as a reference unless there is a valid reason not to follow it.

The National Framework is relevant not only to local authority staff but also to safeguarding partners and agencies collaborating with children’s social care.

Practitioners can access supplementary resources, including:

• Illustrated Guide: Designed for children and young people, this guide explains what they should expect from the help and care they receive;
• Animated Guide: Available on YouTube, this animated guide provides an engaging overview of the framework;
• A British Sign Language captioned and audio summary version;
• An easy-read version for enhanced accessibility.