Children in Care

Children and young people come into the care of the local authority, either on a voluntary basis with the agreement of their parents, or through a decision made in Family Courts. Children can enter care due to a variety of reasons: It may be necessary to protect them from harm, or their family may need support due to crisis circumstances. Some may be in care due to illness or death of a parent, others because of profound disabilities or complex needs. A minority of children in care are so because they have committed a criminal offence. Some unaccompanied children seeking asylum in the UK also come into care, to keep them safe. 

Children in care can live in a range of different settings; they may live with family members or friends who have been assessed as suitable to care for them; many live with foster carers; in residential children’s homes; or in semi-independent accommodation if they are 16 or over. A few children in care still live with their parents. Some children are looked after for short periods of time and others require longer term placements. 

The health and wellbeing of children and young people is significantly influenced by their life experiences prior to care. Many children in care will have been affected by trauma such as, physical/sexual abuse, neglect, or being separated from their family. Once children are in care, changes of placement can also cause distress. Experiences in early lives can have long-term consequences on health, social development, educational achievement and emotional wellbeing. Therefore, children in care are a particularly vulnerable group and are at high risk of social exclusion, greater health inequalities, and poor educational attainment. Although many children in care do well across these areas, there is significant evidence that many still do less well than children not in care. 

Leaving school, children in care are significantly more likely than their peers to leave with few or no qualifications (Source: NICE). These young people are at higher risk of becoming involved in offending, becoming a teenage parent and of not being in education, employment, or training – all of which can significantly, adversely affect quality of life and access to opportunities. 

Loneliness is the subjective, unwelcome feeling of lack or loss of companionship, and is more likely following major life events such as changing environments, leaving school or ending a relationship. Children in care are likely to experience such circumstances disproportionately. Social connection is a fundamental human need, but the extent and type of connection people seek is intensely personal to everyone. Having opportunities for social connection at a young age is vital for good physical and emotional wellbeing (Source: Department of Health). 

Certain children, who have been in care, are entitled to support as Care Leavers. Councils have ongoing responsibilities to Care Leavers in helping to promote independence and stability, and to keep in contact with them until the age of 25. Many young people leaving care will face more challenges and barriers than their peers, particularly through the first stages of adulthood. 

It is the responsibility of all agencies involved with Children in Care to act as a Corporate Parent. The role of a Corporate Parent is to make decisions and provide services that enhance a child’s potential, and to act as a good parent to all children, in care and after care, when they become care leavers. 

Lincolnshire County Council has high aspirations for all children in its care and is committed to providing the highest standards of care, support, education and opportunity. This can only be achieved by all parts of the council taking responsibilities as a corporate parent very seriously and, alongside partner agencies, placing children in care and care leavers at the forefront of their considerations.  

• Children and Social Work Act 2017  
• The Children Act 1989 guidance and regulations: Care planning, placement and case review (DfE, July 2021) 
• NICE Quality Standards for the Health and Wellbeing of Looked After Children and Care Leavers [QS31] (2013) 
• Outcomes for children in need, including looked after by local authorities in England: 2019 to 2020 (DfE, March 2021) 
• Children looked after in England, including adoption: 2020 to 2021 (DfE, Nov 2021)
• Lincolnshire Children’s Services Procedures Manual states that the vision and ambition for children in Lincolnshire is, “Putting Children First“.

Children and Families will be: 

• • Helped to make changes for themselves 
  • Seen as a positive solution to the challenges they face 
  • Able to get the right service at the right time 
  • Understood as a whole family. 

Supported by a workforce that: 

• • Uses evidence informed practice 
  • Understands and applies relationship-based practice 
  • Is restorative in approach 
  • Is well trained and supported. 
  • Enabled and equipped by clear governance that puts children and families at the heart of how we plan and deliver support for them. 

• The Looked After Children and Care Leavers Strategy 2018-2021 will be updated shortly. 
• The rate of Looked after Children is a key performance indicator in Lincolnshire County Council’s Business Plan (a registration / login is required). 

The number of children in care in England has continued to rise in recent years, although the number of children in care in Lincolnshire (per 10,000 population) remains below the national average (Source: Department for Education).  

Approximately half of the children in care in Lincolnshire are from families living in Lincolnshire. The remainder are placed within Lincolnshire by other Local authorities.  

Recruitment of foster carers is a key priority to provide the most effective means to deliver help for children most in need. Children in care in Lincolnshire are designated a teacher, have access to additional educational resources via the pupil premium, and access to the Virtual School. 

Children in care in Lincolnshire reside within fostering households, with kinship carers, independent foster carers, and Local Authority or private residential care homes. All children in care have access to a dedicated group of nurses and a designated Doctor. Children in care are also granted priority assessments of need by the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS). 

Education is crucial to improve life chances for children in care and so the authority employs a Virtual Headteacher and a team to best ensure children in care are supported and challenged to meet their individual potential. This, combined with the Caring2Learn approach, supports excellent practice across both education and care.  

Recent years have seen significant developments in the key areas of partnership working, professional development, championing the individual needs of all children in care, and the building of strong, resilient partnerships between the Virtual School, Lincolnshire schools and other partners. 

Lincolnshire continues to be a high performing authority in relation to completed children in care review health assessments, and registration with dentists and GPs. Health information enables the authority to profile the health needs of looked after children so future resources can be targeted to their needs

The authority commissions additional services for children in care, including an independent visitor scheme, advocacy, specialist therapies and drug and alcohol services. 

In Lincolnshire, most immunisations are provided through GP practices.  The Lincolnshire Community Health Service is commissioned to deliver the school-aged/childhood seasonal flu programme, teenage booster and HPV.  This offer includes electively home educated children.  United Lincolnshire Healthcare Trust (ULHT) delivers neonatal hepatitis B and BCG vaccine.

The Lincolnshire Immunisation Programme Board includes stakeholders involved in delivering, commissioning and assuring immunisation programmes, and provides a mechanism to explore and address issues around the delivery, outcomes and outputs of programmes in Lincolnshire.  The Lincolnshire Health Protection Board provide additional oversight.

Working in partnership with the local NHSE office, the Local Medical Council (LMC), Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and GP practices, the Local Authority Public Health team are developing strategies to improve the quality of immunisation uptake data and uptake, and to reduce inequalities. An improvement plan for childhood immunisations is now in place for Lincolnshire. There is also a programme being developed alongside schools to deliver education around the availability and importance of immunisation. The team are also actively engaged in promoting flu vaccine uptake amongst its own staff, frontline health and social care staff and contracted providers.

The focus for COVID-19 vaccinations has three key priorities. To,

• deliver continued access to COVID-19 vaccination where advised;
• plan for delivery of future winter COVID-19 vaccinations if advised by JCVI;
• have contingency plans to rapidly increase capacity should this be required.

Voices for Choices (V4C) is a well-established council for children in care and care leavers. Four groups contribute to the local authority’s ‘Big Conversation’ programme. The programme brings together young people, elected members, managers from children’s services and Barnardo’s Leaving Care Service to develop, and improve, the services that children and young people receive. Young people have clear roles in participating and influencing service delivery to support other young people and children in care. V4C contribute to Social Worker training and Foster Carer recruitment events. 

Feedback from young people has instigated changes and helped develop several areas of the service recently. For example, the development of the pathway plan, development of the children in care strategy and in the use of language across the council. 

Adolescents often enter care as a result of personal trauma. Results of trauma mean these adolescents are likely to present a range of behavioural challenges for carers. Both nationally and locally, there are insufficient, suitable; foster, residential, or independent accommodation options to ensure that the first placement is the right placement. A small proportion of young people will experience placement instability as a result. 

Recruitment of foster carers to meet the demand for housing children, of all ages, remains a challenge. An increasing number of independent agencies are actively recruiting foster carers in Lincolnshire. Foster carers working for independent agencies can care for children hailing from outside authorities, not necessarily children from Lincolnshire. The ambition is to recruit additional fostering households for all ages of children, with emphasis on permanence – given the increase in the number of children requiring longer term foster care. 

The Council’s priority is to ensure that children are safe and supported to achieve their full potential. Services are offered to families in order to enable them to care appropriately for their children. There are a variety of reasons why children cannot safely remain with their families and may need to come into care, each case is considered individually. With increasing numbers of children in care, the associated social and financial costs are significant. Placement costs for children can run into many thousands of pounds per week making a considerable impact on Local Authority and health budgets. 

As a Corporate Parent, there is a social, reputational, and legal risk if LCC does not fulfil these many responsibilities. Recent years have seen a focus on improving engagement with agencies to ensure the responsibilities of corporate parenting are promoted actively. 

Next steps include: 

• Improved transition into adulthood for children leaving care. 
• Continued development and review of Lincolnshire’s multi-agency accommodation offer to adolescents and those leaving care. 
• Increase the provision of Lincolnshire’s residential children’s homes estate to accommodate children requiring residential care. 
• Improve the recruitment and retention of foster carers and continue with targeted recruitment of permanent foster carers.