Decision details

Future Corporate Parenting Board Meetings (30 mins)

Decision status: Recommendations Approved

Is Key decision?: No

Decisions:

Barbara Bath, Head of Service, Fostering, Adoption, Residential and Youth Offending Services and Laura Sales, Director for Corporate Services led the discussion on how the Corporate Parenting Board could be improved and that it ensured it was delivering statutorily what was requested of the Board.

 

Members looked at the Terms of Reference, focusing on the main functions and purposes of the Board and whether this Board was fulfilling those main functions and if not, how it could achieve them.  Young people also felt that the Terms of Reference should be revamped into a young person friendly version for the whole Board to adhere to.  This was also an opportunity to see how other Corporate Parenting Boards were operating in other Local Authorities and how the Board continued and improved how it listened to our young people's voices and ensured that their voices were heard across the Authority.

 

Discussion ensued as to whether the relevant partners were around the table to enable the Board to achieve its function and also whether young people felt that they needed to be present for the whole meeting, look at having alternate meetings with young people present, or maybe attend for half of the meeting going forward.  Young people were also reminded that they were representing the voice of all children in care and care leavers and that this was something else that needed to be reviewed on how this was being achieved.

 

The Board also felt that there needed to be a mechanism to share its' work with the rest of the Council's corporate parents on what the Board was actually achieving, ie through Full Council and other related meetings.

 

In order for progress to be made on improving the functionality of the Board and to ensure it fulfils its responsibilities, it was agreed that there would be a Corporate Parenting Board Development Day.  The session would be led by the Council's Learning and Development Service and a request was made to all Board members to attend so that ideas and discussions on improving the way the Board worked could be carried out effectively going forward.

 

Resolved:  That a date be set for the Corporate Parenting Board     Development Day at the soonest opportunity and that all   members be invited to attend.

 

 

 

Date of decision: 30/01/2020

Decided at meeting: 30/01/2020 - Corporate Parenting Board

Accompanying Documents: