A Presentation from Tina Russell.
Minutes:
Tina Russell provided an overview of the key performance indicators (KPI’s) relating to children in care and care leavers for the period of COVID lockdown. The data was split into two phases, Phase 1 covering 4 April to 31 May and Phase 2 from 1 to 21 June 2020.
In Phase 1 the key focus had been visits to children who were identified as priority from the risk assessment process. She advised that visits to looked after children and care leavers had reduced during this period as many of these young people were in safe, stable placements with professional carers. Statutory visits had dropped to 40% by the end of May, but this still meant that 345 visits had taken place. Looked after reviews had been continued during this period as well as the usual keeping in touch contacts.
In Phase 2 there had been a shift to more direct work with children, as circumstances allowed. In early June demand for services had been similar to Phase 1, however in the last week of June and then continuing into July, there had been a major increase in demand for services through the Family Front Door (FFD). Some of these contacts had been made by professional partners who had turned to the FFD, not knowing what else was available. With the nature of the increased workflow, the impact on the numbers of the care population was not yet being seen, but by the next meeting Tina would be able to provide a detailed analysis of the movement.
Throughout COVID Tina advised they had continued to report figures for the KPI’s to the Department for Education (DfE) and in late June they had received comparative data from the Department providing a regional and national picture. This data had shown that Worcestershire’s KPI’s compared very favourably for the 3 indicators, with the figures being well above the average for each one.
The Chairman queried whether the increased demand through the FFD was linked to the increase in domestic abuse during the COVID lockdown. Tina reported that they hadn’t seen a significant increase in domestic abuse cases, but they had witnessed a rise in other concerns such as emotional and health and well-being issues. With additional pressures including anxiety and loss of income, there was a strain on family relationships which contributed to the increase in demand on child protection services. She explained that many of those families would be helped through this short-term crisis, but it was also expected that there would be a resultant increase in children coming into care later in the year.
A Board member raised concerns about the impact on staff from a huge spike in demand. Tina advised that the service was not process driven but instead designed to be focused firmly on the interests of the child. She explained that they were working to ensure that the children most in need of services were the ones being helped. They had identified children who needed to be stepped down from protection planning as they no longer met the threshold. This had been halted during lockdown but had now been restarted with communication being made with families and partner organisations. The result of this action would free up resources to concentrate on the children identified as in most need with the intended outcome being manageable case load for staff.
A Board member highlighted that some of the young people appeared to have connected more readily using the technologies introduced during lockdown. Tina explained that the use of zoom had proved to be a very effective means of connecting with families during this time and would continue to be made use of going forward. She stressed, however, that there was still very much the need for face to face interventions and support, particularly at key stages in the process such as early help. Tina referred to the work of the Edge of Care Project which had been working with 54 children during the lockdown period, safely preventing all but one, from having to be taken into care.
The Board thanked Tina and her Team for their tremendous efforts during lockdown and for the very positive set of comparative KPI’s.