Children in care staying out of trouble and doing better in class

Children in the care of Leeds Council have improved chances of “better outcomes”, says a report being discussed by senior councillors today.

The positive report, compiled by the council, follows criticisms of child protection services by Ofsted, whose inspectors said in December that the authority was not doing enough to safeguard young people.

Today executive board members will hear how the council’s improvement plan, which has been in place for a year, is producing better results for children and young people in care.

The report notes that the number in care, most of them due to abuse or neglect, reached 1,434 in January; 47 of these were children of asylum seekers.

It says the number of exclusions from schools is falling, as is the number of arrests, down from 113 in 2006-07 to 88 this year.

And the numbers involved in substance misuse is also falling, down from around five per cent to about two per cent.

Educational attainment is also going up, but there is still a gap between children in care and other pupils.

The number of looked-after children permanently excluded has been reduced from eight in 2006 to two, both from the David Young Academy.

Councillor Judith Blake, executive member responsible for children’s services said: “I am delighted that the outcomes for our looked-after children are improving. We are absolutely committed to protecting our most vulnerable children and this report shows that we are moving in the right direction.

“We now have more children staying with their carers for longer with fewer relationship breakdowns, this is the sort of stability every child has a right to and this stable home life will translate into every other area of a child’s life.

“We have seen significant improvements in the levels of educational attainment, and although the gap between looked after children and others is still too big, we are confident that we can continue this upward trend. Every child in Leeds deserves a happy childhood and although we acknowledge there is work still to be done, we are making great strides in ensuring our looked after children receive just that.”

Nigel Richardson, director of children’s services said: “We are already well underway with a major transformation of children’s services across the city and it has always been our intention that this will further strengthen support for looked-after children.

“This report definitely shows we’re going in the right direction in the majority of outcomes, however there are many challenges ahead, not least the financial pressure we are under – but we have plans in place to help continue this initial success.”

The council says one-to-one tuition outside the school day had helped improved educational achievements.

Study support supervised by undergraduates and homework clubs have also helped.

The improvements detailed in the report also include:

Looked-after children and care leavers were involved with every senior appointment in the council’s children and young people’s social care department, including the director of children’s services.

The percentage of looked after children who ended year 11 in 2010 and are now in education, training or employment is 88 per cent, compared to 85 per cent in 2009 and 79 per cent in 2008.

In total there are 32 care leavers are currently in higher education.

All of Leeds’ 13 children’s homes have been judged by Ofsted as either satisfactory or good.

Care reviews are now carried out on time in 84 per cent of cases, compared with 71 per cent in 2009-10.

Improved matching of carers and children has resulted in placements being more stable than those of similar cities.