FOI Request - Care Experience Information
Request 101003415966
I would like to request the following information under the freedom of information (Scotland) Act, all references to “care” and “care experience” are in relation to children/young person being looked after or accommodated (as set out in Section 17(6) of the Children (Scotland) Act 1995) by a local authority either now or in the past and should not be confused with other types of care. All references to “The Promise reports” can be found here https://thepromise.scot/
1. Can you provide us with evidence of reverse mentoring being used to embed lived experience within your strategies as outlined in The Promise P38?
2. Can you provide a copy/link to your respite policy?
3. How many Care Experienced people have you provided respite for since 5/2/20? Can I have this in both days and cost per year.
4. How many adoption breakdowns have occurred in your local authority area since 5/2/20?
5. Could we have a list of the reasons for any breakdowns also?
6. What is your weekly payment rate for Foster Parents for placements provided by the local authority?
7. What is your weekly payment rate for kinship carers with your local authority area?
8. What percentage of your workforce have received training on their duties as corporate parents?
9. What specific training have you provided to pupils and families within your local authority area to ensure that they understand care experience?
10. What specific training have you provided to all school staff to support them to be aware of the issues facing care experienced pupils?
11. Could I have an annual breakdown of age for when Care Experienced children and young people are removed from compulsory supervision orders in your local authority area since 5/2/20?
12. Do you provide advocacy services for all Care Experienced people regardless of their age?
13. How many children currently on the child protection register have a dedicated/allocated social worker?
14. What percentage of social workers have been absent due to illness in the previous three 12 month periods (2021, 2022, 2023)?
Response 08-12-2023
1.A good example is the Champions Board in that they offer and invite corporate parents the opportunity to come to a session so that they can talk about their lived experience in regards to care. Corporate parents from housing have been invited to talk about the struggles they have when they are in their own tenancy. This prompted discussions within housing and as a result a housing officer already in post now has a focus on those young people with care experience and can assist when there is the need for additional support.
Another good example is the Better Meetings project where young care experienced people created three videos about their experiences of children’s hearings. These videos were used to develop practitioners guides for social workers, panel members and reviewing officers to improve the experiences of children and young people by offering choice within their meetings. Discussions with panel members and social workers has been really positive with feedback being that they help to keep the child at the centre of meetings.
Young people have also been involved in the commissioning of services in Moray, both the residential children’s house and advocacy contract. They were involved in the design of the advocacy service alongside the new service provider Quarriers and even chose the name ‘Moray Childrens Rights’.
2. Not held. We do not have a respite policy. The route to respite would be via a social work assessment. Information that is not held falls under Section 17 of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 - Information not held.
3. Not held. Information that is not held falls under Section 17 of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 - Information not held.
4. The number of adoption breakdowns since 05/02/2020 is between 1 and 5. The low numbers associated with this response may result in the identification of individuals, therefore this response is exempt under Section 38(1)(b) of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 - personal information.
5. Preferential rejection, behavioural problems
6. The information requested can be found attached.
7. The information requested can be found attached.
8. Not held. Information that is not held falls under Section 17 of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 - Information not held.
9. Our Supporting All Learners Strategy provides support for children and young people from all backgrounds and with a variety of personalised needs. The Strategy is based around universal support, universal with support and targeted support. Staff are provided with training around these needs including training around supporting children who are care experienced or looked after. A range of authority training is provided to all schools and schools use this or these own training providers to ensure that staff are equipped to meet all needs.
The Moray Virtual Headteacher is currently developing an overview of all Care Experienced and Looked After Children with a view to working with schools to identify specific needs and put in place interventions including training.
Our Children’s Services Plan has a Corporate Parenting Group which is focusing on supporting ‘Promise Champions’ in all services to spread relevant information and signposting training. The Corporate Parenting Group is working on improving our collective understanding of Care Experienced and Looked After Children’s experiences across Children’s Services.
10. Schools will develop their own staff training programme based on contextual needs. A range of authority training supports are offered on an annual basis to staff and schools will engage with this as required and in a way which responds to their local needs.
11.
| Year | 0-5 | 6-12 | 13 and older |
| 2020 (from 05/02/2020) | 20 | 9 | 9 |
| 2021 | 8 | 12 | 12 |
| 2022 | 7 | 8 | 12 |
| 2023 | 6 | 8 | <5* |
*The low numbers associated with this response may result in the identification of individuals, therefore this response is exempt under Section 38(1)(b) of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 - personal information.
12. Yes
13. All children on Child Protection Register have an allocated Lead Social Worker.
14.
2021 - 050%
2022 - 0.88%
2023 - up to Sept. 2023 - 1%