The
Portfolio Holder for Children, Education and Families, Cllr Peter
Fortune, attended the meeting to respond to questions from the
Committee. The Portfolio Holder gave a brief introduction
highlighting the following:-
- Children across the Borough had returned
to schools and the Council had worked closely with schools to
ensure that the return had been smooth.
The Committee were reassured that there was a constant flow of
information between schools and the Local Authority. The Portfolio Holder expressed his thanks to
schools for all the work they had done and were continuing to do to
do to ensure that schools could remain open and provide children
with the best possible education.
- In Bromley, supporting and safeguarding
the most vulnerable children was a top priority. Ensuring that
vulnerable families received appropriate care and support, both
directly from Council services and from our partner agencies during
term time and school holidays. The
Department was proud of its approach to supporting vulnerable
families and providing early help, which had been recognised by Ofsted as
a ‘significant strength’.
- Throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, Bromley
Council had prioritised disadvantaged
and vulnerable families. From the start of lockdown, almost
overnight, a shielding and assistance programme was established to ensure that isolated
and vulnerable families had access to support and essentials,
including food and medicines.
- Those families known to the Local
Authority, continued to be supported via support services and
activities including through use of grant funding together with
specific Government funding. This support continued throughout the
year including holiday periods.
- For any family that is experiencing
hardship the LA would use its statutory power under Section 17 of
the Children Act to provide financial assistance in terms of goods
and services to safeguard and promote a child’s welfare, and
to prevent children entering the care of the Local Authority.
Support was provided as appropriate to each child’s needs in
relation to essentials which although not exclusive to food could
include it.
- Food had also been provided to care
leavers as well as funded activities to reduce their isolation
whilst being Covid-19 safe. Support had
also been provided to foster carers and
special guardians to support children in their care with their
mental health and wellbeing - to prevent foster placements and
special guardianship placements from breaking down during the
current pandemic.
- There had been an increase in demand for
the in-house therapy service (THRIVE) which had provided extra
practical equipment to support the sessions undertaken with
children and their carers.
- For many families who had children with
complex behavioural needs including
complex disabilities, activities and short breaks together with
food had been provided. These families had not been able to access
the usual respite care provided by Bromley Healthcare due to
Covid-19 and the redeployment of health staff and it was clear that
the DEFRA funding had made a substantial difference.
- Grant funds had benefitted many families
where parents had found themselves unemployed or furloughed. For
many families this had made the difference to their resilience,
supporting coping strategies and preventing a further increase in
either the Council’s care population or the numbers of
children subject to a child protection plan.
- Those parents in need of extra support
were encouraged to call the MASH (Multi Agency Safeguarding Hub)
helpline so their call could be screened to ensure they received
the correct support. The Portfolio
Holder explained that individuals often rung for one thing when
actually, in conversation with a qualified social worker, the
reason was discovered to be different. For example, someone could
ring the number asking for advice but actually trying to report
abuse, domestic violence or mental health concerns.
- The Early Intervention and Family Support
Service had continued to offer support to families throughout the
Covid-19 pandemic. Initially the 6 Children and Families
Centres (CFC) closed for 2 weeks but
had been open since and offered a broad range of services across
the Borough. All work with families was arranged in advance by an
appointment booking system. Some of the work offered and undertaken
included:
§
Facebook and Instagram
further developed and used to keep families in contact with a wide
range of services, activities and support options.
§
Learn and Play
developed to meet the Covid-19 safety requirements –
operating in Covid- 19 safe ‘bubbles’ of families
depending on the size of the space being used.
§
Healthy Early Years
London Silver Awards have been achieved across all six CFCs during
this period.
§
Introduction of Light
Touch Assessment for Children and Family Centre Support Officers to
better understand and support families on their caseloads to ensure
better outcomes for families.
§
Family Support Parenting Practitioners (FSPP) had undertaken face to face visits with
appropriate PPE; in the family home, the CFC, Schools and other
community venues both inside and outside in accordance with COVID
safe practice guidance. FSPP undertook virtual visits when it was not
deemed safe to undertake face to face visits and had developed
creative ways to undertake direct work for virtual
visits.
§
Domestic Violence
Abuse Butterfly cards – 10,000 produced and circulated across
wider partner workforce for giving to victims/survivors.
§
Parenting online
developed – advertised by word of mouth and Facebook
/Instagram and emails to colleagues and partner
agencies.
§
Parenting Workshops
online for our PRU school site at
Midfield Way, Orpington.
§
Regular visits and
support to Traveller Sites continued.
This included ad- hoc door-stop drops of activity sets for
children.
§
The CAF team continued
to host / chair ‘Team Around the Child’ meetings both
virtually and face to face with the use of PPE where schools have
put in place Covid- 19 safety measures.
§
CAF team continuing to
deliver training virtually.
§
In addition, Children
and Family Centers had Issued Foodbank Vouchers, provided
activities, resources and Healthy Start Vitamin door-stop
drops;
- The Council’s work with vulnerable
children and families continued all year round and, whilst the
Department was period of what it had already achieved, it was
ambitious to improve.
- The recent announcement from the
Government concerning the provision of funding for meals during the
holiday was welcomed and the Council awaited further details which
would be relayed to the Committee when it was available along with
plans concerning how the department would use the funding. This
would further add to the existing package of support.
- The Portfolio Holder thanked the
community and partner agencies for the support that they had
provided.
Cllr Fortune then responded to questions making the
following comments:-
·
It was clear that going forward, there would be a
whole set of new challenges for the Department to overcome and
there was now a need to look forward and identify innovative ways
of addressing these challenges.
·
The most important consideration was that
vulnerable families were received the support they required and
were treated as individual units.
·
The funding received from DEFRA had been spent in
line with the conditions of the grant.
·
The Council had a clear plan on how issues would
be managed going forward. Arrangements
were in place that would facilitate close partnership
working. Vulnerable children and
families were the key focus for the Department.
·
Throughout the pandemic schools had worked
incredibly hard to support children.
During the summer holiday staff had worked tirelessly to ensure
that buildings were Covid secure. There
was clear evidence that appropriate arrangements had been put in
place and where there had been local outbreaks of Covid-19 these
had been well managed.
The Committee thanked the Portfolio Holder for the
update.