Foreword
Cllr Patricia Seaman - Cabinet Member for Children and Young People
I am proud to be the Chair of the Corporate Parenting Board in my role as Lead Member for Children’s Services. I believe that our looked after children and care leavers are a key priority for Coventry City Council and our partners.
Our corporate parenting strategy has been informed by the voice of our children and care leavers and it embraces the One Coventry approach.
Children and young people are at the heart of everything that we do. It is crucial that we hear their voices, both as part of individual care planning, but also to shape our services.
Following consultation with children and young people there is a ‘new pledge’ and collaboratively, we will strive to achieve the outcomes of this. Our looked after children and care leavers are central to our practice and we must all make sure that we
use their voice to inform their outcomes and make changes to the wider system.
We will continue to strengthen corporate parenting responsibilities through ‘Child Friendly Cov’ and the ambitions of the corporate parenting board to effect change, with a young person now in the role of Vice Chair and through our family valued approach of working with children and young people
Cllr Patricia Seaman, Lead Member for Children's Services
John Gregg - Director of Children's Services
In Coventry, I am proud that we all have children at the heart of our practice. This is particularly the case regarding our looked after children, where commitment from politicians, partners and colleagues across Children’s Services is key to improving their outcomes. This is consolidated further in the One Coventry approach, which is fundamental to making sure that our services for looked after children and care leavers are joined up and meet the needs of each individual.
Having achieved ‘Good’ in our Ofsted Inspection in 2022, work continues to strengthen key strategies and plans to inform our work with looked after children.
I am pleased to see that these strategies form part of the Corporate Parenting Strategy. Voices of Care, our children in care council, has been involved in developing the Children’s Services Strategic Plan.
A new Participation Strategy means that the views of looked after children are held very close to inform our work. Our children tell us that stability is key for them to achieve all they want in life. They want to live with carers where they can build close bonds and attachments. This will mean that they are more likely to achieve better outcomes. I am, therefore, excited that the new Corporate Parenting Strategy has a focus on how we can improve placement stability for all our children. The strategy brings together several other policies that impact upon this. Coventry’s permanence policy and the new sufficiency strategy all contribute to helping children remain with carers for as long as they need. This is the golden thread that runs through our work in the city.
Together we can improve the lives of our looked after children so that they can live fulfilled and happy lives that will sustain them into adulthood with their own families.
John Gregg, Director of Children’s Services