Partners

Coventry City Council works closely with partners to make sure that all aspects of their work promote stability for our children. The impact of this can be seen in areas such as the number of young people who go on to university. Stability across all aspects of children’s life is crucial. This includes their education. It is important that children remain in the same school wherever possible. This means that children can build relationships with teachers and education staff that will help them to achieve the best possible education outcomes. Schooling for all our looked after children is overseen by the Virtual Head who reviews stability in school as part of each child’s education plan. Education partners are part of and accountable to the Corporate Parenting Board. An annual report is presented to the Board which monitors qualifications attained, attendance, exclusions and the additionality that education brings to our children.

NHS Coventry and Warwickshire Integrated Care Board (ICB) and Local Authority Public Health work in partnership with Coventry City Council to promote the health needs of looked after children across the health and social care economy. Both the Designated Doctor and Designated Nurse for looked after children attend Corporate Parenting Board meetings. The agenda for Corporate Parenting Board is themed on a key health priority for looked after children at least once per year. The health priorities are aligned to the looked after children health action plan and presented to Corporate Parenting Board. The action plan also sets the priorities of the Health of Looked after Children (HeLAC) meeting and task and finish groups ensure that the City Council, Health Commissioners and health providers are moving towards shared goals in improving the health outcomes of looked after children.

A Coventry CAMHS Looked After Children service is established and provides mental health and emotional wellbeing support for children and young people looked after. It is jointly commissioned by the City Council and the ICB and delivered by Coventry and Warwickshire Partnership Trust and Coventry and Warwickshire Mind. The service has recently been expanded to support care leavers up to the age of 21. As well as providing support to individuals and groups of young people, consultations are offered to social workers, residential staff and foster carers to enable the professionals and carers to support the emotional wellbeing of the looked after children they care for. Nurturing training is also offered to foster carers to support placement stability and promote attachment with looked after children with complex needs and who have faced significant trauma in their lives, and now have the chance to form stable and secure relationships with their carers. Support is also offered to social workers to enable them to support looked after children with therapeutic life story work.

The authority has close relationships with police colleagues. This brings a focus to placement stability by concentrating on reducing the criminalisation of our looked after children, making sure that children who go missing get a high priority police response. Each children’s home in the city has a close working relationship with PCSOs with a dedicated named officer linked to each home. This supports restorative practice in the homes and means that children can build trusting relationships with police officers.

More children (98%)and young people (94%)in Coventry felt that their carers were interested in their education compared to young people in the general population.