Update no 562 23rd June 2023

Fostering Recruitment and Retention programme:

On 26 May DfE cirulated the Application Guide for the Fostering Recruitment and Retention programme.

The goal of the programme is:

Expressions of interest invited:

The twelve are:

1. Achieving for Children/Windsor and Maidenhead; 2. Bracknell Forest 3. Brighter Futures for Children/Reading; 4. Brighton and Hove; 5. Kent; 6. Medway; 7. Oxfordshire; 8. Portsmouth; 9. Slough; 10. Surrey; 11. West Berkshire;
12. Wokingham

For more informetion please contact SESLIP consultant Rebecca Eligon 07944-996219

Taking Care – Immigration support pledge and learning package for local authorities:

The South London Refugee Association has published a learning package for local authorities.

Learning package:

Taking care campaign:

The report, ‘Taking Care: How local authorities can best address immigration issues of children in care’, finds that delaying providing help on immigration and nationality issues could be costing local authorities hundreds of thousands of pounds per year. A citizenship application for a child costs £1,012. By comparison, waiting to resolve immigration issues until the young person leaves care can cost as much as £130,000 per young person in Home Office fees and support with living when that young person is barred from claiming benefits.

Court Ruling Decides Councils are Responsible for Unaccompanied Children in Home Office Hotels:

Article 39 v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2023] EWHC 1398 (Fam)

High court judgement:

Brighton and Hove Safeguarding Children Partnership:

The decision was made in a ruling, published last week (9 June), following two hearings, held in March and April after children’s rights charity Article 39, backed by the Good Law Project, sought a wardship application for 66 children who were reported to have gone missing from a Home Office-run hotel in Brighton and Hove in January.

Article 39 argued that that there is a “lacuna in protection” as individual missing children have no corporate parent responsible for their safety and welfare.

Brighton and Hove Safeguarding Children Partnership, at the end of February 2023, published a report, referenced in the ruling, which states: “The status of [unaccompanied asylum-seeking] children remains ‘in limbo’. They do not have looked-after children or child in need status with the local authority and the Home Office has no statutory responsibility for their care. This creates a significant statutory gap in provision and leaves the child with no corporate parent.”

Forced Out: delivering equality for kinship carers in the workplace:

Kinship has published Forced Out exploring the views and experiences of kinship carers around work, and reveals the devastating consequences which a lack of employment support is having for kinship families and for the state.

Kinship campaign:

Recommendations

For more detail on each of the recommendations, please see the full report.

1. The Government should introduce a right to paid kinship care leave for all kinship carers.
2. The Government should ensure that its planned Pathfinder and pilot activity includes elements of employment support for kinship families.
3. The Government should introduce a mandatory financial allowance for kinship carers.
4. Local authorities should provide better employment advice and support to kinship families.
5. Employers should introduce kinship friendly employment policies and seek to improve their understanding of kinship care.

Reminder:

Network dates:

Network dates:

NHS South East CYP Workforce Summit:

On 27 June the NHS SE Mental Health Clinical Delivery Team will be holding an all-day face-to-face event in London

Tuesday 27 June 10-4, London:

Keynote speakers: