SCIE/NICE recommendations on looked after children: Promoting the quality of life of looked-after children and young people

Commission services for looked-after children and young people

Evidence indicates that high-performing local authorities are those with strong leaders who have an aspirational vision of effective corporate parenting for all looked-after children and young people. These authorities embed partnership and multi-agency working at the heart of the planning process and ensure that children and young people are fully engaged in the design and delivery of services.

Recommendation 1 Prioritise the needs of looked-after children and young people

Who should take action?

• Directors of children’s services.
• Directors of public health.
• Senior staff with responsibility for commissioning and providing health services.

• What action should they take? Open

  • Create strong leadership and strategic partnerships to develop a vision and a corporate parenting strategy that:
    • focuses on effective partnership and multi-agency working
    • addresses health and educational inequalities for looked-after children and young people.
  • Ensure that local strategic plans adhere to national guidance, primarily ‘Statutory guidance on promoting the health and well-being of looked after children’ (2).
  • Ensure the joint strategic needs assessment process (3) is a central component in assessing the needs of looked-after children and young people.
  • Ensure local plans and strategies for children and young people’s health and wellbeing fully reflect the needs of looked-after children and young people, and care leavers, and set out how these needs will be met. They should describe how to:
    • meet the changing needs of looked-after populations and provide high-quality care
    • provide services that meet the emotional health and wellbeing needs of children and their carers, including child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS), core health services (for example, immunisation) and enhanced services (for example, paediatrics)
    • promote healthy lifestyles
    • provide access to extra-curricular activities
    • improve the stability of placements and education.
  • Ensure senior managers in partner agencies provide strong, visible leadership to raise aspirations and attainment, and promote joint working to meet the needs of looked-after children and young people.
  • Ensure effective corporate parenting by complying with guidance on the role of lead members for children’s services and directors of children’s services (4) in helping looked-after children and young people improve their aspirations and outcomes.
  • Ensure services are developed taking account of the views of looked-after children and young people (see recommendation 24). These views should be channelled through the corporate parenting board or children-in-care council.
  • Provide an annual report to the children-in-care council, the local authority overview and scrutiny committee, the director of public health, the NHS commissioner and the leader of the council. This report should cover the effectiveness of services for looked-after children and young people when evaluated against local plans for health and wellbeing, the local pledge to children in care, national indicators and local targets.
  • Build communication networks with key partner organisations and publish, publicise and update regularly a local map that identifies all agencies that are involved with looked-after children and young people.
  • Publish and update regularly a directory of resources for looked-after children and young people to aid social workers, and a resource guide for looked-after children and young people and care leavers.
  • Ensure local authorities reflect in their yearly ‘pledge’ to looked-after children and young people the needs and challenges raised by children-in-care councils about improving services to achieve better outcomes.

  2.

  Department for Children, Schools and Families and DH (2009) Statutory guidance on promoting the health and well-being of looked after children. London: Department for Children, Schools and Families.

  3.

  For details, see Department of Health (2007) Guidance on joint strategic needs assessment. London: Department of Health.

  4.

  Department for Children, Schools and Families (2009) The roles and responsibilities of the lead member for children’s services and the director of children’s services. London: Department for Children, Schools and Families.

Recommendation 2 Commission services for looked-after children and young people

Who should take action?

Commissioners of health services and local authority children’s services.

• What action should they take? Open

  • Commission services that enhance the quality of life of the child or young person by promoting and supporting their relationships with others.
  • Ensure that service commissioning for looked-after children and young people is informed by:
    • the views of children and young people (see recommendation 24)
    • national evidence, guidance and performance data
    • the local corporate parenting strategy
    • local knowledge and experts (for example, the director of public health)
    • local audits
    • the joint strategic needs assessment
    • local plans and strategies for children and young people’s health and wellbeing.
  • Commission services dedicated to looked-after children and young people that are integrated, preferably on the same site, and have expert resources to address physical and emotional health needs. These services should have links with universal services, be friendly, accessible and non-stigmatising (5) and should include:
    • health promotion (see recommendation 37 and recommendation 46)
    • early identification and prevention of physical and emotional health problems (see recommendations 8–11 and recommendations 20–23)
    • access to specialist services, including child and adolescent mental health services (see recommendations 8–11)
    • access to professional advice for the looked-after children and young people’s care team (see recommendation 6).
  • Encourage authorities to work together in local partnerships when commissioning services to offer greater choice and quality of services.

  5.

  For guidance, see Department of Health (2007) You're welcome quality criteria: making health services young people friendly. London: Department of Health. Available from the Department of Health website (external PDF file).