Corporate Parenting: An Introduction for Elected Members Insert Name Insert Date

“We are repeatedly being told that we are all corporate parents, I confess to being puzzled how an individual could be a corporate anything” Local Councillor 2009 Corporate Parenting-What is it?

Exercise: A child you know Think of a child you know well As a parent, what activities would you support that child in, every day, every week, every month? Corporate Parenting-What is it?

What is Corporate Parenting? The “Official” Definition Corporate Parenting is: ‘The collective responsibility across services and across local authorities, to safeguard and promote the life chances of looked after children’

Every child and young person in Wales has rights as outlined by the UNCRC. These rights include: Educational attainment (Article 29) Participation (Article 12) Confidence (Article 14) Health (Article 24) Wellbeing (Article 19) Good corporate parenting will ensure that looked after children have the same access to their rights and ultimately the same life chances as other children in Wales. Corporate Parenting- Why is it important?

What are the risks if we don’t get this right? Experiences From Care A DVD produced by the Fostering Network (Scotland) Forgotten Voices: Thoughts, ideas and feelings

Elected Members- Our Role Every member has legal responsibilities under the Children Act 2004, as a corporate parent to the children in the care of your council. It is the responsibility of all Councillors as corporate parents, to be satisfied that there is: Effective policy in place Mechanisms to support participation of LAC Good scrutiny to inform improvement

The Lead Member: Your Role Lead Members are responsible for: Overseeing partnerships and plans Promoting cooperation between authority and partners Leading improvements in corporate parenting Promoting policy innovation and implementation Ensuring that LAC are seen as a priority by the authority and CYP Partnership

Officers: Your Role Officers play a crucial role in developing & implementing robust and innovative approaches to Corporate Parenting. Key officers include: Directors of Social Services, Directors of Education Heads of Children’s services Children and Young People Partnership Co- ordinators Lead scrutiny officers

Overview and Scrutiny: Your Role Scrutiny Members have an important role driving improvement and ensuring that corporate parenting policies are sufficiently robust by: Holding the executive to account on their performance and policy Monitoring and developing good corporate parenting policies Monitoring the effectiveness of services in meeting key requirements

Our local authority In (insert name of authority) there are ** Looked after children (age breakdown) In (insert year) the Council adopted a corporate parenting statement/ policy/ discussed at Cabinet (Delete as appropriate) How well are our LAC’s doing? (placement stats, educational attainment stats, contact with care leavers and what they are doing, health)

Our local authority performance 1.In *** we engage with LAC’s by ---- and promote their participation in decision making by 2. We meet the needs of vulnerable or marginalised LAC (BME/Disabled)by We engage with and support Foster Carers by ---

Thank you Name address

Learning and Development Manager For Wales Sarah Mobedji