Issue - meetings

To present the report of the Head of Children and Families’ Services.

It was resolved that Children and Families’ Services proceed to seek appropriate accommodation and to complete Care Inspectorate Wales registration requirements in order to open a Small Group Home provision on the Island for local children who are looked after.

The report of the Head of Children and Families’ Services with regard to the development of Small Group Homes as a care option for the children of Anglesey was presented for the Executive’s consideration. The report provided a summary of what the Small Group Home (SGH) model of care entails along with the costs and potential savings.

The Chair and Portfolio Member for Social Services reported that the Small Group Home model of care would provide for children aged 8 upwards  with each house or apartment (SGH) accommodating a maximum of two children. The concept of Small Group Homes as an alternative form of care provision for children has been explained to the Council’s Members in briefing sessions, to the Town and Community Councils Forum and to the Children’s Services Improvement Panel the idea being that children from Anglesey who need to be looked after, some of whom might currently be in out of county placements at a great distance from their communities can where appropriate, receive care on the Island, attend local schools and participate in community life.

The Head of Children and Families’ Services said that Small Group Homes are designed to provide care in the least restrictive environment and to integrate children and young people into the community, improving their quality of life and reducing the stigma for children who are not living with their families or foster carers. Each SGH will be staffed by a small team of local residential care workers recruited from new, ensuring continuity of care for the resident children. The Officer said that the development of Small Group Homes will allow the Council to offer an alternative and better provision to that currently available which it often has to source through independent agencies meaning it then has very little influence over where looked after children from Anglesey are placed. The Council would also make significant savings if SGHs were developed which at a time of increasing demand and cost pressures on Children’s Services is also a material consideration.

The Executive welcomed the proposal as a means of better enabling Council to meet the needs of looked after children from Anglesey locally within the community wherever possible in a way that also provides better value for money than out of county placements. In response to a question by the Executive about the term “Small Group Homes” the Officer said that the Service is consulting with children who have been or are in care on their ideas about what the provision might be called meaning that the title Small Group Homes may change in due course.

It was resolved that Children and Families’ Services proceed to seek appropriate accommodation and to complete Care Inspectorate Wales registration requirements in order to open a Small Group Home provision on the Island for local children who are looked after.