Parents and schools given full marks in lockdown as children’s social care improves
FAMILIES in North East Lincolnshire have been praised for caring and preventing kids from running wild in the streets during lockdown.
Schools also received full marks from the portfolio holder for children, education and young people Councillor Ian Lindley for taking in children from deprived areas of North East Lincolnshire to provide activities, while many others closed.
Concerns were raised for children’s social care when the lockdown was imposed in March.
But Councillor Lindley said: “It is testament to the families who looked after their children that they have not been abandoned, whether staying on at school or at home. There were no significant issues of neglect. He added: “The partnership with the academies has been exceptional. They have been fantastic. I am really pleased with how things have gone through a testing time.”
His comments came as North East Lincolnshire Council reported its children’s social care had improved from a crisis point last year.
Inspectors imposed a formal notice of improvement because of the serious welfare problems suffered by many children in North East Lincolshire which social workers failed to address.
The report revealed there were social workers with more than 40 cases each, each adding to pressures, p absenteeism and resignations. Some even had up to 60 cases a focused inspection of Children’s Services found. Now the average case load is down to 17 per social worker and the volume of work is “fully addressed,” said officials. Following the damning report last December a review was undertaken due to the significant number of cases where Ofsted found children to be at risk. Some youngsters on child protection plans, designed to ensure they are safe from abuse and neglect, were not being seen for months at a time.
Six years after the tragic death of young Poppy Widdison, the council’s children’s services department has again been severely criticised for leaving ‘many children at risk of harm’, despite assurances and promises that it had learned lessons from the tragedy.
But the new report said all cases had been risk assessed and actions taken.
“This has been particularly important during the current pandemic when many children are not in school and are not visible on a daily basis,” the report to North East Lincolnshire Council cabinet members said. Performance data improved dramatically along with social work practice and social care assessment, it added.
When troubles are identified among families, an Initial Child Protection Conference has to be to be held within 15 days.
From major delays last year, that has improved to 86 per cent of cases meeting that 15-day target and visits to homes have increased for children who are deemed as “needing protection” or children in need cases. Councillor Lindley said more social workers had been recruited and some who had previously left North East Lincolnshire had returned. They now receive more supervision.
He said: “We are not resting on our laurels. But I am delighted with the work that has gone on and we are in a better place than 10 months ago and all credit has to go to Joanne Hewson our director of social services and the staff, who have been exceptional.” He welcomed the findings of the Independent Chair of the Improvement Board, who said: “The escalation measures detailed in this local authority’s Improvement Notice have been satisfactorily addressed. There are no longer large numbers of children at potential levels of unknown risk. “A period of rapid improvement has enabled a more measured approach to routine improvement work within children’s services to recommence. The Service is coping well with the current restrictions on working practices due to Covid-19. The local authority is now able to shift the focus of its improvement work onto a broader improvement plan, this will be more suited to driving the quality of practice issues in order that an increasing proportion of the work will be considered to have met the “good” standard.”