Technical Notes 2022, Issue 133 - Corporate Parenting Champions Group

This Technical Note provides an update on how the corporate parenting responsibilities of the Council are overseen and governed.

Background:

1. The Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014 defines corporate parenting as "the formal and local partnerships between all services responsible for working together to meet the needs of Looked After children, young people and care leavers".
2. Corporate parenting responsibilities extend to all Looked After children, aged from birth to when they cease to be looked after. This includes children in foster care, residential care, secure care, ‘Looked After at home’ (on Compulsory Supervision Orders with no condition of residence) and those in formal kinship care. It also includes disabled children who are ‘Looked After’ on a series of short breaks.
3. Corporate parenting responsibilities also apply to care leavers who were Looked After on their 16th birthday (or subsequently); the responsibilities continue to apply until the care leaver reaches their 26th birthday. East Dunbartonshire Council is committed to improving the life outcomes of every Looked After Child and Young Person. This includes children who are Looked After away from home and children who are Looked After at home.
4. Statutory guidance for Corporate Parenting highlights that a good corporate parent will want the best outcomes for their Looked After children, accept responsibility for them, and make their needs a priority. 
5. Corporate parenting operates at the strategic, operational and individual level. The three key elements are:
6. 1. the statutory duty on all parts of a Local Authority to co-operate in promoting the welfare of children and young people who are Looked After by them, and a duty on other agencies to co-operate with Councils in fulfilling that duty.
7. 2. co-ordinating the activities of the many different professionals and carers who are involved in a child or young person's life, and taking a strategic, child-centred approach to service delivery.
8. 3. shifting the emphasis from 'corporate' to 'parenting' defined as 'the performance of all actions necessary to promote and support the physical, emotional, social and cognitive development of a child from infancy to adulthood'. The Local Authority delegates this function to those providing day-to-day care for the child or young person.

East Dunbartonshire Council’s Arrangements:

6. At an operational level the Council’s services undertake their Corporate Parenting responsibilities through their day to day work in a range of ways. The work of the Council, and a wide range of other partners in the third, independent and other statutory sectors is overseen by the multi-agency Corporate Parenting Steering Group, which also oversees production of the Corporate Parenting Report.
7. The Corporate Parenting Steering Group, through to the Community Planning Partnership via the Delivering for Children and Young People Partnership, is responsible for the implementation of the Corporate Parenting strategy as part of oversight of delivery of Local Outcome Improvement priority 3 “Our Children are safe, healthy and ready to learn”.
8. The Senior Management Team of the Council serves as the Corporate Parenting Champions Group, ensuring oversight of the Council’s duties across services and in  development of key pieces of strategic work.
9. Elected Members fulfil their duties as Corporate Parents through their scrutiny of the operations of the Council and their key leadership role in setting the Council’s strategic direction and priorities, through the Council, and the Community Planning Partnership’s formal structure of meetings and Committees.
10. In addition to the structure in place to ensure officers and Elected Members are able to exercise their duties, East Dunbartonshire has also established a Care Leavers Champions Board, made up of care experienced children and young people. Their role is to provide the voice and advice of people with lived experience of being formally Looked After, to the planning and operation of services.
11. The Corporate Parenting Steering Group will provide regular updates to the EDC SMT. All SMT and Elected Members are asked, in line with the duties placed on them, to ensure the outcomes for Looked After Children and Care Leavers are improved and opportunities to reach their potential are maximised.