Education & Children Services Social Work Service Presentation Title PROGRAMME 18.30Housekeeping Welcome -Peter Wilson Introductory Remarks Cllr Bryan Poole (Spokesperson for Education and Children’s Services) Dougie Dunlop ( Head of Service,Children Families and Criminal Justice) PresentationDavid Wright (Service Manager, Children Families and Criminal Justice) Open Discussion/Questions 20.15Next StepsCllr Susan Leslie (Chair of Scrutiny Committee) 20.20Feedback Forms 20.30Finish

Education & Children Services A NEW HOME

Education & Children Services Looked After Children can be: Looked After at Home Looked After with Relatives or Kinship Carers Looked After and Accommodated away from home, e.g. in foster care or residential care Looked After Children

Education & Children Services Social Work Service Presentation Title Fife’s Looked After Children There are currently around 960 Looked After Children in Fife: 35% Looked After at Home or with Relatives 54.5% Looked After in Foster Care 10.5% Looked After in Residential Care

Education & Children Services Social Work Service Presentation Title Why Do They Come Into Care? Each set of circumstances is unique The majority come for Care and Protection: 84% because of lack of parental care Less than 1% because they have committed an offence

Education & Children Services Social Work Service Presentation Title LAC in Residential Care There are currently 102 young people looked after in residential care in Fife 68 live in small, community based houses – 44 of them in Fife There are 25 such small houses in Fife (for 2 to 6 children and young people)

Education & Children Services Social Work Service Presentation Title Why small community-based houses? Meeting young people’s individual needs ‘Family-Like’ Atmosphere A more ‘normal’ experience – everyday things, part of a community They can learn about the expectations of living in a community They can move on more successfully

Education & Children Services Social Work Service Presentation Title Fife’s Small Residential Houses Home to 4 or 5 children/young people With a team of adults –usually 3 adults at any one time with 5 young people 2 adults sleep overnight House Manager – makes links with the community

Education & Children Services Social Work Service Presentation Title The New House Current house is not fit for purpose – limited potential for renovation/extension Want to provide high quality newly-built accommodation, in a non-institutional setting Central Fife – small house and a 2 bed facility for care in emergency situations Capital budget – Committee approved

Education & Children Services Education and Children Services STARTSTART FINISHFINISH JUNE 2014 Committee Approval of Site Selection Methodology JULY/AUGUST 2014 Scoring and Preferred Site Identified SEP 2014 Community Engagement NOV 2014 Committee Approval of Preferred Site DEC 2014 Site Investigation JAN-APR 2015 Detailed Design JUNE 2015 Planning Approval OCT 2015 Construction Start JULY 2016 Construction Complete and Occupation MAY 2014 Community Engagement Project Timeline

Education & Children Services Social Work Service Presentation Title Concerns, Myths and Stereotypes Our Children and Young People: Go to schools in their communities Are not allowed to wander aimlessly round local areas Are supervised 24/7 Are given only the responsibility they can cope with Need acceptance and positive messages Want to be seen as ‘ordinary’ young people…

Education & Children Services Education and Children Services “ My least favourite subject is Maths...but this year I’ve picked everything I like. I’m staying on this year, then depends how much qualifications I’ll have. If I have enough to get an HNC then I’ll go to college. If not I’ll stay on at school, HNC, HND then 3 rd year at Uni.. …Outside school I go competition dancing – we do competitions and fundraisers. I do majorettes too, and I help out – I help the wee ones… …It’s all voluntary with Active Fife. I’ve done First Aid, sports with working with the disabled, how to change if you were teaching a class with mixed ability. We do stuff during the holidays with different age groups. And I went to T in the Park, it was really good…..”

Education & Children Services Social Work Service Presentation Title Community Engagement From the engagement sessions: We are collecting your views, concerns and feelings Feedback Forms We undertake to feed the results back to the Council Committees – key points, themes and strength of feeling Online

Education & Children Services Social Work Service Presentation Title Our Promise to You We will: Strive to be very good neighbours Commit to being part of your community Hold high expectations for the children we look after Listen to you and respond at once to any concerns

Education & Children Services Social Work Service Presentation Title And Finally…… These are Fife’s children and young people… ….we want for them what they deserve.....what we would want for our own children

Education & Children Services Social Work Service Presentation Title Online Information and Feedback