Agenda item

Report of Lisa Wood, Practice Leader, Childrens Social Care and Lifelong Learning

An update was given to the OSC on practice and developments in supporting children and young people who go missing from home or care and young people at risk or victims of child exploitation.

Between July 2022 and June 2023 there have been 1548 young people were recorded missing and a Return Home Interview was offered following every episode (100% offer). This equates to 338 Young People.

During the period a total of 1056 offers of an RHI Interview were accepted and subsequently proceeded to being undertaken. This is an increase of 114% on the 723 missing episodes from the previous year. This increase is in line with regional neighbours and is a direct result of the pandemic.

79 Cared for Young People have been reported missing in the past 12 months. 54 (68%) have accepted their latest offer of a Return Home Interview. 25 (32%) did not accepted an offer of a Return Home Interview. This is an increase of 32% in the same reporting period last reporting year, and continues to increase.

259 young people who are not included in the Cared for cohort have been reported missing in the last 12 months. 168 (65%) have accepted their latest offer of a Return Home Interview. 91 (35%) did not accept an offer of a Return Home Interview.

Since the appointment of the Return Home Support Worker, RHI engagement rates have improved along with evidence of high-quality interventions. Overall RHI engagement rates were at an all-time high of 93% in March & April 2023. Overall engagements rates have risen from 60% between January & June 2022 to 87% between January and June 2023 which is a 27% increase.

Engagement rates for children in our care have risen to a 97% high in April 2023. Young people have shared intelligence in relation to concerning activities in the community such as underage alcohol sales which have been reported to the relevant authorities who have responded accordingly.

The Missing, Slavery, Exploitation and Trafficked (MSET) framework has been implemented across the 5 local authorities within the Northumbria Police force wide area.

The OSC was given an overview of contextual safeguarding within Gateshead Childrens services, including what was working well.

In Nov 2022 funding for 2 years was secured for a young woman and girls intervention worker to provide intensive support to young woman and girls involved in exploitation or gangs.

The report highlighted a concern that there is currently no central function or responsible team in children’s services to provide specialist oversight of young people who do not meet the criteria for MSET multiagency oversight, who may be open to children in care teams as an example to help develop contextual safeguarding disruption plan or prevent young people who are vulnerable to exploitation to build their awareness and resilience and prevent them becoming victims.

The report notified the OSC of the following future developments:

·         Develop the Contextual Safeguarding – level 2 offer, in partnership with Community safety and Edge North East.

·         Develop robust systems to record, track and monitor all young people who are at risk of contextual safeguarding issues.

·         Develop a toolkit and consultancy offer to social workers and lead practitioners across children’s services to ensure all young people and their families get a consistent offer of support where there are concerns about child exploitation.

Develop a framework to provide independent oversight of young people who are victims of harm outside the home with IRO service and safeguarding partners.

The OSC was told that this response focuses mostly on children aged 14-16, and that there is a different response system for younger children which is much less commonly needed. Responses are adapted to the experiences of young people, for example if:

·         This is the first or multiple time they have gone missing.

·         They are spending time with someone who is an active concern.

·         They are considered to be at risk of exploitation or involvement in gang activity.

The OSC asked about the impact of the pandemic. There are still issues emerging such as school refusal, anxiety and mental health referrals which have been caused by the pandemic. While the current impacts are still being unveiled it is not possible to evaluate the length of time the pandemic will have on children’s lives.

There are some current concerns about radicalisation, particularly around grooming. Any children who are a concern are responded to within the Childrens Social Service team via Channel Panel. This is a meeting to raise concerns about cases and get specialist involvement.

RESOLVED:

i.              Lisa Wood to provide an update for the OSC with data to gage Gateshead’s performance on a regional impact.

ii.             To add a 12 month update on the Birtley Project to the work programme.

iii.            The report was noted.