Permanence Service for children and young people in our care and leaving our care

Lancashire County Council are committed to ensuring that together with our partners, we will promote positive outcomes for all children and young people in Lancashire.  Social workers and other key professionals work closely to support children and young people to remain living with their immediate family.  In some situations, it is not possible for children and young people to remain in their family home, but this is something that we will continuously revisit.

For children and young people who need to be cared for by foster carers, residential staff, extended family members, or keyworkers, we want to deliver outstanding and aspirational social work practice working alongside our children and young people.

The Permanence Service is made up of 'Children in our Care' teams and 'Leaving Care' teams and, with our partners as corporate parents, we are responsible for the care and support of all Children Looked After with a plan of permanence, aged from 0-18 years, and all Care Experienced Young People, aged 16-25 years. It is a privilege for us to be involved in the lives of our children and young people.  

The ethos and culture of the service is one that is very much based on ensuring that our children and young people are fully involved with every decision - no matter how big or small, and that our children and young people feel valued, cared for, and supported.  

Underpinning this is our belief that positive outcomes will best be achieved when children and young people:

  • Are able to attain physical, legal and emotional permanence and wherever this is safe to do so, within their families of origin;
  • Have co-produced plans;
  • Have a plan to support their positive exit from care;
  • Have a plan that supports good preparations for adulthood and continued support in adulthood;
  • Have minimum changes of Social Worker and Personal Advisors;
  • Receive a social work service from a social worker whose specialism is Children in Our Care once a plan for permanence has been identified and a comprehensive leaving care service from personal advisors;
  • Have a ‘service around the child or young person’, which is flexible, responsive and able to accommodate individual need.

We have four areas of priority to work with our partners and improve outcomes for the children and young people in our care and leaving care.  

1) Achieving Permanence  

Our aim is to achieve legal, physical, and psychological permanence as quickly as possible, through building strong relationships, involving our children and young people in everything we do, supporting their Life Story and identity, advocating for them, providing creative and innovative support and to challenge the discrimination they can face.  

2) Improving sufficiency to provide the right home at the right place  

Our goal is for all the children and young people we support to have supportive and lasting homes – homes in the right areas and communities, homes that will be a home for as long as needed, homes that provide a sense of family, belonging and care.  

3) Improving social, physical, emotional and mental health support and outcomes  

Building resilience and supporting the health and wellbeing of the children and young people in our care and leaving care is a priority for us. We are committed to ensuring that our children and young people get the very best support for their health, through early intervention, quick & easy access to targeted services and effective partnership working.  

4) Improving education, employment and training opportunities and outcomes

We want our children and young people to have exciting opportunities for education, employment, and training, offered by partners and business who understand their needs, and who can offer additional support to help them succeed and overcome their early disadvantage and trauma.  

The Corporate Parenting Board works with our partners to improve outcomes for our children and young people in the above four priory areas and the commitment to the children and young people in our care and leaving care is reflected in the Corporate Promise to the children and young people in our care and leaving care.

Children in Our Care (CIOC) Teams provide social work support to children and young people who are looked after and have a plan of permanence (to remain in the care of the Local Authority). These are children and young people who are subject to a full Care Order under section 31 of the Children Act or voluntarily accommodated by the Local Authority under section 20 of the Children Act including unaccompanied asylum seeking children and young people provided with accommodation under the Joint Homelessness Protocol for 16/17 year old young people.

Children in Our Care Teams also support a small number of other children and young people (e.g. children discharged from the care of the Local Authority who require a short period of support under a Child in Need (CIN) plan, siblings who are not looked after but have siblings who are Looked After under home placements etc).

Some of our statutory duties include:

  • Visits to our children and young people in care
  • Child and Family Assessments (C&F)
  • Children Looked After (CLA) Reviews and Care Plans
  • Personal Education Plans (PEP)
  • Initial and Review Health Assessments (IHA/RHA)
  • Strength and Difficulties Questionnaires (SDQ)

Children and young people in our care are supported to maintain lasting relationships with their families and friends. We want for parents, family members and friends to continue playing an important part in the lives of the children and young people in our care. Hence our care plans include child centred arrangements for Family Time, our revised Life Story Policy has a holistic approach and parents are included in decisions made about the children and young people in our care.

Leaving Care (LC) Teams work jointly with Children in Our Care Teams to support young people who are eligible care leavers and support young people who are relevant or former relevant care leavers up to their 25th birthday. They also support qualifying care leavers where there is an assessed need for leaving care support.

Some of our statutory duties include: