Council’s major turnaround over child services
CHILDREN’S services in Calderdale are “good” with some “outstanding” features say Ofsted inspectors – a landmark moment for the local authority.
Eight years ago Calderdale Council’s Children’s Services were in special measures and even after five years’ hard work still required improvement in 2015 when they were re-inspected.
But putting children themselves at the heart of policy and supporting confident staff to provide them with a safe and productive environment in which they are “able to flourish” has produced great improvements, inspectors say.
The council’s chief executive Robin Tuddenham said achieving this standard and aiming for higher was crucially important for the borough.
“This is saying there is hopefully a good future for our children,” he said.
This time around the only category which still required improvement was Children Who Need Help and Protection – inspectors’ comments were mostly good about this part of the service but wanted to see child protection teams making key decisions them- selves without necessarily consulting with other partners in detail, and when making interventions be clearer about what social workers and police needed to do.
Director of Children’s Services Julie Jenkins said that since inspectors spent three intensive weeks in Calderdale in November to compile their report, the relevant improvements had already been made.
She said staff were delighted Calderdale was rated “outstanding” in the Children In Care category, the highest rating and rising from the lowest rating of “inadequate” the authority received for this in 2015.
Echoing the rising quality of the service across the board – rated as “good” – the report praised the council’s teams who placed the vulnerable children at the centre of the service.
“The report said our children are surrounded by exceptional, committed and caring staff.
“It says the child is at the centre of the decisions being made and they have an enduring relationship with devoted, skilled and determined social workers,” she said.
Improvements in permanency – when children stay in care – in areas including fostering and adoption saw inspectors find these aspects of the service “exceptional”, and there for the children 24 hours a day, said Ms Jenkins.
“It’s just glowing about what they think about what we do for our children, what they think about the service.
“Young people said they felt they were treated like a family in Calderdale.
“I would describe that part of the service as the real jewel in the crown,” she said.