Councillor welcomes report on Shropshire children's care service
A leading Shropshire councillor says he will continue to ensure children in care services improve after inspectors found progress had been made.
Ofsted said Shropshire Council has made “progress and improvement” in a letter to the authority on Friday.
It said inspectors were pleased to see the council had taken steps in the right direction since it was last inspected in 2017.
It found that “swift decisions” are now made and most children are placed with a family quickly.
Councillor Ed Potter, cabinet member for children’s services, said: “We are pleased with the feedback from Ofsted, and that they have recognised the progress that we have made since the last inspection. We continue to want to improve our services and welcome their recommendations.”
Peter McEntee, inspector, said: “Since its last inspection in 2017, the local authority has made progress in improving services for children who need permanent arrangements for their care. For almost all children who come into care, swift decisions are made about their permanent care plans.
“The local authority is successful in ensuring that most children who cannot live with their parents are placed quickly in alternative living arrangements, including placements with relatives (connected carers), adoption, long-term fostering and, for a few, specialist residential living.
“Placement stability has improved, with fewer children experiencing multiple moves.
“Adoption is carefully considered for all children who cannot return home. Brothers and sisters are placed together whenever possible and adoption disruption is rare.”
Mr McEntee added that there are still areas the authority can improve including the functioning of the permanency tracker to ensure that it enables the local authority to analyse practice and progress towards permanence.
