Seven in ten children are accommodated under fostering arrangements and this proportion is in line with national and statistical average. However, recent neighbour’s figures show a slight drop in the proportion of children fostered. Tower Hamlets also have a higher proportion of children accommodated within the community and this may be a reflection of the older age profile of the children being looked after. Over recent years, the council has experienced a growth in agency fostering placements, externally commissioned residential placements and semi-independent living. In addition, unaccompanied asylum seekers continue to put pressure on services. As of September 2017, 23 unaccompanied asylum seekers were in care with 21 of them placed in semi-independent living arrangements. Chart 6.3: Placements of looked after children at 31st March compared to statistical neighbour, inner London and England average 6.1 Out of borough placements Tower Hamlets is a small borough and only 8 square miles in size. There are significant pressures on housing and many families living in the borough do not have the necessary spare room to be able to foster. Only 30% of homes in Tower Hamlets have three or more bedrooms and a large proportion of homes are flats or maisonettes (83.2%). In addition, independent services are limited in Tower Hamlets. There are no other residential homes in borough aside from the one home. There are limited council’s agency foster placements available, as of September 2017, there were only 5 looked after children placed in borough with agency foster carers. In addition, the numbers of host children in the borough is very small. As of September 2017, there were only 3 officially recorded host placements. Therefore, the number of out of borough placements is high. Currently, approximately 70% of the foster carers are from neighbouring local authorities as the service council’s extends their recruitment radius to 15 miles in order to recruit foster carers with appropriate housing. Currently only approximately 20% of all looked after children are placed in borough. Chart 6.1.2: Looked after children placement providers by location (within or outside borough) Placements exceeding 20 miles The Care Planning, Placement and Case Review (March 2010) guidance and regulations, which came into force on 1st April 2011, laid out a duty of 'sufficiency' that
Seven in ten children are accommodated under fostering arrangements and this proportion is in line with national and statistical neighbour’s average. However, recent figures show a slight drop in the proportion of children fostered. Tower Hamlets also have a higher proportion of children accommodated within the community and this may be a reflection of the older age profile of the children being looked after. Over recent years, the council has experienced a growth in agency fostering placements, externally commissioned residential placements and semi-independent living. In addition, unaccompanied asylum seekers continue to put pressure on services. As of September 2017, 23 unaccompanied asylum seekers were in care with 21 of them placed in semi-independent living arrangements. Chart 6.3: Placements of looked after children at 31st March compared to statistical neighbour, inner London and England average 6.1 Out of borough placements Tower Hamlets is a small borough and only 8 square miles in size. There are significant pressures on housing and many families living in the borough do not have the necessary spare room to be able to foster. Only 30% of homes in Tower Hamlets have three or more bedrooms and a large proportion of homes are flats or maisonettes (83.2%). In addition, independent services are limited in Tower Hamlets. There are no other residential homes in borough aside from the council’s one home. There are limited agency foster placements available, as of September 2017, there were only 5 looked after children placed in borough with agency foster carers. In addition, the numbers of host children in the borough is very small. As of September 2017, there were only 3 officially recorded host placements. Therefore, the number of out of borough placements is high. Currently, approximately 70% of the council’s foster carers are from neighbouring local authorities as the service extends their recruitment radius to 15 miles in order to recruit foster carers with appropriate housing. Currently only approximately 20% of all looked after children are placed in borough. Chart 6.1.2: Looked after children placement providers by location (within or outside borough) Placements exceeding 20 miles The Care Planning, Placement and Case Review (March 2010) guidance and regulations, which came into force on 1st April 2011, laid out a duty of 'sufficiency' that