Council Newham
Performance Percentage of children in the same placement for at least two years or placed for adoption in the year ending 31 March
2004 Newham 58% England 65%
2005 Newham 63% England 64%
2006 Newham 53% England 65%
2007 Newham 69% England 65%
2008 Newham 70% England 67%
Newham Borough Council has seen a considerable improvement in the percentage of children in care remaining in stable placements or placed for adoption.
In 2004, 58 per cent of looked-after children in the borough had been in the same placement for two years or had been placed for adoption.
By 2008, this figure had increased to 70 per cent, three per cent above the national average.
Jenny Barville, principal manager for provider services for Newham's children and young people, attributes the local authorities improved performance on developing clearer processes for staff to follow and the creation of a dedicated placement team.
She says: "As soon as a child comes into the system, we monitor them and as soon as they are approved for adoption we follow through on that."
Communication between senior management, fieldwork staff and placement co-ordinators is the way Barville ensures the system remains tight.
In 2004, the council developed a specialist team who look for a range of placements to make sure children are matched with the right people in the first instance. The team is also notified as soon as there are any problems, so it can attempt to prevent a placement breakdown.
"Having the placement team also means we are not dependent on the social workers for searching for placements," says Barville. "Our team looks at what we have in-house and if there are no suitable placements we look at which agencies offer the best placements for the different children."
