Stuart Collins' forward

Thank you for taking the time to look at our Sufficiency Strategy 2024 – 29. Our online Strategy has been developed to enable us to provide updates on what the data is telling us and share progress towards our action plan throughout the 5-year life of the strategy.

Stuart Collins – Director of Children and Young People’s Futures

Devon children’s services plan is to have children at the heart of everything we do, and in developing this strategy, we have looked at data and outcomes achieved and listened carefully to families, providers and most importantly to the young people themselves. This includes the development of a model of co-production with community partners to best understand our communities’ strengths and needs.     

We have a clear focus on providing help when it is first needed through Family Hubs and Early Help Teams which are easily accessible and can help people to build resilience and cope with the challenges they face. 

A wealth of research evidence from the Early Intervention Foundation in 2010 to the Best Start in Life in 2022 shows that early intervention and support helps to keep children at home and build resilience within the whole family leading to long term positive outcomes.  

Where children and young people do need to come into care, we want to provide them with a home environment where they feel supported, listened to and valued. Ideally this will be in the local community in a family setting, where children and young people can continue to experience family life.  This helps to sustain friendships and maintain school places which is key to having a sense of belonging. Our evidence tells us that at the moment that isn’t always possible, so we are working to increase the number of foster carers working for Devon and for the Independent Fostering Agencies working with Devon. If you feel that you could support a child as a foster carer we would love to hear from you. 

On those occasions where we cannot find foster carers, we work with local registered children’s homes to identify the most suitable one for the individual, one who can meet their needs and offer a safe, supportive home for them in a way that is similar to being at home. Most of our homes are small, offering between 2 and 4 places and we work hard to match the young people who live in the same home.  

For young adults moving towards independence, we explore a number of options which include 16+ supported living and fostering where it is possibly for a young person to ‘stay put’ in their foster home rather than needing to leave at 18 years old.  

We know that relationships are key, and we are committed to working together to achieve the best possible outcomes for the Children in Need and Children in Care in Devon.