Minutes:
Alasdair presented with Powerpoint slides on Black Lives Matters which followed on from the last corporate parenting committee:
The committee were shown the divisional action plan around Southwark’s stands together which related to a very important and open discussion from the last committee meeting which included previous conversations with young people along with Cllr Evelyn Akoto, Cllr Jasmine Ali (chair) and David Quirke-Thornton.
Alasdair said he was aspired by the words of Tracy Harrison at the last meeting. So it was important to listen and think about what would be the right approach and things to do to make a fundamental and sustainable change. Officers heard the passionate views of young people which the children and adult’s services want to respond to and incorporate that in the action plan.
Alasdair referred to Action 8 of the plan; the directorate’s divisional management group (DMT) seem to be a predominantly white management group which he felt should change to make senior management more diverse and reflective of the borough which was recently highlighted at a recent cabinet meeting. Officers plan to enter into dialogue with the Stephen Lawrence Trust to address this.
The four main action points that were raised by young people:
· Review to take place on the assessment and learning development of foster carers concerning the needs of young black people in care (a conversation that was held during the young people’s speaker box).
It was noted the foster carers have been reviewing this issue. Reference was also mentioned about a recent story telling event on Zoom which was attended by 20 foster carers and coordinated by Oliva (Children’s rights coordinator) and spoke about an author of a book on how we love our hair. It addressed the topic of how to care for black afro hair.
Lessons were learnt for both white and black foster carers. Some young people spoke up about their experiences with their hair.
The plan is to repeat these sort of workshops with children and independent foster carers so everyone involved could learn from such events.
· A bespoke education programme for Southwark social workers. Speaker Box stated that their social workers did not know enough about black history and young people’s issues. A practitioner’s forum had debated this as an issue which should not just include social workers but others as well. It was noted the programme still required some development.
· Efficiency strategy: Noted that this strategy would be explored at a future meeting. One of the issues being reviewed was around residential care. Southwark had recently joined an organisation called the commissioning alliance (known previously as the West London alliance) which comprises of about ten local authorities commissioned together to look at residential care, foster care and independent placements. They are currently looking at the council’s data so the needs of those in care or placements are better met. Also looked at the recruitment of black foster carers.
· The Speaker Box raised the issue of the education system – they felt it lacked proper understanding of black history and how it was promoted and developed. The council had worked with the head of history at St Michael’s and youth offending service agreed to help with these programmes (which was still in its early stages of development).
It was noted this would be incorporated around the council’s plan as well.
Southwark Stands Together
The chair gave feedback on the Southwark Stands together as part of the response to black lives matter all cabinet members chaired a sub-group and discussed topics on education proposed curriculum on black history. Issues around stop and search and opportunities on employment and training.
Southwark opened the first beauty parade for Black, Asian, Afro and Caribbean hair. The community hub is a place where hair is done and an encouraging environment with a café and bar with a community meeting space. The proposal would be to invest in some neighbourhood funding for this project.