Young people in North Yorkshire could benefit from a new strategy to help children in care grow up close to their families, friends, schools and communities under plans due to be considered by councillors.

The proposed homes for children sufficiency strategy sets out how North Yorkshire Council would ensure there are enough of the right homes in the right places to meet the needs of children in care and care leavers over the next three years.

The plans, to be considered by members of the council’s executive on Tuesday next week (July 14), are built around a simple ambition to ensure that children should be supported to remain close to the people and places that matter most to them, wherever possible.

This would mean helping children to maintain important family relationships while staying connected with friends, continuing to attend their schools and remaining part of their local communities.

The proposals come at a time of increasing pressure on children’s services. As of February this year, 613 children were in the care of North Yorkshire Council – a nine per cent increase over the previous 12 months and a rise of almost 40 per cent since 2019.

More children are also requiring support for increasingly complex needs, including trauma, neurodiversity, disability, emotional wellbeing needs, adolescent risk and exploitation.

The vast rural nature of North Yorkshire, which is England’s largest county, has also added to the challenges.

The proposed strategy recognises that children achieve the best outcomes when they experience stable, loving homes and can maintain the relationships and connections that are important to them.

However, national and local shortages of foster carers and specialist residential provision mean that too many children can be cared for further away from home than anyone would wish.

To address these challenges, the planned strategy is accompanied by a proposal to earmark up to £20 million from within existing council financial reserves which could be called upon to invest in the availability of local care options across North Yorkshire. Detailed spending proposals would be brought forward for consideration by the council’s executive at a future date.

This would include recruiting and supporting more foster carers, developing specialist and advanced fostering arrangements, expanding supported accommodation and creating additional local residential homes and strengthening emergency and crisis provision.

North Yorkshire Council’s executive member for children and families, Cllr Janet Sanderson, said: “This proposed strategy is about putting children first while taking responsible, planned action to strengthen our offer of local homes to care for children in North Yorkshire.

“We are committed to ensuring that every child in our care and every young person leaving our care has a safe and loving home, with the right support to maintain relationships, education and community connections that are in their best interests.

“Our priority is to care for children by keeping them local, close to familiar faces and places wherever it is safe and appropriate to do so.

“Children thrive when they feel connected, valued and supported. By increasing the range of local homes and support available, we can help more children stay close to the people, schools and communities that matter to them, giving them the stability they need to achieve the very best outcomes.

“Our focus is not simply on creating more places. It is on improving matching, stability, quality and outcomes so that children and young people in North Yorkshire experience care that helps them feel safe, settled, connected and able to thrive.”

The proposals are intended to increase the number of homes available in North Yorkshire, improve how children are matched to homes, strengthen stability of care and ensure that care arrangements better support children’s long-term wellbeing, education and future life chances.

The planned strategy also proposes strengthening the council’s in-house fostering service, improving local planning and forecasting, and working more closely with care providers to ensure sufficient high-quality provision is available across the county.

If approved, the strategy would provide a clear framework for developing local homes and support services that enable more children to remain in North Yorkshire, helping them to sustain lifelong relationships and giving them the best possible chance to flourish into adulthood.

The report can be viewed or downloaded as a PDF here: Executive report on homes for children sufficiency strategy