The Corporate Parenting Board of Lancashire Council met on Wednesday, 11 March 2026, to discuss updates on various services for children in care and care leavers. Key topics included reports on fostering, adoption, and the services provided by the National Youth Advocacy Service (NYAS).

Fostering, Adoption, and Private Fostering Annual Reports

The meeting was scheduled to receive a summary of the annual reports for Fostering, Adoption, and Private Fostering for the 2024-2025 period. The Fostering Service report highlighted an increase in approved mainstream foster carers in Lancashire, bucking national trends, and a rise in the number of children living with foster carers. It also noted a high occupancy rate for task-centred carers and successes in recruitment, retention, and support for foster carers, including a Mentoring Academy and a Pause and Reflect initiative for emergency placements. Future priorities included strengthening the fostering service through models like Mockingbird, enhancing support for kinship carers, and developing recruitment campaigns, particularly for carers of older children.

The Adoption Lancashire and Blackpool (ALB) report indicated a rising demand for adoptive placements nationally and regionally, with a growing gap between the number of children needing adoption and the number of available adopters. Despite staffing challenges affecting assessment capacity, ALB reported successes in driving adoption support forward, offering various groups for adopted children and their families. Improvements were also noted in the quality of adoption panel reports, with a focus on constructive feedback. Looking ahead, ALB aimed to boost interest in Early Permanence placements, improve keeping in touch arrangements between adopted children and their birth families, and prepare for Ofsted inspections.

The report on Private Fostering arrangements showed a significant increase in active arrangements from the previous year.

National Youth Advocacy Service (NYAS) Annual Report

The Board was also scheduled to receive the National Youth Advocacy Service (NYAS) Annual Report for 2024-2025, focusing on Advocacy and Independent Visiting services. The report detailed the purpose of NYAS, which is to support children and young people (CYP) by providing advocacy and managing a pool of Volunteer Independent Visitors (IVs). The service aims to ensure vulnerable CYP can influence decisions affecting their lives. The report outlined referral numbers for both advocacy and independent visiting services, with a breakdown of issues raised by those seeking advocacy, such as homelessness protocols, living arrangements, and relationships with social workers. It also detailed the number of matches made and cases closed for independent visitors. The report highlighted successes, including a blended model of virtual and face-to-face support, positive feedback from young people, and successful campaigns like My Things Matter, which addresses the issue of belongings being moved in bin bags during care placements. Key challenges included recruiting sufficient volunteers, particularly for young people outside Lancashire, and dealing with increasing complexity in the issues presented by CYP.

Participation Team Update

An update was scheduled from young people from LINX (Lancashire's Children in Care Council) and the Care Leavers Forum (CLF), detailing their activities since the last Board meeting. This included achievements in 2025, such as speaking at a Virtual School Headteacher Conference, involvement in the PROUD Awards, and a Corporate Parenting Board Youth Takeover event. Planned priorities for 2026 included the commissioning of a care leaver app, project planning across groups, recruitment for the Burnley Care Leavers Forum, and the potential reinstatement of a residential trip.

District Team Update

A presentation was planned from the Lancaster District team, providing an overview of care experienced young people at a district level. This update was expected to cover key demographics, the number of Children Looked After (CLA) and care leavers supported, available core accommodation, and what is currently working well, alongside planned next steps.

House Project Update

Young people from The House Project were scheduled to provide an update on their project.

Educational Attainments

An update on the educational attainments of Lancashire's Children Looked After (CLA) was also on the agenda, including comparisons with national and regional outcomes, and data on those Not in Education, Employment, or Training (NEET). The report was expected to detail targeted support programmes in place.

Health Update

A health update was scheduled to outline current responsibilities, performance, and planned developments across the health system relating to children in care and care leavers. This was expected to cover Integrated Care Boards (ICBs), the health system overview, statutory health assessments, national and local health indicators, current performance, reasons for non-compliance, and the work of the Children in Our Care (CIOC) Health Liaison Group. The update was also intended to show how the health system supports the Lancashire Corporate Parenting Strategy.