Other community, social and personal services

Tender description

The contract will be to supply statutory services relating to all Bradford looked after children and young people. The contract will be offered for a period of 2 years subject to monies continuing to be available and statutory obligations still in place. In such event that obligations and funds alter, the Council will attempt to give as much notice as possible that it will have to terminate the contract. There will be an option for the Council to extend the contract, at its discretion, for a further 3 periods of 1 year subject to the Council still having the need and funding for this contract. For the purpose of this tender, we have divided the services into 3 lots. Lot 1: Independent Advocacy for Looked After Children; Lot 2: Return to Care Interviews for Looked After Children who have been absent or missing; Lot 3: Independent Visitor Services. Lot 1: Independent Advocacy for Looked After Children. The overarching objective of the Independent Advocacy Service is to provide Independent Advocacy that enables children and young people to be heard in matters that affect them. The Independent Advocacy provided will fall into 3 categories: — advice and guidance on rights, — support with regular meetings, — making a complaint and liaison between care and the young person by speaking on behalf of the child or young person. The objective for this service is to offer the child or young person, on their return from a missing/absent episode, an independent interview to understand the reasons for the missing/absent episode and find ways of reducing risks and repeat missing instances in line with the “Statutory guidance on children who run away and go missing from home or care” updated January 2014. An Independent Visitor’s role is to visit and befriend a looked after child or young person who has little or no contact with their birth parents and would benefit from having an adult in their lives who can give them support, advice and take an interest in their affairs. The objective of the Independent Visitor Service is to recruit, train, match and manage a pool of volunteer Independent Visitors for the population of Looked After Children.