Children and Family Services in Leicestershire have been rated as outstanding by Ofsted. 

In a report published on Friday, inspectors praised work to build "strong and long-lasting relationships" with children and families which lead to many families achieving "positive changes" in their lives. 

They also said a culture has been created by Leicestershire County Council's Children and Family Services which puts the "experiences and progress of children at the heart of social work practice".  

Their report follows a three-week in-depth inspection in April. The deep-dive included inspectors speaking to some children and their parents and carers and interviewing staff across the department.  

They also looked at the work to protect and safeguard children, work that enables families to stay together and the experiences and progress of both children in care and care leavers.  

The impact of leaders on social work and practice of all front-line staff who work directly with children, young people and their families was also put under the spotlight. 

 Cllr Deborah Taylor, lead member for children and family services, said: "We are absolutely delighted to have received an outstanding rating. 

"This judgement is testament to the incredible efforts of staff, managers and partners who work tirelessly to improve outcomes for children and families here in Leicestershire. 

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"It was particularly pleasing to see that our commitment to care leavers was recognised by inspectors as we support them into adulthood. We also unanimously agreed for care leavers to become a protected characteristic at a County Council meeting back in February. 

"We are also grateful for the support and feedback families have given us which has helped shape the way we do things." 

Jane Moore, director of Children and Family Services, added: "This report reflects the amazing work taking place across children's services in Leicestershire and the impact this is having on the lives of children and families. 

"We are so pleased that Ofsted saw the quality of our work, our ambition and aspirations for children and our child focused practice across the department. I want to thank all of the staff across the department for their dedication and unwavering commitment to getting it right for children, young people and their families.

 "However, we are not complacent and will continue to work to develop our services to support children and young people and build strong relationships with families to help give children the best start in life." 

Services were rated Outstanding in key areas including;  

Overall effectiveness

• Impact of leaders on social work practice with children and families 

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• The experiences and progress of children in care 

• The experiences and progress of care leavers 

• Inspectors said that the majority of children in the council's care receive an outstanding service that results in their life experiences significantly improving.

• Foster carers feel well supported and an "overwhelming majority of staff" said they like working for the authority and value the investment and support from their managers. 

They also said leaders are "outward looking and dynamic" in their approach to transform the quality of help and protection for vulnerable children in Leicestershire. 

Work to support care leavers through the personal advisors and support staff, who were described as "excellent role models", was also recognised. One of the young people who spoke to Ofsted said that "The service I have received has changed my life. My personal advisor is kind, and they care about me.'' 

Recent changes to the service which include the rolling out of new Family Hubs, which offer both physical and virtual spaces where families can access a range of help and support.

And the new 'Family Help' service brings together targeted early help services and social workers, to strengthen work with children in need, and Family Safeguarding teams to work with children in need of protection.

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