Enhanced Foster Care

Enhanced Foster Care Inspection report for independent fostering agency

p.1

Unique reference number SC360287 Inspection date 31/08/2012 Inspector Jennifer Reed Type of inspection Full Provision subtype

p.1

Setting address The Design Centre, Crusader Park, Warminster, Wiltshire, BA12 8BT

p.1

Telephone number 01985218505 Email theoffice@enhancedfostercare.co.uk Registered person Enhanced Foster Care Limited Registered manager Catherine Davies Responsible individual Joanne Sams Date of last inspection 10/09/2008 Website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

p.1

This document may be reproduced in whole or in part for non-commercial educational purposes, provided that the information quoted is reproduced without adaptation and the source and date of publication are stated.

p.2

Brief description of the service

This independent fostering agency provides 19 fostering households and has 11 young people in placement at the time of this inspection. The fostering agency is owned by a private company.

p.3

Brief description of the service

The fostering service recruits and carries out assessments on foster carers. It provides short to long-term placements for children and young people that include bridging and short breaks, parent and child and emergency placements.

p.3

The inspection judgements and what they mean

Outstanding : a service of exceptional quality that significantly exceeds minimum requirements Good : a service of high quality that exceeds minimum requirements Adequate : a service that only meets minimum requirements Inadequate : a service that does not meet minimum requirements

p.3

Overall effectiveness

The overall effectiveness is judged to be good .

p.3

Overall effectiveness

This fostering service is very successful in improving and promoting the life chances of young people in placement. The fostering team effectively work in partnership with young people, their families, placing authorities and external agencies to access appropriate services that support individual young people to secure positive outcomes in their lives.

p.3

Overall effectiveness

The fostering agency has rigorous recruitment and assessment practices and it operates a robust panel and annual review process. These functions contribute to ensuring the provision of suitable foster carers who provide high quality care to young people. Foster carers are recognised as core members of the professional team. They are well supported by the fostering staff and benefit from good training opportunities that help guide them in looking after young people exceptionally well.

p.3

Overall effectiveness

The agency has high aspirations for each young person in placement. The commitment of the fostering agency workers, alongside a cohesive team approach and excellent matching, underpins the delivery of good, individualised care to young people. Sound care practices minimise risk, and safeguard and promote individual young people’s welfare. Foster carers are generally able to effectively manage young people's presenting behaviours and their skills and experience help maintain placement stability. Young people feel at ease and are happy living in their foster homes. One young person said, ‘I am part of the family and the boys are my brothers.’

p.3

Overall effectiveness

Management vigilance and oversight is strong. Excellent communication channels are established between the small staff team, foster carers and external agencies. The manager closely monitors the quality of service provision and the agency strives for continuous improvement. This inspection identifies some areas for improvement in practice relating to: the supervision of carers by qualified workers; individual safe care policies; delegated authority and over-night stays; and sending monitoring reports to Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector (HMCI). These shortfalls have not adversely impacted on outcomes for young people in placement.

p.4

Statutory Requirements

This section sets out the actions which must be taken so that the registered person/s meets the Care Standards Act 2000, Fostering Services (England) Regulations 2011 and the National Minimum Standards. The registered person(s) must comply with the given timescales.

p.4

Reg. Requirement Due date

(2011) ensure that all staff receive appropriate supervision (Regulation 21(4)(a)) 28/09/2012

p.4

Reg. Requirement Due date

(2011) provide the Chief Inspector with a written report in respect of any review conducted for monitoring the matters set out in Schedule 6. (Regulation 35(2)) 28/09/2012

p.4

Recommendations

To improve the quality and standards of care further the registered person should take account of the following recommendation(s):

p.4

Recommendations

 ensure that children’s safety and welfare are promoted in all fostering placements; in particular, with reference to providing a safe caring policy that reflects the individual needs of each child in placement (NMS 4.1)  ensure foster carers are clear about their roles and responsibilities; in particular, with reference to delegated authority and permission regarding young people staying overnight with friends. (NMS 25.4)

p.4

Outcomes for children and young people

Outcomes for children and young people are outstanding .

p.4

Outcomes for children and young people

Young people make exceptional personal and social development, benefiting from stable, appropriate placements that can meet their diverse needs. One parent said, 'my child is doing really well; they are coming on in 'leaps and bounds'. The foster carers are fantastic and they make me feel very welcome in their home.' Placement stability is outstanding. Foster carers receive a vigilant level of support from the fostering staff team to help them competently meet young people’s individual needs. This contributes to young people rarely experiencing unplanned endings to their placements. Young people mostly enjoy excellent relationships with their foster carers. They say their foster carers are: ‘really nice to me’, and, ‘they know what I am like and it’s OK’.

p.4

Outcomes for children and young people

Young people are generally very happy living in their foster homes and they are gaining in confidence and self-esteem as they learn and employ new social skills. Their improved awareness of their social competence helps them to sustain positive friendships with the families and peers and to become involved in a wide range of community activities. As young people’s self-belief grows, they are supported by the fostering service, working in collaboration with other agencies, to rebuild a positive sense of self. This helps them to develop their resilience, improves their emotional well-being and increases their ability to cope and thrive.

p.5

Outcomes for children and young people

Young people are more able to manage their difficulties and deal with any set-backs. They are becoming better equipped to make sound decisions about their futures and their risk taking behaviours are reducing. One young person said, ‘I have learnt to manage my anger and I have made lots of changes to my life. It is all down to my foster carers.’

p.5

Outcomes for children and young people

Young people’s self-discipline and motivation is increasing and they are developing a sense of purpose in their lives. They are engaging in their education by attending school or college on a regular basis. Young people learn how to adopt a healthy lifestyle by being encouraged to take regular exercise and to think about what they eat. They have excellent access to the health services that they need and where appropriate, they take responsibility for their own health. As young people move towards adulthood, foster carers sensitively encourage and support them to develop their independent living skills. For example, young people have driving lessons and take up work experience opportunities. These first steps help young people to fulfil their potential and to successfully enter into the world of work and independent living.

p.5

Quality of service

The fostering agency has a well-developed recruitment strategy in place to provide a range of skilled foster carers who are able to meet the diverse needs of looked after young people. Prospective carers are treated fairly, with respect and without prejudice. They receive sufficient information to help them to decide whether or not they wish to progress with their application. The agency carries out robust checks on prospective carers, to ensure that they and their household are suitable to look after young people. The preparation and assessment of prospective foster carers is clearly defined within the agency. It focuses on the applicants’ capacity to meet young people’s developmental needs in a safe and responsible way. Carers report that they have found the assessment process informative and thought-provoking, but not overly intrusive. Prospective carers also complete an established, formalised training

p.5

Quality of service

programme which addresses many of the issues they are likely to meet within the fostering task. Foster carers benefit from access to a good range of training and most carers have completed the Children’s Workforce Development Council’s training standards in foster care.

p.6

Quality of service

Written assessment reports are comprehensive, with good detail. They provide the fostering panel with detailed and accurate evidence-based information and this enables full and proper consideration of the applicant’s suitability to foster. The agency’s central list of panel members, although limited in number, provides a good breadth of expertise and experience. The robust decision-making of the panel evidences a strong focus on the safeguarding and welfare of young people in foster care and promotes the approval of safe and secure placements. The panel carries out a quality assurance function which facilitates improvements in assessments and in the completion of carers’ annual reviews. The agency has recently employed an independent reviewing officer to undertake some carers’ annual reviews. This has enhanced reviewing mechanisms by providing another quality assurance strand and impacts on raising the standard of care provided to young people in placement.

p.6

Quality of service

Foster carers are fully involved in planning for young people in placement and they are recognised by the agency as core members of the team. They feel very well- supported by the agency. The agency’s foster carers commend the ‘approachability’ and knowledge of the fostering staff. They appreciate the good support and advice that is available to them at all times to guide them in looking after young people appropriately. One carer summarised the views of others by saying, 'you can get someone at any time, night or day and you can ask them about anything, however small.' Although the agency provides carers with information about delegated authority and permissions, some carers are not clear about their delegated authority in relation to young people requesting to stay over-night with their friends.

p.6

Safeguarding children and young people

The service is good at keeping children and young people safe and feeling safe.

p.6

Safeguarding children and young people

Young people are very confident about the help and support they can expect to receive from their foster carers. They feel safe and secure in their placements and many identify their foster carers as their preferred adult to talk to about any concerns. Young people in placement have a good understanding of the agency’s complaint process and they know how to make complaint. Foster carers can readily identify the innovative approaches they have devised to report younger children’s personal worries to the agency’s manager to be promptly looked into.

p.6

Safeguarding children and young people

Foster carers complete regular safeguarding training. Carers have a good understanding of child protection issues and they are diligent in their recording of young people’s behavioural issues and significant conversations. Their actions contribute to robust safeguarding practices within the agency and contribute to due consideration being given to keeping young people safe in any on-going legal proceedings. Carers recognise and know how to report any suspicion of harm to the registered manager, who is the agency’s child protection coordinator. Any allegations made against carers or members of staff are immediately reported to the Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO) and consideration for the welfare of young people is paramount. The LADO commends the professionalism of the staff and the agency’s operation. They said, ‘I cannot fault them; they are very well prepared in any meeting and clearly adhere to safer recruitment practice.’

p.6

Safeguarding children and young people

Detailed placement plans, risk assessments and behaviour management strategies support foster carers in the delivery of safe and appropriate care to young people in placement. Although each fostering household has a comprehensive safe care family plan, an individual safe care policy that young people know about and understand, is not drawn up to identify the specific needs of each young person in placement.

p.7

Safeguarding children and young people

Young people rarely go missing from their foster homes. When they do, staff and carers proactively seek out their whereabouts to facilitate a swift and safe return. The agency’s fostering staff keep in verbal contact with all carers at least once a week. This regular contact provides an opportunity for carers to discuss any low key ‘niggling doubts’ about any issues as they arise and this helps protect young people.

p.7

Safeguarding children and young people

The agency has only recently begun to undertake unannounced visits to foster homes to ensure that carers are meeting young people’s needs. The agency completes annual premises health and safety checks on foster homes to ensure young people live within a safe environment. A young person said, ‘it’s the best place I have been to.’

p.7

Leadership and management

The leadership and management of the independent fostering agency are adequate .

p.7

Leadership and management

The registered person and Registered Manager work closely together to monitor and evaluate the quality of service delivery. They have high aspirations for young people in placement, and have established rigorous monitoring processes to identify young people’s individual progress and outcomes, trends and patterns. The Registered Manager vigilantly reads and checks the agency’s central records to ensure accuracy and to promptly address any emerging practice issue. This diligent management oversight contributes to keeping young people safe and supports foster carers in their role. However, the agency does not forward their monitoring review reports to HMCI, as required by legislation.

p.7

Leadership and management

The agency has met the one good practice recommendation made at the previous inspection to develop portable health information for young people, to ensure their welfare is promoted. The agency has a clear overall development plan for growth and to raise practice standards further. The collection of data from monitoring processes informs the development of the fostering service, which strives for continuous improvement.

p.7

Leadership and management

Suitable arrangements are in place within the agency for foster carers to receive supervision from the registered manager, who is a qualified and experienced social worker. They also receive valuable, peer mentoring support from the agency’s family support worker, who is an ex-foster carer. Both the Registered Manager and the family support worker are highly motivated and committed to ensuring foster carers provide good quality and safe care to young people. However, supervision records show that over the past year, some newly approved carers have not benefited from supervision meetings with the Registered Manager. They have only had supervisory meetings with the family support worker, some of which have been held at the office base. However, the family support worker always reports back to the Registered Manager who maintains good oversight of incoming messages and practice issues, and takes any required action to secure positive outcomes for young people. This

p.8

Leadership and management

shortfall in supervision practice has not impacted on the quality of support provided to foster carers, who report that they are very satisfied with the standard of advice and support they receive. The service has only recently begun to undertake unannounced visits to carers to ensure that young people’s needs are being appropriately met. There is now a schedule in place to address this shortfall identified from the agency’s monitoring and review processes.

p.8

Leadership and management

The fostering agency has established excellent working relationships with placing authorities and local agencies and this contributes to improving the care of young people who are fostered. The views of stakeholders, foster carers, families and young people in placement are regularly sought and acted upon to make improvements within the service. Stakeholders are very complimentary about the agency’s effectiveness and the quality of foster care provided to young people.

p.8

Leadership and management

The fostering staff are working with young people to develop the ‘Hear by Right’ standards framework for the participation of young people, to increase the effectiveness of consultation process with young people in placement.

p.8

About this inspection

The purpose of this inspection is to assure children and young people, parents, the public, local authorities and government of the quality and standard of the service provided. The inspection was carried out under the Care Standards Act 2000 to assess the effectiveness of the service and to consider how well it complies with the relevant regulations and meets the national minimum standards.

p.9

About this inspection

The report details the main strengths, any areas for improvement, including any breaches of regulation, and any failure to meet national minimum standards. The judgements included in the report are made against the inspection framework and the evaluation schedule for independent fostering agencies.

p.9