The Children's Society

The Children's Society Inspection report for adoption support agency

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Unique reference number SC067198 Inspection date 05/02/2014 Inspector Rosemary Dancer Type of inspection Full Provision subtype Adults

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Setting address Block A Unit 201, Tower Bridge Business Complex, 100 Clements Road, LONDON, SE16 4DG

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Telephone number Email Registered person The Children's Society (Services) Limited Registered manager Ruby Margaret Thomas Responsible individual Andrew Richard Gilyead Date of last inspection 26/10/2010 Website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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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.

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Brief description of the service

The post adoption and care service is run by the Children’s Society. Since the last inspection the scope of the regulated work of the agency has been reduced. The post adoption and care service now provides access to adoption and birth records to adults adopted from public care and adults placed by the society for adoption between 1936 and 2005. Since April 2013 the agency has provided a service to 76 adopted adults and has provided information about 69 adopted adults to local authorities or other registered adoption agencies working with adopted adults.

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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

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Overall effectiveness

The overall effectiveness is judged to be good .

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Overall effectiveness

This agency provides an access to records service to adults only, who were adopted as children through the society. The agency works effectively with service users who are wanting to find out more about their histories and birth family. The social workers are skilled in their work and take care to ensure that people's motives for finding out about their histories are known and understood. This means that they support those who may have unrealistic expectations about outcomes well and help them understand that their desired outcomes may not be achieved. There is a strong understanding about the lifelong implications adoption has on people affected, in any way, by adoption.

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Overall effectiveness

The high majority of service users reported that they found the agency welcoming. Social workers ensure that people can access the service wherever they live. They carry out house visits, for example, where it is difficult for people to travel to London.

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Overall effectiveness

Service users views are sought and the high majority of people have only positive views about the service they have received. One stated they had been provided with, 'a wealth of information about themself pre and post adoption' and another said that it had, 'completed the picture for me… it's taken away a life time of wondering.'

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Overall effectiveness

There have been three shortfalls identified and two requirements and a recommendation has also been made to help to drive improvement in these areas. These shortfalls do not have a significant adverse impact on people who use the service. They relate to the manager gaining a management qualification, improving the information service users are provided with at the first stages of their contact and progressing the plans to address a deterioration in some of the adoption records the agency holds.

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Statutory Requirements

This section sets out the actions which must be taken so that the registered person/s meets the Care Standards Act 2000, the Adoption Support Agencies (England) and Adoption Agencies (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2005 and the National Minimum Standards. The registered person(s) must comply with the given timescales.

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Reg. Requirement Due date

(2005) ensure that all appropriate measures to prevent loss or destruction of the pre-commencement case records held by the adoption support agency are taken (Adoption Support Agency Regulations 2005 Regulation (15) (2)) 30/06/2014

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Reg. Requirement Due date

(2005) make a copy of the Statement of Purpose available, upon request, for inspection by any person receiving adoption support services from the agency and any person making enquiries about receiving adoption support services from the agency. (Adoption Support Agency Regulations 2005 Regulation 5 (3) (b) and (c)) 31/03/2014

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Recommendations

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

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Recommendations

 ensure the manager continues to work towards obtaining a relevant management qualification within three years of her appointment. (NMS 19.4)

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Outcomes for service users

The large majority of people who have used the service have found the work carried out with them useful. For some, it has enhanced their lives because they have a better understanding about their early life circumstances and those of their birth family. For many people years of not having important questions answered have been a source of frustration and uncertainly. For example, not fully knowing the reasons for their adoption, not having information about their birth heritage and a lack of knowledge about any genetic risks relating to health issues; these questions have been answered for many people using the service. Additionally for some who wish to trace and meet members of their birth family the information provided to them from their records has paved the way for them to do this.

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Outcomes for service users

The vast majority of people using the service feel they have received a high quality service. One person said they had a 'very positive response (from the service), they were keen to help I got the feeling they were going to be supportive and they were; I was confident in what they could offer.' Another said 'It helped me find out a bit about my background and why I was given up for adoption. It made me happy knowing what I found out.' Another said the work had helped them to achieve some closure. People who had used the service were also confident that if they wished to contact the agency in the future they would be supported.

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Quality of service

The agency has developed good arrangements for ensuring that people's needs are assessed. This means that the work is carried in a way that they will gain the most from it. For example, social workers will travel, sometimes great distances, to visit people in their home or local area. People were very pleased with this flexibility. One person said, 'they came out to me and went through the information, they did make sure they understood what I wanted from this.'

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Quality of service

The vast majority of people who had used the service felt that they had been dealt with in a prompt way with a high level of sensitivity. One service user said, 'Fantastic service and very quick response.' Another said that she felt very comfortable with the social worker and that the worker had, 'put me at my ease and was so sympathetic.' Another commented on the 'care, compassion and amazing support' she had received.

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Quality of service

The social workers and administrative staff are fully committed to and enthusiastic about their work. They are well trained in this complex and often life changing work and provide an effective service to the people they work with. A service user said, 'Very positive experience; no complaints.'

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Quality of service

The agency also provides information from adoption records to support local authorities and other agencies in their work with adopted adults. It does this effectively and this ensures that other agencies have as full information as possible in a timely way to inform their work with people. An agency that has worked with the post care and adoption service said, 'The Children's Society is excellent, always a quick and a professional response.'

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Safeguarding

The service is good at keeping children and young people safe and feeling safe. Due to the nature of the work, the agency social workers on occasion receive allegations from service users of past abuse. The social workers and the administrative staff are trained and knowledgeable about the action to take if they receive a disclosure of past abuse or a concern about a child or vulnerable adult. The society has developed robust arrangements and safeguarding procedures for dealing with disclosures or concerns, whoever discloses and regardless of how long ago the issues relate to.

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Safeguarding

The manager of the agency, who is also the society's safeguarding manager, oversees all disclosures made and ensures that they are referred to relevant agencies. The society also has a safeguarding group that meets to monitor all allegations made and their progress. This helps to ensure that any past failings of the society can be identified and addressed and that people have proper acknowledgement of their past experiences.

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Safeguarding

In relation to the adoption and care support work, it is a credit to the social workers that people build up trust in them. For some service users this can be the first time they have ever discussed their own abuse. When a disclosure is made the social workers follow the reporting procedures. Often with past abuse the alleged perpetrator is deceased and therefore is no longer an on -going risk. However, the agency is careful to ensure that this is the case. The social workers also ensure that people are supported with the emotional impact that making a disclosure can have on them.

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Safeguarding

The agency has robust staff recruitment procedures to ensure that staff working with people are of good integrity and character and are suitably experienced and skilled in carrying out this complex work.

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Leadership and management

The leadership and management of the adoption support agency are adequate .

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Leadership and management

The leadership and management of this agency have been assessed as adequate. This is because the relatively recent changes in the operation and management of this service have not had sufficient time to be embedded. There have been recent significant changes in terms of the staffing arrangements and the remit of the support work carried out.

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Leadership and management

There has been a recent review of how the agency is operating in its present form and recommendations have been made by the manager to the trustees. These include a recommendation about the need to increase the staffing resources. This is to ensure that there are no risks to the allocation of the work, or the quality of it, should a current member of staff not be available. It is also to allow for developmental work to be carried out, because with the current staffing levels this is not possible.

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Leadership and management

While the manager of the agency is a qualified and experienced manager she does not hold a relevant management qualification, although she is enrolled on a course to achieve this. The manager, being also the society's safeguarding manager, has a good overview of the work of the society as a whole and a clear understanding about the importance of the work the agency carries out. The manager has addressed the two recommendations made following the last inspection. This means that the Trustees are kept up to date with developments and there are clear plans, known to staff, to enable the agency to continue to operate should the building become damaged by fire or flood, for example.

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Leadership and management

The work of the agency is underpinned by a Statement of Purpose which provides clear information about the services that people can expect. It is not, however, easily accessible to people who may be considering using the service so that they are informed about what to expect at an early stage.

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Leadership and management

The agency is developing effective relationships with other agencies to ensure that people can access services that will help them to trace and meet family members if they wish for this.

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Leadership and management

The agency's monitoring processes in relation to practice have been developed and this means that the manager is aware of the timescales and the reasons why they have not been met when this is the case. The Trustees are kept informed, in a broad sense, about the work of the agency. This is achieved through the provision of an annual report and a recent interim review of the evolving service carried out by the manager. The manager is considering how to usefully keep the trustees informed about timescales, for example, so they can better monitor and challenge the service provided.

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Leadership and management

Social workers are very well supported in their roles through regular good quality formal supervision, team meetings and the efficient support from the administrative team. All staff are provided with good quality training that is relevant to their roles and allows them opportunities to meet with other professionals from other agencies; they reported that this is especially useful to them as it keeps them up to date with national developments. Although the agency has been through some significant changes the staff feel that there have been some benefits. They report that senior managers are more accessible and that they feel more connected, than before to the society as a whole.

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Leadership and management

Records of contemporary work carried out are kept up to date and provide a good over view about the work carried out. They show that the requirements relating to the disclosure of records are met and include detailed assessments of risk before work is carried out are undertaken.

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Leadership and management

The agency is the custodian of the adoption and care records for many people who have been cared for or had adoptions arranged through the society. It had been noted that there is a deterioration of some of the records held and a pilot had been carried out on some of the records to ensure that they are not lost because of this. It is planned that this is rolled out to all affected records.

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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.

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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 the inspection of adoption support agencies.

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