The Children's Society

The Children's Society Inspection report for adoption support agency

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Unique reference number SC067198 Inspection date 10/11/2015 Inspector Christine Kennet Type of inspection Full

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Setting address Edward Rudolph House, 69-85 Margery Street, London, WC1X 0JL

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Telephone number 01844 279640 Email ruby.thomas@childrenssociety.org.uk Registered person The Children's Society (Services) Limited Registered Manager Ruby Thomas Responsible individual Val Floy Date of last inspection 05/02/2014 Website: www.gov.uk/ofsted

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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 Children's Society runs this post adoption and care service, providing 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 February 2014, the agency has provided a service to 29 adopted adults and has provided information about 21 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 Requires improvement : 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

The Children’s Society Post Adoption and Care service (PAC) provides an access to records service to adults adopted as children through the society or formerly in the society’s residential care homes. The agency provides an effective service for adoptees and/or descendants wanting to find out more about their histories and birth family. Two experienced social workers work carefully to understand adoptee’s motivation in finding out their histories and to assess what they already know and understand. This ensures that they support well those with unrealistic expectations about outcomes and help them to understand that their desires and expectations may not be achieved. The workers are highly experienced in this work and understand the lifelong implications adoption has on people. They show compassion and empathy for service users, giving them as much time as they need during this process.

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Overall effectiveness

All service users contacted felt overwhelmingly positive about the agency, how they were welcomed and the quality of service received. Social workers take time to find out about service users prior to meeting them, to ensure accessibility and reduce potential risks to both workers and service users. If needed, they offer home visits, for example if a service user is unable to travel to London. The Registered Manager says they try to ensure the best environment to meet with service users; any complex or special needs would be catered for

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Overall effectiveness

Service users routinely provide feedback and the high majority of people have only positive views about the service received. One states, ‘My worker was fantastic, a masterclass in how to do this, and a great combination of knowledge, sensitivity and calmness.’

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Overall effectiveness

Two shortfalls result in two recommendations made to help the service to continue improving. One recommendation relates to a previous requirement concerning the deterioration in some of the adoption records. As work is in progress to address this, a recommendation to ensure this process continues is made. The other recommendation relates to improving the quality of the supervision offered to enable staff to feel supported in their work. Neither shortfall has any significant adverse impact on people who use the service.

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Recommendations

To improve the quality and standards of care further the service should take account of the following recommendations:  Ensure there are efficient and robust administrative systems, including IT and communication systems. Premises have facilities for the secure retention of records. (NMS 28.1a)  Ensure staff have access to support and advice, and are provided with regular supervision by appropriately qualified and experienced staff. (NMS 24.4)

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users

Most service users, adoptees, local authorities and other adoption agencies speak positively of the service provided to them. Feedback helps inform practice and improve service delivery. For example, one adoptee states that the wait was long and an interim call or email would have been good. This has led to workers giving clearer wait times at the outset and maintaining contact if needed.

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users

Some adoptees speak about how seeking information helped them ‘fill in gaps,’ ‘dispel some myths,’ and ‘completed the puzzle’, gaining access to information about their heritage or answering important questions that had remained unanswered. For example, discovering their origins or the reasons surrounding their adoption. Some people described gaining missing information that has helped them to trace and contact members of their birth family. One person said he really wanted a photograph and an extended birth family member contacted was able to supply one.

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users

The majority of service users feel they have received an individual and high quality service. For some people, where news was not so easy to hear, compassion and good after care support was available. One person said, ‘The aftercare service is fantastic, they have been so kind.’ Another said the work had helped them to understand their birth family’s culture better. People using the service feel well supported, that they had access to helpful information and if necessary could contact the agency again in the future.

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Quality of service provision

All the service users contacted advised how accessible the PAC service was and how simple they found the process of making contact and gaining the information they needed to request a service. One service user says, ‘Very easy to access, due to the internet, made this very easy, I found information on the website, completed the questionnaire they needed me to fill in.’ Other comments include ‘extremely helpful’ and ‘really prompt’. The Registered Manager says they have access to interpreters if needed and would ‘think creatively’ about meeting any needs that arise.

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Quality of service provision

Administrators at the service provide excellent support to social workers, enabling them to get on with their job. They are able to make early responses, gather essential identity information, prepare records and answer queries. Staff say, ‘We do think we give a personal service, they get to talk to us quite quickly, get a good service. People come directly through to us, they like the smallness of the service.’

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Quality of service provision

Telephone contacts seek out a careful assessment of any risks. For example, workers say they need to know a bit about supports, adoption experience, health, anxiety and any other factors that inform the process. These determine needs and ensure a high quality service, with workers often travelling long distances to visit people in their home or with necessary supports available.

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Quality of service provision

The PAC service is currently going through a period of change and re-structure. Plans are to provide a more responsive service on a national strategic basis using freelance social workers. This plan should enable the most efficient use of current resources and better manage demand pressures. The challenge for PAC is to retain the high quality of service throughout this period of change ahead.

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Quality of service provision

The current staff team are fully committed and passionate about the work they do. They are extremely skilled and well trained in this specialist area of work and understand the lifelong impact adoption has on people’s lives.

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Quality of service provision

The agency also provides information they hold on record to support other agencies and local authorities working with adopted adults. There are clear processes in place to support this work and provide full information in the shortest timescale to enable this work to take place. Other agencies say, ‘They provided amazing records for service users,’ and, ‘They responded well, communication has been good, they offer a great service.’

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families

This agency holds safeguarding at the centre of its practice. Although the agency work with adults, occasionally workers receive allegations of past abuse. Staff show a clear understanding of safeguarding and are confident about what to do if a service user discloses historical allegations. All staff receive safeguarding training and have regular refresher courses on this as mandatory. The agency has a clear framework, which ensures robust procedures with which staff are familiar.

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families

Reports of historical abuse take high priority. Reports are referred to the relevant agencies by the manager. Staff help service users to understand this process and keep them informed of their actions. The manager, who is also the safeguarding lead, oversees all disclosures made. There are clear records and close interagency working exists with the responsible authority. Independent consultants are available if needed. The manager states, ‘We do hear what people have to say, we do not hide it, we have good processes and offer support to help with the emotional impact on people.’

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families

The Registered Manager has recently reviewed the policy and procedures held by the agency. Research informs policy that includes comprehensive information and gives clear guidance on all key areas of concern. The agency manager, who has a service support manager, works closely with the police to support various historical enquiries and cooperates with this to support service users and ensure no young people are at continued risk. Staff are confident in their roles and there are robust recruitment processes in place to ensure that they are suitably experienced, safe and skilled to carry out the work they do.

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Leadership and management

A suitably experienced and qualified Registered Manager runs this service. She has passed a relevant management qualification since the previous inspection. Leaders and managers show commitment to providing services despite various changes over recent years. The agency hopes to strengthen focus on the quality of practice, enable the most efficient use of current resources, and better manage demand pressures.

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Leadership and management

The annual report from last year, supported by the trustees, agreed a recommendation to increase the staffing resources. There is a development plan which set targets and objectives for the future use of the service. This has led to a ‘case for change’ and consultation period with staff. The proposals will mean a complete restructure of staffing arrangements, using freelance social workers on a national platform. The impact is the removal of posts and the introduction of new posts. Leaders and managers have supported staff through this process of change and maintained short-term goals of reducing waiting times and working more swiftly through cases.

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Leadership and management

Recruitment to a Practice Improvement Manager post is ongoing. This post will support the Registered Manager with the PAC service but will have a wider role across the whole Society. Four social workers, working from home bases, will work across the country to provide a regional response. Two new administrators are appointed and there is a plan to recruit two redactors to work alongside practitioners on data protection and redaction.

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Leadership and management

A Quality Information Framework (QIF) monitors processes in relation to practice and the manager presents this to the trustees to keep them informed of the work of the agency. This QIF will serve to inform plans for development.

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Leadership and management

The statement of purpose reflects the work of the agency and advises people of what service they can expect to receive. It is now accessible with information published on the agency website about how to request this.

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Leadership and management

Staff are appropriately qualified for their roles. They receive good appraisals that consider development and address practice issues. Supervision quality has declined since the last inspection, partly due to more accessibility of management, lessening the need for formality but also due to the high calibre of staff who are resourceful and offer quality peer support. The coming changes are likely to change this situation and with staff working off site, supervision will be crucial to support them in their roles.

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Leadership and management

The agency is continuing to develop effective professional relationships with other agencies, which ensures that people can access services that will help them to trace and meet family members if they decide they want this.

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Leadership and management

Case records of current work are clear and provide an accurate reflection of the work undertaken.

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Leadership and management

The agency holds many historic records of adoptions arranged by the Society. A requirement made at the last inspection was to prevent loss or destruction of the pre-commencement case records. Since that time, the agency has worked extremely hard to address this. A specialist company commissioned to look at the quality determined that records were not as bad as thought. Various strategies suggested to the trustees are under consideration. Alongside this work, research into the age range of the most likely referrals has informed the files to prioritise; work continues to ensure microfilm is preserved, digitalised or copied for the future.

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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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