Kingscare Fostering Agency

Kingscare Fostering Agency Inspection report for independent fostering agency

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Unique reference number SC064965 Inspection date 15/02/2016 Inspector Seka Graovac Type of inspection Full Provision subtype

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Setting address 25 Woodstock Way, MITCHAM, Surrey, CR4 1BE

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Telephone number 020 8544 5522 Email info@kingscarefostering.com Registered person Kingscare Fostering Agency Ltd Registered manager Gregory Umunna Responsible individual Sylvia Umunna Date of last inspection 26/09/2011 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

Kingscare aims to provide short, medium and long-term foster care for looked after children and mother and baby placements. The agency has one approved foster carer with a capacity for one placement. Two brothers are currently in this placement. The agency has not approved any new foster carers in the last 12 months.

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The inspection judgements and what they mean

Outstanding : An agency demonstrating and exceeding the characteristics of a good judgement where children and young people are making significantly better progress and achieving more than was expected in all areas of their lives. Good : An agency where children and young people, including those with the most complex needs, have their individual needs met and their welfare safeguarded and promoted. They make good progress and receive effective services so they achieve as well as they can in all areas of their lives. Requires improvement : An agency that may be compliant with regulations and observing the national minimum standards but is not yet demonstrating the characteristics of a good judgement. It therefore requires improvement to be good. There may be failures to meet all regulations or national minimum standards but these are not widespread or serious; all children's and young people's welfare is safeguarded

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The inspection judgements and what they mean

and promoted. Inadequate : An agency where there are widespread or serious failures which result in children and young people not having their welfare safeguarded and promoted.

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Overall effectiveness

Leadership and management is ineffective. Poor quality practice, inadequate record- keeping and insufficient quality assurance processes have resulted in the agency‘s widespread and serious failures to meet the fostering regulations, national minimum standards and good practice.

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Overall effectiveness

Although the children currently in placement have achieved good outcomes, the registered persons do not demonstrate that they run a fostering service that is consistently safe and in accordance with what is considered good practice. The quality of the service and the agency‘s arrangements to promote safeguarding of children are inadequate. The agency does not demonstrate having an open reporting culture.

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Overall effectiveness

This inspection has identified 20 requirements and seven recommendations include shortfalls in the assessment, approval, training, support, review and termination of the approval of foster carers; the documents, policies and procedures; and the systems for keeping records and monitoring the effectiveness of the provision.

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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, Fostering Services (England) Regulations 2011 and the National Minimum Standards. The registered person(s) must comply with the given timescales.

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Requirement Due date

The fostering service provider must produce a written guide to the fostering service ("the children's guide") which includes— the address, including email address, and telephone number of the Chief Inspector. (Regulation 3(3)(c)) 01 June 2016

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Requirement Due date

The fostering service provider must— keep under review and, where appropriate, revise the statement of purpose and children's guide, and notify the Chief Inspector of any such revision within 28 days. This in particular relates to making sure that the documents accurately describe the service and that Ofsted receives a copy of the updated documents. (Regulation 4(a)(b)) 01 June 2016

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Requirement Due date

The registered provider and the registered manager must, having regard to— the size of the fostering agency, its statement of purpose, and the numbers and needs of the children placed by the 01 June 2016 fostering agency, and the need to safeguard and promote the welfare of the children placed by the fostering agency, carry on or manage the fostering agency (as the case may be) with sufficient care, competence and skill. (Regulation 8(1)(a)(b)) The fostering service provider must prepare and implement a written policy which— is intended to safeguard children placed with foster parents from abuse or neglect, and sets out the procedure to be followed in the event of any allegation of abuse or neglect. The procedure must, provide in particular for— arrangements to be made for persons working for the purposes of the fostering service, foster parents and children placed by the fostering service, to have the address (including email address),

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Requirement Due date

and telephone number of— the area authority, and the Chief Inspector, for the purposes of referring any concern about child welfare or safety to them. (Regulation 12(1)(a)(b)(3)(f)(i)(ii)) 01 June 2016

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Requirement Due date

The fostering service provider must provide foster parents with such training, advice, information and support, including support outside office hours, as appears necessary in the interests of children placed with them. (Regulation 17(1)) 01 June 2016

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Requirement Due date

The registered person in respect of an independent fostering agency must establish a written procedure for considering complaints made by or on behalf of children placed by the agency, and by foster parents approved by the agency. The procedure must, in particular, provide— that no person who is the subject of a complaint takes part in its consideration other than, if the registered person considers it appropriate, at the informal resolution stage only; for dealing with complaints about the registered person; for complaints to be made by a person acting on behalf of a child; for the procedure to be made known to— children placed by the agency (subject to their age and understanding), the parents of those children, persons working for the purposes of the independent fostering agency, and for a copy of the procedure to be supplied to any of those persons on request. The copy of the procedure must include— the name,

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Requirement Due date

address (including email address), and telephone number of the Chief Inspector. The registered person must ensure that a written record is made of any complaint or representation, the action taken in response to it, and the outcome of the investigation. (Regulation 18(1)(2)(b)(c)(d)(e)(i)(ii)(iii)(3)(a)(b)(4)) 01 June 2016

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Requirement Due date

The fostering service provider must operate a disciplinary procedure which, in particular— provides that the failure on the part of an employee to report an incident of abuse or neglect, or suspected abuse or neglect, of a child placed with foster parents to an appropriate person is a ground on which disciplinary proceedings may be instituted. (Regulation 21(2)(b)) 01 June 2016

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Requirement Due date

The fostering service provider must maintain and keep up to date the records specified in Schedule 2, in particular, a record in the form of a register showing in respect of each child placed with 01 June 2016 foster parents – the date of the placement, the name and address of the foster parent, the date on which the child ceased to be placed there, the child‘s address prior to the placement, the child‘s address on leaving the placement, the child‘s placing authority and the statutory provision under which the child is placed with foster parents. The records must be retained for at least 15 years from the date of the last entry. (Regulation 22(1)(2) Schedule 2) The fostering service provider must constitute one or more fostering panels, as necessary, to perform the functions of a fostering panel under these Regulations, and must appoint panel members including— a person to chair the panel who, in the case

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Requirement Due date

of any appointment made after 1st October 2011, must be independent of the fostering service provider, and one or two persons who may act as chair if the person appointed to chair the panel is absent or that office is vacant ("the vice chairs") from the persons on the central list. The fostering service provider must ensure that the fostering panel has sufficient members, and that individual members have between them the experience and expertise necessary, to effectively discharge the functions of the panel. (Regulation 23(4)(i)(ii)(7)) 01 June 2016

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Requirement Due date

Where the fostering service provider are of the opinion that a person included in the central list is unsuitable or unable to remain on the list, the fostering service provider may remove that person's name from the list by giving them one month's notice in writing. (Regulation 23(3)) 01 June 2016

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Requirement Due date

Where a person (―X‖) applies to become a foster parent and the fostering service provider decide to assess X‘s suitability to become a foster parent, any such assessment must be carried out in accordance with this regulation. The fostering service provider must, as soon as reasonably practicable, obtain the information specified in Part 1 of Schedule 3 relating to X and other members of X‘s household and family. This in particularly relates to assessing the impact of any disability within the family on their ability to foster. (Regulation 26(1)(1A)(a)) 01 June 2016

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Requirement Due date

No member of the fostering panel may take part in any decision made by a fostering service provider under paragraph (3). Paragraph 3 relates to deciding whether to approve X as a foster parent and as to any terms of approval. (Regulation 27(4)) 01 June 2016

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Requirement Due date

The fostering service provider must review the approval of each foster parent in accordance with this regulation. A review must take place not more than a year after approval, and thereafter whenever the fostering service provider consider it necessary, but at intervals of not more than a year. When undertaking a review, the fostering service provider must— make such enquiries and obtain such information as they consider necessary in order to review whether the foster parent continues to be suitable to be a foster parent and the foster parent's household continues to be suitable, and seek and take into account the views of— any child 01 June 2016 placed with the foster parent (subject to the child's age and understanding), and any placing authority which has, within the preceding year, placed a child with the foster parent. (Regulation 28(1)(2)(3)(a)(b)(ii)(iii)(4)(a)(b)) If the fostering service provider decide, taking into account any

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Requirement Due date

recommendation made by the fostering panel, that the foster parent and the foster parent's household continue to be suitable and that the terms of the foster parent's approval continue to be appropriate, they must give written notice to the foster parent of their decision. This in particular, relates to the clarity of the notice and consistency of the information included. (Regulation 28(6)) 01 June 2016

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Requirement Due date

If, taking into account any recommendation made by the fostering panel, the fostering service provider are no longer satisfied that the foster parent or the foster parent's household continue to be suitable, or that the terms of the approval are appropriate, they must — give written notice to the foster parent that they propose to terminate, or (as the case may be) revise the terms of, the foster parent's approval (a "qualifying determination"), together with their reasons and a copy of any recommendation made by the fostering panel. This in particular, relates to the qualifying determination being congruent with the other information on the foster carer‘s file. (Regulation 28(7)) 01 June 2016

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Requirement Due date

A fostering service provider must maintain a case record for each foster parent approved by them which must include copies of the documents specified in paragraph (2) and the information specified in paragraph (3). In particular, they must keep a record of each placement with the foster parent, including the name, age and sex of each child placed, the dates on which each placement began and terminated, and the circumstances of the termination. (Regulation 30(1)(3)(a)) 01 June 2016

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Requirement Due date

The fostering service provider must maintain a register (a "register of foster parents") and enter in it the following particulars in relation to each foster parent - name, address, date of birth and sex of each foster parent, the date of approval and of each review of approval (as the case may be), and the current terms of approval (if any). (Regulation 31(a)(b)(c)) 01 June 2016

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must maintain a system for— monitoring the matters set out in Schedule 6 at appropriate intervals, and improving the quality of foster care provided by the fostering agency. The system must provide for consultation with foster parents, children placed with foster parents, and their placing authority. (Regulation 35(1)(a)(b)(3) Schedule 6) 01 June 2016

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Requirement Due date

If any of the events listed in column 1 of the table in Schedule 7 takes place in relation to a fostering agency, the registered person must without delay notify the persons or bodies indicated in respect of the event in column 2 of the table. This in particular relates to any serious complaints about any foster parent approved by the fostering agency and instigation and outcome of 01 June 2016 any child protection enquiry involving a child placed with foster parents. Any notification made in accordance with this regulation which is given orally must be confirmed in writing. (Regulation 36(1)(2) Schedule 7) The registered provider must provide Ofsted with information requested for the purpose of considering the financial viability of the fostering agency, including— a reference from a bank expressing an opinion as to the registered provider's financial standing. (Regulation 37(3)(b)) 01 June 2016

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Recommendations

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

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Recommendations

 Make sure that the foster home can comfortably accommodate all who live there (NMS 10.1)  Make sure that the agency can demonstrate that children are carefully matched to a foster placement (NMS 11.2)  Make sure that the registered provider has a written development plan, reviewed annually, for the future of the service (NMS 18.2)  Make sure that all foster carers who were approved as such before April 2008, attain the training, support and development standards (TSD) by April 2011 and that any other foster carers attain TSD within 12 months of approval (NMS 20.3)  Improve staff appraisals in terms of identifying and reviewing specific individual learning and development needs, every year (NMS 23.5)  Make sure that there is a business continuity plan which includes both provision of premises and safeguarding/ back up of records (NMS 27.3)  Review each panel member‘s performance, included that of the chair, against

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Recommendations

agreed performance objectives, on an annual basis. (The Children Act 1989 Guidance and Regulations Volume 4: Fostering Services Chapter 5.15)

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and young people

Two brothers, who are currently the only children placed with the agency have very positive experience of being fostered. They are well settled and feel fully included in family life. Over a seven year period, they have developed close relationships with their foster family and a strong feeling of belonging.

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and young people

Children told the inspector that they felt safe, happy and loved. They were listened to, involved and valued. They were able to express themselves and had good opportunities to develop their cultural and personal identities. They said that the carer never said ‗no‘ to them. They understood that sometimes they had to work hard towards getting something they wanted; they thought that this was fair. They experienced having clear rules and boundaries. They felt empowered to make choices. Children have made good progress in learning to take responsibility for their behaviours. Behaviour has significantly improved. Children have never gone missing from care.

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and young people

Children have good opportunities to engage in a wide range of leisure and learning opportunities. School attendance is excellent. They receive good advice to enjoy a healthy life, including specialist medical support when needed. Children experience good overall care all and have achieved positive outcomes. They have made good progress across different aspects of their education and welfare. At the inspection, they presented as polite and well-behaved children who were interested in their own learning and development. Their independent reviewing officer and the other professionals who work with them are recommending that this highly effective placement becomes permanent.

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Quality of service

Although the agency has been registered for over 10 years, there are still weaknesses in the quality of fostering practice regarding assessment, approval, support, training, supervision, review and termination of foster carers.

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Quality of service

The agency is unable to demonstrate that all foster carers were comprehensively assessed, prior to being approved. The fostering panel expressed and recorded their concerns about the quality of some assessments presented to them for approval.

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Quality of service

The manager of the service stated that one of the agency‘s previously approved foster carers should have not been approved by the agency in the first place. He said that as soon as he saw the carer‘s own child, it was clear to him that the extent of the child‘s disability meant that the carer would not be able to foster. More than a year and a half after this carer was initially approved, the manager terminated her approval because the carer had not disclosed full information about her son‘s disability during the assessment process. The agencies own records evidence that the carer was open about her son‘s disability but that the assessment process did not fully explore this issue. It was the agency‘s responsibility to assess the impact of this on the prospective carer‘s ability to foster, and then to continue to monitor it and provide necessary support. The panel recorded their concerns in relation to

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Quality of service

approving this foster carer. The local authority expressed their concerns during the pre-placement meetings with this prospective foster family. They did not proceed with the placement due to these concerns. The agency does not have any records relating to matching that led to these pre-placement meetings. There are no records to show that the agency carried out any supervisory visits to this carer who was with the agency for over 18 months. The annual review was not brought to the panel within the required timescales.

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Quality of service

The agency approved foster carers with a long list of conditions. This practice raises questions regarding the applicants‘ readiness to foster and the thoroughness of the approval process. On one occasion, the fostering panel approved a person subject to seven conditions to be satisfied before any placements were made. One of these conditions was to clarify the written pre-approval assessment. This was because the information in the assessment and what the prospective carer said at the panel were contradictory. The panel also raised concerns regarding this person‘s ability to understand and communicate in English. They questioned the impact of this on the robustness of the assessment, as no interpreters were used. This carer also did not have a spare room that could be used for fostering. The panel requested that the carer created a spare room, before any placements were made.

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Quality of service

The manager disregarded the panel‘s recommendation. He placed a mother and baby with the foster carer before she made any changes to the environment. This meant that the carer‘s own daughter had to share a bedroom with her mother, during the placement.

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Quality of service

It is not clear how the agency supports and promotes good family life. No information regarding matching and hardly any information regarding the placement was available on this foster carer‘s file. There were no records of any supervisory visits. The manager said that as this was a mother and baby placement, the placing authority carried out supervisory visits and there was no need for the agency to do so. This demonstrates a lack of understanding of the agency‘s role in supporting foster carers.

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Quality of service

The current carer is happy with the level of support that she receives from the agency. The manager visits her on a regular basis. However, the records of the supervisory visits are repetitive. The examples include repeated reference to how children enjoyed their summer holidays, in the reports of the agency‘s visits that took place in October, November and even December 2015.

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Quality of service

The agency has not provided any training in the last 12 months, despite saying in the statement of purpose that carers are required to attend at least six mandatory training courses a year. The agency‘s only current foster carer has not achieved the training and development standards, despite being approved in 2007.

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Quality of service

The fostering panel does not follow regulations in approving carers. The minutes of the panel meetings clearly state that the panel approved foster carers, rather than gave recommendations to the agency‘s decision maker. This is a breach of regulations.

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Quality of service

The approval document signed by the responsible individual who is the decision maker and the foster carer sometimes contains contradictory information, such as the gender of children. Some of the approval documents state that the approval is interim. The manager said that this was also an error. There were many other recording errors, such as the year of approval being incorrect or the information regarding the placements not being completed. One of the annual review reports was dated significantly after the foster carer‘s de-registration.

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Quality of service

The panel members have never received an appraisal of their performance. The registered persons did not realise that this would be good practice. The last time the agency provided training to the panel was in 2012.

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Quality of service

The manager disbanded the panel in 2015 as he was unhappy with it. He stated that he had discussions with the then panel members regarding ending their roles. However, he failed to give them a month‘s written notice, as required by regulation. The registered persons are currently recruiting for panel members, including a chair and vice-chair. The agency has not had a properly constituted fostering panel, since May 2015.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Ineffective leadership and management, inadequate quality of the service and poor record keeping seriously undermine the safeguarding of children. The agency is unable to evidence that the approval process is robust and that once approved, carers consistently receive comprehensive support and training. The last time the current foster carer had training in child protection and safeguarding was more than four years ago.

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Safeguarding children and young people

The agencies safeguarding policies and procedures are not comprehensive and are not kept up to date. The documents refer to a ‗working together‘ guidance that was issued in 1999 and is therefore, 16 years out of date. The agency‘s written policies and procedures that set out the arrangements for the protection of children do not specify the arrangements for staff, foster carers and children to have the required contact details of the area authority and Ofsted. The regulations require this for the purposes of referring any concerns about child welfare or safety directly to the area authority or Ofsted. This regulatory breach is even more significant in the light of the fact that the only two people who work for the agency are husband and wife. The agency‘s whistleblowing procedure also encourages reporting any concerns to them. They give incorrect details about how they can be contacted. The registered persons

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Safeguarding children and young people

do not make reporting of the safeguarding concerns easy.

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Safeguarding children and young people

In addition, the agency‘s disciplinary procedure does not promote reporting suspected abuse or neglect, as specified in the regulations.

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Safeguarding children and young people

There is no observable impact of the regulatory breaches on the welfare of the currently placed children. They receive good care from a highly committed and competent carer.

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Safeguarding children and young people

The agency‘s widespread failures to meet the regulations and provide a service in line with good practice means that they cannot demonstrate that they have robust safeguarding procedures and systems in place.

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Leadership and management

The registered persons do not effectively and efficiently manage the agency. They do not provide a fostering service that is safe and sound. The record keeping is poor, with even some of the most fundamental records not being appropriately kept. For example, the agency does not keep a register of children who were placed with the agency.

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Leadership and management

The agency‘s records cannot be trusted to provide a clear and true picture of the service. Even those records that on face value appear fine, under closer scrutiny, show inconsistency and errors. For example, the agency‘s register of foster parents is incomplete. When examined against the panel minutes, it became clear that the register did not include all the carers who were approved by the agency.

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Leadership and management

In discussion with the inspector, the manager stated that one of these carers who was not on the register had never had any placements. He maintained this even when the inspector found a note on the foster carer‘s file that stated that the carer had a short mother and baby placement. Apart from that note, no other information about this placement was available on the file: no names, dates of birth, the dates of the placement, the placing authority, statutory provision or any other information.

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Leadership and management

This was later identified as a six week placement. However, even after a many hours search through the agency‘s other data, apart from the names of the mother and the child, the dates of the placement and two reports on a supervised contact that happened at the foster carer‘s home, no other information was available about this placement. The dates on these documents did not match. It appeared that the local authority carried out the visits to the foster carer to supervise the contact between the mother and her baby, prior to the placements being made. No other information was available. Such profound lack of records seriously undermines the service and increases the risks of it becoming unsafe.

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Leadership and management

The quality of existing records is also poor. Records often lack detail and are highly repetitive. For example, the manager‘s annual appraisals that were completed in August 2013, August 2014 and June 2015 identify exactly the same development objectives without any comments on this. Another example is that the foster carer‘s annual reviews largely contain exactly the same wording in the reports that were completed in 2013, 2014 and 2015. Neither the appraisals nor the reviews demonstrate consultation with children.

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Leadership and management

The agency‘s polices and procedures still refer to the fostering regulations and the national minimum standards that were revoked on 1 April 2011. The statement of purpose and the information on the website are also not kept up to date. The statement of purpose still lists the name of the supervising social worker that left the agency a number of years ago. The telephone number for Ofsted is incorrect and there is no email address. The website states that the agency has teachers, counsellors, mentors and youth workers. It says that the agency has 20 approved foster carers. The agency currently has one approved carer. The agency‘s register shows 13 carers have been approved, since the agency registered. The documents do not fully reflect the status of the service.

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Leadership and management

The agency has failed to recruit and maintain a range of foster carers. The registered persons blame the fostering panel, the assessing social workers, placing authorities and Ofsted for this. They also said that the records were affected by a computer virus. They believe that the agency provides a good fostering service. Clear quality assurance processes are not in place. Management evaluation of the service is unrealistic. They have not produced any monitoring reports. There is no a development plan or a business continuity plan for the service.

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Leadership and management

The agency has failed to appropriately notify Ofsted of serious allegations being raised against their foster carer. The manager thought that the Local Authority Designated Officer for child protection notified Ofsted. This again shows a lack of knowledge of the fostering regulations and a lack of understanding of the roles and responsibilities that come with being a registered person.

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Leadership and management

The agency does not have an effective complaints procedure. The written procedure does not include all the information as specified in the regulations. When a foster carer expressed a strong dissatisfaction with what she saw as suddenly being paid less money on a regular basis, the registered persons did not look carefully into this. They did not see this as a complaint and did not pay enough attention to what the carer was saying. The manager told the inspector that the carer was simply wrong. He explained that the carer was confused, due to the changes in how the placing authority paid the agency. When the inspector examined the records, it was clear that the foster carer had a valid cause for complaint. The size of the agency raises questions about its financial viability.

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About this inspection

The purpose of this inspection is to inform 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 and to support services to improve.

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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 independent fostering agencies.

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