Resolution Fostering Service

Inspection report for independent fostering agencies - monitoring: Resolution Fostering Service 1 Resolution Fostering Services

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355 Wilmslow Road, Manchester M14 6XU Monitoring visit Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this independent fostering agency

The agency was registered in October 2016 and is run by a private organisation. The agency provides long-term, short-term and emergency foster care placements for children and young people from birth up to the age of 17. The agency currently provides eight foster families who are caring for 18 children, including three sibling groups.

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Information about this independent fostering agency

Date of previous inspection: 27 November 2017

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This monitoring inspection

This independent fostering agency was judged inadequate at the full inspection that took place on 27 and 28 November 2017. As a result, Ofsted issued six compliance notices.

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This monitoring inspection

The focus of this visit was to monitor the actions taken by the provider to comply with three of the notices that were issued on 8 December 2017 under regulations 8, 11 and 30. The requirements arising from the full inspection were not monitored at this inspection.

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This monitoring inspection

Following the full inspection, the registered manager was absent until she resigned from her post with immediate effect on 22 December 2017. Consequently, the supervising social worker took responsibility for managing the service throughout December 2017 and until a new manager took up post on 3 January 2018. However, this management arrangement was brief, and a further new manager was recruited and took up post on 12 February 2018. She had been in post for one day at the time of this inspection.

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This monitoring inspection

Although the agency has drawn up an action plan for improvement, the plan does not set out how the steps in the compliance notices will be met. The timeframes set by the agency are not in keeping with those set by Ofsted. For example, the agency’s timeframe for meeting regulation 30 has been set at 28 February 2018 Inspection report for independent fostering agencies - monitoring: Resolution Fostering Service 2 when the compliance notice required this to be met by 11 February 2018. This is indicative of the inconsistent improvement plan drawn up by the changing management team and this approach by leaders and managers does not promote robust improvement within the agency’s practice.

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This monitoring inspection

The inspectors found that the compliance notice under regulation eight is not met. For example, the responsible individual has not yet taken action or completed any training to improve his knowledge of fostering regulations and develop his expertise in fostering. Consequently, he is still unable to recognise significant shortfalls in practice. For example, he has not ensured that the shortfalls in case records and the panel have been addressed. This does not enable him to monitor effectively the operation of the service and to check on children’s progress and outcomes.

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This monitoring inspection

The responsible individual has appointed an assistant to support him in his role and to provide professional supervision of the manager. While this post-holder is an experienced fostering practitioner, the role of ‘assistant responsible individual’ has no legal status. The registered provider’s responsibilities under regulation eight to carry on the fostering agency with suitable skill and experience fall to the responsible individual and remain unmet.

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This monitoring inspection

The new manager is not registered with Ofsted and commenced her post without a handover or induction, and without access to electronic files that were being set up. The responsible individual was not there to introduce her to the service. This unsatisfactory arrangement has prevented her from quickly getting to grips with the agency and understanding the needs of the children and carers for whom she is responsible.

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This monitoring inspection

The agency is not able to demonstrate that the compliance notice under regulation 11 is met. The agency’s supervising social worker reported during the monitoring inspection that all children are making good progress and that there are no safeguarding concerns about the 18 children currently in placement. However, this could not be verified due to the files not being updated. Very little progress has been made in reviewing risk assessments, risk management plans and safe-caring plans. Those on case files have not been updated. This means that shortfalls identified at the last inspection in relation to managing risks have not been addressed. The agency cannot therefore demonstrate that it is promoting the safety and welfare of children at all times.

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This monitoring inspection

Details of foster carer supervision sessions that have taken place both before and since the last inspection are not held on case files. Handwritten notes of these meetings were not available for inspection. Consequently, the agency was unable to demonstrate that the agency’s supervising social worker and foster carers communicate effectively about risks to children’s safety. Nor can it demonstrate how it supports children to live and thrive in safe, stable placements where they are included in family life. The absence of foster care agreements on case files means that the agency cannot demonstrate that foster carers understand their safeguarding responsibilities. Inspection report for independent fostering agencies - monitoring: Resolution Fostering Service 3 The agency’s supervising social worker advised the inspectors, that no children have needed respite placements since the last inspection, and that no children have been

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This monitoring inspection

unhappy or unsafe in their placements. Inspectors could not verify this due to the lack of records in case files. While it is clear that shortfalls in safeguarding records remain, it has not been possible to reliably assess whether all the steps set out in relation to regulation 11 have been met.

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This monitoring inspection

The inspectors found that the compliance notice under regulation 30 was not met. There have been no foster carer assessments or reviews since the last inspection. The agency has not improved its panel arrangements. It has not yet recruited a panel chair, and the panel remains non-operational. The manager stated her intention to approach another agency so that applications and foster carer reviews can be presented to that agency’s panel. She could not provide a clear plan of how this will work in practice.

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This monitoring inspection

Foster carers’ case records still do not include a copy of the notice of approval or of the signed foster care agreement. While no panels have taken place since the last inspection, no action has been taken to ensure that minutes from previous panels are signed, or that a copy, including relevant recommendations, is held on individual foster carers’ case files. Without these records, the agency cannot demonstrate robust decision-making regarding the approval of foster carers, nor that foster carers have entered into an agreement with the agency regarding their role and responsibilities. This does not ensure that children are placed with carers who know about their responsibilities and are committed to meeting the agency’s expectations.

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This monitoring inspection

Ofsted will closely monitor the agency’s attention to the outstanding compliance issues and the three remaining compliance notices. This process will include a monitoring inspection to the agency. Agency action plans will be reviewed and checks made on any developments and the subsequent impact on fostered children and their foster carers. Inspection report for independent fostering agencies - monitoring: Resolution Fostering Service 4

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Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions that the registered person(s) must take to meet the Care Standards Act 2000, Fostering Services (England) Regulations 2011 and the national minimum standards. The registered person(s) must comply within the given timescales.

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Requirement Due date

The fostering service provider must provide a copy of the statement of purpose to the Chief Inspector and place a copy on their website (if they have one). The fostering service provider must ensure that the fostering service is at all times conducted in a manner which is consistent with its statement of purpose. (Regulation 3 (2) (5)) 11/02/2018

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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. (Regulation 4(a)(b)). 11/02/2018

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Requirement Due date

A person must not manage a fostering agency unless they are fit to do so. A person is not fit to manage a fostering agency unless that person, having regard to the size of the fostering agency, its statement of purpose, and the numbers and needs of the children placed by it, has the qualifications, skills and experience necessary for managing the fostering agency, and full and satisfactory information is available in relation to that person in respect of each of the matters specified in Schedule 1. (Regulation 7 (1) (2)(b)(i)(ii) (Schedule 1)). 11/02/2018

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Requirement Due date

The registered provider and the registered manager must, having regard to— (a)the size of the fostering agency, its statement of purpose, and the numbers and needs of the children placed by the fostering agency, and (b) 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. (2) The registered provider must ensure that— (b) where the registered provider is an organisation, the responsible individual, undertakes, from time to time, such training as is appropriate to ensure that they have the experience and skills necessary for carrying on the fostering agency. (3) The registered manager must undertake from time to 11/02/2018 Inspection report for independent fostering agencies - monitoring: Resolution Fostering Service 5 time such training as is appropriate to ensure that they have

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Requirement Due date

the experience and skills necessary for managing the fostering agency. (Regulation 8 (1) (a) (b) (2) (b) (3) ). The registered person in respect of an independent fostering agency must ensure that the welfare of children placed or to be placed with foster parents is safeguarded and promoted at all times. (Regulation 11(a)). 11/02/2018

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Requirement Due date

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(4)). 28/02/2018

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Requirement Due date

*The fostering service provider must not employ a person to work for the purposes of the fostering service unless that person is fit to do so. For the purposes of paragraph (1), a person is not fit to work for the purposes of a fostering service unless that person has the qualifications, skills and experience necessary for the work they are to perform, and full and satisfactory information is available in relation to that person in respect of each of the matters specified in Schedule 1. (Regulation 20 (1)(a) (3)(b) (Schedule 1)) 28/02/2018

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Requirement Due date

*The fostering service provider must ensure that all permanent appointments are subject to the satisfactory completion of a period of probation, and provide all employees with a job description outlining their responsibilities. The fostering service provider must ensure that all persons employed by them receive appropriate training, supervision and appraisal. (Regulation 21 (1)(a)(b) (4)(a)). 28/02/2018

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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). The documents referred to in paragraph (1) are any recommendations made by the fostering panel, the foster care agreement, and a record of each placement with the foster carer, including the name, age and sex of each child placed, the date on which the placement began and, if the placement has been terminated, the date and circumstances of the termination.(Regulation 30 (1) (2))(c)(d) (4)(a)) 11/02/2018

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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 registered person must provide the Chief Inspector with a written report in respect of any review conducted for the purposes of paragraph (1) and, on request, to any local authority. (Regulation 35 (1)(a)(b) (2)) 28/02/2018 Inspection report for independent fostering agencies - monitoring: Resolution Fostering Service 6 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.(Regulation 36 (1) (Schedule 7)) 28/02/2018

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Requirement Due date

*These requirements are subject to a compliance notice.

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Recommendations

 Ensure that the fostering service only suggests foster carers to local authorities as a potential match for a child if the foster carer can reasonably be expected to meet the child’s assessed needs and the impact of the placement on existing household members has been considered. Where gaps are identified, the fostering service should work with the responsible authority to ensure the placement plan sets out any additional training, resource or support required. (National Minimum Standard 15.1) In particular, recording matching considerations and decisions.  Ensure that staff, panel members and fostering households understand the nature of records maintained and follow the service’s policy for the keeping and retention of files, managing confidential information and access to files (including files removed from the premises). There is a system in place to monitor the quality and adequacy of record keeping and take action when

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Recommendations

needed. (National Minimum Standard 26.1) In particular, ensuring that all records are uploaded and stored on the agency’s recording system in a timely way.  Ensure that where there is an agency placement, the agency works with the responsible authority to ensure effective integration of information held in the agency’s case files and those of the responsible authority. (National Minimum Standard 26.8). In particular, obtaining children’s care and placement plans, review documentation and all relevant information held by the responsible authority.  Ensure that the placement plan, which forms part of the child’s care plan, is drawn up before the child is placed, or if this is not possible, within five days of the start of the placement (Regulation 9(2) of the 2010 Regulations). The foster carers should play an active role in agreeing the contents of the child’s placement plan and must have a copy of the child’s placement plan (standard

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Recommendations

31). An effective placement plan will ensure that the foster carer receives essential information about the child, including his/her health, education and emotional needs, how these may affect the child day to day, and appropriate strategies for responding to these needs. This will include information about any behaviour which was of a concern in a previous placement. (‘The Children Act 1989 Guidance and Regulations Volume 4: Fostering Services’, page 15, paragraph 3.7) Inspection report for independent fostering agencies - monitoring: Resolution Fostering Service 7

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Information about this inspection

The purpose of this visit was to monitor the action taken and the progress made by the independent fostering agency since its last Ofsted inspection.

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Information about this inspection

This inspection was carried out under the Care Standards Act 2000.

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Independent fostering agency details

Registered provider: Resolution Fostering Services Limited

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Independent fostering agency details

Registered provider address: 355 Wilmslow Road, Manchester M14 6XU

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Inspectors

Sharon Lloyd, social care inspector Marina Tully, social care inspector Inspection report for independent fostering agencies - monitoring: Resolution Fostering Service 8 to achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children’s social care, and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, further education and skills, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children’s services, and inspects services for looked after children, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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