Family Care

Inspection report for voluntary adoption agency – Family Care 1 Family Care Family Care 28 Magdala Road, Nottingham NG3 5DF Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this voluntary adoption agency

Family Care is a registered charity that provides a number of services to children and families, of which adoption is one. It is based in Nottingham but operates across the East Midlands area. The range of adoption services include: the preparation, assessment and approval of adoptive parents; pre- and post-order adoption support; birth records counselling; and intermediary services.

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Information about this voluntary adoption agency

During the year ending 31 March 2017, the agency approved 18 adoptive families and placed 25 children.

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good

How well children, young people and adults are helped and protected good

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good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers good

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good

The voluntary adoption agency provides effective services that meet the requirements for good.

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good

Date of previous inspection: 22 August 2014

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none

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Key findings from this inspection

This voluntary adoption agency is good because:

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Key findings from this inspection

 Everyone enquiring about adoption receives an informative and friendly welcome.  Relationships between adopters and their social workers are excellent. Social workers know the families very well and are very committed to providing a good quality of Inspection report for voluntary adoption agency – Family Care 2 service. This has a positive impact on matching and placement stability. As a result, children thrive, and they benefit from a secure and happy family life in which all their needs are met.  The agency is committed to providing adoptive families with life-long support. A range of services are available, including therapeutic support, social events and support groups. This helps adopters deal effectively with the challenges that adoptive parenting can bring.  Staff and managers have a good understanding of their roles and responsibilities in relation to keeping children safe from harm. They work well in partnership with other

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Key findings from this inspection

agencies, share information and cooperate with any plans.  Staff are knowledgeable, experienced and skilled in all aspects of adoption practice. They are well trained and regularly supervised. The agency is committed to staff development to ensure that the skill base of the staff remains effective.  There is a culture of learning and improvement that underpins the work of the agency. Leaders and managers are very committed to ensuring that the agency‟s work is of a high standard.  Leaders and managers are fully and actively involved with other regional adoption agencies. This collaborative approach keeps children at the heart of service provision.

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Key findings from this inspection

The voluntary adoption agency‟s areas for development:

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Key findings from this inspection

 The agency should ensure that its decision-making processes are robust by consolidating the learning from a previous error. This includes only using the designated agency decision-maker, making the qualifying determination within the timescales, and ensuring that the applicants are aware of their rights.  Children‟s participation is an area for further improvement to ensure that they can have a say in the development of the agency‟s services.  Adopter assessments would be made more robust if a second-opinion visit was carried out when there are queries or concerns about an adopter‟s application.  Files need further improvement to ensure that information is available in one place, and that accountability is assured through signing and dating records and reports. Inspection report for voluntary adoption agency – Family Care 3

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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, the Voluntary Adoption Agencies and the Adoption Agencies (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2003, the Adoption Agencies Regulations 2005 or any other relevant legislation, and the national minimum standards. The registered person(s) must comply within the given timescales.

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Requirement Due date

Where the adoption agency considers that the prospective adopter is not suitable to adopt a child, it must: (a) notify the prospective adopter in writing that it proposes not to approve the prospective adopter as suitable to adopt a child (“qualifying determination”). (The adoption agencies (miscellaneous amendments) regulations 2013, regulation 30B (5)(a)) 27/04/2018

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Recommendations

 Consider a second person to visit the prospective adopter to discuss concerns or seek clarification. (Statutory guidance on adoption, page 40, paragraph 2.53)

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Recommendations

 The agency decision-maker may not delegate their authority to another person. (Statutory guidance on adoption, page 96, paragraph 8.30)

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Recommendations

 The agency decision maker must make decisions on the suitability of prospective adopters within seven working days of receipt of the recommendation and final set of minutes of the adoption panel. (Statutory guidance on adoption, page 97, paragraph 8.32)

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Recommendations

 The wishes, feelings and views of children are taken into account by the adoption agency in monitoring and developing its service. (Adoption: national minimum standards 1.6)

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Recommendations

 Entries in records, decisions and reasons are legible, clearly expressed, non- stigmatising, distinguish between fact, opinion and third party information and are signed and dated. (Adoption: national minimum standards 27.4) Inspection report for voluntary adoption agency – Family Care 4

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Overall experiences and progress of service users: good

Enquirers receive a very warm welcome when they first contact this agency. They describe it as „friendly and informative‟. One applicant said: „I‟ve had a fantastic experience. I met an adopter, I met social workers, and they answered my questions. I was made to feel at ease, it‟s been brilliant.‟ The agency holds regular information sessions at a variety of locations. Enquirers have the opportunity to ask questions and hear from an adoptive parent in person. This enables them to make an informed decision about whether to pursue adoption, and whether this agency is the right one for them.

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Overall experiences and progress of service users: good

The agency completes the preparation, assessment and approval of adopters in a timely way. The quality of the preparation training is good. Training in both stage one and stage two provides adopters with a wealth of information about the impact of children‟s early life experiences on behaviour, therapeutic parenting and contact. This provides prospective adopters with a realistic understanding of the task of adoptive parenting. Adopters have commented that they initially did not see its relevance, but now they have children they are using the techniques and strategies from their training on a very regular basis.

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Overall experiences and progress of service users: good

The agency has strengthened its application process recently by the addition of a meeting between the prospective adopters and the manager at the end of stage one. This is in response to a small number of assessments that, with reflection, should not have been accepted into stage two. Most adopter assessments are either good or excellent in their analysis. To ensure consistency across the board, this will be the subject for discussion at the next practice workshop. When there have been concerns or queries about assessments, the agency has not undertaken a second-opinion visit. This is a useful way of exploring concerns and should be considered in the future.

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Overall experiences and progress of service users: good

Adoption social workers know their adoptive families well, and the relationships between the adopters and their social workers are excellent. This has a positive impact at all stages because adopters feel they can trust their social worker, and they know that they are available to support them. Adopters are well supported by their social worker during the matching process. Social workers are tenacious in following up missing information, helping adopters give full consideration to what they read about the child and supporting them in meetings with other professionals. Good matching is a significant factor in ensuring that children are only placed with families who can meet their assessed needs. As a result, placement stability is good. Only three children, two of whom were placed together, have had disruptions to their placements in the last 10 years.

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Overall experiences and progress of service users: good

Children make good progress and experience a happy, settled family life as a result of being placed with this agency‟s adoptive families. Many children are deemed harder to place by virtue of their age, ethnicity, disability or being part of a sibling group. Despite a disadvantaged early life, they settle, start to form attachments and make progress. For some, the steps are small, but they are significant. One child‟s social worker said: „I am astounded. The child is doing remarkably well.‟ An adopter commented: „They are coming on in leaps and bounds. They are comfortable and happy.‟ Inspection report for voluntary adoption agency – Family Care 5 Children‟s health improves because adopters make sure that they access the right services for them. Children‟s emotional well-being is addressed very well through the psychological input that is available through the agency. Adopters are supported by the agency‟s social

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Overall experiences and progress of service users: good

workers to meet children‟s educational needs. This includes offering training to schools on attachment issues as well as support at meetings. Children‟s identity needs are addressed well because adopters have a good understanding of the importance of sharing the child‟s history with the child, and facilitating indirect contact arrangements.

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Overall experiences and progress of service users: good

Placement stability is also promoted by the strong emphasis on support to adoptive families at every stage of their lives. Adoption support is a real strength of this agency. It includes support groups, access to therapy, training and social events. The agency promises life-long support and it delivers on this promise. This has a positive impact on children‟s outcomes. For example, one child can now spend most of his time in a classroom setting when he was previously educated alone. Children also learn to manage their emotions better and are able to self-regulate. Consequently their relationships with their adoptive families improve. One adopter said: „I could not have managed without them. When I needed them they were there and the support was brilliant.‟ One adopter commented: „My adoption worker is so knowledgeable, understanding and empathic, and was available whenever I needed support. I cannot praise either the agency or my

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Overall experiences and progress of service users: good

individual worker enough. I feel I owe them so much.‟ Other comments include: „Without the adoption agency I don‟t think our family would have made it through‟; and, „This agency are amazing. Our social worker went above and beyond for us.‟

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Overall experiences and progress of service users: good

The positive relationships result in adopters keeping in contact with the agency and wanting to give something back, through being involved in training or participation in forums. The agency involves adopters in shaping its work. For example, it has recently obtained grant funding for more support activities and wants to know how adopters wish to use that funding. It has also obtained funding for children‟s participation. This area is still at an early stage of development and would benefit from a more structured approach to seeking children‟s wishes and feelings in order to improve the service.

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Overall experiences and progress of service users: good

The agency works with adults who have a historic connection with Family Care when it had sole responsibility for placing children for adoption. The work is of a good quality, and the feedback is generally positive, with service users describing the service as „helpful, professional and friendly‟. The occasional delays in the service provision are being addressed by the manager by increasing the number of social workers available to undertake this work.

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How well children, young people and adults are helped and protected: good

Safeguarding children and adults has a high priority in this agency. All prospective adopters receive a letter from the agency that outlines the expectations in relation to safeguarding concerns and behaviour management. This ensures that prospective adopters are fully aware of everyone‟s responsibilities, as well as the importance that the agency places on keeping children safe.

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How well children, young people and adults are helped and protected: good

The preparation of prospective adopters has a strong focus on the impact of early trauma on children‟s attachments and behaviour. This helps adopters understand that they need Inspection report for voluntary adoption agency – Family Care 6 to parent in a therapeutic way. The agency has recognised the importance of therapeutic parenting, and has commissioned both additional training for staff in dyadic developmental psychotherapy and a specialist three-day therapeutic training course for prospective adopters. This is in acknowledgement of the significant challenges that adoptive parenting bring.

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How well children, young people and adults are helped and protected: good

The emphasis on therapeutic parenting continues throughout the matching process and once children are placed with their adoptive family. Staff are trained in an approved therapeutic technique and they use that approach when working with the families. Both pre- and post–order support is focused on helping adopters understand why children behave as they do, and the best strategies to use to manage this effectively. Additional workshops and resources ensure that adopters are aware of the risks from sexual exploitation, radicalisation and social media, and learn how to identify and manage these risks as safely as possible.

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How well children, young people and adults are helped and protected: good

Social workers and managers have a good understanding of their roles and responsibilities in safeguarding children and adults. They keep their knowledge base up to date through training and briefings. Separate safeguarding logs ensure that all the information relating to a specific incident is kept in one place for ease of access and monitoring. This facilitates managerial oversight. The safeguarding policy and procedures have been updated recently to include risks from radicalisation and female genital mutilation. This ensures that staff have up-to-date information about how to respond to these issues.

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How well children, young people and adults are helped and protected: good

When there are any safeguarding concerns, the agency uses the signs of safety model to assess the risk. This provides a consistent structure to inform the analysis of concerns and protective factors, and how to minimise and manage risk. There is evidence of good partnership working with other safeguarding agencies, such as children‟s services and the police. The agency‟s social workers attend meetings, share information promptly and cooperate fully with any plan of action.

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How well children, young people and adults are helped and protected: good

The agency has strengthened its recruitment practices since the last inspection. Those responsible for staff recruitment have undertaken safer recruitment training. They have a better understanding of the need to seek information from any employer when the applicant has worked with children or vulnerable adults. This ensures that, as far as possible, staff and volunteers who have access to children or vulnerable adults are suitable and safe to do so.

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How well children, young people and adults are helped and protected: good

A further development since the last inspection is a clear process for assessing risks when offering an intermediary service. There is now a structure to demonstrate that there has been an analysis of whether or not it is safe to proceed with the service, taking into account the welfare needs of all parties.

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The effectiveness of leaders and manager: good

The agency has experienced a number of changes in leaders and managers since the last inspection. This has had some impact on staff morale, although not on the quality of the service. This situation has now been addressed through the appointment of a permanent chief executive, a head of operations and a new chair of trustees. The agency‟s adoption Inspection report for voluntary adoption agency – Family Care 7 manager is experienced, knowledgeable and appropriately qualified. Staff feel well supported by her, and they appreciate that she has provided consistent and effective management throughout a time of change.

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The effectiveness of leaders and manager: good

The governance arrangements are strong but need time to embed fully. The board of trustees has strengthened its operation and monitoring arrangements. Communication with the staff team has improved, and new trustees have been appointed who offer a wide range of relevant experience to enable them to perform their functions effectively. There are improved reporting arrangements, including a new sub-committee whose remit is to consider quality and performance. The trustees are monitoring the financial arrangements closely, and there is a detailed sustainability plan to ensure that the agency remains viable. There is an accurate understanding at all levels of management about what the agency does well and where it needs to improve. It has demonstrated that it is a learning organisation and it has already implemented a number of changes to tighten up its systems and processes.

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The effectiveness of leaders and manager: good

The staff are committed and passionate about providing a good service to the families and children. They have maintained this enthusiasm despite the changes in the leadership arrangements. They are knowledgeable, experienced and competent, and they benefit from regular, reflective supervision, access to training and practice workshops. One member of staff was a finalist in the adoption social worker of the year award.

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The effectiveness of leaders and manager: good

The agency is inclusive. It welcomes enquiries from everyone, regardless of sexual orientation, marital status, age or ethnicity. It recently supported a media campaign to raise awareness of adoption in the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community, for example, and during LGBT week, its web-based logo and information was changed to highlight this. The agency also runs specific information sessions for LGBT enquirers, although they are, of course, welcome to attend any. It is a member of New Family Social, the UK network for LGBT adoptive and foster families.

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The effectiveness of leaders and manager: good

Partnership working is good. The agency is an active participant in the wider adoption community. For example, it contributes fully to the regional adoption agency (RAA) meetings. The agency has also been a member of a nationwide specialist matching project, which demonstrates the agency‟s commitment to improving outcomes for children. One of the consequences of this was highlighting the importance of specialist therapeutic training for adopters, which the agency is in the process of implementing.

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The effectiveness of leaders and manager: good

The designated home finder has frequent contact with the RAAs to share information about children and families in order to make prompt and effective matches. This works very well, and at times children are identified as potential matches for an adoptive family at a very early stage. This also ensures that the agency is fully aware of the needs of the local authorities in its region and can target its recruitment accordingly. A recently appointed publicity and family recruitment officer is developing the agency‟s recruitment initiatives, including the improvement of the agency‟s website.

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The effectiveness of leaders and manager: good

Local authority social workers speak highly about the professionalism and knowledge of the adoption social workers and say that communication is good. The good relationships Inspection report for voluntary adoption agency – Family Care 8 forged between individual professionals does not prevent them from raising appropriate challenge at times, for example when life story work is not completed in a timely way or if the local authority has not completed actions or shared information.

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The effectiveness of leaders and manager: good

The statement of purpose is available on the website; therefore anyone interested in knowing about the adoption agency can have easy access to this information. The children‟s guide is in the process of being developed further so that it is more appropriate for a range of children‟s ages and needs.

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The effectiveness of leaders and manager: good

The agency is currently operating with two systems for recording. This has an impact on the accessibility of information and means some case records are incomplete. Not all records are signed and dated. As a result, accountability is limited.

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The effectiveness of leaders and manager: good

The adoption panel processes have been strengthened by the addition of a designated panel adviser who brings independence to the role. She has updated the policies and procedures to make them clearer, and introduced formats for the meeting and the minutes. The adoption panel is chaired by a very experienced and knowledgeable panel chairperson. The panel members bring a variety of experiences, both personal and professional, to the role, and they take their responsibilities seriously. Adopters have described their experiences at panel as „daunting but welcoming‟. One adopter said: „They were lovely.‟ The panel is administered well, and the minutes provide an accurate reflection of the meeting to enable the decision-maker to make an informed decision. The decision-maker is appropriately qualified and experienced and brings a wealth of knowledge to the role. With the one exception detailed below, decision making is timely

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The effectiveness of leaders and manager: good

and well considered. This supports the approval of adopters who can meet the needs of children in a safe and therapeutic way.

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The effectiveness of leaders and manager: good

On one occasion during the planned absence of the agency decision-maker, the decision- making process was flawed. The agency delegated this responsibility to another person. This is not permissible. Moreover, a decision about the suitability of the applicants was not made within the seven-day timescale, and the applicants did not receive a written qualifying determination. This prevented them from accessing the independent review mechanism, and thereby having an opportunity for their case to be reviewed by an independent panel. The agency has taken robust action to prevent such a situation occurring in the future. It is in the process of appointing an additional agency decision- maker, and it has clarified the process. Therefore, although a requirement and two recommendations have been made as a result of this shortfall, it has not had a negative impact on the overall judgement.

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Information about this inspection

Inspectors have looked closely at the experiences and progress of children, young people and adults. Inspectors considered the quality of work and the difference made to the lives of children, young people and adults. They watched how professional staff work with children, young people, adults and each other and discussed the effectiveness of help and care provided. Wherever possible, they talked to children, young people and their families, and adult service users. In addition, the inspectors have tried to understand what the voluntary adoption agency knows about how well it is performing, Inspection report for voluntary adoption agency – Family Care 9 how well it is doing and what difference it is making for the children, young people and adults who it is trying to help, protect and look after.

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Information about this inspection

Using the „Social care common inspection framework‟, this inspection was carried out under the Care Standards Act 2000 to assess the effectiveness of the service, how it meets the core functions of the service as set out in legislation, and to consider how well it complies with the Voluntary Adoption Agencies and the Adoption Agencies (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2003, the Adoption Agencies Regulations 2005, any other relevant legislation, and the national minimum standards. Inspection report for voluntary adoption agency – Family Care 10

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Voluntary adoption agency details

Registered provider address: 28 Magdala Road, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire NG3 5DF

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Voluntary adoption agency details

Responsible individual: Elene Constantinou

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Voluntary adoption agency details

Email address: elene.constantinou@familycare-nottingham.org.uk

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Inspector

Ros Chapman, social care inspector Inspection report for voluntary adoption agency – Family Care 11 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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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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