Break Fostering Service

Inspection report for independent fostering agency: Break Fostering Service 1 Break Fostering Service Break Schofield House, Spar Road, Norwich, Norfolk NR6 6BX Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this independent fostering agency

The Break Fostering Service is run by a charitable organisation. The fostering agency provides therapeutic foster placements to children and young people aged between seven and 18, as well as parent and child placements. The agency provides long- term placements, some with built-in respite care. The agency has eight sets of carers, who are providing care for seven children.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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good

How well children and young people are helped and protected good

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good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers requires improvement to be good

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good

The independent fostering agency provides effective services that meet the requirements for good.

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for independent fostering agency: Break Fostering Service 2

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Key findings from this inspection

This independent fostering agency is good because:

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Key findings from this inspection

 Most of the children at this agency have long-term, stable placements with foster carers who know them well and care about them.  The children make very good progress during their time with the agency.  The agency uses respite care in a positive way for the children. The children are involved in decisions about their respite care.  The children make good progress in their education. Their carers advocate to help the children get the services that they need.  The agency and the foster carers work effectively with other agencies to meet the children’s needs. When necessary, the agency challenges other professionals to help make sure that the children’s needs are met well.  The children take part in a range of activities, and learn how to take age- appropriate risks.  The agency and foster carers have a clear focus on children and want them to do well.  The agency gives careful consideration to the matching of children and foster

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Key findings from this inspection

homes. This helps to make sure that placements are successful.  The children can stay with their foster carers after they become 18. The foster carers keep in touch with the children after placements end.  There is good inter-agency working and responses from foster carers to help keep the children safe.  The children have strong relationships with their foster carers.  The foster carers feel well supported by the agency.  The foster carers have access to a wide range of training.

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Key findings from this inspection

The independent fostering agency’s areas for development:

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Key findings from this inspection

 The information for the children about making a complaint is not fully clear. It is only given to them at the beginning of their placements, so some of them do not know how to make a complaint.  Some of the children’s risk assessments are out of date and so do not contain relevant information.  In a few cases, the annual foster carers’ reviews have not included an annual unannounced visit to the foster home, and the health and safety checks have not been reviewed.  There have been some significant shortfalls in the service. Although the managers have undertaken a thorough review and are implementing an action plan to address these shortfalls, the work is not yet complete in all areas. Inspection report for independent fostering agency: Break Fostering Service 3  There is not yet a strong and comprehensive enough monitoring system in place. Some shortfalls identified at the previous inspection have not been dealt with; for

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Key findings from this inspection

example, children are not encouraged to read and be involved in writing or correcting their records.  Not all of the foster carers have undertaken the Training, Support and Development Standards within 12 months of approval.  The agency decision-maker keeps records of her decisions about the suitability of foster carers, but these do not provide full information on how she reached the decision, what information she took into account or the main arguments in reaching her decision. Inspection report for independent fostering agency: Break 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 registered person must maintain a system for 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(3))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, this relates to ensuring that relevant matters are addressed in the review and that the review is informed by the views of the main stakeholders. 30/11/2018

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Recommendations

 Ensure that the service implements a proportionate approach to any risk assessment. (National Minimum Standards 4.5) In particular, ensure that all risk assessments for children are reviewed regularly to make certain that they remain relevant.  Ensure that the foster home is inspected annually, without appointment, by the fostering service to make sure that it continues to meet the needs of foster children. (National Minimum Standards 10.5).  Ensure that the reviews of foster carers’ approval are sufficiently thorough to allow the fostering service to properly satisfy itself about their carers’ ongoing suitability to foster. (National Minimum Standards 13.8) In particular, ensure that reviews contain all of the relevant information and include the views of relevant people.  Ensure that foster carers are able to evidence that the Training, Support and Development Standards have been attained within 12 months of approval.

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Recommendations

(National Minimum Standards 20.3)  Ensure that there are clear and effective procedures for monitoring and controlling the activities of the service. (National Minimum Standards 25.1)  Ensure that children are actively encouraged to read their files, other than necessarily confidential or third party information, and to correct errors and add personal statements. (National Minimum Standards 26.6)  Ensure that children in foster care know about the complaints and representations Inspection report for independent fostering agency: Break Fostering Service 5 policy and how to use it. (‘The Children Act 1989 Guidance and Regulations Volume 4: Fostering Services’, paragraph 3.42)  Ensure that in reaching a decision or making a qualifying determination, the decision maker should consider Hofstetter v LB Barnet and IRM [2009] EWCA 328 [Admin], in which the court set out guidance for the way in which an adoption

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Recommendations

agency decision maker should approach a case, whether it is a decision based on the agency panel’s recommendation or the independent review panel’s recommendation. This applies equally to fostering decision makers. (‘The Children Act 1989 Guidance and Regulations Volume 4: Fostering Services’, paragraph 5.40) Inspection report for independent fostering agency: Break Fostering Service 6

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Most of the children at this agency have long-term, stable placements with foster carers who know them well and care about them. This helps the children to build good and trusting relationships with their foster carers. Even the children whose placements are not so long are able to build good relationships with their carers; these relationships can last after the child has left the home. These relationships result in the children making very good progress during their time with the agency. In his feedback for a foster carers’ annual review, one child said:

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

I haven’t got a bad word to say about [the carers]. Sort of people I can talk to. They excel at everything. They take us out and make sure we enjoy ourselves. If they have to correct me, if I am doing something wrong, they point it out to me and explain [not like with my own family]. I would like to stay.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Respite care is provided in some cases to help meet the needs of the children. The children are enabled to be involved in decisions about their respite care and to continue relationships with their respite foster carers after they stop staying with them. As the respite care is provided in-house and the agency is small, with carers knowing each other, this has the feel of an extended family. Consequently, the use of respite care is something positive for the children.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

All of the children are in full-time or further education. Some have made very good educational achievements, such as doing well in their exams, going to further education and having clear plans to go to university. The foster carers support the children in their education and want them to do well. When necessary, the foster carers will advocate for the children to help make sure that the children get the education provision that they need. One child featured on the front page of the local authority newsletter. In the article, he said:

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Since coming to live with [the carers] I’m much more settled. They help me get the best out of life. I used to get angry and act impulsively, and that sometimes got me into bother at school. But now I’m calmer and more able to judge situations. My carers give me lots of support and encouragement with my studies, and my ambition is to go to university.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

This child has made exceptional progress; he has learned to manage his behaviour and understand the impact that it has on how people treat him.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The foster carers work effectively with other agencies to meet the children’s health needs. This work includes specific health needs such as substance misuse and mental health. The foster carers are aware of the importance of addressing health needs so that the children are not limited by them and can take part in a wide range of activities. Some children have done very well at sport; others have had chances to travel. One child had the experience of horse riding in Africa. His carer said that he Inspection report for independent fostering agency: Break Fostering Service 7 [the carer] was ‘terrified’ but the child had shown them that he could do it. Another carer spoke about a child travelling on his own in another country from a skiing holiday to watch a football match with his father. This approach of letting children take age-appropriate risks helps them to develop their understanding of keeping

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The agency usually gathers the views of the children about their carers as part of the carers’ annual reviews. Other than this, there are limited formal processes to seek children’s views. However, this is a small agency with a clear focus on children and what they say, so their views are heard and acted on. In this way, children can be involved in decisions about their everyday lives and their plans for the future. The children do get information in the children’s guides about how to make a complaint. However, this is not as clear as it could be in identifying people to whom the children can make complaints. Also, as these are given to children when they move into the homes, and as they have long placements, the information can become lost and out of date. Some children do not know how to make complaints, but the small and listening nature of the agency helps to reduce the impact of this to a degree.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Managers give careful consideration to the matching of children and foster homes. This contributes to the success of placements. The agency and foster carers use detailed plans for children to meet carers and move into the homes. This helps to make the process easier for the children. Some children can stay with their foster carers after they become 18. This gives them the security and stability to ensure that they are fully ready to live independently and, in some cases, to complete further education. One child’s placement broke down, despite attempts by the foster carers, the agency and other services to keep it going. The child has moved on, yet the foster carers have kept in touch with him and are going to take him for a day out in London. This continued involvement in children’s lives helps them to feel valued and to make sense of their past experiences.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The agency supports the foster carers to help them to provide stable placements in which the children can flourish. However, the assessment of a set of prospective foster carers in 2017 lacked essential information. This was not identified before the day of the foster panel, so the prospective foster carers attended the fostering panel only to find that their assessment would need further work. This, along with a slow response by agency staff once they were finally approved, led to the foster carers considering moving to a different agency. Members of the foster panel and managers at the agency have recognised the shortfalls, and there are now processes in place to identify issues with assessments well in advance. Furthermore, once the senior managers became aware of the poor response to the carers, they made sure that this was addressed. Consequently, the carers have their first placement now and are feeling part of the agency.

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

The agency and the foster carers respond strongly to reduce the risks of harm to the children, and so the children become increasingly safe. There is good inter-agency working. The agency identifies any resources needed by foster carers to help them keep children safe. For example, some carers have had ligature training, and the Inspection report for independent fostering agency: Break Fostering Service 8 agency arranged for a health and safety inspection of the carer’s house to identify ligature risks. However, some of the risk assessments to help foster carers in this process are out of date and so lack relevant information. This has been the result of poor management oversight and has the potential for issues to be missed or not dealt with as thoroughly as possible. New managers are putting structures in place to improve their oversight of such issues.

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

When children go missing, carers do all that they can to try and find them and work with police and other agencies to help protect the children. The foster carers and agency staff have training and are provided with information to help them identify and make appropriate referrals about safeguarding concerns. They say that they are confident in doing this. The agency has worked effectively with the designated officer to ensure that concerns have been properly investigated.

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

The agency trains the foster carers in de-escalation and behaviour management techniques so that they can help the children to manage their behaviour. In the past, some foster carers have had training in physical intervention, and had to hold a child on a regular basis. The carers recorded the incidents and discussed them with the agency so that they could reflect on them. The child concerned has been with the foster carers for several years, and over the last two to three years they have not had to use a physical intervention. This shows how effective the foster placement and the work with this child have been in helping him to feel more secure and to manage his behaviour.

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

The children can speak to their foster carers about their concerns, and they have strong relationships with them. These factors help to protect the children as they are more likely to be able to raise any concerns that they have. The carers have clear guidance on how to ensure that the children use the internet safely.

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

The agency reviews the suitability of foster carers to remain approved annually. In a few cases, the review has not included an annual unannounced visit to the foster home and the health and safety checks have not been reviewed. In such cases, this can limit the effectiveness of the reviews. There has been a gradual improvement in these reviews over the last six months, but they are not yet all as good as they need to be. Overall, there have been some shortfalls in helping and protecting children, but the agency is making significant progress in addressing them. The caring and child-centred nature of foster carers and agency staff has helped to protect children during this time.

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good

The agency has undergone a significant change in staff over the last six months. The registered manager and one (of the two) supervising social workers left in January 2017; the other supervising social worker is currently absent. These changes followed a period of poor monitoring and performance in some areas. The agency put interim arrangements in place for the management and staffing of the service. These arrangements have been effective and the focus on the children has been consistently good. A new manager and a new supervising social worker have Inspection report for independent fostering agency: Break Fostering Service 9 been appointed and took up their posts in April 2018. The manager is in the process of completing an application to Ofsted to become registered. The interim staff and the new permanent staff have had good inductions to enable them to carry out their roles well. This has been a difficult time for the agency, and the work needed to get

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good

The organisation was aware of some concerns, but did not identify the shortfalls as quickly as it could have. However, since the extent of the shortfalls became clear, there has been a strong response to address them. Managers want to put things right and maintain high levels of care for the children. They carried out a thorough review in January 2018. This led to an action plan that they are reviewing regularly and making progress towards completing. However, managers have not yet fully addressed a number of areas, so there are still some shortfalls. Managers know about several of these and are aware that they need to deal with them. Although oversight of the service has improved, there is not yet a strong and comprehensive enough monitoring system in place. Some shortfalls identified at the previous inspection have not been dealt with. For example, monitoring was raised as a shortfall, as was the failure to encourage the children to read their records and be

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good

involved in them when this was appropriate. Both of these recommendations are repeated.

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good

The new manager has undertaken a review of the quality of care, but this has not included some significant areas, and the views of children, their foster carers and placing authorities have not directly informed the review. It has been an achievement for the new manager to undertake the review in her short time in post. However, because of the lacking information, it is not as helpful in identifying ways to improve as it could be.

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good

The foster carers feel well supported by the agency. They said that while there have been changes and at times uncertainty, things are getting back on track. They felt listened to throughout the period and said that the agency has been responsive to them. The carers value the support from the agency and said that it is what allows them to do the good work that they do with the children. There have been some issues relating to foster carer supervisions and staff appraisals, but these have improved in the last six months.

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good

The foster carers have access to a wide range of training, and when they have needed specific training to help them meet a child’s particular needs, the agency has provided it. Most, but not all foster carers have completed the Training, Support and Development Standards within 12 months of approval.

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good

Although the agency has a small number of foster carers, the group represents some of the areas of diversity found in the wider local community. Managers want to increase this diversity in the group and also to increase the diversity of their foster panel. This can be a challenge because of the area in which the agency operates, but the agency is keen to address it. The assessments of foster carers cover areas of equality and diversity clearly. This helps to ensure that the foster carers are able to meet the needs of individual children who live with them. Inspection report for independent fostering agency: Break Fostering Service 10 The agency decision-maker keeps records of her decisions about the suitability of foster carers, but these records do not provide full information on how she reached the decision, what information she took into account or the main arguments in reaching her decision. This does not show that a full and considered decision has

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good

been made and does not provide information that may be needed in the future to help children or others understand why decisions were made.

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Information about this inspection

Inspectors have looked closely at the experiences and progress of children and young people. Inspectors considered the quality of work and the differences made to the lives of children and young people. They watched how professional staff work with children and young people and each other and discussed the effectiveness of help and care provided. Wherever possible, they talked to children and young people and their families. In addition, the inspectors have tried to understand what the independent fostering agency knows about how well it is performing, how well it is doing and what difference it is making for the children and young people whom 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 Fostering Services (England) Regulations 2011 and the national minimum standards. Inspection report for independent fostering agency: Break Fostering Service 11

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Independent fostering agency details

Registered provider address: Break, Spar Road, Norwich NR6 6BX

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Inspectors

Clive Lucas, social care inspector Deirdra Keating, social care inspector Inspection report for independent fostering agency: Break Fostering Service 12 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 children looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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