Lambeth LA Private Fostering Arrangements

Lambeth LA Private Fostering Arrangements Inspection report for private fostering arrangements

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SC073498 Unique reference number 8 August 2008 Inspection date Rossella Volpi Inspector Key Type of Inspection

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London Borough of Lambeth Address International House 6 Canterbury Crescent LONDON SW9 7QE 020 79268543 Telephone number

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Email

London Borough of Lambeth Registered person Christopher Sandercombe Registered manager Mike Benaim Responsible individual

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Date of last inspection

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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Date of last inspection

You can obtain copies of The Children Act 2004, Every Child Matters and The National Minimum Standards for Children's Services from: The Stationery Office (TSO) PO Box 29, St Cripins, Duke Street, Norwich, NR3 1GN. Tel: 0870 600 5522. Online ordering: www.tso.co.uk/bookshop

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About this inspection

The purpose of this inspection is to assure children and young people, parents, the public, local authorities and government of the quality and standard of the service provided. The inspection was carried out under the Care Standards Act 2000. This report details the main strengths and any areas for improvement identified during the inspection. The judgements included in the report are made in relation to the outcome for children set out in the Children Act 2004 and relevant National Minimum Standards for the establishment.

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The inspection judgements and what they mean

this aspect of the provision is of exceptionally high quality Outstanding: this aspect of the provision is strong Good: this aspect of the provision is sound Satisfactory: this aspect of the provision is not good enough Inadequate: 3 of 8 Inspection Report: Lambeth LA Private Fostering Arrangements, 8 August 2008

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Brief description of the service

In Lambeth, the responsibility for identifying, responding to and monitoring private fostering arrangements lies with the social care division of the children and young people’s services. The day-to-day work is conducted by a specialist private fostering team, located within the referral and assessment department. The team consists of three social workers, two managers and one development worker; the main activities are casework and awareness raising. The team is accountable to the head of service and to the assistant director for assessment and family support.

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Summary

This was a key, announced inspection, conducted over four days. Lambeth endeavours to meet its responsibilities to privately fostered children. A specialist team has now been created, with clear lines of accountability to the day-to day and more senior managers, in recognition that the task involves much strategic planning and development work. The authority responds promptly to notifications and assesses the suitability of the arrangements. Children’s views are sought and taken into account. Carers and parents receive advice and support. Promotion of awareness of private fostering has periodically taken place. The number of notifications received, overall, has remained lower that the authority expected. However, it is now rapidly increasing, although response from some sectors of the community is still minimal. There is effective managerial monitoring of the impact of the different initiatives taken.

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Summary

The overall quality rating is good. This is an overview of what the inspector found during the inspection.

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Improvements since the last inspection

This is not applicable. This is the first inspection conducted under the National Minimum Standards for private fostering and the children (private arrangements for fostering) regulations 2005.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

The provision is good. Overall, children living in private fostering arrangements, in Lambeth, benefit from a service that recognises their particular vulnerabilities and that endeavours to conduct sound assessments. The authority responds promptly to new notifications and is now adequately resourced to carry out both initial and core assessments timely, thus ensuring that no child is knowingly left in an arrangement that is not suitable. When notifications are received, Lambeth determines whether children are safeguarded and any child protection matter identified is prioritised. For example, all children known to be in a private fostering arrangement have an allocated qualified social worker who visits regularly, speaks to the child and ascertains the child’s views. Emphasis is put in ensuring that health and education needs are met, that children know how to raise concerns and generally that the arrangements are safe and suitable. Children

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

confirmed this directly and spoke well of their social workers. They said that they are treated with respect, that they are asked pertinent questions, that what they say is taken seriously and 4 of 8 Inspection Report: Lambeth LA Private Fostering Arrangements, 8 August 2008 that they feel able to raise concerns. This shows that trusting relationships are being established. The Lambeth Safeguarding Children Board is clear about its role in overseeing how the various agencies collaborate to protect privately fostered children. Carers and parents receive information and support, including advice on matters such as housing, finance, immigration or personal issues. Limited financial assistance might be offered to carers; usually this would be a one-off payment to buy items such as a bed or clothing for the child. Carers are clear of the reasons why, for example, police checks on them and all adult members of their households are made;

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

why health and safety checks of their homes are conducted; or why parents are always contacted, when possible. Carers are also clear that they are expected to facilitate parental contact with the children. Overall carers are satisfied with the support they have received from the individual social workers. However, the distress caused by frequent staff changes, when traumatic experiences have to be repeated again and again to new workers, was an issue raised. The service acknowledges this and has taken recent steps both to enable more stability of workers in individual cases and also to enable better monitoring that the service is conducted consistently with statutory time-scales. In particular, a dedicated specialist private fostering team has now been established; the authority is committed to ensure that it is appropriately resourced, so that it can respond to the projected increase in notifications expected in the next 12 months.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

There are also borough wide initiatives regarding staff retention, which are starting to be effective. The authority appreciates that, in most cases, lack of notifications from carers would be due to ignorance or anxiety. The authority has a deep understanding of cultural diversity, of differing life-styles and of the effects of poverty, that are live issues for the borough. Senior management expects induction and training for staff and other professionals to emphasise that carers need to be informed, counselled and encouraged to come forward. However, the authority has in place procedures for handling disqualifications and for prosecutions or prohibitions, should there be concern about the motives of the carers or the welfare of the child. Lambeth has developed various strategies to increase awareness of private fostering legislation and guidance. For example, it has published a range of material and specific leaflets, in the main

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

five local community languages, for children, private foster carers, parents and professionals. The materials are regularly updated and are widely distributed, for example, to schools, health centres, libraries, or early-years settings. This enables the main groups, to whom Lambeth is targeting the awareness campaign, to access information that addresses their particular responsibilities or rights. However, there is no leaflet specifically for younger children. There are no clear details, provided to privately fostered 17 years old young people with disabilities, of the authority's procedure for assessing eligibility for adult community care services. There are strong links with education and health, as partners in such campaigns, both to raise awareness and to monitor that professionals act consistently with their duty to notify the authority of any arrangement that comes to their attention. Local community and faith based groups have

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

been contacted and visited; there are plans to continue this throughout the year. The number of notifications received has been lower that the authority expected. Those received from professionals are now increasing, following from renewed publicity campaigns. However, notifications from the wider community remain low and response from some sectors continues to be minimal. This is being scrutinised by management, as part of their review, to inform the next steps they intend to take, so as to reach those groups with whom the authority has not yet been successful in significantly connecting.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

The provision is not judged. 5 of 8 Inspection Report: Lambeth LA Private Fostering Arrangements, 8 August 2008

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Organisation

The organisation is good. There is clarity about what the authority provides as this is described in a Statement of Purpose, which sets out the duties and standards governing the service. Other key documentation is in place and it has been recently updated. Managers monitor that the service is conducted consistently with its aims, objectives and the legislation. There is also effective monitoring of the impact of the different initiatives taken. There are individual case files for carers and children, which are periodically audited. There is a private fostering panel, to oversee the assessment and review process. This means that the service manager, when making the final suitability decision, is informed by and takes account of the views of professionals with expertise in private fostering and in assessments. There is also scrutiny at elected members’ level because the work of the service is reported to them on a regular basis; it is also reported to the local

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Organisation

safeguarding board and to the director of children's services. Systems are in place for recording the number and nature of enquires received, the response given and any action taken. The authority expects to fully integrate private fostering data into the main performance information systems, during the next six months. Managers have the appropriate skills and experience to provide effective leadership and are clear of their role in disseminating information amongst social workers and other colleagues. There are some excellent initiatives taken in partnership with the health service, to raise awareness and to monitor that professionals act on their duty to report private fostering arrangements that come to their attention. Private fostering is included in the induction programme for new staff and in child protection training, which all staff are periodically expected to update. The communication strategy for raising awareness is

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Organisation

advanced enough to enable proper managerial review, identification of gaps and consideration of different means to address them. Managers take account of the specific issues facing the authority, such as, for example: that a number of children in private fostering arrangements and their carers have no legal status, or the high levels of deprivation in the borough, or the mobility of the population in Lambeth.

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Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions, which must be taken so that the registered person meets the Care Standards Act 2000, and the National Minimum Standards. The Registered Provider must comply with the given timescales.

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Recommendations

To improve the quality and standards of care further the registered person should take account of the following recommendation(s): 6 of 8 Inspection Report: Lambeth LA Private Fostering Arrangements, 8 August 2008 • review the communication strategy to ensure its effectiveness in reaching all sectors of the community. (NMS 2.1) • develop an information leaflet suitable for younger children (NMS 6.2) • clarify eligibility criteria, for adult community care services, for privately fostered young people with disabilities reaching the age of 18. (NMS 6.5) 7 of 8 Inspection Report: Lambeth LA Private Fostering Arrangements, 8 August 2008

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The intended outcomes for these standards are:

Ofsted considers none of the above to be key standards to be inspected.

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The intended outcomes for these standards are:

• the local authority is notified about privately fostered children living in its area (NMS 2) • the welfare of privately fostered children is safeguarded and promoted. (NMS 3 ) • private foster carers and parents of privately fostered children receive advice and support to assist them to meet the needs of privately fostered children; privately fostered children are able to access information and support when required so that their welfare is safeguarded and promoted (NMS 4) • the local authority identifies and provides advice and support to the parents of children who are privately fostered within their area (NMS 5) • children who are privately fostered are able to access information and support when required so that their welfare is safeguarded and promoted. Privately fostered children are enabled to participate in decisions about their lives (NMS 6). Ofsted considers 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 the key standards to be inspected.

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The intended outcomes for these standards are:

Ofsted considers none of the above to be key standards to be inspected.

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The intended outcomes for these standards are:

Ofsted considers none of the above to be key standards to be inspected.

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The intended outcomes for these standards are:

Ofsted considers none of the above to be key standards to be inspected.

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The intended outcomes for these standards are:

• relevant staff are aware of local authority duties and functions in relation to private fostering (NMS 1) • the local authority monitors the way in which it discharges its duties and functions in relation to private fostering (NMS 7). Ofsted considers 1 and 7 the key standards to be inspected. 8 of 8 Inspection Report: Lambeth LA Private Fostering Arrangements, 8 August 2008

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