Setting

X10029.doc Version 1.40 Page 1 FOSTERING SERVICE

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SG13 8DP

Lead Inspector Marian Byrne Announced Inspection 9 th - 31th January 2007 10:00 Hertfordshire County Council Fostering Service DS0000060220.V327318.R01.S.doc Version 5.2 Page 2 The Commission for Social Care Inspection aims to:

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SG13 8DP

• Put the people who use social care first • Improve services and stamp out bad practice • Be an expert voice on social care • Practise what we preach in our own organisation

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SG13 8DP

Reader Information Document Purpose Inspection Report Author CSCI Audience General Public Further copies from 0870 240 7535 (telephone order line) Copyright This report is copyright Commission for Social Care Inspection (CSCI) and may only be used in its entirety. Extracts may not be used or reproduced without the express permission of CSCI Internet address www.csci.org.uk Hertfordshire County Council Fostering Service DS0000060220.V327318.R01.S.doc Version 5.2 Page 3 This is a report of an inspection to assess whether services are meeting the needs of people who use them. The legal basis for conducting inspections is the Care Standards Act 2000 and the relevant National Minimum Standards for this establishment are those for Fostering Services. They can be found at www.dh.gov.uk or obtained from The Stationery Office (TSO) PO Box 29, St Crispins, Duke Street, Norwich, NR3 1GN. Tel: 0870 600 5522. Online ordering: www.tso.co.uk/bookshop

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SG13 8DP

Every Child Matters, outlined the government’s vision for children’s services and formed the basis of the Children Act 2004. It provides a framework for inspection so that children’s services should be judged on their contribution to the outcomes considered essential to wellbeing in childhood and later life. Those outcomes are: • Being healthy • Staying safe • Enjoying and achieving • Making a contribution; and • Achieving economic wellbeing.

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SG13 8DP

In response, the Commission for Social Care Inspection has re-ordered the national minimum standards for children’s services under the five outcomes, for reporting purposes. A further section has been created under ‘Management’ to cover those issues that will potentially impact on all the outcomes above.

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SG13 8DP

Copies of Every Child Matters and The Children Act 2004 are available from The Stationery Office as above This report is a public document. Extracts may not be used or reproduced without the prior permission of the Commission for Social Care Inspection. Hertfordshire County Council Fostering Service DS0000060220.V327318.R01.S.doc Version 5.2 Page 4

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Name of service

Hertfordshire County Council Fostering Service

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Name of service

Address County Hall Hertford Hertfordshire SG13 8DP

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manager (if applicable)

Type of registration Local Auth Fostering Service Hertfordshire County Council Fostering Service DS0000060220.V327318.R01.S.doc Version 5.2 Page 5

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Conditions of registration:

Date of last inspection 1st February 2006

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Brief Description of the Service:

Hertfordshire Family Placement Service provides a service responsive to the needs of children who require a family placement. It aims to recruit sufficient carers to offer placement choice; aims to provide a placement that meets cultural, religious and racial background, where possible to provide local placements to maintain family networks.

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Brief Description of the Service:

The service operates from four premises within the county quadrants and provides respite care, short-tem placements and kinship as well as long-term placements. Hertfordshire County Council Fostering Service DS0000060220.V327318.R01.S.doc Version 5.2 Page 6

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SUMMARY

This is an overview of what the inspector found during the inspection.

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SUMMARY

This unannounced inspection took place between the 9 th January and the 31 st January 2007... One inspector carried out the inspection. Information for the inspection was gathered by

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SUMMARY

• Visiting foster carers’ homes • Talking individually with young people, carers and staff • Discussions with staff and carers • Talking with the managers of the service • Reviewing carers, young people and staff files • Evaluating returned questionnaires from carers, young people.

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SUMMARY

The inspection identified one requirements.

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SUMMARY

Prior to and during the inspection 20% of foster carers and foster children were sent questionnaires. Approximately 25% were returned from both carers and children who are fostered. The majority were very positive about the service and the support they received.

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What the service does well:

All foster carers stated that they were well supported by their social workers and that they had regular supervision. Foster carers confirmed that they get unannounced visits from social workers. Those spoken with said that when their social worker was unavailable that there was always a duty worker available to offer support and that the out of hours support was good. They felt that staff were very dedicated and endeavoured to offer the best possible service to both the children and foster carers. The staffing group is well established and there is little turnover of staff resulting in a service that can offer an excellent knowledge of the foster carers, ensuring that making matching children to carers is based on this knowledge. Comments from the questionnaire include ‘the family placement is good but lack of field workers put a lot of pressure on the workers in the family placement team who we think are magnificent without them the system might collapse’.

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What has improved since the last inspection?

Hertfordshire County Council Fostering Service DS0000060220.V327318.R01.S.doc Version 5.2 Page 7 Since the last inspection a new team has been set up, the Central Placement Team, to place all children who come into the service. The benefits of this are that the team has access to all vacancies for children and are in a position, with consultation with local teams, to ensure optimum matching for children and carers. The staffing files were in order and contained all the information required.

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What they could do better:

Some staffing photographs were photocopies of passports and the features were unclear and would not be proof of identity. It is recommended that copies of the same photographs be used for staff identities and their staffing files.

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What they could do better:

Please contact the provider for advice of actions taken in response to this inspection. The report of this inspection is available from enquiries@csci.gsi.gov.uk or by contacting your local CSCI office. The summary of this inspection report can be made available in other formats on request. Hertfordshire County Council Fostering Service DS0000060220.V327318.R01.S.doc Version 5.2 Page 8

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CONTENTS

Statutory Requirements Identified During the Inspection Hertfordshire County Council Fostering Service DS0000060220.V327318.R01.S.doc Version 5.2 Page 9

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The intended outcome for this Standard is:

• The fostering service promotes the health and development of children.(NMS 12)

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JUDGEMENT – we looked at the outcome for Standard:

Quality in this outcome area is good. This judgement has been made using available evidence including a visit to this service.

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JUDGEMENT – we looked at the outcome for Standard:

The service is proactive in ensuring that the physical, mental and emotional health needs of the children who are fostered met.

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EVIDENCE:

The Fostering service has good links with health agencies and supports the foster carer to ensure the child in fostering has access to health care services. This was evidenced through questionnaires and visits. In the main the foster carer is provided with a description of the health care needs of the child or children they care for. Files inspected contained up to date information on the health care needs of the children. Foster carers visited stated that they were well supported by their social worker in accessing health care for the children. Hertfordshire County Council Fostering Service DS0000060220.V327318.R01.S.doc Version 5.2 Page 10

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The intended outcomes for these Standards are:

• Any persons carrying on or managing the service are suitable. (NMS 3) • The fostering service provides suitable foster carers.(NMS 6) • The service matches children to carers appropriately.(NMS 8) • The fostering service protects each child or young person from abuse and neglect.(NMS 9) • The people who work in or for the fostering service are suitable to work with children and young people.(NMS 15) • Fostering panels are organised efficiently and effectively.(NMS 30)

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JUDGEMENT – we looked at outcomes for the following Standard(s):

3,6,8,9,15. Quality in this outcome area is good. This judgement has been made using available evidence including a visit to this service.

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JUDGEMENT – we looked at outcomes for the following Standard(s):

The service is proactive in ensuring that the safety needs of children who are fostered are met.

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EVIDENCE:

The team is well managed by competent managers. There are clear policies and procedures in place and well established lines of communication in place. The recruitment of foster carers is successful. This thorough process includes initial counselling or the role and responsibilities of foster carers. Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) checks are carried out on all adult members of the family. References are cleared and the home is visited where a health and safety assessment is carried out (updated annually). Foster carers receive regular supervision and the foster carers spoken with confirmed that the social worker carries out unannounced visits. The service ensures it meet current legislation on the safe transportation of children. The service has recently changed the process of how children are placed with foster carers. A new team has been set up centrally to consider all applications for places for children.

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EVIDENCE:

The team has access to all vacant placements in the County and working Hertfordshire County Council Fostering Service DS0000060220.V327318.R01.S.doc Version 5.2 Page 11 closely with colleagues who have full knowledge of foster carers a placement is found for the child. This works across the County giving more scope to match the child and the carer. Supervising staff spoken with were initially concerned that their knowledge of the carers the supervise might be lost. However, this has been unfounded and they are contacted regularly for input into proposed placements. The manager of the team was keen to assure the inspector that her team would not function to its optimum without the specialist input from supervising social workers. The service has policies and procedures in place to ensure the protection of children who are fostered. Foster carers are made aware that corporal punishment is not acceptable. The service has a robust

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EVIDENCE:

recruitment policy all staff have had the appropriate qualifications, training, identity and security checks. Some staffing files did not have a clear photograph of the staff member using photocopies of passport photographs that were indistinguishable. On this occasion the Panel was not observed. Hertfordshire County Council Fostering Service DS0000060220.V327318.R01.S.doc Version 5.2 Page 12

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The intended outcomes for these Standards are:

• The fostering service values diversity.(NMS 7) • The fostering service promotes educational achievement.(NMS 13) • When foster care is provided as a short-term break for a child, the arrangements recognise that the parents remain the main carers for the child.(NMS 31)

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JUDGEMENT – we looked at outcomes for the following standard(s):

7,13,31. Quality in this outcome area is good. This judgement has been made using available evidence including a visit to this service.

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JUDGEMENT – we looked at outcomes for the following standard(s):

Children are supported to enjoy their lives and to achieve their potential.

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EVIDENCE:

The service has clear policies on promoting diversity. Training on diversity and anti-discriminatory practices is provided to staff and foster carers. All children have a Personal Education Plan. The PEP is reviewed regularly and is considered as part of the Statutory Review. Foster carers are expected to attend parent evening and school events. Questionnaire returned by the children who are fostered indicated that their carers ensure that doing their school homework is a high priority. A Shared Care Scheme provides short breaks to disabled children. Hertfordshire County Council Fostering Service DS0000060220.V327318.R01.S.doc Version 5.2 Page 13

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The intended outcomes for these Standards are:

• The fostering service promotes contact arrangements for the child or young person. (NMS 10) • The fostering service promotes consultation.(NMS 11)

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JUDGEMENT – we looked at outcomes for the following standard(s):

10,11. Quality in this outcome area is good. This s judgement has been made using available evidence including a visit to this service.

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JUDGEMENT – we looked at outcomes for the following standard(s):

Where appropriate children are supported with ongoing contact with their families. Children are consulted.

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EVIDENCE:

The service ensures that each child in foster care is encouraged to maintain and develop family contacts and friendships as set out in his care plan and foster placement agreement. One placement evidenced this where the children had contact with their parents when they chose to and had weekly contact with siblings. New foster carers are provided with specific training on facilitating and promoting contact. Transport and expenses are provided where needed to ensure the desired frequency of contact is maintained. Where deemed necessary contact is supervised. Children’s views are sought where possible. The service conducted a Fostering service annual review and feedback in May 2006. Feedback was received from Children and young people, foster carers and shared carers and staff. One of the areas identified as being difficult to access was mental health services. This is an area the service has identified

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EVIDENCE:

for further development. Most of the young people stated that they had been given information about being in care. Most of the children stated that they were asked for their opinions by the carers and cited subjects such as where to go on holiday, what to wear or the colour they wanted their bedroom to be. The difficulty in obtaining the children’s views was highlighted in the questionnaire from the children which indicated that they wanted to be Hertfordshire County Council Fostering Service DS0000060220.V327318.R01.S.doc Version 5.2 Page 14 regarded as ordinary children and did not want to participate in any activity that sets them apart. Hertfordshire County Council Fostering Service DS0000060220.V327318.R01.S.doc Version 5.2 Page 15

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The intended outcomes for these Standards are:

• The fostering service prepares young people for adulthood.(NMS 14) • The fostering service pays carers an allowance and agreed expenses as specified.(NMS 29)

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JUDGEMENT – we looked at outcomes for the following standard(s):

Quality in this outcome area is (excellent, good, adequate or poor)

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JUDGEMENT – we looked at outcomes for the following standard(s):

This judgement has been made using available evidence including a visit to this service.

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JUDGEMENT – we looked at outcomes for the following standard(s):

These standards were not inspected on this occasion.

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EVIDENCE:

Hertfordshire County Council Fostering Service DS0000060220.V327318.R01.S.doc Version 5.2 Page 16

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The intended outcomes for these Standards are:

• There is a clear statement of the aims and objectives of the fostering service and the fostering service ensures that they meet those aims and objectives.(NMS 1) • The fostering service is managed by those with the appropriate skills and experience. (NMS 2) • The fostering service is monitored and controlled as specified. (NMS 4) • The fostering service is managed effectively and efficiently.(NMS 5) • Staff are organised and managed effectively.(NMS 16) • The fostering service has an adequate number of sufficiently experienced and qualified staff.(NMS 17) • The fostering service is a fair and competent employer.(NMS 18) • There is a good quality training programme. (NMS 19) • All staff are properly accountable and supported.(NMS 20) • The fostering service has a clear strategy for working with and supporting carers.(NMS 21) • Foster carers are provided with supervision and support.(NMS 22) • Foster carers are appropriately trained.(NMS 23)

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The intended outcomes for these Standards are:

• Case records for children are comprehensive.(NMS 24) • The administrative records are maintained as required.(NMS 25) • The premises used as offices by the fostering service are suitable for the purpose.(NMS 26) • The fostering service is financially viable. (NMS 27) • The fostering service has robust financial processes. (NMS 28) • Local Authority fostering services recognise the contribution made by family and friends as carers.(NMS 32)

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JUDGEMENT – we looked at outcomes for the following standard(s):

1,16,17,21,24,25,32. Quality in this outcome area is good. This judgement has been made using available evidence including a visit to this service.

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JUDGEMENT – we looked at outcomes for the following standard(s):

The service is well managed and run in the best interests of the child.

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EVIDENCE:

Hertfordshire County Council Fostering Service DS0000060220.V327318.R01.S.doc Version 5.2 Page 17 There are sufficient numbers of appropriately qualified staff in the family placements teams, this was also verified by the majority of inspection questionnaires returned. There has been no change to County Council personnel policies and procedures in place covering supervision, training etc since the last inspection. The inspector found that the policies and procedures were followed. All foster carers spoken confirmed that they were well supported, received regular supervision and found communicating with their social workers and the office staff easy and productive. Files examined during the inspection contained the assessment and approval information. The appropriate references and checks were also found to be maintained on foster carer files inspected during the inspection. Case files in the Family Placement

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EVIDENCE:

Team are very dependent upon the information passed from the young person’s social worker. However, all files examined contained the information required. Records are appropriately maintained and stored. Care must be taken to ensure details of events and notifications under Schedule 8 regulation 43 are reported to this Commission. Hertfordshire County Council Fostering Service DS0000060220.V327318.R01.S.doc Version 5.2 Page 18

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SCORING OF OUTCOMES

This page summarises the assessment of the extent to which the National Minimum Standards for Fostering Services have been met and uses the following scale.

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SCORING OF OUTCOMES

4 Standard Exceeded (Commendable) 3 Standard Met (No Shortfalls) 2 Standard Almost Met (Minor Shortfalls) 1 Standard Not Met (Major Shortfalls) “X” in the standard met box denotes standard not assessed on this occasion “N/A” in the standard met box denotes standard not applicable

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SCORING OF OUTCOMES

BEING HEALTHY ACHIEVING ECONOMIC Standard No Score WELLBEING 12 3 Standard No Score 14 X STAYING SAFE 29 x Standard No Score 3 3 MANAGEMENT 6 3 Standard No Score 8 3 1 3 9 3 2 X 15 3 4 X 30 X 5 X 16 3 ENJOYING AND ACHIEVING 17 3 Standard No Score 18 X 7 3 19 X 13 3 20 X 31 3 21 3 22 X MAKING A POSITIVE 23 X CONTRIBUTION 24 3 Standard No Score 25 2 10 3 26 X 11 3 27 X 28 X 32 3 Hertfordshire County Council Fostering Service DS0000060220.V327318.R01.S.doc Version 5.2 Page 19 Are there any outstanding requirements from the last inspection?

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STATUTORY REQUIREMENTS

This section sets out the actions, which must be taken so that the registered person/s meets the Care Standards Act 2000, Fostering Services Regulations 2002 and the National Minimum Standards. The Registered Provider(s) must comply with the given timescales.

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STATUTORY REQUIREMENTS

No. Standard Regulation Requirement Timescale for action 1 FS25 43(1) The Registered manager must ensure that details of events and notifications under Schedule 8 regulation 43 are reported to this Commission. 31/01/07

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RECOMMENDATIONS

These recommendations relate to National Minimum Standards and are seen as good practice for the Registered Provider/s to consider carrying out.

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RECOMMENDATIONS

No. Refer to Standard Good Practice Recommendations

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RECOMMENDATIONS

1 FS25 It is recommended that the photographs stored on staff files are copies of those used on staff identification photographs. Hertfordshire County Council Fostering Service DS0000060220.V327318.R01.S.doc Version 5.2 Page 20

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Commission for Social Care Inspection

Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Area Office CPC1 Capital Park Fulbourn Cambridge CB21 5XE

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Commission for Social Care Inspection

National Enquiry Line Telephone: 0845 015 0120 or 0191 233 3323 Textphone: 0845 015 2255 or 0191 233 3588 Email: enquiries@csci.gsi.gov.uk Web: www.csci.org.uk © This report is copyright Commission for Social Care Inspection (CSCI) and may only be used in its entirety. Extracts may not be used or reproduced without the express permission of CSCI

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