Lorimer Foster Services

Lorimer Foster Services Inspection report for independent fostering agency

p.1

Unique reference number SC059742 Inspection date 07/11/2016 Inspector Marina Tully and Mandy Williams Type of inspection Full Provision subtype

p.1

Setting address 2a Carrington Lane, Sale, Cheshire, M33 5ND

p.1

Telephone number 08701 203 520 Email ahiggins@lorimerfostering.com Registered person Sher-Ali Khan Registered manager Ashley Higgins Responsible individual Sher-Ali Khan Date of last inspection 23/05/2014

p.1

Brief description of the service

Lorimer Foster Services is a privately owned independent fostering agency, which was registered in July 2004. It provides placements with approved foster carers for children and young people from birth to 18 years. The range of placements include short term, long term, bridging, respite, emergency placements, parent and child, and remand.

p.2

Brief description of the service

At the time of the inspection, the agency had 45 fostering households and is currently providing care for 52 children and young people.

p.2

The inspection judgements and what they mean

Outstanding : An agency demonstrating and exceeding the characteristics of a good judgement where children and young people are making significantly better progress and achieving more than was expected in all areas of their lives. Good : An agency where children and young people, including those with the most complex needs, have their individual needs met and their welfare safeguarded and promoted. They make good progress and receive effective services so that they achieve as well as they can in all areas of their lives. Requires improvement : An agency that may be compliant with regulations and observing the national minimum standards but is not yet demonstrating the characteristics of a good judgement. It therefore requires improvement to be good. There may be failures to meet all regulations or national minimum standards but these are not widespread or serious; all children's and young people's welfare is safeguarded

p.2

The inspection judgements and what they mean

and promoted. Inadequate : An agency where there are widespread or serious failures which result in children and young people not having their welfare safeguarded and promoted.

p.2

Overall effectiveness

Children and young people are suitably matched with foster carers who are committed to meeting their individual needs. They are supported effectively to access a range of education services and leisure activities, as well as keeping in touch with their family and friends. As a result, they make good progress from their starting points. Foster carers promote children‟s health by arranging routine health appointments and, when necessary, linking them in with specialist health services. However, a high number of children are not attending their annual health assessments.

p.2

Overall effectiveness

The agency is good at keeping brothers and sisters together. Consequently, several sibling groups are living happily alongside each other. This is a strength of the agency. While children and young people are involved in arranging their daily care and feel listened to by their carers, their voice is not strong within the agency. They are not provided with opportunities to share their views, experiences and wishes with the leaders of the agency to help influence how the service develops. How the agency routinely seeks the views of children, foster carers and other stakeholders needs to improve.

p.2

Overall effectiveness

Children and young people feel safe and secure in their families. High-risk behaviour, including going missing from care, is largely appropriately managed. However, the agency safeguarding records do not reflect this and often lack essential details. This hinders the monitoring of safeguarding practice and highlights poor auditing of these records.

p.3

Overall effectiveness

In the main, foster carers are safely recruited and the independent panel chair is ensuring a rigorous approach to foster carer approval. This can be further strengthened with consistent good practice, more comprehensive recording of agency decision-making, as well as improvements in foster carers‟ post approval training. Similarly, inconsistent good practice in safer recruitment of staff and panel members is apparent.

p.3

Overall effectiveness

An experienced management team manages the service. The team is small and, as a result, foster carers feel that they receive support from staff whom they know and trust. The team members confirm that they feel supported and that their workload is manageable. Shortfalls identified in staff members‟ appraisals and professional supervision means that the agency is not yet fully supporting its staff to reflect on their practice, to identify strengths and weaknesses and, thus, to continually develop.

p.3

Overall effectiveness

Four requirements and nine recommendations have resulted from this inspection. In addition to the shortfalls outlined above, improvements can be made in the agency‟s statement of purpose, policies, and service monitoring.

p.3

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 (England) Regulations 2011 and the National Minimum Standards. The registered person(s) must comply within the given timescales.

p.3

Requirement Due date

3. Statement of purpose and children‟s guide

p.3

Requirement Due date

(1) compile a written statement in relation to the fostering service (“the statement of purpose”) which consists of (b) a statement as to the services and facilities (including any parent and child arrangements) provided by the fostering service 30/12/2016 (2) provide a copy of the statement of purpose to the Chief Inspector (3) produce a written guide to the fostering service (“the children‟s guide”) which includes the address, including email address, and telephone number of the Chief Inspector (4) provide a copy of the children‟s guide to the Chief Inspector (5) ensure that the fostering service is at all times conducted in a manner which is consistent with its statement of purpose. (Regulation 3 (1)(b) (2) (3)(c) (4) (5))

p.3

Requirement Due date

The fostering service provider must ensure that all persons employed by them receive appropriate training, supervision and appraisal. (Regulation 21 (4)(a))

p.4

Requirement Due date

Specifically, this is in relation to staff appraisals and the registered manager‟s professional supervision. 30/12/2016

p.4

Requirement Due date

The registered person must maintain a system for monitoring the matters set out in Schedule 6 at appropriate intervals, and improving the quality of foster care provided by the fostering agency. The registered person must provide the Chief Inspector with a written report in respect of any review conducted for the purposes of paragraph (1). The system referred to in paragraph (1) must provide for consultation with foster parents, children placed with foster parents, and their placing authority. (Regulation 35 (1)(a)(b) (2) (3)) 30/12/2016

p.4

Requirement Due date

If any of the events listed in column 1 of the table in Schedule 7 takes place in relation to a fostering agency, the registered person must without delay notify the persons or bodies indicated in respect of the event in column 2 of the table. Any notification made in accordance with this regulation which is given orally must be confirmed in writing. (Regulation 36 (1) (2)) 30/12/2016

p.4

Recommendations

To improve the quality and standards of care further the service should take account of the following recommendations:

p.4

Recommendations

 Ensure that the wishes, feelings and views of children and those significant to them are taken into account in monitoring foster carers and developing the fostering service. (NMS 1.7)  Ensure that written records where a child goes missing detail action taken by foster carers, the circumstances of the child's return, any reasons given by the child for running away and any action taken in light of those reasons. (NMS 5.10)  Ensure that children‟s health is promoted in accordance with their placement plan. Specifically, this is in relation to their annual health assessments. (NMS 6.5)  Ensure that children are given information about the foster carer before arrival, and any information (including where appropriate, photographic information) about the placement, in a format appropriate to their age and understanding. (NMS 11.3)  Ensure that the decision-maker records a considered decision and takes account

p.4

Recommendations

of all information available. (NMS 14.9)  Ensure that the fostering service can demonstrate, including from written records, that it consistently follows good recruitment practice, and all applicable current statutory requirement and guidance, in foster carer selection and staff and panel member recruitment. (NMS 19.2)  Ensure that all approved foster carers attain the training, support and development standards within 12 months of approval. (NMS 20.3)  Ensure that the manager regularly monitors all records kept by the service to ensure compliance with the service's policies, to identify any concerns about specific incidents and to identify patterns and trends. Immediate action is taken to address any issues raised by this monitoring. (NMS 25.2)  Ensure that all staff's work and all fostering activity is consistent with the 2011 Regulations and NMS and with the service's policies and procedures. (NMS 25.3)

p.5

and young people

Children and young people are happy, settled in their foster placements, and reflect this in their comments: „I have lived here with my sister for four years. Everything is good and we are very happy. I would give my carers 10 out of 10. I wouldn‟t change a thing.‟

p.6

and young people

Children and young people are suitably matched with foster carers who understand and are able to meet their needs. Many benefit from the stability of long-term placements and, when appropriate, they are supported to remain with their carers beyond their 18th birthday. Additionally, the agency has recruited foster carers who have the capacity to care for large sibling groups. This is keeping brothers and sisters together.

p.6

and young people

Foster carers support contact with birth families whenever it is safe to do so. This often involves foster carers playing an active role in arranging and supervising family contact. Consequently, children and young people receive effective support to stay in touch with significant people and sustain their family identity.

p.6

and young people

When possible, children and young people have the opportunity to visit their foster carers prior to them moving in. This enables them to meet their carers, visit their new home and ask questions about their daily routines. This in turn alleviates their fears and helps them to settle when they move in. However, foster carer profiles that include photographs and details of their home and family have yet to be developed. As a result, some children and young people, particularly those placed in an emergency, do not have these in place for their new home.

p.6

and young people

Children and young people say that they feel part of their foster family and are included in family life and events, such as family holidays and celebrations. They also benefit from accessing hobbies and activities of their choice, as well as socialising with their friends. Foster carers successfully nurture warm, trusting relationships, and this is helping children and young people to feel valued and respected. The comments of some commissioners of the service mirror this view: „The foster carers handle sensitive issues with empathy. Children are content and stable in their placements. I have no concerns about this agency and overall relationships are good.‟

p.6

and young people

Foster carers demonstrate a sound understanding of children and young people‟s individual health needs and support them to access a range of health services. Despite this, a high proportion of children and young people have not attended their annual health assessments arranged by their placing authorities. Consequently, there are missed opportunities for all professionals to monitor children and young people‟s health.

p.6

and young people

All children and young people placed with the agency are attending school, college or vocational courses. Some have been able to continue to attend their usual school despite moving outside of the school‟s area. This supports continuity in their education and helps them to make good progress in their learning and development.

p.6

and young people

Foster carers work collaboratively with other professionals, including teachers, youth offending teams and specialist health services. This is ensuring that they obtain a thorough understanding of children and young people‟s needs and vulnerabilities. Furthermore, this partnership working is helping to improve children and young people‟s outcomes. However, the agency‟s case records do not reflect this good practice. In particular, the agency placement plans are extremely brief and lack detail and analysis of the individual‟s needs. So far, this recording issue has not negatively influenced the level of care and support that foster carers provide. Nevertheless, it does highlight shortfalls in the manager‟s monitoring of the agency records.

p.7

and young people

Although children and young people are making choices and decisions within their foster placements, how the agency seeks their views to secure their involvement in service monitoring and development can improve. The agency does not yet provide children and young people, including foster carers‟ birth children, with opportunities to meet up or have their say. This demonstrates shortfalls in the agency participation strategy. Moreover, it contravenes the aims and objectives of the service as outlined in its statement of purpose.

p.7

Quality of service

The number of approved fostering households has largely remained unchanged since the last inspection. Despite the approval of a few new families, there has not been an increase in fostering households, as some carers have resigned or been de- registered. A small number of these carers have moved to local authorities which are in a position to offer a broader choice of placement. The agency is working on a new recruitment drive and it hopes that this will attract new applicants and, thus, increase its placement capacity.

p.7

Quality of service

Foster carers describe the assessment process as thorough. They say that it provides them with opportunities to meet experienced foster carers, which better prepares them for the fostering role. Although fostering assessments are undertaken within the required timescale, not all essential checks are routinely carried out. For example, the service does not routinely contact all applicants‟ ex-partners or document how this was risk assessed as safe and appropriate. Similarly, when a health and safety risk assessment indicated some concerns, there was no written evidence to confirm that this had been addressed effectively. These issues highlight some areas for improvement in foster carers‟ assessments.

p.7

Quality of service

Although the agency makes available a range of training opportunities to foster carers and staff, many foster carers do not regularly attend the courses on offer. So far, the agency has failed to address this appropriately, despite this repeatedly being raised in some foster carers‟ annual reviews. Of particular concern is the high number of foster carers who have not completed their post approval training within the required timescale. Additionally, the agency does not provide training on parent and child fostering despite approving some carers for this specific type of care. Gaps in foster carers‟ training is compromising their continued development and learning.

p.7

Quality of service

Foster carers report having a positive relationship with the agency and say that they feel supported by their supervising social workers. A foster carer said: „My supervising social worker is professional and thorough. I am an experienced carer so I get three-weekly visits, more if needed. If I have an issue, I can go to my social worker or the manager. I know they will always sort it out.‟ Because the team is small, carers benefit from knowing all of the agency‟s staff. The 24-hour support service ensures that foster carers always have telephone access to a person whom they know and who can provide them with professional guidance and support. However, not all foster carers benefit from having regular opportunities to meet as a group or to buddy up for additional support. Furthermore, there was no evidence of the agency actively seeking foster carers‟ views to ensure their involvement in service monitoring and development.

p.8

Quality of service

The agency has an appropriate central list of fostering panel members. The panel chair is independent of the agency and is suitably experienced. Although the panel provides effective quality assurance in foster carers‟ approval, the panel minutes do not reflect the complexity and depth of discussions held at each meeting. Furthermore, the records provided by the agency decision maker do not clearly document the rationale for his decisions or what documents he has read to inform these decisions. As a result, important evidence to demonstrate rigorous scrutiny in determining foster carers‟ suitability is missing.

p.8

Quality of service

Overall, successful matching of children and young people with suitable foster carers promotes placement stability. A foster carer‟s comments support this view: „Being very settled and ambitious is proof enough to me that my foster child is happy.‟ Placement stability further demonstrates that matching in this agency is effective.

p.8

Safeguarding children and young people

Children and young people report that they feel safe. Children demonstrate this in their comments about their foster carers: „They teach me stranger danger‟, „They phone me all the time and always look out for me.‟ These trusting relationships are, without a doubt, helping many children to feel safe and secure in their foster homes.

p.8

Safeguarding children and young people

The management of allegations against foster carers has improved. The agency‟s reviewed policy now provides clear procedures to follow when any concerns arise. Improved procedures are enhancing both children‟s and foster carers‟ safety and welfare.

p.8

Safeguarding children and young people

In the main, children and young people are aware of the agency‟s complaint procedure and have access to independent advocates to support them when required. The revised children and young people‟s guide is now available in audio format, making it more accessible to a wider range of children. While the guide clearly explains the complaints procedure, some of the contact details for independent support services are incorrect, for example Ofsted‟s address. This highlights shortfalls in internal monitoring and quality-assurance systems.

p.8

Safeguarding children and young people

When children and young people go missing, the agency records do not provide a detailed account of the incident, the action taken, or the circumstances around the young person‟s return. There is anecdotal evidence of foster carers and the agency taking suitable action when young people go missing. However, lack of sufficient detail in these records makes it difficult to evaluate all aspects of the agency‟s safeguarding practice. This issue was apparent at the last inspection and the continued shortfallfurther demonstrates deficits in service monitoring and development.

p.9

Safeguarding children and young people

Children and young people‟s individual risk assessments are not robust. They do not provide a thorough assessment of all risks or identify effective risk-management strategies. Consequently, foster carers are not fully benefiting from comprehensive written guidance on how to manage all risk-taking behaviour.

p.9

Safeguarding children and young people

The agency‟s behaviour-management policy contradicts the agency‟s approach to physical restraint. According to the registered manager, the agency forbids any form of physical restraint. However, the policy fails to reflect this. Furthermore, „safe holds‟, which are a form of physical restraint, were included as a behaviour- management strategy in a child‟s risk assessment. Inconsistencies in this policy and the agency‟s approach are confusing to both foster carers and staff and, thus, leading to inconsistencies in practice.

p.9

Safeguarding children and young people

Some shortfalls were identified in recent recruitment practice. For example, a panel member took up post prior to the agency obtaining a police check for them. Although these issues were not widespread, any shortfall in safer recruitment practice can potentially compromise children and young people‟s safety.

p.9

Safeguarding children and young people

On occasion, the agency did not report some serious safeguarding incidents to all relevant bodies in a timely way, such as the placing social worker and Ofsted. While these reporting oversights did not impact directly on children‟s safety, they prevented all safeguarding professionals from swiftly fulfilling their safeguarding roles and responsibilities.

p.9

Leadership and management

A suitably qualified, experienced registered manager leads the service with the support of an experienced team manager. A stable staff team demonstrates a good understanding of the service and staff members confirm manageable workloads, which enable them to provide regular support to their foster carers. The agency‟s staff feel supported and valued. They have regular professional supervision. However, the supervision records sampled did not demonstrate reflective practice or in-depth discussion on individual casework. Furthermore, not all staff, including panel members, have had their practice appraised. In addition, the registered manager does not receive professional supervision. These shortfalls are jeopardising the team‟s capacity to continually develop and maximise its potential.

p.9

Leadership and management

Although the registered managers took action to address the requirements and recommendations raised at the last inspection, not all have been sufficiently met, and some have therefore been repeated. One repeated shortfall is in relation to the monitoring and auditing of the service. The systems in place lack robustness and do not identify all deficits and inconsistencies in the agency‟s records. For example, some of the agency‟s policies referred to the wrong regulations. Furthermore, key documents, such as agency decision-making records, are not always readily available. Ineffective quality-assurance systems are hindering service monitoring and continual improvement of the agency. Additionally, this makes it difficult for the agency to evidence the good work undertaken by the team and carers.

p.10

Leadership and management

The registered manager has a system in place for reviewing and reporting on the service‟s quality of care. However, these reports do not cover all of the matters required by regulation. In particular, they do not report on staff‟s development through appraisal or provide evidence of consultation with children, foster carers and other stakeholders. Furthermore, Ofsted is not provided with copies of the reports as required, which prevents the regulatory body from evaluating how the agency cares for children and young people.

p.10

Leadership and management

Although the registered manager has updated the statement of purpose and has made this document available on the agency website, it has still not been forwarded to Ofsted as required. This document does not provide a true reflection of the service or delivery of care. For example, it does not provide details of the range of placements provided by the agency, including their arrangements for parent and child care. Furthermore, it states that a priority of the agency is children and young people‟s voice. However, a system for regular consultation with children and young people is yet to be developed.

p.10

About this inspection

The purpose of this inspection is to inform 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 to assess the effectiveness of the service and to consider how well it complies with the relevant regulations and meets the national minimum standards and to support services to improve.

p.11

About this inspection

The report details the main strengths, any areas for improvement, including any breaches of regulation, and any failure to meet national minimum standards. The judgements included in the report are made against the inspection framework and the evaluation schedule for the inspection of independent fostering agencies.

p.11