Aspirations Fostering Limited

Inspection report for independent fostering agency: Aspirations Fostering Limited 1 Aspirations Fostering Limited Longacre Farm Business Park, Hockley, Essex SS5 5LR Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this independent fostering agency

Aspirations Fostering Limited is a small independent fostering agency based in Hockley, Essex. The agency currently provides support to 22 children. The agency also continues to support two young adults under ‘staying put’ arrangements. The agency operates predominantly in the Essex and Southend areas. The agency currently has 15 foster households. The suitably qualified and experienced manager was registered with Ofsted for this agency in April 2019.

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Information about this independent fostering agency

Inspection dates: 29 April to 2 May 2019

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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: Aspirations Fostering Limited 2

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children become central members of their foster family and enjoy high levels of placement stability because of the good matching processes. The children live in secure, nurturing environments in which they receive individualised care and support. The children enjoy normal childhood experiences. They love their pets and the sleepovers with their friends. The children chat and laugh with their carers, sharing happy memories of their fun times together. The children live in homes that celebrate these memorable moments and their progress, with photos and certificates of achievement displayed. A social worker said, ‘These carers are completely and utterly child focused. They are so motivated to do the best by [the child]. They’re amazing people.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Foster carers understand the importance of birth family relationships and maintain contact with people who are important to the children. On some occasions, the relationship between birth parents and foster carers has enabled the child to experience seamless support, akin to close extended family arrangements. A parent said, ‘Without a shadow of a doubt, they [the carers] absolutely love her [the child]. They are like second parents to her.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children make good progress because of the wraparound support provided by their carers. The children grow in confidence and maturity and show improved resilience and self-esteem. The children are healthy. Most of the children make good progress in their education because of the encouraging attitude of their foster carers. All children, including those who are disabled, are encouraged and supported to try new things.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

On occasion, the required documentation from the child’s placing authority, regarding delegated authority arrangements and any review of the care plan, is not in place. This means that there is the potential for carers to make decisions that are not in accordance with the child’s care plan. It also has the potential to add levels of frustration to the child’s day-to-day life when carers are unclear about the decisions that they can make on behalf of the child.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The foster carers support and guide older children into adult life. Carers help children and young people to access part-time work, learn to drive and obtain suitable further education or employment. A young person said, ‘They [the carers] have been everything I would want a mum and dad to be. I call them mum and dad. They’ve even bought my first car for me, as they bought their own children their first car.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The care and support provided by foster carers and agency staff are consistently highly valued by children, families and professionals. A social worker said, ‘He is absolutely flourishing. It’s been life changing.’ Another professional said, ‘Without doubt, this is some of the most exceptional care that I have seen as an independent reviewing officer.’ Inspection report for independent fostering agency: Aspirations Fostering Limited 3

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

The children like living with their carers. The close relationships that children develop with their foster family underpin their ability to resolve day-to-day issues amicably. The children can talk to their carers and foster brothers and sisters about things that worry them.

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

Incidents of risk-taking behaviours are low. Behaviours such as offending, self- harming and going missing reduce from the time that the children move in with their carers. As a result, the associated risks reduce and the children are safer. This is great progress in personal safety for some children. One child went missing several times a week immediately before coming to live with their foster carer, but has not gone missing since.

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

Consistent boundaries help the children to feel safe and secure. The carers are focused on the child and try to understand the reasons for any difficult behaviour. A social worker said, ‘The carers are excellent at seeing through to the child and helping him to begin to accept praise.’ Behaviours that have previously been deemed as challenging quickly reduce. For one child, this means that they can begin to spend time with their friends in the school playground.

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

The foster carers understand the children’s age-appropriate growing need for personal freedom and manage this well. The carers and agency staff know each of the children and their individual risks. However, children’s individual safer-care plans do not always sufficiently detail safety strategies.

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good

The agency has gone through significant unplanned change in the last year. The agency staff and carers were deeply affected by the sudden illness and subsequent loss of the previous registered manager. The senior managers and staff pulled together to ensure that the quality of care and support that the carers and children receive remained high. However, the change has affected the management oversight and administration of the agency. For example, on one occasion, children were placed with carers in numbers in excess of the usual fostering limit. This arrangement was for a short time and in the best interests of the children. However, the agency did not obtain the legally required written exemption of the ruling for no more than four unrelated children living in a foster home. This potentially placed the carers at risk of committing the offence of operating an unregistered children’s home.

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good

On one occasion, the agency panel continued to make recommendations regarding a carer’s suitability although the legally required panel members were not present. As a result, one carer’s annual review was not subject to scrutiny to meet the legally required due diligence. The minutes of panel are not clear about the role that each panel member fulfils or, on occasion, the reason for the panel. It is therefore sometimes hard to understand the context of panel discussions and whether the required members were in attendance. Inspection report for independent fostering agency: Aspirations Fostering Limited 4 Staff and carers generally maintain records of suitable quality. However, there is a lack of consistent attention to detail. On occasion, records such as children’s school reports, copies of delegated authority and the follow-up action taken after children go missing from home are missing from the files. There is no clear, shared strategy

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good

for maintaining electronic records. It is therefore sometimes difficult to locate information.

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good

Suitable training is available to carers. However, the agency is not able to evidence that all carers have undertaken training in preventing radicalisation, managing health and safety, managing child sexual exploitation and first aid. There is a lack of individually targeted training relevant to foster carers who care for disabled children, such as moving and handling and safeguarding them.

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good

Foster carers consistently described the agency as one that offers high-quality support. Personal touches from the agency mean that foster families feel valued and respected. Christmas and birthday gifts are given to carers and their birth children, as well as to foster children. One carer was extremely moved by an agency-wide celebration of their 25-year fostering career, even though their work with this agency had only been for a small proportion of this time.

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good

Local authorities and partner agencies described strong partnerships with child- focused carers and agency staff. The agency staff challenge local authorities when their responses are not effective. A young person said that all the management team members are extremely accessible. They said that the manager of the agency had supported them much better than their own social worker.

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good

The small size of the agency means that the manager knows each foster carer and child well. The manager understands the strengths of the agency and has clear aspirations and plans for further development. However, the manager has not undertaken a detailed quality of care review and has therefore not been alert to some breaches of regulation and some of the areas for improvement. Inspection report for independent fostering agency: Aspirations Fostering Limited 5

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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 fostering service provider must ensure that the fostering panel has sufficient members, and that individual members have between them the experience and expertise necessary, to effectively discharge the functions of the panel. (Regulation 23 (7)) 20/05/2019

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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. (Regulation 35 (1)(a)(b)) 22/07/2019

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Requirement Due date

A person may exceed the usual fostering limit if he is exempted from it by the local authority within whose area he lives. In particular; arrange for the placement of no more than three children in a fostering household without an exemption having been formally approved. (Children Act 1989 Schedule 7 (4)(1)) 20/05/2019

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Recommendations

 Ensure that foster carers understand what is in the child’s placement plan and have clarity about decisions that they can make about the day-to-day arrangements for the child. (‘Fostering services: national minimum standards’, 7.3) In particular, ensure that carers are provided with clear details of delegated authority.  The panel chair ensures written minutes of panel meetings are accurate and clearly cover the key issues and views expressed by panel members and record the reasons for its recommendation. (‘Fostering services: national minimum standards’, 14.7)  Ensure support and training are made available to foster carers, including hard-to- reach carers, to assist them in meeting the specific needs of the children they are caring for or are expected to care for. (‘Fostering services: national minimum standards’, 20.8)  The fostering service has and implements a written policy that clarifies the

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Recommendations

purpose, format and content of information to be kept on the fostering service’s files, on the child’s files and on case files relating to foster carers. (‘Fostering Inspection report for independent fostering agency: Aspirations Fostering Limited 6 services: national minimum standards’, 26.1) Inspection report for independent fostering agency: Aspirations Fostering Limited 7

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Information about this inspection

Inspectors have looked closely at the experiences and progress of children and young people 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: Aspirations Fostering Limited 8

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Independent fostering agency details

Registered provider: Aspirations Fostering Limited

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Independent fostering agency details

Registered provider address: Longacre Farm Business Park, Hockley, Essex SS5 5LR

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Independent fostering agency details

Email address: joanna.king@aspirationsfostering.co.uk

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Inspector

Joanna Heller, social care inspector Inspection report for independent fostering agency: Aspirations Fostering Limited 9 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 looked after children, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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