True Fostering Limited

Inspection report for independent fostering agency: True Fostering Limited 1 True Fostering Limited True Fostering Limited Suite 3a Drake House, Drake Lane, Dursley, Gloucestershire GL11 4HH Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this independent fostering agency

True Fostering Limited is a small independent fostering agency based in Gloucestershire. The agency offers short-term, long-term and respite foster care placements to children and young people aged from birth to 17 years, including children who have disabilities. The agency offers a specific model of care, supervision and support to children and their carers, whom the agency refers to as foster parents. The agency has one supervising social worker and one children’s support worker. It also uses an independent agency decision-maker, independent assessing and supervising social workers, consultants, therapists, trainers and two empathetic listeners – a role specifically designed to support foster parents’ needs. A small administrative team supports the service. There are currently 13 children accommodated with foster parents, and 10 fostering households in the South West and East and West Midlands, including one set of foster parents in Surrey. An

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Information about this independent fostering agency

independently chaired panel meets to make recommendations about the approval and the review of approved foster parents.

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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: N/A

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for independent fostering agency: True Fostering Limited 2

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

This is the first inspection of a newly registered agency. It prides itself on working to a model that provides specific therapeutic support and supervision to children and their foster parents. This approach ensures that the adults and children in fostering households receive individual support that is targeted to their needs. For example, in addition to the supervising social worker providing a minimum of monthly supervision visits to the foster home, foster parents receive advice and help from an empathetic listener, and children receive support from a children’s support worker. Additionally, there is an expectation that foster parents attend a monthly group facilitated by a trained and experienced attachment therapist, with follow up face-to- face meetings with the therapist. Fostering families respond well and benefit from these interventions. For most, it is the reason they joined the agency. Consequently,

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

since the agency’s registration on 31 May 2019, there have been no placement breakdowns or significant incidents of concern.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children enjoy nice experiences with their foster parents. They go on holidays, have hobbies and feel part of the family. The agency supports them well with preparing to move into foster care, and also helps them with moving into adulthood. There are many examples of how children make progress. These include: attending school on a full-time basis when previously they were not; not absconding anymore; developing social skills and making friends; attending clubs; increasing confidence; and being able to convey their feelings safely. All but one young person attends school. Children are settled in their foster homes, and 77% of children are placed with their foster parents on a long-term basis. There are no children in foster care whose future is not being carefully planned.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The quality of relationships between agency staff, foster parents, birth families and external professionals is good. Closed social media groups are used to enhance communication between foster parents and the agency. Some children, including foster carers’ birth children, attend participation events that are based around fun activities or sit-down discussions, depending on their needs. All children have the opportunity to talk to their children’s support worker about any concerns or issues, and these are recorded on the agency’s electronic recording system, which the manager oversees.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The office accommodation is spacious, clean and tidy, and while one wall has a collection of children’s paintings and drawings, the office space could be made more inviting for visiting children.

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

Foster parents are well supported, through a therapeutic approach, to set appropriate boundaries for children and to manage complex behaviours. The manager has good oversight of assessed risk and how foster parents need to Inspection report for independent fostering agency: True Fostering Limited 3 respond to this risk. There is also a careful, planned approach to matching children with foster parents. Very few incidents of concern have occurred, with one incident of a young person absconding, who was located the same evening that they went missing.

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

There have been no allegations of harm made, but the manager and staff know what to do, should a concern arise. Children have opportunities to talk to a trusted adult about anything that worries them. Foster parents have received the necessary safeguarding training and are vigilant in relation to child exploitation and managing children’s use of the internet.

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good

The registered manager is a compassionate, knowledgeable and hard-working leader, who expects staff and foster parents to deliver high standards of care to children. The manager had already recognised most of the issues that were identified during the inspection. However, her capacity to address shortfalls in the service has been hampered by a shortage of permanent staff. A plan to recruit more staff is now underway.

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good

When foster parents transferred from their previous agency, which is now closed, to this agency, incomplete fostering assessments or updates were presented to the fostering panel. The panel process was not robust and did not recommend actions required to address information gaps. The associated written records of panel meetings are not clear. However, the manager acknowledged these concerns and immediately reviewed the foster parent approvals during the inspection and started action to remedy the gaps.

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good

New assessments, that are in the process of being completed or updated, are being carried out thoroughly. It is noted that only foster parents who agree to adhere to the agency’s expectations and standards are recruited. The manager, panel chair and agency decision-maker recognise that the panel is not diverse enough and are making efforts to make it more representative of society.

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good

Staff and panel members are vetted, but there are gaps in the implementation of safer recruitment procedures. These relate to instances of informal and unrecorded discussions that have taken place instead of interviews, unchecked gaps in employment history and not verifying some references. More recently, a robust checking system has been implemented to identify and address recruitment gaps.

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good

Some children, including those who were living in the same foster homes before they transferred to this agency, do not have placement plans, and other associated documentation, on their files and one young person is not in full-time education or training. Efforts have been made to escalate these concerns and to retrieve missing documents from the local authority, but in some cases a positive conclusion has not yet been reached. Inspection report for independent fostering agency: True Fostering Limited 4 The responsible individual has a social worker’s s qualification and has significant experience in training, therapy and research. Both she and the manager have a strong vision for the agency and the model of support and supervision for children and foster parents. Foster parents embrace this model and those who do not are no longer with the agency. Children’s needs are central to the running of the agency.

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good

Progress for children is continual and the manager has good systems for auditing and monitoring their outcomes. Staff speak highly of the agency, including independent workers. They receive regular supervision and team meetings take place regularly. Inspection report for independent fostering agency: True 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 not— employ a person to work for the purposes of the fostering service unless that person is fit to do so, or allow a person to whom paragraph (2) applies, to work for the purposes of the fostering service unless that person is fit to do so. This paragraph applies to any person who is employed, other than by the fostering service provider, in a position in which that person may in the course of their duties have regular contact with children placed by the fostering service. For the purposes of paragraph (1), a person is not fit to work for the purposes of a fostering service unless that person— is of integrity and good character, has the qualifications, skills and experience necessary for the work they are to perform, is physically and mentally fit for the work they are to perform, and full and satisfactory information is available in relation to that person in respect of each of the matters specified in

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Requirement Due date

Schedule 1. (Regulation 20 (1)(a)(b)(2)(3)(a)(b)(c)) 24/10/2019

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Requirement Due date

The functions of the fostering panel in respect of cases referred to it by the fostering service provider are— to consider each application for approval and to recommend whether or not a person is suitable to be a foster parent, where it recommends approval of an application, to recommend any terms on which the approval is to be given, to recommend whether or not a person remains suitable to be a foster parent, and whether or not the terms of their approval (if any) remain appropriate— on the first review carried out in accordance with regulation 28(2), and 24/10/2019 Inspection report for independent fostering agency: True Fostering Limited 6 on the occasion of any other review, if requested to do so by the fostering service provider in accordance with regulation 28(5), and to consider any case referred to it under regulation 27(9) or 28(10). In considering what recommendation to make under paragraph (1), the fostering panel—

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Requirement Due date

must consider and take into account all of the information passed to it in accordance with regulation 26, 27 or 28 (as the case may be), may request the fostering service provider to obtain any other relevant information or to provide such other assistance as the fostering panel considers necessary, and may obtain such legal advice or medical advice as it considers necessary. The fostering service provider must obtain such information as the fostering panel considers necessary and send that information to the panel, and provide such other assistance as the fostering panel may request, so far as is reasonably practicable. The fostering panel must also— advise, where appropriate, on the procedures under which reviews in accordance with regulation 28 are carried out by the fostering service provider, and periodically monitor their effectiveness, oversee the conduct of assessments carried out by the fostering service provider, and

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Requirement Due date

give advice, and make recommendations, on such other matters or cases as the fostering service provider may refer to it. In this regulation “re recommend” means recommend to the fostering service provider. (Regulation 25 (1)(a)(b)(c)(i)(ii) (d)(2)(a)(b)(c)(3)(4)(a)(b)(c)(5))

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Requirement Due date

In particular:  Continue to review all assessments that have been approved by the panel and take action to ensure that no questions are left unanswered. Inspection report for independent fostering agency: True Fostering Limited 7

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Recommendations

 The registered person takes action to address any issues of concern that they identify or which are raised with them. (NMS 25.8)

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Recommendations

In particular, escalate further any unresolved educational issues for children and consider making the agency’s office more child-friendly.

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Recommendations

 The foster carer is given a copy of the child’s placement plan as soon as this is provided to them by the responsible authority. If provision of the care plan by the responsible authority is delayed, the fostering service follows this up with the responsible authority. (NMS 31.2) Inspection report for independent fostering agency: True Fostering Limited 8

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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: True Fostering Limited 9

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Independent fostering agency details

Registered provider: True Fostering Limited

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Independent fostering agency details

Registered provider address: Suite 3a Drake House, Drake Lane, Dursley, Gloucestershire GL11 4HH

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Inspectors

Sarah Canto, social care inspector Anna Gravelle, social care inspector Inspection report for independent fostering agency: True Fostering Limited 10 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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