Caring Hearts Fostering Ltd

Inspection report for independent fostering agency: Caring Hearts Fostering Ltd 1 Caring Hearts Fostering Ltd Caring Hearts Fostering Ltd Suite 105, Stanmore Business Centre, Howard Road, Stanmore HA7 1FW Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

p.1

Information about this independent fostering agency

The fostering agency’s statement of purpose states that it offers the following types of foster care placements: short term, long term, emergency, respite, bridging, parent and child, sibling, and placements for children with disabilities.

p.1

Information about this independent fostering agency

At the time of this inspection, the service offered placements to 34 children with 28 approved foster households.

p.1

Information about this independent fostering agency

The fostering agency is privately owned and has been registered with Ofsted since December 2017.

p.1

Information about this independent fostering agency

The registered manager has been in post since July 2023, and is suitably qualified and experienced.

p.1

Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

p.1

good

How well children and young people are helped and protected good

p.1

good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers good

p.1

good

The independent fostering agency provides effective services that meet the requirements for good.

p.1

good

Overall judgement at last inspection: requires improvement

p.1

good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for independent fostering agency: Caring Hearts Fostering Ltd 2

p.1

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Foster parents provide a high quality of individualised care to children. Foster parents, fostering social workers and managers know the children and their needs well. Foster parents and fostering social workers help children to settle into their foster homes. Consequently, children experience stability in their homes, from caring and nurturing adults.

p.2

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children make good progress from their starting points. For example, foster parents support children who have previously not attended school to achieve 100% attendance. In addition, children’s achievements, however small, are celebrated by foster parents and the fostering agency.

p.2

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Foster parents are strong and proactive advocates for children. They emphasised to inspectors that they are supported effectively by their fostering social workers. This ensures that children have access to the right support in promoting their physical, emotional and social well-being.

p.2

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Foster parents and the fostering agency provide children with positive and enriching leisure and social activities. These include horse riding, drawing workshops and holidays. The fostering agency organises participation events for children, such as a recent trip to a theme park. This means that they can meet other children and foster parents and have fun. Fostering social workers support foster parents to create ‘life journey’ journals. This means that children have a record of their positive experiences that they can refer to.

p.2

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The fostering agency gains children’s views, wishes and feelings in several ways. Fostering social workers spend time on their own with children when they visit the foster home. This gives children the chance to talk about anything that is on their mind. Managers arrange participation events to meet with children and they send out surveys. Children report on their experiences of foster care through foster parent annual reviews and their own looked after reviews. This combination of formal and informal opportunities indicates to children how important their views and opinions are to those that care for and support them.

p.2

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

One child wrote in their feedback for their foster parent’s annual review that the foster parent ‘created a nurturing and stable environment that aids me in my independence and other skills,’ and ‘enhanced my voice, so I am able to communicate my feelings and thoughts’ and is ‘helping with confidence.’

p.2

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The fostering service promotes ‘staying put’ arrangements where this is in the best interests of older children. Young people can remain with carers who know them until they are ready to move on or, in one young person’s case, while they complete higher level studies. This gives children stability as they grow towards independence. Inspection report for independent fostering agency: Caring Hearts Fostering Ltd 3

p.2

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

Foster parents, fostering social workers and managers understand individual children’s vulnerabilities well. Safety plans identify the risks for children, with appropriate strategies suggested to reduce the risk of harm. In addition, fostering social workers update safety plans when they identify new concerns. Children complete personalised safer caring plans with fostering social workers and foster parents. Consequently, children learn about how to keep themselves safe and who to approach if they feel unsafe.

p.3

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

Children do not regularly go missing from their foster homes. Managers maintain oversight of any such incidents. Managers and fostering social workers work with foster parents to ensure that prompt notification of missing-from-care or other incidents occurs. This helps safeguard children and ensures that relevant professionals act as needed.

p.3

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

The fostering agency provides foster parents with appropriate support and training. This includes techniques to de-escalate children’s distressed behaviour. Foster parents commented on the usefulness of the recent training focused on attachment. As a result, foster parents can engage more effectively with the children they care for.

p.3

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

The fostering agency offers foster parents one-to-one consultation with a clinical psychologist. This additional support enables foster parents to reflect on their responses to children’s behaviour or emotional distress. As a result of this support, one foster parent described their response to their child’s distress as being full of ‘thought, and kind,’ instead of being judgemental. During the inspection period, foster parents attended training on female genital mutilation. As a result, foster parents are better able to respond to children’s needs and understand diverse safeguarding issues.

p.3

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

Allegations against foster parents are a rare occurrence in this fostering agency. When allegations do occur, managers consult with the local authority designated officer appropriately. This provides an additional level of safeguarding assurance for children.

p.3

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers are knowledgeable and experienced. Staff and foster parents describe the registered manager as the ‘driving force’ within the agency. She provides clear leadership and direction. As a result, the fostering agency has achieved considerable progress in addressing shortfalls identified at the last inspection. Fostering social workers and foster parents describe leaders and managers as being child-focused in their approach.

p.3

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Approved foster parents said that they are well supported by the fostering agency. They are clear that they can approach anyone within the fostering service if they Inspection report for independent fostering agency: Caring Hearts Fostering Ltd 4 have an issue or concern. Prospective and newly approved foster parents describe being well prepared for the task of fostering. One family told inspectors that they experienced the fostering agency as ‘transparent and inclusive’ in their communication. This helps foster parents to ask for support when they need it.

p.3

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Annual reviews of foster parents offer a clear and robust process for the appraisal of foster parents’ performance over the year and consider ongoing suitability. The reviewing officer for foster parents is clear regarding their role in ensuring that foster parents can demonstrate their ability to provide consistent care to children. This adds to the safeguards to ensure that children are cared for by suitable carers.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The agency fostering panel is developing its role as an effective quality assurance mechanism for the agency. Panel members are very experienced childcare practitioners. Leaders and managers have reviewed fostering panel processes. They have also appointed a new agency decision-maker.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Inspectors identified discrepancies in two panel cases. One related to a lack of information to support a recommendation from the panel that was nevertheless endorsed by the previous agency decision-maker. The other involved the current agency decision-maker making a decision that did not correlate with the panel recommendation. The explanation for this change was not clearly recorded. There was no indication that these discrepancies put children at risk.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The staff team is stable and overwhelmingly reports being well supported by managers. Staff said that supervision and training are helpful as they provide an opportunity for them to reflect on their practice and work with children. Team meetings are a forum for business discussions and learning, for example addressing understanding of standards and regulations. However, appraisals of staff do not evidence that managers have considered the views of children as part of the process.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers have reviewed monitoring processes to ensure that there is effective oversight of day-to-day practice. However, there are a small number of shortfalls in the fostering agency’s own expectations for recording and issuing of documentation to foster parents. This includes foster carer agreements. This is not widespread but indicates that these expectations are not being consistently met by all staff.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers regularly receive feedback from foster parents, children placed with foster parents, and children’s placing authorities. However, this feedback is not included in the quality-of-care reviews completed by leaders and managers. Therefore, there is a lack of evidence that leaders and managers use consultation to improve practice.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Commissioning agencies’ feedback is positive about how the agency responds to placement requests. Since the last inspection, leaders and managers have been successful in renewing and extending commissioning partnerships. Inspection report for independent fostering agency: Caring Hearts Fostering Ltd 5

p.4

Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions that the registered person(s) must take to meet the Care Standards Act 2000, The Fostering Services (England) Regulations 2011 and the national minimum standards. The registered person(s) must comply within the given timescales.

p.5

Requirement Due date

If a fostering service provider decide to approve X as a foster parent they must—

p.5

Requirement Due date

enter into a written agreement with X covering the matters specified in Schedule 5 (the "foster care agreement"). (Regulation 27 (5)(b))

p.5

Requirement Due date

Specifically, the registered person must ensure that each foster parent receives a foster agreement that reflects accurately the foster parent’s current terms of approval. 2 January 2024

p.5

Requirement Due date

The registered person must maintain a system for—

p.5

Requirement Due date

monitoring the matters set out in Schedule 6 at appropriate intervals, and

p.5

Requirement Due date

improving the quality of foster care provided by the fostering agency.

p.5

Requirement Due date

The system referred to in paragraph (1) must provide for consultation with foster parents, children placed with foster parents, and their placing authority (unless, in the case of a fostering agency which is a voluntary organisation, it is also the placing authority). (Regulation 35 (1)(a)(b) (3)) 2 January 2024

p.5

Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that written minutes of panel meetings forwarded to the agency decision-maker (ADM) are accurate and clearly cover the key issues and views expressed by panel members and record the reasons for their recommendation. In addition, where the ADM amends recommendations, the reasons for these changes should be clearly recorded. (‘Fostering services: national minimum standards’, page 30, paragraph 14.7)  The registered manager should have an effective system in place to ensure that all records kept by the service comply with the service’s policies, to identify any Inspection report for independent fostering agency: Caring Hearts Fostering Ltd 6 concerns about specific incidents and to identify patterns and trends. Ensure that immediate action is taken to address any issues raised by this monitoring. (‘Fostering services: national minimum standards,’ page 50, paragraph 25.2)

p.5

Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that when staff have their performance individually and formally appraised annually and they are working with children, this appraisal considers any views of children the service is providing for. (‘Fostering services: national minimum standards,’ page 49, paragraph 24.6)

p.6

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: Caring Hearts Fostering Ltd 7

p.6

Independent fostering agency details

Registered provider: Caring Hearts Fostering Ltd

p.7

Independent fostering agency details

Registered provider address: Suite 105, Stanmore Business Centre, Howard Road, Stanmore HA7 1FW

p.7

Independent fostering agency details

Email address: omar.kadir@caringheartsfostering.co.uk

p.7

Inspectors

Colin Bent, Social Care Inspector Aneta Wasilewska, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for independent fostering agency: Caring Hearts Fostering Ltd 8 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.

p.7

Inspectors

If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 1231, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk . You may reuse this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence , write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk .

p.8

Inspectors

Interested in our work? You can subscribe to our monthly newsletter for more information and updates: http://eepurl.com/iTrDn .

p.8

Inspectors

T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/ofsted

p.8