Enhanced Foster Care

Inspection report for independent fostering agency: DMR Services Limited 1 DMR Services Limited DMR Services Limited 16 High Street, Aldridge, Walsall WS9 8LZ Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this independent fostering agency

DMR Services Limited is a small independent fostering agency. The agency was registered in November 2017. Its statement of purpose states that a range of placement types can be provided. This includes emergency, respite and short-break placements, parent and child placements, and short-term and long-term placements.

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Information about this independent fostering agency

At the time of the inspection, the agency was supporting six fostering households who were providing care to 10 children.

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Information about this independent fostering agency

The manager registered with Ofsted in November 2017.

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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 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: DMR Services Limited 2

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The agency delivers high-quality support services to foster carers. A strength of this agency is the wraparound support that is provided from experienced and skilled workers. Foster carers describe the staff team as going ‘above and beyond’ to provide support to them. For carers who live out of the area, support continues to be delivered seamlessly.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff deliver individualised and timely interventions that help to build the foster carers resilience and their skills to meet children’s complex needs. Specialist external support is made available when needed. This level of support directly contributes to placement stability for children. This is particularly notable for two children who, after experiencing multiple moves, are now experiencing a sustained period of stability with their foster carers.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

A major strength of the service is the investment that has been made to provide life story work to children. This prevents children waiting for the help that they need. This has enabled children to understand the significant events that have occurred in their lives and has supported them with their developing sense of identity. Alongside this, foster carers and children create meaningful memory boxes together as part of the children’s life story.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Unplanned endings are minimal due to careful matching processes. Foster carers are committed and skilled in meeting the children’s complex needs. One external professional described the care provided to two children as ‘impressive’. It was evident from observations that children have developed a strong sense of belonging and trusting relationships with their foster carers. Alongside this, the agency fully supports arrangements for children to spend time with their birth family when this is possible.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children make excellent progress in all areas of their lives and their achievements are celebrated. Foster carers support the children to participate in an extensive range of activities and they enjoy events facilitated by the agency. Children spoke about their talents and aspirations with pride and their self-belief has increased. This includes children learning to play musical instruments and participating in BMX biking.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Most children make progress educationally and attend suitable education provisions. One child spoke with pride about achieving the school prefect role. Foster carers and the supervising social worker value the importance of children’s learning and attend educational meetings. The agency has forged strong links with education provisions that informs support around the child. This has included positive partnership working to create a children’s guide for one child using their specific communication aid. Inspection report for independent fostering agency: DMR Services Limited 3

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

Foster carers benefit from a comprehensive training programme. Their personal development plans are up to date, and the supervising social worker is skilled at identifying additional training at an early stage. This helps to equip foster carers with the knowledge and skills that they need to meet a child’s specific needs safely. For instance, non-violent resistance training and restraint training has reduced risks effectively.

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

Children’s views are gathered regularly. Staff invest time with children and spend time listening to them. When there are concerns about a child’s care, managers respond promptly. The frequency and level of support delivered to foster carers and to the child is increased when needed.

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

When significant incidents occur, information is shared appropriately with partner agencies and there is a co-ordinated response to safeguard the child. The agency has been robust in their response to address a standard of care concern.

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

Foster carers and staff know the children extremely well. Foster carers discussed what to do to keep children safe, including online. In addition, foster carers provide detailed records about the medication given to children. However, the quality of safer caring plans is variable. While they are individualised and reviewed regularly, they do not always provide clear strategies for foster carers to address the vulnerabilities identified, or reflect changes to safer care arrangements that were discussed by some foster carers.

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

Staff recruitment processes are comprehensive. This helps to ensure that only suitable people are employed. Necessary checks of foster carers are completed prior to their approval. Health and safety checks are undertaken of foster carers homes, and again at their annual review, to ensure that their home remains a safe place for a child to live. All annual reviews have been completed within timescales.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The agency has experienced challenges in the recruitment of new foster carers. Managers said that they plan to develop their recruitment activities to ensure that sufficient foster carers are recruited and retained for the future. However, the agency intends to remain as a small fostering agency to ensure that the high-quality support and individualised approach that they provide is maintained.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The experienced registered manager leads and manages the fostering service effectively. They, and the responsible individual, provide comprehensive and effective oversight of the quality of care delivered. At times, this oversight is not well evidenced across records, including at times of incidents.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager is qualified and highly skilled to provide an effective supervisory social worker role. Visits to foster carers are regularly undertaken, Inspection report for independent fostering agency: DMR Services Limited 4 including unannounced visits. Supervision visit records show the interventions that are delivered, including appropriate challenge about children’s care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The quality of daily records received from foster carers is variable. Some are detailed but some records do not reflect the help and support that foster carers provide to the children. This is needed to identify any additional support at the earliest stage possible and to assist managers in their monitoring of the quality of care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

A diverse fostering panel provides an effective quality assurance function to inform the agency’s decision making about the suitability of foster carers. The quality of assessments and information made available to the panel is evaluated but there are not well-established systems in place to review actions taken to improve practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

A child-centred approach is central to the agency’s ethos and is evident across practice. Feedback received about the agency was overwhelmingly positive. Foster carers described being part of a ‘community’ and ‘one big family’. Staff described a supportive working environment and that continuing professional development opportunities are available to them. Inspection report for independent fostering agency: DMR Services Limited 5

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that children’s safety and welfare is promoted in all fostering placements. In particular, the registered person must ensure that safer care plans provide clear guidance to foster carers to address the vulnerabilities identified. (‘Fostering services: national minimum standards’, 4.1)  The registered person should regularly monitor 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. In particular, managers should record their oversight to show the actions that have been taken to improve the quality of care. (‘Fostering services: national minimum standards’, 25.2)  The registered person should ensure that information about the child is recorded clearly and in a way which will be helpful to the child when they access their files

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Recommendations

now or in the future. Children are actively encouraged to read their files, other than necessarily confidential or third party information, and to correct errors and add personal statements. In particular, daily records received from foster carers should reflect how they have helped and supported the child. (‘Fostering services: national minimum standards’, 26.6)

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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: DMR Services Limited 6

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Independent fostering agency details

Registered provider: DMR Services Limited

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Independent fostering agency details

Registered provider address: 16 High Street, Aldridge, Walsall WS9 8LZ

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Independent fostering agency details

Responsible individual: Joanna Mountford

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Independent fostering agency details

Email address: jo.mountford@dmrservices.co.uk

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Inspector

Louise Bacon, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for independent fostering agency: DMR Services Limited 7 and inspects 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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