SWAP Foster Care

Inspection report for independent fostering agency: SWAP Foster Care 1 SWAP Foster Care Social Work Assessment Partners Ltd 43–47 Kings Street, Bedworth, Warwickshire CV12 8NB Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

p.1

Information about this independent fostering agency

This privately run fostering agency providers short- and long-term foster placements and parent and child placements. At the time of this inspection, the agency was providing care for 55 children and one parent. The agency had 31 fostering households.

p.1

Information about this independent fostering agency

The agency has a suitably experienced manager, who registered with Ofsted in April 2023. She is in the process of completing her level 5 diploma in leadership and management for care services.

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 requires improvement to be good

p.1

good

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

p.1

good

Date of last inspection: 14 November 2022

p.1

good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

p.1

good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for independent fostering agency: SWAP Foster Care 2

p.1

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Many children experience positive outcomes as a result of living with their foster carers. For example, children have been supported to move on to adoption, return home to family members or to live independently. When children reach 18 years old, some stay with their foster carers under Staying Put arrangements and one young person, who is at university, returns to live with their foster family during the holidays.

p.2

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children enjoy positive relationships with their foster carers. They are happy and settled. Children receive consistent care and experience stability. For 25 children, they are matched to live with their carers long term and have lived with their foster carers for at least three years. Children approaching adulthood receive support to learn skills that they will need to live independently. Effective links with specialist projects run by children’s placing authorities are also used well to help prepare children for their next steps.

p.2

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children make good progress with their education from their starting points. They are supported by their foster carers, who link in well with children’s teachers to provide them with coordinated support. Children who have missed out on education previously are now making up ground with their learning. Children’s achievements are recognised and celebrated by their foster carers and the agency. This helps children to build their confidence and develop a positive attitude towards school and college.

p.2

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

When needed, foster carers benefit from bespoke training from health professionals to enable them to meet children’s specific health needs. Some foster carers have gone above and beyond to provide children with positive family experiences while living with complex health needs and disabilities. All children attend routine and specialist health appointments and are supported by their foster carers to be healthy.

p.2

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children enjoy a range of activities with their foster families and their friends. For example, children go horse riding, trampolining and to scouts, and they enjoy playing football and rugby, going to music concerts and on holidays with their foster families. These opportunities help children to develop socially, while having fun.

p.2

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Foster carers are positive about their experience with the fostering agency. A number of foster carers have been with the agency for many years and have a sense of family and belonging. Foster carers are well supported by their supervising social workers, sometimes exceptionally so. One carer described their supervising social worker as ‘brilliant, steadfast, knowledgeable, empathetic and caring’.

p.2

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Some foster carers say that respite care is not as available as it sometimes needs to be, and that the way respite is managed makes it feel like it is something to be discouraged. This does not help to ensure that when children need some time away Inspection report for independent fostering agency: SWAP Foster Care 3 from their foster carers, this is available and positively regarded in the right circumstances.

p.2

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Some children move on sooner than anticipated, experiencing unplanned endings. On one occasion, further consideration could have been given to the foster carers’ individual circumstances as part of the matching process. Not doing so contributed to the foster carers not being able to meet the children’s needs.

p.3

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

When concerns arise in respect of children’s safety, the agency responds promptly and appropriately. Foster carers and managers share information and work together with relevant professionals to protect children from the risk of harm.

p.3

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

Children who experience challenges with their peers in the community and in managing their use of the internet receive very good support. Effective work is undertaken with children to help them to rebuild their confidence, understand how to keep themselves safe and ask for help if needed. The agency has a Child Exploitation and Online Protection champion who delivers training to foster carers and provides individual support to carers and children when needed.

p.3

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

Safer caring plans and risk assessments are individual to each child. They set out strategies and guidance, which foster carers follow. This good practice helps foster carers to protect children’s welfare.

p.3

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

When children make allegations, safeguarding procedures are followed by foster carers and staff. Bespoke safety plans are implemented if needed and additional visits, including unannounced visits, are facilitated by the agency. These systems provide robust support and oversight, which help to keep children safe while concerns are investigated.

p.3

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

Foster carers receive relevant training to help them to understand and respond to risk, manage children’s behaviour and keep children safe from harm. Children rarely go missing from home. However, foster carers know what to do in the event that children do go missing from home. On the few occasions children have gone missing from home, carers have responded appropriately.

p.3

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

On two occasions, managers did not share relevant information about incidents that had occurred relating to foster carers with local authorities looking to place children with these foster carers. As a result, placing authorities were not aware of information, potentially of a safeguarding nature, to inform their decision-making. Action is being taken retrospectively to address this issue.

p.3

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

When foster carers transfer into this agency from another agency, aspects of the assessment process require improvement. Although the agency does use some information from the original assessment and provides an addendum report to bring matters up to date, they do not clearly evidence information such as applicants’ Inspection report for independent fostering agency: SWAP Foster Care 4 employment histories. As a result, for two fostering households there isn’t a clear audit trail detailing all previous employments for each foster carer.

p.3

good

Mangers regularly monitor the service and have established systems to enable them to do so. There is a wealth of information available. However, monitoring reports lack analysis and evaluation, and this does not help managers to identify potential patterns and trends in areas such as unplanned endings. In addition, it does not enable managers and staff to learn from things that happen. Shortfalls in the review and monitoring of the service limits the effectiveness of this activity and the development of the agency.

p.4

good

Fostering panel members are suitably vetted. They bring a range of experiences and receive training to help them to carry out their role. Panel processes are consistently followed and are timely. The fostering panel chair is suitably experienced and manages the meetings well to ensure that all members are able to share their views.

p.4

good

Professionals are positive about the agency and about the quality of care children receive. They say that overall communication is good and they are pleased with the progress children are making. One social worker said, ‘[Name of child] is absolutely thriving in the placement; he is like a completely different child. He is chatty, smiley, excited and so happy – the future looks bright.’

p.4

good

Managers and staff advocate strongly on behalf of children when necessary. For example, a supervising social worker was tenacious in their follow-up with a child’s placing authority in order to ensure that a school place was confirmed and that arrangements were in place before the child returned home to live with their parent.

p.4

good

Since the last inspection, two children have died, one unexpectedly and another from a life-limiting condition. Ofsted is assured about how managers have responded to these difficult and tragic circumstances, including the arrangements for the support of the foster carers and linked staff within the agency.

p.4

good

Staff are complimentary about the support they receive from the registered manager. Regular supervision and team meetings provide an opportunity to discuss case work as well as their professional development. Staff receive training which enables them to develop the skills and knowledge required to undertake their roles well. Inspection report for independent fostering agency: SWAP Foster Care 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, 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

The registered person in respect of an independent fostering agency must ensure that—

p.5

Requirement Due date

the welfare of children placed or to be placed with foster parents is safeguarded and promoted at all times. (Regulation 11(a))

p.5

Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that relevant information is shared with placing authorities to inform their decision-making when placing children. In addition, ensure that foster carers individual and changing circumstances are fully considered before new children are placed with them. 30 April 2024

p.5

Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that foster carers understand the nature and level of support which will be provided to them by the fostering service. In particular, arrangements for respite care. (Fostering services: national minimum standards, paragraph 21.2, page 42)  The registered person should ensure that regular monitoring of 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. (Fostering services: national minimum standards, paragraph 25.2, page 50)  The registered person should ensure that when an assessment is undertaken of a person who applies to become a foster carer, regulation 26 prescribes how the assessment must be carried out and requires the fostering service to obtain the information specified in Schedule 3 of the Regulations. In particular, ensure that

p.5

Recommendations

when foster carers are transferring into the agency from another agency, that information about past employment is recorded. (The Children Act 1989 Guidance and Regulations Volume 4: Fostering services, paragraph 5.29, page 49) Inspection report for independent fostering agency: SWAP Foster Care 6

p.5

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: SWAP Foster Care 7

p.6

Independent fostering agency details

Registered provider: Social Work Assessment Partners Ltd

p.7

Independent fostering agency details

Registered provider address: 51 Long Street, Bulkington, Bedworth, Warwickshire CV12 9JZ

p.7

Inspectors

Jackie Line, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for independent fostering agency: SWAP Foster Care 8 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.

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