Integrated Fostering Services Ltd

Inspection report for independent fostering agency: Integrated Fostering Services Ltd 1 Integrated Fostering Services Ltd Integrated Fostering Services Ltd Unit 3, Pavilion Business Centre, 1st Floor, 6 Kinetic Crescent, Enfield, Middlesex EN3 7FJ Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this independent fostering agency

This is a privately owned independent fostering agency based in Enfield. The fostering agency was first registered with Ofsted in Oct 2009. The manager registered with Ofsted in May 2018.

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Information about this independent fostering agency

The fostering agency provides the following foster care placements to children: emergency placements, respite and bridging, short-term and long-term, parent and child, placements for children seeking asylum and targeted care placements. A number of young people continue to live with their foster families in staying put arrangements.

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Information about this independent fostering agency

At the time of the inspection, the agency had 74 approved foster families and the fostering agency was providing placements for 93 children. 12 children were spoken with during the inspection.

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Information about this independent fostering agency

A monitoring visit was carried out on 31 May 2023. The report is published on the Ofsted website.

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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. Inspection report for independent fostering agency: Integrated Fostering Services Ltd 2 Date of last inspection: 21 March 2022

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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: Integrated Fostering Services Ltd 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children receive high quality care that meets their individual needs. They make very good progress from their starting points and have positive experiences. The longer children remain living with their foster families, the greater progress they make. The agency can demonstrate the difference they are making to children’s lives.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children share trusted relationships with their foster families, and they benefit from secure, safe placements. Children develop a deep sense of belonging and they feel loved. The care and help children receive helps them to overcome previous experiences of neglect and trauma.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Foster carers are prepared and supported well to ensure that children make positive progress in relation to their health, education and emotional, social and psychological well-being. They receive effective additional support through the agency’s family support service and children’s champions. This promotes placement stability; unplanned endings are rare.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are treated with dignity and respect with their unique identity needs met. Matching considerations are robust, and this includes the pairing of children with individual family support workers, whose skills and personality match children’s needs and individual personalities. Children who are new in placement are welcomed sensitively and they settle in quickly. There are several children’s guides for different age ranges and written in a number of different languages . However, managers are yet to devise a children’s guide for the use of primary school-aged children.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s views are taken into account and help to shape the agency’s development. Children are supported to participate in making decisions about their lives. Some young people who have left care are now employed by the agency. They engage positively with children to help them share their views about living with their foster families.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s learning outcomes improve the longer they remain living with their foster families. Staff, foster carers and the family support workers in particular, are keen advocates who ensure that children’s educational needs are met. There is effective communication between staff and education professionals. Children enjoy a range of social, education and recreational opportunities, largely organised by their foster families. Some foster carers and staff feel that children would benefit from an increased number of trips and events planned by the agency.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are in good health. Children’s health needs are identified well, and they attend regular health care appointments. Disabled children and those with complex health needs, including children with emotional health support needs, receive specialist support. Foster carers complete bespoke specialist health care training to ensure that children receive high-quality, safe care. Inspection report for independent fostering agency: Integrated Fostering Services Ltd 4 Prospective foster carers contacting the agency feel valued and welcomed. Foster carers appreciate the ‘family feel’ of the team. A foster carer said, ‘Support is amazing. Staff remind you of the progress and achievements of your children, even when you don’t recognise it for yourself. It offers reassurance that you’re doing good, making a difference. It’s motivating.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Foster care assessments are comprehensive, analytical and they highlight well applicants’ suitability to care for children. Foster carers say that the greatest strength of the agency is the nature and level of support they receive which is excellent. This helps them to cope with the additional demands of fostering on their family life and promotes the stability of placements. Most children have lived with their foster families for several years.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children benefit from their foster carers’ professional and supportive relationships with the agency. Foster carers also work effectively with placing authorities, other professionals and parents. This supports children’s positive experiences and their continued progress.

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

Children say that they feel safe living with their foster families. Foster carers are well prepared and very well supported to protect children from harm. They respond promptly if there are concerns about children’s welfare. Staff support foster carers to manage critical situations effectively, such as child sexual exploitation and child criminal exploitation. Foster carers address any unwarranted behaviour by providing clear and consistent boundaries. This contributes to children feeling secure and safe.

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

Staff are proactive in safeguarding children. This includes regular and effective contact and planning with local authority social workers, guardians, designated officers and health and education professionals.

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

Staff and foster carers work effectively to manage incidents of children missing from care, promoting children’s safe return. This results in the reduced frequency of missing episodes. There are proactive and effective working relationships with the police.

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

Staff are mindful of having groups of children from certain differing ‘post codes’ and the potential risk of harm due to gang affiliation. They give careful consideration to which groups of children can attend which planned events, to ensure that this risk is minimised.

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

Risk assessments are not sufficiently vigorous. These do not consistently identify all known risks to children, and these assessments do not always highlight actions and strategies needed to help reduce risks. Some child specific safe care plans are missing from case files.

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

The recruitment, assessment, preparation and training of foster carers have a strong focus on keeping children safe. Foster carers adhere to agency safeguarding policies Inspection report for independent fostering agency: Integrated Fostering Services Ltd 5 and protocols. Unannounced visits are routinely conducted at least once per year, more frequently if there are any particular concerns.

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

Staff share with appropriate agencies any allegations or suspicions of harm. Investigations are handled fairly and promptly and in accordance with statutory guidance. Children are supported and protected throughout. The agency makes sensitive and carefully assessed decisions to determine if children need to be placed in other homes if a carer is subject to an allegation or complaint.

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

The vetting and recruitment of staff is insufficiently embedded in recruitment practices. Confirmation of applicant’s qualifications and some updated Disclosure and Barring Service checks are not evidenced on staff files. Foster carers’ homes are safe, welcoming and secure, providing a comfortable environment for children.

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good

Leaders and managers prioritise the needs of children and make child-centred decisions, particularly in matching foster carers with children. Leaders and the staff team are passionate and committed to promoting good outcomes for children. Managers are highly visible to all stakeholders. They know their children and, equally, children know who the managers are.

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good

Leaders and managers are ambitious for children and have high expectations for what all children can achieve. They ensure high standards of care. However, management oversight of some aspects of the service’s functioning is not sufficiently robust. This specifically relates to risk assessments, children’s safe care plans, foster carers’ personal development plans and the accuracy of foster carers’ agreements. Despite these records and plans having a key role in promoting children’s wellbeing, they are not wholly accurate and effective, and they do not fully reflect work being completed with children and their foster families.

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good

Leaders and managers demonstrate some understanding of the agency’s strengths and weaknesses. The agency has a development plan, contingency plan, and a workforce development plan. However, these plans are at times vague and not sufficiently detailed or SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time focused). As a result, development plans are not fully effective in driving service improvement and helping to enhance the progress and experiences of children.

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good

Foster carers are very well supported to ensure that their children make good progress from their starting points, across all aspects of their development. This is because leaders and managers have a clear understanding of the progress that children are making in respect of the plan for them.

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good

The fostering panel promotes safe, secure and stable placements. It carries out a rigorous quality assurance function and promotes thorough assessments. Inspection report for independent fostering agency: Integrated Fostering Services Ltd 6 Staff work collaboratively together, which helps to provide consistency and stability for foster carers and children’s placements. The agency has invested in the professional development of the staff team. Managers are effective in retaining staff, and routinely have students, some of whom subsequently become employed by the agency. Staff morale and job satisfaction are high. A staff member said ‘I know it sounds odd, but it’s a joy to come to work. I can’t wait for Mondays, wondering what has happened to our children over the weekend.’

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good

Currently managers are supporting an apprentice to complete their social work qualification. Other staff have been in post for a significant length of time. This promotes positive working relationships with foster carers and results in well- supported placements.

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good

Staff training opportunities are excellent and the agency’s induction process is effective in preparing staff for their roles. Staff say that managers are interested in their performance and their general well-being. Managers are reported by staff as being visible and available to the entire staff team. Staff feel extremely well supported and they receive very regular formal supervision, and other unplanned guidance sessions as needed. However, records of staff supervision are not consistently evidenced on files. This does not confirm how any staff development needs are being addressed.

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good

Managers acknowledge ongoing difficulties that staff and foster carers face in using the agency’s IT and recording systems. This is currently under review with significant system changes scheduled.

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good

Managers’ relationships and communication with professionals are effective. This promotes good support to children and encourages their positive experiences and continued progress. Inspection report for independent fostering agency: Integrated Fostering Services Ltd 7

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

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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)). This relates to the accurate recording of risk assessments and the completion of child specific safe care plans. 01 January 2025

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure there are clear and effective procedures for monitoring and controlling the activities of the service. In particular that managers devise effective development, contingency and workforce development plans. (‘Fostering services: national minimum standards’, 25.1)  The registered person should ensure that subject to the child’s age and understanding, the fostering service provides a children’s guide in a way that is accessible. In particular, that a guide is devised for primary school aged children. (‘Fostering services: national minimum standards’, 16.3)  The registered person should ensure that children take part in a range of activities including leisure activities and trips. (‘Fostering services: national minimum standards’, 7.2)  The registered person should ensure that the fostering service has a record of the recruitment and suitability checks which have been carried out for those working

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Recommendations

for the fostering service which includes; updated DBS checks and confirmation of relevant formal qualifications. (‘Fostering services: national minimum standards’, 19.3)  The registered person should ensure that they regularly monitor all records kept by the service to ensure compliance with the service’s policies. This relates to staff supervision records, foster carers’ personal development plan’s, and the accuracy of foster carer agreements. (‘Fostering services: national minimum standards’, 25.2) Inspection report for independent fostering agency: Integrated Fostering Services Ltd 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: Integrated Fostering Services Ltd 9

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Independent fostering agency details

Registered provider: Integrated Fostering Services Ltd

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Independent fostering agency details

Registered provider address: Unit 3 Pavilions Business Centre, 6 Kinetic Crescent, Enfield, Middlesex EN3 7FJ

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Inspectors

Sandra Jacobs-Walls, Social Care Inspector Angela Reid, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for independent fostering agency: Integrated Fostering Services Ltd 10 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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