Caritas Care (Head Office)

Inspection report for voluntary adoption agency - Caritas Care (Head Office) 1 Caritas Care (Head Office) Caritas Care Limited 218, Tulketh Road, Ashton-on-Ribble, Preston PR2 1ES Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this voluntary adoption agency

Caritas Care is a voluntary adoption agency that operates in the North West, including Lancashire, Cumbria and Greater Manchester. The agency has been registered with Ofsted since 2009, although operated as part of the Diocese of Lancaster prior to this, being known as Catholic Caring Services. It has over 90 years of experience in operating an adoption agency.

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Information about this voluntary adoption agency

The agency provides domestic adoption services and adoption support services to children and adults. This includes birth records counselling for adopted adults. At the time of this inspection, the agency was providing services to 50 adoptive families; 24 who did not yet have an adoption order in place, and 26 who do have an adoption order in place.

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Information about this voluntary adoption agency

The manager of this agency has the relevant experience and skills necessary to lead the agency and has been managing this service since March 2024.

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good

How well children, young people and adults are helped and protected good

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good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers good

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good

The voluntary adoption agency provides effective services that meet the requirements for good.

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good

Date of previous inspection: 29 November 2021

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: outstanding

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for voluntary adoption agency - Caritas Care (Head Office) 2

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Overall experiences and progress of service users: good

The last few years have been a period of change for the agency. They have experienced a difficult time and have had to make some hard decisions. They are now in a period of recovery. Managers at the agency have spoken openly about the challenges they have faced and the actions they are taking to move forward in a positive way.

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Overall experiences and progress of service users: good

The agency makes efforts to recruit a diverse range of prospective adopters. They consider families who may have been turned away by other agencies and local authorities, assessing each family based on their individual merits. Adopters feel welcomed by the agency, with one describing them as, ‘Very open-minded, warm and competent'.

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Overall experiences and progress of service users: good

The assessing social workers involve children who are already a part of the family in their assessments. Assessing social workers speak with children to gauge their understanding of adoption and what it might feel like to have another child join their family. When professionals and adults make plans for introductions for new children to join the family, children already in the family are included in those plans. One birth child drew a picture to show inspectors, 'I love my forever family'. Most children who come to live with adopters from this agency have positive experiences of living in their adoptive families.

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Overall experiences and progress of service users: good

Adopters value the preparation training that the agency delivers. Adopters have found the groups to be inclusive and welcoming, with positive group discussion. Adopters felt comfortable sharing personal experiences in their preparation training with no judgement from social workers or other participants.

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Overall experiences and progress of service users: good

Training opportunities continue for adopters after they are approved and after they have adopted their children. Adopters are offered training to cover a wide variety of topics that are relevant to the needs of the families the agency serves. The team regularly reviews the current needs of families to ensure that its training plan reflects changing needs.

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Overall experiences and progress of service users: good

When children are living with their families under an Adoption Order, they benefit from ongoing access to the Therapeutic Intervention Service. This team offers a range of services to meet the varied needs of adoptive families. The team is trained in Therapeutic Life Story Work to ensure that children have a full understanding of their identity and their journey through care.

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Overall experiences and progress of service users: good

The Therapeutic Intervention Service works directly with both children and adoptive parents, depending on the assessed needs of the family. They will work with families for as long as their support is needed, offering emotional support and advice as well as regular intensive support. One child who has been working with a post-adoption support worker for the last six months said, 'She doesn't judge when you want to Inspection report for voluntary adoption agency - Caritas Care (Head Office) 3 share something. She's really good for me and my family. She's been working with my parents too, but I don't know what they talk about. I just know it's better now.'

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Overall experiences and progress of service users: good

The Therapeutic Intervention Service supports children to have more positive experiences in education. When schools struggle to understand the barriers that children face in education, this service offers training and risk-management plans to provide the school with strategies to support the child. This helps more children to remain in a school that can better meet their needs.

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Overall experiences and progress of service users: good

The agency offers adopters the opportunity to meet and speak with other adopters through regular support groups. These are offered both in person, virtually, and in the evenings to ensure that they can meet the varied needs of working parents. In recent months, adopters have been offered the opportunity to attend support groups that are held jointly with foster carers. This provides adoptive parents with the knowledge and strategies of other carers who may have more experience of children's varied needs. Similarly, adoptive families have recently been invited to join foster families on children's days out to increase their informal networks and support.

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Overall experiences and progress of service users: good

The agency continues to offer positive services to adopted adults who wish to access their records. Adopted adults receive a swift response when they first enquire, and a similarly efficient service when they are provided with a summary of their history. One adopted adult said that they, 'felt very informed' and came away feeling less anxious about the process. This work is carried out in a sensitive manner.

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good

Prospective adopters typically have a positive experience with this agency. Adopters comment on the consistent communication they receive from their social workers, and the quality of support they enjoy throughout the assessment. One prospective adopter said, 'their caring and committed nature to the children and families they deal with shines through'. While most families share positive experiences, a small number of second-time adopters have shared that the quality of support in their second assessment is not as high as it was in their first assessment.

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good

The agency supports prospective and approved adopters to meet the needs of children who typically wait longer for families. This includes children over the age of 3 years, sibling groups, children with additional needs and children from minority ethnic backgrounds. In addition, the agency encourages their adopters to consider caring for children early on in their care journey to minimise future moves for children. One adopter who took a child with an uncertain care plan said, 'In and amongst a lot of involvement from professional services, this agency has been the most positive, they are a big part of the reason we have got so far'.

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good

The agency works well with other professionals and supports their adoptive families through the matching and placement of children. Children's social workers say that Inspection report for voluntary adoption agency - Caritas Care (Head Office) 4 agency social workers communicate effectively and helpfully contribute to meetings. This ensures that all professionals and adoptive families have relevant information about the needs and vulnerabilities of children.

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good

The agency contributes to adopters’ understanding of children's needs. However, prior to children moving into their new homes, the agency do not offer robust or specific support based on the identified needs of the children and family. This is a missed opportunity to ensure that families have clear plans in place to enable them to understand how they will be supported by the agency that knows them best. The agency has recently recognised this gap and has begun taking steps to address this. However, this has not yet been embedded into practice.

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good

The agency monitors safeguarding concerns to help ensure that children who are living with their families remain safe. When safeguarding incidents occur before the Adoption Order is made, the agency notify their regulator to enable appropriate oversight. The post-adoption service monitors smaller welfare concerns, as well as safeguarding concerns, to ensure that worries are tracked from an early stage.

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good

When serious incidents occur after children are adopted, the agency offers support to the family. Similarly, the agency offers support to families when they no longer feel able to care for the children living with them. However, the agency has missed opportunities to reflect on their practice proactively when these incidents occur. This has meant that the agency has not yet identified learning or implemented changes following these serious incidents. This does not facilitate a learning culture within the agency.

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good

The agency recruits staff and panel members who have relevant experience and understand the needs of the children who will be coming to live with their families. However, safer recruitment processes are not consistently followed, particularly when recruiting panel members. This does not ensure that all people employed by the agency are safe to work with vulnerable children. This was a recommendation at the last inspection and has been reissued again.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

This agency is led by experienced and knowledgeable managers, who are both approachable and respected by their staff team. The management team values the ideas and contributions of staff and prioritises staff well-being. As a result, the staff team feel better able to support the families they work with.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff are provided with protected supervision time to explore their own well-being, discuss their families, and seek feedback from their supervisor. The team also benefits from regular service meetings to talk about things on a wider level. Managers have recently introduced Learning Circles to enable staff to come together and reflect informally on a relevant training topic, and to bring case discussions to benefit from the varied experience of others. As a result of continued support and development opportunities, the staff within the agency are knowledgeable and skilled in their roles. Inspection report for voluntary adoption agency - Caritas Care (Head Office) 5 The management team monitors the recruitment and assessment of families, and present adopters early to local authorities to enable adopters to be considered for children who are waiting for a family. The management team meets regularly to

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

oversee the service provided. Complaints do not occur regularly. When these do happen, managers respond quickly, even when these are informal in nature.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The adoption panel benefits from members who have a diverse range of experience. Panel is led by an experienced chair who ensures that all members contribute their views. The panel explores relevant points when considering the approval of adopters, and panel minutes reflect this discussion. However, individual views of panel members are not recorded. This is particularly relevant when panel members disagree on the recommendation as this should contribute to the decision of the agency decision maker. The agency decision maker notes the recommendations of panel but does not evidence the rationale for how they came to their own independent decision. Inspection report for voluntary adoption agency - Caritas Care (Head Office) 6

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Recommendations

 The manager regularly monitors all records kept by the agency to ensure compliance with the agency'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. This should include reflection and learning even after an Order has been granted. ('Adoption: national minimum standards', page 73, 25.2)  The service user knows, and receives written information, about the service they are to receive; what the service is designed to achieve; what is involved in the particular service provision and how the service will be monitored to ensure that it is delivering the intended outcome. This means that all adoptive families should know the specific post-adoption support that they will receive from the agency for each child, and have a copy of this plan in writing. ('Adoption: national minimum standards', page 45, 15.3)

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Recommendations

 The decision maker makes and records a considered decision that takes account of all the information available to them, including the recommendation of the adoption panel. To better enable the decision maker to make an informed decision, panel minutes should reflect the views of individual panel members, particularly when there are dissenting opinions. ('Adoption: national minimum standards', page 50, 17.10)  The agency can demonstrate, including from written records, that it consistently follows good recruitment practice, and all applicable current statutory requirements and guidance in the recruitment of staff, volunteers and persons on the central list. This includes Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks. All personnel responsible for recruitment and selection of staff are trained in, understand and operate these good practices. ('Adoption: national minimum standards', page 61, 21.2)

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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 Voluntary Adoption Agencies and the Adoption Agencies (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2003, the Adoption Agencies Regulations 2005, any other relevant legislation, and the national minimum standards. Inspection report for voluntary adoption agency - Caritas Care (Head Office) 7

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Voluntary adoption agency details

Registered provider: Caritas Care Limited

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Voluntary adoption agency details

Registered provider address: Caritas Care Limited, 218, Tulketh Road, Preston PR2 1ES

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Inspectors

Aislinn Cooper, Social Care Regulatory Inspector Michelle Greenhalgh, Social Care Regulatory Inspector Inspection report for voluntary adoption agency - Caritas Care (Head Office) 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 children looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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