Fusion Fostering South Central

Inspection report for independent fostering agency: Fusion Fostering South Central 1 Fusion Fostering South Central Fusion Fostering Limited Fusion Fostering Ltd, FF4, Cams Hall, Fareham, Hampshire PO16 8AB Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this independent fostering agency

Fusion Fostering South Central office was registered in June 2016. The current manager has been registered with Ofsted since April 2023. Fusion South Central office is part of the larger Fusion Fostering group.

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Information about this independent fostering agency

At the time of inspection, the agency had 17 approved fostering households providing care to 27 children across the south of England, living in short- and long- term placements.

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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: not applicable Inspection report for independent fostering agency: Fusion Fostering South Central 2

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The skilled foster carers strive to meet the children’s individual needs. Children’s carers listen to them and are attentive to their needs. Children say they feel safe and are looked after well by their carers. This is due to the strong bonds carers have built with the children and the good care that they provide. One child refers to their carer as ‘mum’ as they have lived with them for several years. Some children continue to live with their carers into adulthood under staying put arrangements.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The agency ensures good matching of children with their foster carers. Agency staff are careful to get as much information as possible to ensure that all risks are known and can be reduced before children move in. Carers say they never feel pushed into taking children that are not a good fit for them and their family.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Foster carers support children to pursue their interests. They encourage the children to partake in activities that they are passionate about. This has enabled children to learn new skills and build their confidence. The children appreciate the events and trips provided by the agency. They have enjoyed climbing activities, trips to theme parks and have enjoyed outings with the agency’s family support worker.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Carers support children’s education learning and development. Children benefit from having carers who are strong advocates for them. For example, one set of carers have been instrumental in making sure the large family group of children they are caring for very quickly got a school place when moving from a different county into their care. Consequently, these children are settled in school and making good progress. The agency celebrates and acknowledges children’s achievements by sending them vouchers and cards. Consequently, children feel proud of their achievements, especially as this has been recognised by others.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Some suitably trained social workers have started direct life-story work with children to help them understand and begin to make sense of their personal histories. Carers ensure that children’s heritage and identity are supported and celebrated. Children shared how they are being supported to attend spiritual and cultural activities they like going to. For example, one child’s carers sought out a church that offers services in the child’s native language. Consequently, this child has reconnected with their cultural community and has developed friendships with other young people from the same cultural background.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The agency thoughtfully considers the needs of children who foster. They can access all the same fun days and most activities that are offered to foster children. The ‘children of foster carers month’ is celebrated annually in October. Children of carers are sent personalised cards and vouchers. This approach ensures that the needs and role of foster carers’ own children are recognised and reaffirms that their contribution to fostering is valued. Inspection report for independent fostering agency: Fusion Fostering South Central 3 Children have a space to voice their views and opinions in the ‘Our Say’ group. Agency staff are currently supporting the children that lead this group to look at how they can increase their attendance and influence.

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

Fostering agency staff ensure that children’s risks and vulnerabilities are well understood by carers at the point that children move in. These risks are kept under review and mitigated as much as is possible. Foster carers follow children’s individual safety plans and support children to understand these as best they can. The foster carers act swiftly and appropriately to keep children safe, when they go missing from home or are involved in risky situations.

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

Staff develop individual behaviour support plans and risk assessments for each child, which are regularly updated. Carers understand the actions to follow when children’s risks escalate. For example, carers have worked closely alongside professionals when children have self-harmed. When risks have escalated, professional meetings have been held to discuss household stability to ensure the carer can continue to support the child and keep them safe.

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

Any concerns relating to children’s care and support are shared with relevant partner agencies and are robustly investigated. Records of these investigations are comprehensive. The agency presents any standards of care investigations and managing allegation investigation reports to panel. There is good use of panel and of the independent reviewing officer to provide an additional layer of scrutiny. The agency decision-maker shows professional curiosity. She looks at the evidence meticulously to ensure her decision-making about carers’ ongoing suitability is well informed.

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

Few complaints are received about the agency. Any complaints raised by children are taken seriously, thoroughly investigated and shared with the local authority. This ensures that the child’s voice is heard, and they are safeguarded.

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

The manager ensures concerns raised by professionals within the feedback provided for carers’ annual review are followed up. The manager advocates for children and challenges safeguarding partners when they fail to take action. On one occasion, a professional was not forthcoming about concerns a child had raised with them. The manager escalated this to the local authority safeguarding lead to ensure appropriate action could be taken.

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

It is not clear what safer care training young people who live in the fostering household have had, especially those who live under staying put arrangements and carers’ own teenagers and young adults. This potentially means that not all members of the fostering household understand the principles around safer caring.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Inspection report for independent fostering agency: Fusion Fostering South Central 4 The manager and deputy manager are aligned in the vision they have for the agency. They work well alongside the responsible individual and other senior leaders to provide continued stability and commitment to the agency. There is a well-defined organisational culture, which everyone embraces. One staff said, ‘I recommend people to work in this agency’.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The agency has a strong support offer for foster carers. Foster carers views are important to the agency, and they were consulted around the reshaping of the support offer following some organisational changes. The agency constantly strives to improve and has recently developed the support offer. Therapeutic support and a family support worker are now part of the support offer for children and their carers.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Safer recruitment processes are vigorous. The agency carries out their own disclosure and barring checks even if staff recruited have an existing check registered on the update service. This ensures that they have clear oversight of the status and changes of employee’s certificates.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager and staff benefit from good-quality support and supervision. This enables them to deliver an effective and responsive support to children and their carers. However, carers who foster jointly are not always seen together in supervision in line with the agency’s policy. This has not had any demonstrable impact on children but means there are potential missed opportunities for agency social workers to ensure that all carers are well supported and fully understand the fostering task.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Carers are provided with opportunities to develop their practice and have access to a wide range of training. They also benefit from carers’ forums and drop-in support groups. However, when carers transfer over to the agency from other fostering agencies it is not clear what comparable training they have completed. Therefore, this is not considered when planning carers’ individual development needs and has impacted on carers’ engagement and completion of their core training.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager maintains effective oversight of the service. She maintains good management oversight of any unplanned endings and has taken any learning from these to improve practice. The manager has worked well to bring carers and agency staff along the journey of organisational change. Carers have been given reflective space with the manager to discuss their experiences and challenges. There is a robust recruitment plan in place with a ‘whole agency’ approach to recruiting carers that is inclusive to all agency staff and carers. Inspection report for independent fostering agency: Fusion Fostering South Central 5

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Recommendations

 The registered provider should ensure that each approved foster carer’s supervision meetings have a clear purpose and provide the opportunity to supervise the foster carer’s work, offer support and a framework to develop their skills, and ensure the foster carer is meeting the child’s needs taking into account how risks are being managed. (Fostering services: national minimum standards, 21.8)  The registered provider should ensure that the fostering service provides appropriate training on safer caring for all members of the foster household, including young people of sufficient age and understanding, and ensures that foster carers understand how safer caring principals should be applied in a way which meets the needs of individual children. (Fostering services: national minimum standards, 20.9)  The registered provider should ensure that the foster carers’ personal development plan sets out how they will be supported to undertake training and

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Recommendations

development that is appropriate to their development and needs. (Fostering services: national minimum standards, 20.5)

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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: Fusion Fostering South Central 6

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Independent fostering agency details

Registered provider: Fusion Fostering Limited

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Independent fostering agency details

Registered provider address: Old Mill, Maltravers House, Petters Way, Yeovil, Somerset BA20 1SH

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Independent fostering agency details

Email address: dtucker@fusionfostering.co.uk

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Inspector

Karen Flanagan de Martinez, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for independent fostering agency: Fusion Fostering South Central 7 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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