Foster Care Associates Thames Valley

Inspection report for independent fostering agency: Foster Care Associates Thames Valley 1 Foster Care Associates Thames Valley Foster Care Associates Limited Wavendon Tower, Wavendon Business Park, Ortensia Drive, Milton Keynes MK17 8LX Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this independent fostering agency

Foster Care Associates (FCA) Thames Valley is a regional branch of a large privately owned organisation, Polaris. The agency provides emergency, short-term, long-term and parent and child placements for children of all ages up to the age of 18. The agency also maintains placements for those who have moved on to independence and remain with their foster carer. There are currently 53 fostering households and 58 children in placements.

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Information about this independent fostering agency

The agency was registered with Ofsted on 31 March 2007, and the manager was registered on 16 November 2022.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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outstanding

How well children and young people are helped and protected good

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outstanding

The effectiveness of leaders and managers outstanding

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outstanding

The independent fostering agency provides highly effective services that consistently exceed the standards of good. The actions of the independent fostering agency contribute to significantly improved outcomes and positive experiences for children and young people.

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outstanding

Date of last inspection: 7 November 2022

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Enforcement action since last inspection: none

Inspection report for independent fostering agency: Foster Care Associates Thames Valley 2

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outstanding

Children in the care of Foster Care Associates Thames Valley make exceptional progress while living with their foster families.

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outstanding

For most children, staff and foster carers carefully plan introductions and moves to foster families, where they are warmly welcomed and supported. Most remain with their foster carers for as long as they need. Several children choose to ‘stay-put’ into adulthood, with agency staff proactively planning to support these enduring relationships. When moves are part of the child’s agreed plan, staff and carers support children sensitively through the process of transition.

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outstanding

Children’s participation is a high priority for all. A comprehensive range of activities ensures that all children, including younger children and those with additional communication needs, have their voices heard. Children’s views regularly inform their individual plans and household reviews. They are routinely offered an advocate and an independent visitor. Regular surveys are completed with all children, including with children who foster, to enable better understanding of their well- being. The new children’s participation group, ‘We Are in It Together’, is positively influencing the questions posed to prospective carers at foster panel.

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outstanding

Children receive the help that they need to attend school and to have positive experiences of learning. Staff and foster carers act swiftly when potential worries arise. This ensures that appropriate plans and support are provided to children. Children are helped to manage important transitions in their education, such as starting secondary school or sitting exams.

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outstanding

Foster carers support children in developing their life skills and independence, with the agency regularly recognising and celebrating their achievements. An in-house AQA accredited assessor ensures that children gain formal qualifications, reflecting their individual skills, capabilities and progress.

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outstanding

Children benefit from a wide range of activities and experiences which enrich their lives. For some children, this includes going on holiday with their foster families.

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outstanding

Children’s health needs are well understood and met. Staff and foster carers work collaboratively with health professionals to ensure that children attend regular appointments and access specialist care if needed. They are encouraged to live healthy lifestyles. Bespoke health plans for specific conditions, such as asthma, are clear and are kept under regular review. Consequently, children are helped to be healthy or to receive appropriate treatment to manage ongoing conditions or illnesses.

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outstanding

Foster carers are highly committed to supporting children to maintain safe and meaningful relationships with people who are important to them. When brothers and Inspection report for independent fostering agency: Foster Care Associates Thames Valley 3 sisters are unable to live together, staff and foster carers are sensitive to their needs. They help to preserve family identity through creatively supporting family time, contributing to memory boxes, and nurturing children’s understanding of their heritage and culture.

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outstanding

Children’s plans identify and help to reduce potential risks. Plans are kept under regular review to ensure that they remain relevant and understood by everyone in the child’s network.

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outstanding

Supervising social workers know foster carers and children well. Records for babies and infants carefully capture their lived experience. Unannounced visits take place and are used appropriately.

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outstanding

Assessments of prospective foster carers are clear and are regularly scrutinised by managers to ensure that they are at the required standard. The agency routinely completes safeguarding checks with other agencies to minimise the risk of unsafe individuals caring for children.

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outstanding

Foster carers experience a highly supportive and collaborative relationship with the agency. Foster carers value the training and support available to them. They reported that they receive the help and support that they need when they request it.

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outstanding

The agency’s model of care is consistently understood and applied by staff and foster carers and is promoted through training, support groups and workshops. Foster carers and their networks are supported effectively to build confidence and skill in understanding children’s behaviours, helping children themselves to understand their emotions and to begin to recover from trauma.

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

Children feel safe and secure while living in their foster families. They have a variety of trusted adults with whom they can share their worries. They are regularly spoken to alone, which supports them to express how they feel.

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

Leaders have embedded a framework to give managers clear oversight of safeguarding concerns, well-being, quality and compliance. A wide range of information is triangulated in weekly all-staff meetings, which act as a forum for tracking actions and reflective problem-solving. As a result, the whole team collectively understands children’s experience and progress, supporting an informed, consistent and joined-up approach.

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

Safeguarding concerns are swiftly identified, reported and referred as required. When other incidents and accidents arise, foster carers report these promptly, while also ensuring that children are safe and that their needs are responded to.

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

Complaints are taken seriously and investigated, and complainants are notified of the outcome. Inspection report for independent fostering agency: Foster Care Associates Thames Valley 4 The agency refers and reports allegations promptly and in line with policy and procedures. Managers complete investigations as required. Once completed, the findings are shared with others appropriately.

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

Current arrangements for standards of care investigations do not allow for sufficient independent scrutiny and oversight. Investigations reviewed are variable, and weaker examples do not explore or identify a full understanding of facts and findings to appropriately inform outcomes and next steps. Leaders had started to identify this prior to this inspection and plan to make changes.

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

While household reviews are regular, inspectors identified one example where a significant change to household composition did not result in an update to a fostering assessment.

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

Foster carers are trained in the agency’s model and approach to behaviour management. Foster carers use a wide variety of strategies which support children to self-regulate and become calm. As a result, physical intervention has not been required.

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

A small number of children have gone missing from home. During these instances, foster carers actively seek and stay in touch with children. When children’s whereabouts are unknown, foster carers swiftly report and refer to others, sharing key information to assist in locating them.

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

Safer care plans provide clarity about how best to care for a child, with a focus on potential risks specific to children’s age, stage and abilities. Children are supported to take age-appropriate risks like learning to travel independently on public transport and interacting safely with others online. When additional monitoring devices have been necessary, assessments and plans have been shared with placing authorities to agree their use. However, for one older child, the device’s use had not been fully explained to them, nor was their consent obtained.

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

Staff and panel members are suitably vetted, trained and appraised, helping to ensure that these positions are filled with suitable and experienced individuals.

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

When concerns and challenges arise that are negatively affecting a child’s placement, collaborative meetings take place to explore and coordinate support, including work with foster carers to help them to use different strategies. The agency carefully reviews all placement endings to identify any key patterns or trends.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Leaders, managers, staff and foster carers show ambition and high expectations for all children in their care. Leaders are dynamic and creative, supporting children, Inspection report for independent fostering agency: Foster Care Associates Thames Valley 5 foster carers and others to flourish. The agency provides high-quality care in line with its statement of purpose.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Leaders are focused on achieving the best outcomes for children through continually reviewing and improving how they identify and meet the needs of children and foster carers. Leaders have acted on the previous recommendations which were set at the previous inspection in 2022, when the agency was judged to be outstanding.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The leaders’ service improvement plan clearly sets out their priorities for development. The agency has commissioned a review via their quality assurance service of their responses to issues, to help generate additional learning and improvements in practice. Staff are provided with regular opportunities to reflect on their practice, continually building on their existing experience, knowledge and insight.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The fostering panel provides appropriate oversight and scrutiny, with a recent return to face-to-face meetings being of benefit to foster carers. The agency is recruiting additional panel members to facilitate this and to provide a more diverse membership. Panel members have attended learning and development sessions to support them in their task, and some key development areas are being further embedded. The oversight of the agency decision-maker is effective in providing additional scrutiny.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Supervision of foster carers is regular and is focused on the needs of children and foster carers. For a very small number of households, where an additional carer also works full time, the frequency of contact from the agency is more variable. The agency has developed a network of support groups for carers and has listened to their feedback to create and refine further bespoke support and learning opportunities to enhance carer well-being and fostering practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Leaders and managers have encouraged staff to take on lead areas of strategy, policy and practice development, making a positive difference across the agency and to wider regional networks. This has made a significant and positive contribution to carers and children in relation to their well-being, education and health.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The workforce is largely stable and consistent. All staff who met with inspectors demonstrated commitment and motivation to children, carers and the ethos of the agency. Inspection report for independent fostering agency: Foster Care Associates Thames Valley 6

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that foster carers respect the child’s privacy, in a manner that is consistent with good parenting and ensure that the monitoring or surveillance is no more intrusive than necessary, having regard to the child’s need for privacy. In particular, the registered person should ensure that any CCTV system is operated within regulatory guidelines and subject to regular review and consultation with the children’s placing local authority. The regulations and guidance relating to CCTV are covered by the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA18). This legislation is regulated by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). (‘Fostering services: national minimum standards’, 3.5)  Reviews of foster carers’ approval should be sufficiently thorough to allow the fostering service to properly satisfy itself about their carers’ ongoing suitability to

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Recommendations

foster. (‘Fostering services: national minimum standards’, 13.8)  Approval of all foster carers should be reviewed within a year of approval, and thereafter whenever felt necessary, but at least annually. The review should consider whether the foster carer and their household continue to be suitable. The fostering service should make whatever enquiries it considers necessary to inform this judgement which may include checks in relation to any new members of the household. Specifically, it should take into account the views of the foster carer, any child placed and the responsible authority for any child who has been in placement during the previous year. In practice, the latter will mean obtaining the views of the social worker for any child in placement since the last review (regulation 28). (The Children Act 1989 Guidance and Regulations Volume 4: Fostering Services Chapter 5 – Approving and supporting foster carers,

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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: Foster Care Associates Thames Valley 7

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Independent fostering agency details

Registered provider: Foster Care Associates Limited

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Independent fostering agency details

Registered provider address: Malvern View, Saxon Business Park, Hanbury Road, Stoke Prior, Bromsgrove, Worcestershire B60 4AD

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Inspectors

Amanda Maxwell, Social Care Inspector Steve Bailey, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for independent fostering agency: Foster Care Associates Thames Valley 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.

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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