Capstone Foster Care

Inspection report for independent fostering agency: Capstone Foster Care 1 Capstone Foster Care Capstone Foster Care (North) Ltd 1st Floor Longford House, Hall Street, Heywood, Lancashire OL10 1DP Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this independent fostering agency

Capstone Foster Care (North) is part of a privately run national fostering agency. It has offices in Heywood, Bradford and Barnsley. The agency offers a range of foster placements, including long-term, short-term, short breaks, parent and child and therapeutic foster care placements for children from birth up to the age of 18.

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Information about this independent fostering agency

At the time of the inspection, the agency was supporting 84 children and 62 fostering households.

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Information about this independent fostering agency

The manager registered with Ofsted in December 2021.

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Information about this independent fostering agency

The inspection involved both on-site and off-site activity. Children and foster carers were spoken to during the inspection.

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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

Date of last inspection: 7 November 2022

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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 independent fostering agency: Capstone Foster Care 2

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The majority of children in this agency have lived with their carers for a number of years and enjoy living in their foster families. Foster carers often view the children they care for as ‘part of the family’. Most children who move on from their foster family do so in a positive way in line with the plan for their care.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

There has been a small number of cases where children have not experienced the care and nurture they deserve in their foster families. Leaders and managers have taken immediate action to keep children safe and minimise the impact on children. However, the long-term implications of these experiences for children remain unknown.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Foster carers support children to maintain links with the people who mean the most to them. Foster carers and staff in the agency work flexibly to support family time arrangements for children to ensure that children remain safe while spending time with the people they love. Foster carers support children to understand and explore their religious and cultural identities.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children and foster carers benefit from education professionals within the agency who support children with their educational attainment. Educational leads in the agency also support children’s schools to better understand and respond to children’s needs. This helps to bridge the gap when barriers to learning are identified.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The fostering agency regularly seeks feedback from children to understand what support would benefit them. The agency has employed youth ambassadors from the care-experienced children living in their foster families. These ambassadors contribute to children and carer events, as well as interviews for potential staff for the agency.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Foster carers provide children with vast opportunities to try different activities and visit new places in the world. The agency provides groups and events for children and carers to build relationships and enjoy something different. One child said of one of the children’s groups, ‘I like it. You can just meet other people and make new friends.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

When children struggle with their emotions and behaviours, the agency delivers enhanced packages of support to provide therapy directly to the child and to help carers think about the child’s presentation through a therapeutic lens. There have been times when the placing authority for a child has not been willing to fund this additional support, at which times the agency has covered the funding to ensure that the child’s home remains stable. When children have had to move on unexpectedly, the agency has continued to support some children to access therapeutic support.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

When children leave the care of the agency, they can apply for discretionary funding to cover costs of attending university or moving into their own home. The agency’s Inspection report for independent fostering agency: Capstone Foster Care 3 care leavers’ trust has funded items for young adults such as furniture, laptops, white goods, driving lessons and rental deposits. This funding is available to care leavers across the country, regardless of whether they have been cared for within the agency or externally. This helps to reduce children’s social exclusion and disadvantages and enhance their life chances while promoting independence.

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

Children are seen regularly by staff in the agency and are typically provided with the opportunity to speak to adults away from their foster carers. Staff in the agency take children out into the community at times and take children to activities, which provides additional opportunities for children to talk to safe adults if they have worries.

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

Safe care plans identify key risks for children and families and provide strategies to keep everyone in the household safe. They are updated regularly to ensure that they reflect the current experiences of the child and family.

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

Social workers in the agency provide thorough assessments of the suitability of prospective foster carers. Social work analysis is robust, and key considerations are explored. This is bolstered further with strong scrutiny from an experienced independent panel with a range of backgrounds and perspectives.

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

Foster carer training is of a good standard and meets the development needs of carers. Foster carers enjoy a balance of online and face-to-face training, which allows carers the flexibility to attend training that fits in with their busy days. The agency seeks the views of foster carers to understand what training would be useful for them. When carers request additional training to meet the needs of the children they care for, the agency provides this.

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

When children go missing from home, they receive a quick and effective response to ensure their safety. The agency communicates well with other professionals to work together in the best interests of children. Managers have oversight of missing incidents to identify patterns and trends. Where carers have been unfamiliar with the process they should follow, the agency has supported them and reviewed their responses.

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

Carers rarely restrain the children they care for. When incidents have occurred, these have been reviewed by social workers and, if needed, additional safeguarding professionals in the agency. When shortfalls in carer practice are identified, these have been addressed with additional training and oversight.

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

Supervising social workers and managers in the agency work well with other professionals in the best interests of the children. When required, staff in the agency will challenge others to ensure that children are receiving the support they need. Leaders and managers attend regular risk management meetings, which helps to keep cases of concern at the forefront of senior managers’ awareness. Inspection report for independent fostering agency: Capstone Foster Care 4 When children make allegations of abuse against their foster carers, the agency responds quickly to ensure that children remain safe while concerns are investigated. When criminal charges have been made against foster carers, the agency has acted to de-register the foster carers in order to safeguard children. However, when evidence has not been found to demonstrate whether allegations are true, the agency has not always followed its own policy to seek independent scrutiny and

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

There have been two cases identified in which discussions and decision-making about allegations appear to focus on the needs of the adult rather than safeguarding the children. In these cases, immediate action was taken as described above, to keep children safe while investigations were completed. However, when the outcome did not substantiate the allegation, decisions were made to reduce carers’ anxieties rather than considering that children may still be at risk. Additionally, when the agency has stated actions to safeguard children, such as increasing unannounced visits to families, these have not always been followed through.

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

The agency has an intention and desire to learn from serious cases. However, it is agency practice to wait until all investigations are concluded before completing a learning review. This has led to delays of, in one case, over two years before learning is considered or implemented into practice. This leaves children at risk if there is learning required to improve practice. There has been minimal learning or reflection discussed with the team throughout the period in which concerns have been raised about different families.

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

Most staff employed in the agency have full checks completed before they join. However, there has been one case in which an audit identified gaps in employment history almost 18 months after the worker joined the agency. Five months later, these have still not been addressed. This has not enabled the agency to ensure that all staff are safe to work with vulnerable children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager is experienced and has the skills and knowledge to lead the agency. Leaders and managers are aware of the strengths and areas of improvement in the agency. They are keen to take learning on board when this is identified.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff feel well supported by the registered manager, as well as by senior leaders. Staff describe leaders and managers as approachable and available for advice and support. Foster carers know that there will always be someone in the agency who knows their family, even if their supervising social worker is away. This provides foster families with continuity of care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers prioritise the well-being of their staff team and recognise the emotional impact their role can have, particularly through more challenging times. Social workers benefit from exceptionally low caseloads, which provides them the time they need to personalise their support to each family. Inspection report for independent fostering agency: Capstone Foster Care 5 Staff are supported to continue their professional development. As well as training courses of their choosing, supervising social workers also complete the same training courses as their foster carers, to ensure that they can support the carers to implement learning. Additionally, all supervising social workers have completed training in level 1 of Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy to better support foster carers to meet the needs of children who have experienced trauma.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Management oversight of practice is mixed. In many cases, managers sufficiently support supervising social workers to provide the right level of support to families. Team managers attend challenging meetings to support their supervising social workers, and at times, co-work more challenging cases. However, in at least one case, a team manager failed to recognise that a supervising social worker had not documented their visits to foster carers for a full 12-month period. This meant that the records provided, leading up to a period where serious allegations had been made, could not have been fully accurate. This was not clearly challenged by the registered manager.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The agency benefits from an internal quality assurance team that completes case audits and internal inspections to improve practice in the agency. However, the team has not always identified shortfalls in practice, such as those identified above in management oversight. Inspection report for independent fostering agency: Capstone Foster Care 6

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Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions that the registered person must take to meet the Care Standards Act 2000, The Fostering Services (England) Regulations 2011 and the national minimum standards. The registered person 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))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, the registered person must ensure that when consistent concerns arise, these are looked at as a whole. 18 October 2025

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Requirement Due date

The fostering service provider must prepare and implement a written policy which—

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Requirement Due date

is intended to safeguard children placed with foster parents from abuse or neglect, and

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Requirement Due date

sets out the procedure to be followed in the event of any allegation of abuse or neglect. (Regulation 12 (1)(a)(b))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, the registered person must ensure that allegation policies are followed and the service follows through on intended safeguarding actions. Additionally, decisions around the management of allegations must be child focused. 18 October 2025

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Requirement Due date

The fostering service provider must not—

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Requirement Due date

employ a person to work for the purposes of the fostering service unless that person is fit to do so.

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Requirement Due date

For the purposes of paragraph (1), a person is not fit to work for the purposes of a fostering service unless that person—

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Requirement Due date

is of integrity and good character. (Regulation 20 (1)(a) (3)(a))

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that at the time staff are employed by the agency, a full employment history is 18 October 2025 Inspection report for independent fostering agency: Capstone Foster Care 7 provided, together with a satisfactory written explanation of any gaps in employment.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must maintain a system for—

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Requirement Due date

improving the quality of foster care provided by the fostering agency. (Regulation 35 (1)(b))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, the registered person must ensure that opportunities to learn from significant events are taken at the earliest possible time to ensure that children are kept as safe as possible, as quickly as possible. 18 October 2025

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that the manager regularly monitors 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 must be taken to address any issues raised by this monitoring. (‘Fostering services: national minimum standards’, 25.2)

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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 Fostering Services (England) Regulations 2011 and the national minimum standards. Inspection report for independent fostering agency: Capstone Foster Care 8

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Independent fostering agency details

Registered provider: Capstone Foster Care (North) Ltd

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Independent fostering agency details

Registered provider address: Wootton Chase, Wootton St. Lawrence, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG23 8PE

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Independent fostering agency details

Responsible individual: Debbie Tomlinson

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Independent fostering agency details

Email address: enquiries@capstonenorth.co.uk

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Inspectors

Aislinn Cooper, Social Care Regulatory Inspector Michelle Greenhalgh, Social Care Regulatory Inspector Carrie Mayes, Social Care Regulatory Inspector Inspection report for independent fostering agency: Capstone Foster Care 9 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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