A copy of Ofsted Inspection Report of the Fostering Service.

The Executive Director of Children’s Services – Education, Early Help and Social Care, BfFC, submitted a copy of the Ofsted Inspection Report of the Fostering Service.

The inspection had taken place on 24 and 25 November 2020 and had been a virtual visit but, had been just as robust as an in-person inspection with 247 documents having been uploaded and shared with the inspectors over the two day period.  The inspectors evaluated the extent to which:

·         Children were well cared for;

·         Children were safe;

·         Leaders and managers were exercising strong leadership.

The inspectors had not identified any serious or widespread concerns in relation to the care or protection of children at the visit. 

The inspection found that children had been well supported by their carers through the pandemic and Foster Carers had helped children to understand and make sense of the world around them.  However, the information evidencing the care of children was not well reflected in written records or care reviews.  Foster Carers supported children to maintain relationships with their family and friends and there was good consideration or individual needs and wishes to ensure that time spent with family was child centred.  For some children there had been a negative impact on their well being and development where specialist therapies and support had been paused or delayed during the lockdown period.  Matching processes had improved through the development of more effective systems and better consideration of children’s needs.  However, there continued to be a high number of placement breakdowns.  While gaps in service provision to address children’s needs were identified, individual plans did not always thoroughly consider how to address these, particularly diversity issues.  Staff had carried out a review of children’s plans and had identified key contributing factors, although they had yet to implement effective strategies to improve placement stability and reduce placement breakdowns.  The newly developed Foster Carer profiles were child centred, helpful and informative and children could meet their carers before moving into the home, which helped them to settle in with their new foster families.

The report stated that children felt safe and secure while living with their Foster Carers and had a trusted adult they could confide in and seek help and advice from.  Foster Carers and staff also had a good understanding of risk and staff reported and responded promptly to safeguarding concerns.  Established systems were in place to ensure effective tracking and oversight of concerns, accidents and allegations but, identified actions were no consistently completed and Ofsted was not always informed of allegations that had been made against staff.  Some risks that had been identified within the matching processes and safer care plans were not thoroughly explored and not all risks that were identified included detailed or clear practical strategies, advice and guidance to support Foster Carers to be consistent in their response and management of risk.  Social workers and Foster Carers regularly discussed and explored risk and considered how to respond, but this was not consistently evidenced in plans.  Recruitment of staff had improved, and records now evidenced that all appropriate checks had been completed.

Leaders and managers had a good understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the service and a number of weaknesses that had been identified previously had been successfully addressed.  Work had been carried out to ensure that all Foster Carers were transferred to the new company but, further work was needed to ensure that all changes were embedded in practice and to develop and improve remaining areas of weakness.  Managers had focused on improving the culture of the company, although there was more to do to ensure that this change was embraced by all and although the current team was stable there had been a high turnover of staff in the current year.  Some Foster Carers had reported that on occasion the quality of communication between them and the company was poor, managers were aware of this and strategies and plans had been implemented to improve it.  There had been a high number of placement breakdowns in the current year and there were no formal processes in place to ensure that lessons could be learnt from these breakdowns to inform development or avoid reoccurrence.  Managers had stated that they intended to formalise and embed a process to follow when placements are nearing the end, this would involve children, carers and others to ensure learning was captured.  Staff and Foster Carers had been well supported through regular effective supervision, performance management, team meetings and training and Foster Carers had access to online training and for Foster Carers to complete their mandatory training.  The additional support provided by the out of hours service had been well received and the independent fostering agency committee was effective in ensuring that the company considered strategic issues and monitored the risk register.

The report set out the four statutory requirements that had to be complied with by 31 January 2021 together with a recommendation that the views of the child, the child’s family, social workers and independent reviewing officer be sought regularly on the child’s care, unless in individual cases this was not appropriate.

Resolved –

(1)     That the Ofsted Inspection Report of the Fostering Service be noted;

(2)     That Deborah Glassbrook, Executive Director of Children’s Services, Education, Early Help and Social Care, BFfC , and everyone in the Foster Care Team and the Foster Carers be thanked.