Plymouth Fostercare Statement of Purpose

Introduction
Aims and objectives
Principles and standards of care
Services provided
Support to foster carers
Keeping children safe
Complaints
Staff and organisational structure

Introduction

We believe that most children’s needs are best met within their own families. However, we recognise that this is not possible for some children and in such cases we will endeavour to find high quality local placements within a family setting. Plymouth Fostercare has been established to provide such alternative care arrangements and offers alternative family environments for children and young people up to 18 years old, either on a temporary or permanent basis.

The principles underpinning Plymouth Fostercare are the Children Act 1989 and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. We are governed by a set of national minimum standards for fostering services. As such we are regulated and inspected by the Commission for Social Care Inspection.

As part of that legislation, we are required to produce “a clear statement of the aims and objectives of the fostering service and of what facilities and services they provide”. This statement of purpose must outline the vision of the service, its structure, the identified needs and our policies and procedures. This is updated annually and the current version was approved in December 2006.

A children’s guide is available for all young people fostered through our service and includes details of our service and information for young people to help them get the best out of their care, which includes how to access an advocate and how to make a complaint.

If you have any comments about the fostering service please contact us direct.

You can also contact the Commission for Social Care Inspection.

Aims and objectives

Our Children’s Services' vision states that:

We want all our children to live and grow, achieve and exceed in their hopes for the future.

To enable us to do this will require all Plymouth services to work together.

The fostering service supports and contributes to this mission by providing an effective, efficiently managed, high quality foster care service within available resources, to meet the needs of children as identified through the stages of assessment planning and review, and to aim to ensure the best possible outcomes for children in foster care.

The fostering service has a key role in supporting Plymouth City Council as corporate parent for children who cannot live with their own families and for whom it has parental responsibility.

We uphold the right of every child to grow up in a stable and loving family environment. We recognise that a child’s best interests are usually met within their birth family or extended family. Mindful of this we provide services to keep children at home or reunite children with their families at the earliest appropriate opportunity.

Where a child or young person cannot live with their family, we aim to provide high quality care in a family setting.

The fostering service is working towards the five outcomes for children as set out by the government in ‘Every Child Matters: Change for Children’

• Be healthy
• Stay safe
• Enjoy and achieve
• Make a positive contribution
• Achieve economic well being

We make an important contribution to the Council’s overall performance agenda.

Core aims

• to meet the requirements of the Fostering Service Regulations 2002, Children (Leaving Care) Act 2000 and accompanying schedules 1 to 8
• to meet the National Minimum Standards for Fostering Services and other good practice standards
• to have in place a recruitment strategy, which ensures that a range of foster placements is available to meet the needs of all children requiring foster care and to develop any identified gaps in recruitment
• to target recruitment to those prospective foster carers most likely to meet the needs of looked after children, including those in need of short break care (respite)
• to work closely with the independent fostering agencies to ensure a range of placement choice
• to ensure that prospective foster carers from all backgrounds are welcomed without prejudice regardless of ethnic origin, faith, age, sexual identity, gender, disability, background, marital or employment status and considered on their individual merits
• to ensure that the recruitment process is respectful, fair and timely
• to ensure that the preparation process prepares foster carers as well as possible for the task of caring for looked after children
• to ensure that foster carers are supported and supervised in their task of caring for looked after children
• to engage in a child-centred matching, introduction and placement process
• to develop working partnerships that are inclusive of children and young people; their families; foster carers; child care social workers; and colleagues in other agencies including Health, Education and alternative providers as appropriate
• a commitment to ongoing training and learning of foster carers and supervising social workers within the service

Core objectives

• to provide high quality care in a family setting which enables children and young people to develop, explore and reach their full potential
• all foster placements will respect and promote children and young people’s racial, cultural, faith/religious, sexual identify, gender and linguistic backgrounds
• to recruit more foster carers from black and ethnic minority backgrounds so that we can offer appropriate placements to children and young people
• to inform future recruitment strategies by an analysis of current and future needs of relevant children in need
• to develop provision for a short break (respite) service
• to continue to provide a high quality service that values diversity
• to ensure that applications to become a foster carer are processed in a timely manner from the point of contact to approval at fostering panel, as appropriate
• to ensure that all foster carers, including family and friends, are aware of both the role and support function of supervising social workers
• to ensure that that staff across the integrated Children’s Services Department work together to provide the best possible service that is child-centred and supportive of families and foster carers
• to provide a smooth, transitional service for young people moving into adulthood
• to review and update polices, procedures and appropriate processes to ensure they meet statutory requirements and reflect best practice
• to develop and maintain a quality, comprehensive training programme for foster carers and supervising social workers within the service that provides generic learning as well as specific learning relevant to individual children’s needs

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HERE Principles and standards of care

Our work is underpinned by the following standards:

• children are best cared for in a stable and caring family setting which encourages and promotes continuing links with their own family and community
• children have the right to be safe, secure and protected. We have a clear policy against corporal punishment, including smacking, slapping, shaking and all other humiliating forms of treatment or punishment
• children have the right to be listened to and treated equally and fairly. We will actively engage children and young people in decisions affecting them and in the general operation of our services
• every child is valued for who they are. We will make every effort to provide children with suitable placements and carers will support and promote a child’s sense of identity, self respect and diversity
• children’s growth and development will be safeguarded within a robust care planning cycle. Foster carers, supervising social workers and children’s social workers will work together in partnership to enable children to reach their full potential
• we value the work foster carers do and the contribution they make to the lives of children and young people. Foster carers are part of the professional network who support and protect the child
• we will provide appropriate levels of support and supervision. We are committed to the ongoing professional development of carers and will review training provision on a regular basis
• we will make every effort to retain children in the same school

For further information, please see our page on the principles underpinning the service.

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Services provided

This section outlines the services currently provided by Plymouth Fostercare.

We provide support to mainstream foster carers and specialist provision, including support to children with complex or specialist needs, family and friends carers and private foster carers. Supervising social workers provide assistance in maintaining placements through the recruitment, approval and training of new foster carers and the ongoing training, support and review of existing carers.

Foster placements (including emergency placements)

Plymouth Fostercare offers placements for children and young people of all ages, either on a temporary or permanent basis. At any one time there are approximately 164 approved foster carers supporting 255 children and young people.

Emergency placements are carefully monitored to ensure that they do not progress beyond their agreed time span.

Specialist carers

Children and young people with particularly challenging behaviour and complex needs are offered placements with specialist carers. These carers are paid a fee in addition to fostering maintenance allowances and are entitled to respite breaks. Enhanced support is provided through Children and Adolescent Mental Health Services and Education.

Family and friends carers

Friends or family members sometimes come forward to act as foster carers to specific children and young people. At any one time there are approximately 42 family and friends carers supporting 51 children. Financial support is offered to these carers and they are subject to the same assessment and approval process as all other foster carers. We have recently offered 1.5 full-time-equivalent staffing posts for dedicated support to family and friends carers.

Children with special health needs

We offer placements to children with special health needs. At present we support a small number of carers dedicated to this vulnerable group.

Respite care

We offer a range of respite foster placements. These are offered to support children to remain with their family or main foster placement. We are working to increase the number of respite or short term break carers for children with special health needs to provide vital support to their families.

Permanent foster placements

Children and young people are sometimes cared for in permanent foster placements. It may be that they cannot return home to their families for very serious reasons, or it may not be appropriate for them to be adopted. Children and young people in permanent foster care are usually, but not always, subject to Care Orders.

Private fostering

We are continuing to develop our services for private foster carers and map the level of need across the city to ensure the right level of support is provided. Private fostering is subject to quality assurance via the fostering panel as necessary.

Support to foster carers

Recruitment and approval process

Prospective foster carers from all backgrounds who can offer children a stable home will be welcomed without prejudice. They will be treated fairly and with respect and kept informed throughout the process.

The following provides an overview of our recruitment and approval process. From initial enquiry the normal recruitment process should take approximately six months. We are currently undertaking a needs analysis of looked after children to identify future needs and inform the recruitment process.

1. Initial enquiry
2. Telephone questionnaire
3. Initial visit
4. Skills to Foster preparation course, which feeds into the The British Association of Adoption and Fostering (BAAF*) Form F Assessment
5. Plymouth Fostering Panel - approval or non-approval
6. Recommendation to Assistant Director/Agency Decision-Maker
7. Final approval

* The British Association of Adoption and Fostering (BAAF) acknowledges best practice tools for assessing foster carers based on evidence.

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Training for foster carers

We recognise that fostering has become increasingly demanding and complex. We are committed to providing good quality training that is accessible and relevant to all our foster carers. Training is viewed as an important element of support to foster carers and comprehensive pre and post approval training is available on an ongoing basis.

Training is provided to:

• help foster carers become better at doing their job
• improve knowledge, develop and refine skills
• establish an explicit, positive framework of values, which promotes equality of opportunity
• encourage foster carers to reflect and look at the effects of discrimination in all parts of the community, recognising that they care for children, many of whom face discrimination as a part of everyday life
• ensure that all foster carers are competent and confident in safe caring and in protecting children from harm
• help foster carers to promote the health and education of children and young people

Foster carers are encouraged to take responsibility for their own professional development. This is practically supported through the creation and updates of individual training profiles as part of annual review. Children and young people have the opportunity to feedback their views about their carer to the foster carers annual review.

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Support for foster carers

We value the work foster carers do and the contribution they make to the lives of children and young people in their care. Appropriate support for foster families is vitally important to a successful placement.

We provide creative and flexible support arrangements for children and young people and their foster carers. Identifying and ensuring the necessary level of support occurs when a child or young person and foster family are ‘matched’ at the placement planning stage. This support is then monitored and adjusted throughout the placement.

Our arrangements include:

• supervision and support from a qualified and suitably experienced supervising social worker
• frequent visits and regular telephone contact from the supervising social worker
• an allowance for the child that covers the cost of caring for them. The Fostering Allowances and Other Payments booklet is updated annually and distributed to carers
• a comprehensive post-approval training programme
• access to respite care when assessed as needed
• access to support groups and development of groups for family and friends carers
• access to help from the Plymouth Looked After Children in Education team to support foster carers in negotiating with schools and promoting children and young people’s educational needs
• therapists from Number 11 (part of Children and Adolescent Mental Health Services) who provide expert guidance and support to foster carers of children and young people who are experiencing serious emotional difficulties. Individual therapy is offered where appropriate
• the Children's Action Support Team (CAST) to provide planned and flexible support.

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Review of foster carers

We have a detailed procedure for completion of reviews of foster carers, which reflects the statute law, regulations, National Minimum Standards and good practice guidance.

Typically this will involve an annual review, which follows an appraisal format, assessing the carer’s competencies and training needs. However, our procedures outline situations that could prompt an early review.

Listening to foster carers

Our Department of Children’s Services are currently developing a user engagement strategy that will encompass consultation with foster carers and other significant people. Feedback about the quality of service they receive forms part of the annual foster carer review.

Keeping children safe

We work hard to ensure that children in foster care stay safe and are aware of their rights. The right to be safe, secure and protected and the right for adults to listen and for young people to be treated equally and fairly are fundamental principles.

We have a robust system for checking prospective carers’ backgrounds and their suitability to care for vulnerable children. Elements of child protection and how to provide a safe caring environment are reinforced throughout assessment, approval and training for foster carers.

We have a clear policy against corporal punishment including smacking, slapping, shaking and all other humiliating forms of treatment or punishment. We also have clear guidelines for the acceptable use of sanctions within the home. All complaints against carers are treated seriously and are subject to Department of Children’s Services’ Complaints and Representations Procedure.

All allegations that carers have abused or ill treated a child are subject to Child Protection procedures, in compliance with the Children Act 1989. The supervising social worker will continue to offer support to the foster carer through any process of investigation into an allegation or complaint.

Foster carers are trained to recognise incidents of bullying and work with children and significant people such as their social worker, teachers or family to resolve any problems.

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Listening to children and young people

The matching document seeks to take into account the views of young people and their families when identifying a suitable placement.

Children and young people’s views about the standard of their care are sought as part of the statutory review process. As standard practice, reviews are shared with supervising social workers.

Children also have direct feedback into the foster carer’s annual review about the quality of service they receive and any issues they may have.

On a wider scale, we are looking closely at how we listen to children and their families and involve them in changes to the services we provide. Our most recent survey - Your Voice 2004 - identified positive experiences among children placed with Plymouth foster carers, especially about the standard of care.

Complaints

The Department of Children’s Services believes that service users, their carers and their families have the right to express their views and make complaints, suggestions or representations about the services we arrange and deliver, and that by doing so we can improve quality and effectiveness.

Suggestions and complaints are viewed as a positive means of ensuring the quality of service is reviewed, both at a local level and through the formal complaints procedure.

A complaint is a verbal or written expression of dissatisfaction or disquiet. It may be about the organisation, about the implementation of decisions, about the quality or appropriateness of services, or their delivery or non-delivery.

Representations include enquiries, suggestions and statements about such matters as the availability, delivery and nature of services and will not necessarily be critical.

The complaints procedure is provided to all staff and foster carers, and is readily available on request. It describes how to make a complaint, does not restrict the issues that may be complained about and specifies how they are handled. Information is also provided on other ways to complain where appropriate. The complaints procedure is accessible to people with a disability or sensory or learning impairment and to those whose first language is not English.

Children have access to an independent advocacy service in accordance with the “Get It Sorted” regulations.

Between 1 November 2005 and 31 October 2006 12 complaints were made about the fostering service. 10 complaints were resolved at Stage One of the procedure and two are ongoing. For further information or advice about the Complaints and Representations procedure please call the Customer Relations Team.

Staff and organisational structure

A list of all Plymouth Fostercare staff and their qualifications, fostering panel membership and organisational charts of Children's Services and Plymouth Fostercare, are available to foster carers on request from your supervising social worker.

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