DONCASTER CHILDREN'S SERVICES TRUST
FOSTERING SERVICE
2014/2015 Annual Report
Purpose of the Report
The annual Fostering Service Report meets the requirements of the Fostering
Services (England) Regulations 2011 (Regulation 35) and Fostering Services:
National Minimum standard 25.7
Regulation requires that the 'executive side of the agency' receive written reports
on a quarterly basis on the management, outcomes and financial state of the
fostering service. That these reports assist the board to monitor the management
and outcomes of the service and to satisfy themselves that the provider is
complying with conditions of registration.
The report will inform Elected Members, Senior Managers and decision makers
about key outcomes in service provision, identify any issues of concern and
outline plans for improvement to the quality of service provision. The report may
also be of interest to service users, staff and colleagues from other agencies.
The report provides information about the activity and outcomes achieved in
2014-15 by the service and plans for the year 2015-16.
Alongside receiving the Annual Report, the Board and Elected Members are also
asked to give executive approval to the Statement of Purpose for Fostering
Services, which is updated each year. The Statement of Purpose is attached.
The annual report informs Elected Members about:• National developments in fostering
• Activity, performance and developments in the Fostering Service in 2014-15.
• Future plans for the Fostering Service in 2015-16.
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National developments and historical context
The Children and Young Persons Act 2008 (CYPA 2008) fulfilled commitments
made in the White Paper, ‘Care Matters: Time for Change’ in imposing a duty on
local authorities to find sufficient, appropriate fostering accommodation in the
local area. Our sufficiency plan for 2015/18 will be published in 2015. The 2008
Act recognised that outcomes for children are profoundly affected by a lack of
stability in placement provision. Stability for looked after children is improved
through positive placement matching to meet the child's individual assessed
needs.
In 2010 new Guidance and Regulations for Care Planning, Placement and Case
Review were introduced, which has a number of implications for Fostering
Agencies, notably greater expectations around placement stability for children
and a strengthened role for Independent Reviewing Officers.
In 2011 new Fostering Service Regulations came into force in response to the
consultations undertaken with children and young people. These regulations
revoked and replaced the Fostering Service Regulations 2002.
In addition, new National Minimum standards were introduced in April 2011,
which built upon the original standards introduced in 2009 and which underpin
Ofsted inspections of fostering services. The new standards reflect key
amendments to practices as a result of changes running through the new
guidance and regulations.
Fostering recruitment and retention are a key government priority area and the
DfE are administering an innovation fund to support creative partnership working
between the public and private sector. The fostering service successfully bid for
innovation funding in 2014 and completed a partnership research project in May
2015. As a result of this work we were invited to join a DfE funded 'Mockingbird'
pilot and we are also part of the Sheffield led South Yorkshire Regional pilot. We
will continue to work on innovative partnership approaches in the next year.
In October 2014: children's social work services were migrated to the Doncaster
children's services trust. The trust is a company limited by guarantee and reports
to an executive board with an independent chair and representation from the
Local Authority.
As the fostering service was no longer a Local Authority service the service was
required to register as an Independent Fostering Agency (IFA).
Inspection
The Fostering Service is required by regulation to be inspected by Ofsted. As the
fostering service is now registered as an IFA the service will be independently
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inspected as such. Regulation requires that the inspection will take place within
12 months of registration as a new service.
Under the new Single Inspection Framework (SIF), The Children's social work
service commissioned by the Local Authority and delivered by the Doncaster
Children's Services Trust will be inspected within a single inspection for children's
services. Children's cases will be tracked through all services and at least three
children will be identified who are fostered by Doncaster Children's Services
Trust foster carers. Judgements will be made based on how well all work
together to promote positive outcomes for our children. There will be no separate
judgement for the fostering service.
Doncaster’s most recent fostering service inspection was in May 2010 and we
received an overall rating of ‘Satisfactory’ with an individual rating of ‘good’ for
‘Helping children to be healthy’ The outcome of the inspection was reported to
Elected Members and the report published by Ofsted on their website.
The inspection identified 11 recommendations.
Good progress has been made in terms of these recommendations. The
inspection regime has changed considerably since 2011 and the service has
developed a comprehensive action plan to achieve 'Good' in bothe the SIF and
IFA fostering inspection.
Agency Activity
Recruitment
As at 31 March 2015 there were 148 in-house foster carers and 22 approved
Connected Persons foster carers including those approved under Regulation 24
of the Fostering Services (England) Act 2011, which allows children to be placed
for a short period of time with people with whom they have a connection whilst
the foster carer is fully assessed.
Despite the current climate and against national trends, Doncaster Council
continues to be successful in the recruitment of foster carers with 29 new
households being approved to foster last year, 22 mainstream foster carers and
7 connected persons foster carer households In addition 9 assessments were
completed on connected people who were granted a special guardianship order
rather than become approved foster carers.
A number of actions were taken in 2013/14 to support the higher level of
recruitment activity and further increase capacity,
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four experienced Supervising Social Workers within the Fostering Team
now have a specific role in recruitment, assessment and training of foster
carers.
A number of independent assessors have been recruited to work directly
with Doncaster MBC. This supports a flexible and speedy response to
assessments, increasing the workforce at times of high demand
The Fostering Service has introduced a new Fostering Network ‘Skills to
Foster' assessment tool to replace the existing BAAF form F format and
improve analysis in assessment.
Assessments are quality assured by the workers respective line manager,
and further scrutinised by the Agency Advisor to Panel prior to submission
to panel.
Feedback from the Fostering Panel chair (and panel members) has also
been facilitated via a joint Fostering Service: supervising social workers
and panel members development day. This has resulted in a gradual
increase in overall standards.
These actions have been consolidated in 2014/15. An Advanced Case
Practitioner role was created to take a direct lead on the recruitment service and
drive improvement.
Recruitment of good quality foster carers will continue to be a service priority. A
www.fosteringindoncaster.org.uk website has been developed and both facebook
and twitter are used to maximise internet publicity.
Doncaster Children's Services Trust led 7 IFA'S in a cooperative DfE funded
research project. Further detail on this may be found under DfE funded projects.
A targeted recruitment strategy is in development for 2015/16. The strategy will
focus upon foster carers who can support sibling groups, older children and
those with higher levels of need.
De-registration of foster carers
As in the previous year, carers who no longer met quality standards were
deregistered from the service.
During 2014/15: 21 foster carer households were de-registered. The national
average annual de-registration rate is 13% and this figure equates to 12.3%.
Although in line with national averages this figure is worthy of further analysis.
4 were of connected people foster carers who had approval for specific children
and subsequently took out special guardianship orders. All these children would
have been in the care of the local authority were it not for support to take out a
special guardianship order. In addition 2 mainstream foster carers resigned after
taking out SGO or adoption orders
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1 foster carer who only provided short breaks care converted to direct payments
and no longer required registration
2 were as a result of concerns about quality of the placements. Remedial action
to support the foster carers to improve their practice had been attempted and
insufficient progress identified.
4 foster carers resigned following lifestyle changes which meant they were no
longer available to foster
7 were retirement through age or ill health
1 resigned after one placement when the couple felt they had not fully anticipated
the impact of fostering on their lives. A review of the assessment confirmed this
had been fully explored. There had been some concerns in the assessment
about commitment which had been addressed as far as possible.
No foster carer moved to another Local Authority or an independent fostering
agency.
Placement statistics and analysis
The number of children in care had increased over recent years from 458 on 31st
March 2011 513 on 31st March 2014. In 2015 numbers in care reduced to 489
on the 31st March this represents an increase on the lowest figure of 465 in
January 2015 but shows an overall steady reduction. As a proportion of all
children in care, the number of children in foster placements has consistently
increased from 60.26% in March 2011 to 76.42% in April 2015.
Number of CIC
Number of
Foster
Placement
as a
percentage
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31/03/11 31/03/12
458
515
31/03/13
505
31/03/14 31/03/15
489
513
276
326
339
367
376
60.26%
63.30%
67.13%
71.54%
76.42%
Placement Stability
Chart 5 shows that too few looked after children in Doncaster have been in the
same placement for at least two years. Our performance is poor against both
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regional, national and statistical neighbour averages, putting us in the bottom
quartile for this indicator
Chart 6 shows that the number of children with three or more placements in a
year has been reducing significantly in recent years but Trust performance is still
behind comparators.
Together this data shows that whilst there are fewer instances of children being
placed inappropriately and the placement breaking down within a few months,
there are also substantial numbers of placements that break down before two
years.
More work needs to be done to better understand when and why these
placements break down. This analysis will form part of the work plan for 2015/16.
Resource Maximisation
Due to the high volume of children coming into care, independent providers
continue to provide a key resource. In addition, the needs of some children
dictate the need to access solo or specialised placements. Wherever possible,
placements are sought within or nearby to Doncaster Council district and links
with school, leisure activities and contact with family and friends maintained.
A weekly resource panel oversees and considers all requests for a placement.
The fostering team liaises with the placement service daily. All resource requests
for foster care placements are sent to the placements service. The placement
service forwards all to the Trust fostering service as a preferred provider, only
forwarding to other providers within the White Rose Framework if no suitable in
house placement is available. Placement matching is taken seriously and
children are not matched simply to a vacancy, however this approach ensures
appropriate maximisation of in-house placement opportunities.
A full review of the sufficiency plan and needs analysis is in progress and this will
ensure recruitment is effectively targeted to meet identified need
Fostering panel
Fostering Panel Meetings continue to take place with the Fostering Panel Chair,
Panel Advisors, Agency Decision Maker, Service Managers and Team Managers
to facilitate an overview of both panel and service activities and improvements.
The Panel chair is annually appraised by the Head of Service, Children in Care.
Panel members are also appraised by the panel chair and panel advisor.
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The Fostering Panel membership has remained very stable throughout 2014/15
and there is every prospect this will continue.
Service Developments
Staffing
The fostering team has been fully staffed with permanent staff members since
September 2012. Recently two experienced social workers have left the team to
seek professional development elsewhere, their posts will be recruited to as soon
as possible; there have been considerable informal interest in these positions
and we do not anticipate difficulty in filling the posts. The team has a mixture of
experienced fostering social workers and enthusiastic more newly qualified
workers. They have risen well to the challenges of service improvement and
remain positive and committed to the task.
The previous service manager for fostering and adoption left the service for new
challenges in 2014. The fostering team manager; who has experience of working
at a senior management level was appointed into an interim position of service
manager in May 2014 and was successful in being appointed to the new
permanent post of Service Manager; placements service in December 2014. This
post combines management of fostering, adoption and children's homes at a
service manager level and supports integration of all in house placement
provision.
There is a considerable level of expertise within the team and recruitment to both
the team manager and advanced case practitioner roles have been made from
within the team. This has ensured stability and consistency at a time of great
change at a service level.
The fostering staff team support service improvement and development in many
ways. Several operational working groups have been established to drive service
improvement including: improvements to foster carer supervision; development
of a new safe in care format and development of improved recruitment and
selection procedures. Team meetings and development days provide further
opportunities to develop and refine working practice. Individual staff members
take on service leads in key areas, for example: training; drug and alcohol
support; sexual exploitation work and children's consultation. Further specialist
leads will be developed.
Two key posts: the fostering IRO post and panel advisor post have been filled by
permanent staff after a number of years of agency staffing. Both the IRO and
panel advisor are experienced social workers and managers who were already
working in Doncaster and have been able to contribute well to service
development.
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Foster Carer Reviews
In February 2014, the oversight of the fostering IRO function moved to the
Safeguarding and Standards service in order to ensure true independence. An
IRO was appointed from within the service.
Unfortunately the IRO took sick leave in May 2014 and did not return to her post.
An interim IRO was appointed and most reviews were conducted in time.
Organisational issues for both IRO's resulted in some reviews going out of
timescales and many being presented late in panel. The safeguarding and
standards service appointed 1.5 FTE IRO'S to take over this function in January
2015. The two IRO's have worked closely with the fostering service and panel
advisor to address these issues and the system is now operating smoothly.
All review paperwork and systems have been reviewed. Foster carer reviews are
now operating efficiently and effectively with appropriate levels of challenge
some administration errors remain and reviews are often held without the full
compliment of reports, including contributions from children. The services are
working closely together to resolve these.
The IRO's work closely with the fostering service to improve practice.
Consultation with foster carers, children who foster and fostered children
A very active foster carer representatives group has met with the service on a
monthly basis for over 2 years. The group have now formed as an independent
foster carer association, with the support of the service and guidance from the
national independent foster carer association coordinator. This enables the
association to have a greater degree of independence and to attract funding to
support carer events and activities.
The Doncaster independent fostering association was formally launched in a well
attended carer forum on 16th June 2014. Key officers and committee members
were elected at the meeting. The committee now has 16 enthusiastic and
committed members. A sub group of the association works closely with the
fostering team to promote a range of social activities for foster care families
The group have worked with the service on improvements to foster carer training
and delegated responsibility as well as proposals to improve carer recruitment
and retention. A member of the association represents the service on the
Corporate Parenting Board and the association has made a presentation to the
board regarding their work.
All foster carers are invited to attend one of the five foster carer support groups,
which meet each month. This allows foster carers to meet the service, share their
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views and also hear about new developments in service provision. Attendance at
support groups has fallen recently and a review of function is required. An online
survey has recently been sent to all foster carers to seek their views about the
support groups to support the review.
A small group of children who foster and fostered children (the fostering voices
group) worked with the fostering team in 2013 to put on a fostering family fun
day, this was a huge success and all agreed it should become an annual event
The day provided a fun and activity filled celebration of fostering for all foster
carers of Doncaster children whether Doncaster Trust foster carers or agency
carers. All members of the group who maintained a commitment throughout
received a nationally accredited volunteering award
This foster carer association took over the organisation of the day in conjunction
with the fostering voices group, who had their own stall. A key member of the
group was employed as a modern apprentice within the fostering team and had a
lead role in further developing the group. She has now been successful in
gaining a fully employed post within the fostering and adoption administration
team and although she continues to volunteer, we will recruit once more to the
modern apprentice position.
The Fostering voices group are not a formal group with fixed membership and
different children have been involved at different times. A key highlight has been
the making of a video about living in a fostering family together with a
professional film crew. This may be seen on our website at
fosteringindoncaster.org.uk.
Some work is now undertaken informally within the weekly fostering youth club.
A recent 'Hear by Rights' young peoples peer review of the fostering service was
extremely positive about service provision. An extract from the review stated:
'The review showed that the Fostering Service has structures in place for
involving children and young people in service delivery. There was evidence of
the Service holding numerous events and activities for children and young people
throughout the year. The Staff Team explained that plans are now in place for the
Foster Carers representatives to look at future activities and build on this
information to improve future events. This is a good example of youth
participation and how Services can be improved through children and young
people’s involvement'
Feedback from carers and from fostered children and children who foster as
evidenced in their consultation feedback at the time of review is largely very
positive.
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The service will continue to improve foster care consultation through
development of formal exit interviews in 2015/16
Financial report
The fostering service made an under-spend of £188,025. This was due to lower
growth in placements than the stretch targets anticipated. The service continues
to strive to increase placement numbers.
Budget
Fostering
Actuals
VU000
46,295
33,885
VU001
426,100
441,132
VV000
1,436,340
1,245,692
Total
1,908,735
1,720,710
Var
12,410
15,032
190,648
188,025
DfE funded projects
In 2014 the service successfully bid for DfE improvement grant funding to
improve local sufficiency of foster care households in partnership with the
independent sector. All partnerships presented a report every three months on
their findings. This provides the service with information on the most recent
research on foster care recruitment and retention.
The fostering research project undertaken in partnership was highly successful
and has findings which have both local and national application.
This project used social media in a creative way and had great success in
reaching the target group in Doncaster. We have used knowledge gained from
this pilot and from other DfE pilots to develop our own strategies.
These include
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Sending out targeted information to the public who completed our survey
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Developing a guide to using social media for public engagement and
recruitment
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Develop three surveys for future use, designed to target each Values
Mode (Pioneers, Prospectors and Settlers)
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Targeted advertisement in our new categories (Single people, single
parents, full-time employees, younger generations)
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Engaging with local businesses to encourage foster friendly employment
practices
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Developing ‘Fostering is good for you’ campaign
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Replicating foster carer workshop activities in different areas
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Developing foster carer ambassador scheme
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Identifying foster carers and staff members with specialist skills, that they
can share with the partnerships, foster carers and staff in Doncaster
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Developing a finance leaflet full of advice for foster carers
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Consulting with staff and foster carers about what joint training and
support they would like to see in the future – develop joint training
package
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Planing for ‘Celebrating Fostering in Doncaster 2016’
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Planing collaborations with other creatives. So far, we have organised to
work with Lemn Sissay and The Cast, developing programmes and
workshops for foster children in Doncaster
A copy of the executive summary is attached see Appendix 1
We have commenced work on the 'Mockingbird' Pilot. The Trust has joined 6
local authorities in a pilot project coordinated by the Fostering Network to
develop the UK evidence base for this innovative means of offering carer to carer
support which was first developed in Washington USA. A highly trained Hub
foster carer provides intensive support, including emergency and respite care for
6 to 10 other foster carers in the local area. The project is due to commence
formal development led by the Fostering Network in June 2015 and go
operational from September. Funding is currently in year only and timescales are
tight but as much preparation work as possible has been done to ensure the best
possible use of the funding available.
We are also part of the Sheffield led CSE Fostering pilot. This ambitious project
aims to provide intensive therapeutic support for children and young people at
risk of sexual exploitation as well as work within the family unit. Those young
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people who cannot safely remain at home will be fostered locally by highly
trained and supported foster carers. This project aims to ensure better outcomes
for the young people and save money on expensive out of authority placements.
All partners are working closely together but delays in the appointment of a
project manager has impacted on progress to date.
Service Plans 2014/15
A full action plan is attached at Appendix 2.
Foster carer recruitment and retention
The challenge to recruit foster carers remains high on the service agenda. We
have conducted a number of innovative recruitment campaigns which utilise
current research into 'what works' but numbers of enquiries have fallen. Whilst
this is consistent with local and national trends we continue to strive to increase
numbers of applications.
The IFA status of the fostering service may not assist in recruitment as the
service continues to pay local authority rates to foster carers whilst being
branded as an IFA. A progression scheme is under consideration. This will allow
the service to pay level 3 foster carers a higher allowance and compete in a
highly competitive market for professional experienced carers. As we currently
pay enhanced payments at the proposed level 3 rate, provided the number of
level 3 carers was capped, this development would be cost neutral
We currently have sufficient foster carers for single placements of babies and
younger less challenging children. Fostering campaigns therefore focus on
placements of sibling groups and older children/teenagers. Early campaigns on
these themes have shown some success. We are also working with local
churches on a 'Home for Good' campaign and have had some early interest
shown.
Last year 29 foster carers were approved, this compares favourably with
neighbouring local authorities. We aim to approve 35 new foster carers this year
through increasing efficiency in the early stages of recruitment.
Improvement to the quality of foster care
Outcomes for children who live in foster care are highly dependent on the quality
of care offered by the foster carer. Improvements to the quality of foster care
offered by Doncaster Trust are a service priority.
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Supervision and support of foster carers has been improved through the
development of an improved supervision format, with a clear emphasis on
outcomes for children and on training and development of the foster carer.
The training and development of foster carers is a high priority for the service. It
is seen as an integral link to placement stability and positive outcome for looked
after children. All foster carers sign a learning agreement which sets out the
training and learning requirements of the service. In addition all carers now have
a personal development plan, which sets out their individual needs.
The training offer has already been enhanced through a mixture of in house and
external training. The service plans to continue to develop a more focused and
needs led training programme to target the developmental needs of foster carers.
In order to achieve this plan a coordinated approach is needed with workforce
development and local partner agencies. This year we have commissioned
specialist on-line training from ac education who are leaders in this field. Carers
can chose from over 60 on-line courses all of which require completion of a short
exam and are certificated. These courses allow carers who work to partake in
training as well as adding to the range of courses on offer.
Foster carers who do not meet required standards are subject to scrutiny via
supervision and foster carer review. All efforts are made to improve the quality of
their work with children and professionals. This may include specific contracts of
agreement and enhanced Personal Development Plans. Should the quality of
foster care not improve, consideration is given to de-registration. A report will be
prepared for panel and Agency Decision Maker deliberation.
Fostering service staffing
The service structure was further enhanced in 2014/15 with an additional
‘Advanced Practitioner’ social worker post. The remit of this role is to supervise
staff and develop the recruitment and assessment service. By having two
advanced practitioners, the Team Manager will have a greater capacity to
manage and develop the service.
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