Contact: Vanessa Courtney Tel: 01962 846539 [email protected]

1 Summary

1.1 This report summarises the outcome of the inspection carried out by Ofsted into Hampshire's fostering service. The purpose of the inspection is to assure children and young people, parents, the public, local authorities and government of the quality and standard of the service provided. The announced inspection was carried out under the Care Standards Act 2000 and took place over a four day period, beginning on 13 March 2008. It assesses service provision against National Minimum Standards (NMS) for Fostering Services and the judgements are made in relation to the Every Child Matters (ECM) outcomes set out in the Children Act 2004.

2 Recommendations

That the Executive Member for Children & Families,

· Welcomes the positive outcome of the Hampshire Fostering Service inspection and approves the action plan in place to respond to the stated good practice recommendations.

3 Brief description of the service

3.1 The Hampshire County Council Fostering Service covers the whole of Hampshire. It is operationally led by a County Services Manager. The purpose of the family placement service is to provide a range of foster carers for children and young people in Hampshire, who are unable to stay in their own homes. The service includes long and short term placements, respite care and a family link service providing short breaks for young people with disabilities.

3.2 There are three area teams and a county wide recruitment team. Each has its own team manager. The area teams assess family and friends and family link carers, whilst the county team recruits and assesses the pool of general foster carers. All carers, regardless of their category of registration, are supported by the three area teams.

4 Summary of Feedback

4.1 Ratings are allocated on a four point scale (as is the case for all service inspections) against the five ECM outcomes, with an additional sixth category for Organisation. In addition to these ratings, the service is judged overall. The ratings are as follows:

· Outstanding: this aspect of the provision is of exceptionally high quality

· Good: this aspect of the provision is strong

· Satisfactory: this aspect of the provision is sound

· Inadequate: this aspect of the provision is not good enough

4.2 The overall outcome for young people fostered through this service has been judged good. The outcome area of organisation has been judged as outstanding with acknowledgement that the service is consistent across the county and is led by experienced and knowledgeable managers. Furthermore, it has been identified that monitoring systems ensure the outcomes for young people are constantly considered and that there is excellent information available about the service, which demonstrate it is organised in an effective way.

Ofsted states that young people benefit from the large range of foster carers, although more availability would provide better choice for young people. Support to carers, including training, is good. Foster carers are providing safe and sensitive care to the young people.

Most importantly, it was acknowledged that there are a good range of systems to consult with young people and use their views in the development of the service.

5 Improvements Since the Last Inspection

5.1 Improvements were acknowledged since the last inspection. These are:

· Improved safety for young people with annual up-dated safety checks and risk assessments prior to placement;

· Developing information and resources for carers looking after asylum seeking young people and those placed outside of their cultural background;

· Better recording of matching considerations when placing children with carers;

· Continued recruitment of family link carers for children with disabilities;

· Foster carers keeping more detailed records, particularly with regard to administration of medication.

6 Judgements Against Every Child Matters Outcomes

6.1 Helping Children to be Healthy

6.1.1 Provision was judged as good within this category with some comments made as follows:

The fostering service is good at promoting the health and development of the young people placed. Good working arrangements with school nurses, mental health services and other health specialists exist to ensure young people's health needs are met. Whilst the access to mental health assessments for young people has improved through resources being made available to children and adolescent health services, there is still a concern about lack of on-going mental health support for young people.

A clear smoking and drugs policy has been developed giving foster carers clear guidance on their responsibilities. It sets out the support available to encourage carers and young people not to smoke

6.2 Protecting Children from Harm or Neglect and Helping them Stay Safe

6.2.1` Provision was judged as good within this category with some comments made as follows:

The managers are held in high regard by the team members and offer very good support and supervision.

The staff recruitment processes are safe and are evidenced by clear records and appropriate references and assessment processes are of carers are thorough.

The carers seen in their homes are providing sensitive, warm care and all speak fondly of the young people placed and are knowledgeable about the young person's individual needs. Young people report being happy with their placements and generally feel well cared for in their foster homes.

Matching requirements are well understood but lack of choice compromises matching on a day to day basis. There are clear processes to refer on to independent fostering agencies where an appropriate in-house placement can not be found.

Young people who are placed in an emergency report having very little information about foster homes prior to arriving there. Newly recruited carers are producing profiles that can be used with young people prior to placement, but these are not yet available for all carers.

Foster care training includes child protection. All of the training is linked to the outcomes for children and the National Minimum Standards for Fostering. Carers are very positive about the quality of the training they receive and clearly feel it impacts on their performance.

Complaints and allegations processes are clear and records demonstrate appropriate handling of them, including evidence of inappropriate people being referred to the Protection of Child Act process (POCA).

There are six fostering panels across the service and each is formed according to the regulations. The appointment of a commissioning manager for fostering panels has strengthened the consistency of panels.

6.3 Helping Children Achieve Well and Enjoy What They Do

6.3.1 Provision was judged as good within this category with some comments made as follows:

Foster carers are encouraged to value young people's background and culture and matching takes into account the cultural and religious needs of young people. There are strong links between the fostering and children with disabilities services - the Council has signed the Every Disabled Child Matters charter.

Foster carers receive training regarding their responsibility to promote education and are now taking a more pro-active role to ensure the young people placed receive appropriate education, including being involved in choosing schools. Additional funding for looked after children has been made available to schools and whilst there are some inconsistencies in how this is used, it has been beneficial to many by providing additional tuition, computers and financial help for activities and educational trips. Currently there are 22 young people either at or about to commence university. Young people say that although they value the support to do this they need on-going support in terms of housing, money and social work support in order to make the most of the experience.

Young people's attendance and attainment is monitored and any issues are picked up with foster carers and social workers.

Activities are encouraged, and young people are engaged in many sports and interest groups. The Council provide free access to leisure and sports centres, and local parks, to ensure all young people have the opportunity to use the facilities.

Whilst access to group activities is good, young people say they are frustrated by the systems used to access monies for individual activities and trips. They would like the service to consider ways of speeding up this process.

6.4 Helping Children Make a Positive Contribution

6.4.1 Provision was judged as good within this category with some comments made as follows:

Foster carers are made aware of how vital contact is in the training to prepare for fostering and they provide good support to parents and extended family to ensure contact takes place.

The Participation Officer has had a positive impact on the thought given to consultation. A group of young people have identified what they would like to see in Hampshire County Council's Pledge to young people in their care. The resulting list of priorities has been shared with councillors. The list includes better placement choice, peer mentors an individual budget for leisure activities, extra tuition, setting up of a Care Council and a consistent adult in their life.

Birth children of foster carers are seen by the service as vital to the success of placements and their views are taken into consideration.

The service demonstrates a real desire to seek the views of young people and use these in their planning. A good example is the involvement of young people in the recruitment process of staff. Young people say that they feel listened to by their carers and most social workers; however the frequent change of social workers diminishes this.

6.5 Achieving Economic Wellbeing

6.5.1 Provision was judged as satisfactory within this category with some comments made as follows:

Young people are helped to prepare for adulthood on a day to day basis by their foster carers. Young people and carers say they are unclear about the options when they reach 18 years. Foster carers feel that they are sidelined by the service once the young person starts planning for independence and whilst they can appreciate the need for choices to be made by the young person they appreciate being involved in the planning.

Where appropriate planning and working together has existed, the outcomes for young people have been good, with some remaining as part of the carer's family and others moving on to independence or re-united with their birth family.

The service was introducing a new payment scheme for foster carers at the time of the inspection. Carers are experiencing some anxiety about the scheme, although representatives have been involved in the consultation process. The main dissatisfaction with the allowances are with regard to family link as the payments are felt to be low and do not reflect the complex needs of many of the young people placed.

6.6 Organisation

6.6.1 Provision was judged as outstanding within this category with some comments made as follows:

There is good planning information, monitoring systems, and clear links between activity and the standards and regulations.

The service is quick to respond to new initiatives such as Care Matters and have already put in place some of the suggestions such as the additional finance for schools for looked after children and the Charter for looked after children. The service is excellent at monitoring their performance and understanding the link between the work of the different sections.

All managers present as knowledgeable and committed to their work.

Accountability is extremely well understood and supported. Managers are involved in senior management groups and have a thorough knowledge of the strategic plans of the Council and their part in delivering these. Supervision of staff is experienced as outstanding and staff commented they feel `well cared for' by managers.

Given the size of the county the consistency is impressive and enhances staff confidence.

There is a very clear strategy of support to carers. Feedback from carers judge support as outstanding or good in the majority of cases and the support from the fostering teams was said to be `excellent' and carers particularly appreciated the support provided to the whole family.

Training for foster carers is referred to as excellent by many of the carers. Training is related to the fostering standards and regulations and is mapped against the new guidance for foster care training so that previous learning can be accredited.

The service is exceptionally good at keeping records to evidence the work they do.

Family and friends fostering is a particular strength of the service and the carers who were spoken to were very positive about the support they receive.

7 Action Plan

7.1 There were no Requirements imposed as a result of the inspection but Ofsted outlined four recommendations in order for Hampshire Children's Services to improve the quality and standards of care further. These are as follows:

· Provide information to young people about proposed carers to ensure they are able to express an informed view about the placement. (NMS 8.7);

· Ensure the service seek the opinion of young people in all issues that are likely to affect their daily life (NMS 11.1);

· Ensure the service help to develop skills, competence and knowledge necessary for adult living (NMS 14);

· Ensure the necessary medical services are secured for young people, particularly with regard to on-going mental health services. (NMS 12.7).

7.2 An action plan has been drawn up to respond to the above recommendations and this can be seen at Appendix One.

8 Consultation

8.1 Consultation with a range of stakeholders, including foster carers and children in care, is an integral part of the fostering inspection. Views about the service are incorporated into the overall process and judgements awarded take these views into account.

9 Legal implications

None

10 Financial implications

None

11 Personnel implications

None

12 Impact assessment

12.1 Race and equality impact assessment has been considered in the development of this report and no adverse impact has been identified.

13 Crime prevention issues

None

14 Views of the Local County Councillor

18.1 Not applicable as the fostering service is delivered throughout the whole County Council.

Action 100 D - Local Government Act 1972 - background documents

The following documents discuss facts or matters on which this report, or an important part of it, is based and have been relied upon to a material extent in the preparation of this report.

NB: the list excludes

1. Published works

2. Documents which disclose exempt or confidential information as defined in the Act.

None

Appendix 1

Ofsted Inspection of Hampshire's Fostering Service (March 2008)

Recommendations and Action Plan