Title of Report: / Fostering Scrutiny Report
Report Author: / Neena Khosla
Date: / 10 June 2011
- Purpose of the report
Summary report for Scrutiny: Fostering and the Fostering Strategy23 June 2011
- Background
2.1Children in the care of a local authority are one of the most vulnerable groups in society. Children become looked after for a number of reasons, for example, because they have suffered (or would be at risk of) abuse or neglect; because their parents are unable to care for them (e.g. due to substance misuse, mental health or learning disability); because they are unaccompanied asylum-seekers; or because their behaviour puts them ‘beyond parental control’. Children can become looked after through a care order under section 31 of the Children Act 1989, or a voluntary agreement with their parents under section 20 of that Act. Where a child is looked after under a care order, the local authority shares parental responsibility with the parent(s).
2.2At the end of March 2010, 1148 children were looked after by Hertfordshire County Council. The number of children and young people had increased significantly in 2009 and early 2010 – from less than 1000 to a peak of 1180 in August 2010 – following the ‘Southwark Judgement’ and publicity surrounding the Baby Peter case. (Most other local authorities also experienced increases). Relative to the overall population, the number of children looked after in Hertfordshire is lower than the rate across England, but higher than Hertfordshire statistical neighbours.
2.3One of the key objectives of Hertfordshire’s Children Looked after Strategy is to reduce the number of children who are looked after and where they are placed.The Fostering Strategy plays a critical part in the overall CLA strategy as does the in house Fostering Service which is an essential element in achieving the overall objective of the CLA strategy.
2.4At the end of March 2011 the number of CLA has dropped to 1111 a decrease of 69 children from August 2010 peak.
2.5Foster carers play a valuable role meeting the needs of children who are looked after, by providing a supportive and caring family environment. 778 children looked after in Hertfordshire are placed with foster carers, although this proportion varies by age[1]. Of these children:
- 544 are with mainstream in-house foster carers including specialist carers
- 142 are with family & friends foster carers
- 122 are with Independent Fostering Agency (IFA) foster carers.
2.6HCC’s Fostering Service is made up of four area-based Fostering Teams, a Family & Friends Fostering Team, and a Recruitment Team. These teams are responsible for:
- Recruiting new foster carers
- Undertaking the assessment and approval processes for new foster carers and family and friends carers
- Working with the Central Placement Service to review requests for placements, match children and carers, and establish successful placements.
- Provide ongoing supervision, training and support to foster carers.
3.Fostering Strategy
3.1Evidence nationally about the outcomes for Children Looked after (CLA) indicates that many thrive best in community based placements that are appropriate to their needs and within a reasonable distance of their existing family and community networks. The ‘invest to save’ fostering strategy approved by Cabinet in October 2009[2] aims to enable Children’s Services to offer a choice of ‘in-house’ foster placements that meet these requirements as well as achieving significantsavings in the overall expenditure on placements for CLA over a 5 year period.
3.2The strategy aims to achieve savings of £2.285 million by 2013/2014 by:
- Increasing proportion of CLA placed in house from 47.4% to 50.4%
- Expanding family and friends placements from 10.8% to 19.4%
- Reducing the proportion of IFP’s from 13.3% to 4.7%
- Reducing the cost of CLA placements overall
The strategy is on track at the end of the second year.
- Value for Money
Benchmark costs against other local authorities
4.1Benchmarking plays an important role in informing Commissioners whether value for money is being achieved.
4.2CSF is a member of the CIPFA Benchmarking Club which collates and analyses information on the cost of providing residential and foster care from approximately 70 local authorities. The latest report shows the following unit costs for fostering services.
Unit cost based on CIPFA 2009 Report*HCC - In-house fostering service / £457
Comparator LA’s - In-house / £415
HCC – External Purchasing / £818
Comparator LA’s – External Purchasing / £886
Source: *CIPFA (2009) Children Looked after Benchmarking Club – Hertfordshire County Council Report – published February 2010.
- CSF’s In-house service is on average 44% or £361 per week lower when compared with the cost CSF pays for externally purchased placements.
- CSF’s In-house provision is 9.2% higher than the average cost of comparator Local Authorities in-house service.
- CSF’s external purchasing of independent sector foster care placements is 7.7% lower than the average cost of comparator Local Authorities.
Efforts to reduce costs
4.3Commissioning arrangements for foster care provision continually seek to ensure that value for money is achieved both in terms of obtaining the most competitive placement fees but also working collaboratively with other Local Authorities to achieve efficiencies in commissioning and contract management arrangements this includesregional commissioning, preferred provider arrangements and cost negotiation.
5. Recruitment Strategy
5.1A Marketing strategy has been implemented to generate a net gain of foster carers who can meet the care needs of children and young people from diverse backgrounds. Marketing is targeted at geographical areas where placement need is known to be greatest and publicity is focussed on attracting carers who are considering fostering children aged 10 plus, sibling groups and children from BME groups. Specific recruitment initiatives are currently focussing on these priority areas. This year we are also working to increase placements for unaccompanied minors. We are also scoping parent and child placements. Publicity initiatives are informed by the profiles of our CLA population and we try to be as responsive as we can to placement need and shortages.
5.2Numerous community events and campaigns are run throughout the year on behalf of the service with the aim of raising the profile of fostering for HCC and generating sufficient enquiries ( around 800 per year) to enable us to fulfil the above.
6.Fostering Inspections
Hertfordshire is expecting an inspection of our fostering service later this year. The inspection will judge how well the service performs against the new National Minimum Standards for fostering services that were published earlier this year.[3] In preparation for the inspection; we are carrying out self-assessment audits to ensure that arrangements are in place to meet these standards.
All Fostering Inspection recommendations from the 2008 inspection have been completed.
7. Support for Foster Carers
7.1Foster Carers are provided with comprehensive support packages underpinned by the National Minimum Standards and regulations to enable and ensure a quality care experience is provided for all children.
- Carers begin their journey by undertaking the initial “Skills to foster training”.
- On Approval foster carers have a Supervising social worker who provides monthly professional supervision. This frequency is determined by need.
- Cares are expected to complete core training, First Aid, Safeguarding, Safer care, Recording, and Attachment.
- Hertfordshire provides all foster carers with membership to Fostering Network which provides a whole range of support.
- Foster carer support groups are essential for good support; these also include groups for children who foster, unaccompanied refugee & asylum seekers young people and a Men’s support group.
- During the foster carers first year they complete with the support of their SSW their CWDC, Children’s Workforce Development Council, workbook.
- All carers are able to access the HCC Learning and Development programme and the fostering teams provide bespoke training courses which include TCI Therapeutic intervention on behaviour management and Webster Stratton positive parenting.
- We identify buddies for newly approved carers
- Specialist foster carers in addition receive support from the ARC and Datchworth turn and are supported by a team of therapists; carers are viewed as part of the professional team around the child.
- Fostering Forum is held quarterly where carers meet with senior management to develop the service and join together to resolve any issues.
7.2We have recently carried out a survey of carers to identify how well supported they feel, as it is essential not only to recruit carers we also need to retain them, we need to be clear that this is achieved by carers being well supported and trained to manage this very complex role, this will in turn improve the outcomes for Children Looked After.
7.3New carers also give feedback from a survey sent to them by the marketing and communications officer on their experiences on the assessment process and panel, the results are analysed and shared with managers, SSW, trainers, assessors and panel members.
7.4Both survey results will be analysed and available to scrutiny.
8. Involving Children and Young People
8.1Young people are involved in making decisions about their own care plans through their statutory reviews which take place every 6 months. Previously, young people’s views were sought through paper booklets. But in accordance with young people’s wishes, an online system is now being piloted, the results of which will be known in the autumn. The online questions are based on our pledge to children and young people in care. The pledge is HCCs commitment to young people about what they can expect from being in care. It is based on what over 100 children and young people said were the most important things.
8.2Young people are involved in reviewing and monitoring care services and the pledge through the CLA Council. The CLA Council is steered by a group of young people and meets regularly with senior managers including the director for children’s services and lead member. The CLA Council holds open forums 4 times a year to which all young people in care are invited. Over the last year, attendance has been over 100. Issues raised include the importance of contact with Social Workers, what helps if a young person has to change placement, and what makes a good foster carer. Views are discussed at the regular meetings with senior managers and actions agreed for taking things forward. One action, for example, is that young people will be involved in training foster carers.
9. Corporate Parenting
9.1The responsibility of local authorities to improve outcomes and actively promote the life chances of children they look after is referred to as ‘corporate parenting’ in recognition that the task must be shared by the whole local authority in partnership with partner agencies along with the parents. The role of the corporate parent is to act as the best possible parent for each child they look after and to take action by speaking out on their behalf, arranging for appropriate services to meet their needs, standing up for them and representing them, to ensure they grow up in the best way possible.
9.2When they are elected, all councillors take on the role of ‘corporate parents’ to children looked after by their local authority. They have a duty to take an interest in the wellbeing and development of those children, as if they were their own children. Although the lead member for children’s services has particular responsibilities, the responsibility to act as corporate parents is held by all councillors, regardless of their role on the council.
9.3Hertfordshire’s Announced Inspection of Safeguarding and Looked after Children’s Services in October 2010[4]identified an area for development in the leadership of corporate parenting, including in the role played by members. These are being addressed through a Post-Inspection Action Plan. In January 2011 a Corporate Parenting Briefing for members was held outlining their roles and responsibilities and looked at what information they required to ensure they asked the right questions to ensure they met their responsibilities as Corporate Parents.
10. Conclusion
10.1The fostering service has made some significant achievements in the last 2 years, particularly in terms of increasing the number of in-house foster carer and family & friends placements, including increased numbers of specialist carers and carers for hard-to-place children (e.g. large sibling groups, teenagers and BME children). The service provides robust support for foster carers and ensures that children and young people are involved in their own care plans
10.2Challenges remain in ensuring value for money whilst ensuringsufficient placement choice for children and young people. The service will continue to strive to be responsive to placement needs and shortages including carers for sibling groups, teenagers and children form BME groups.
10.3Fostering is part of a much bigger picture in terms of the CLA Strategy and has a key role to play in moving children down the care continuum over the coming years.
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[1]Other children looked after are placed in an adoption placement, in residential homes or schools, or (for young people aged 16+) in semi-independent accommodation.
[2] “Invest to save” proposals to improve foster care provision in Hertfordshire, HCC Cabinet, 19th October 2009
[3]
[4] The full inspection report, published on 19th November 2010, can be found at