Local democracy

Agenda item

FOSTERING SERVICE ANNUAL REPORT COVERING THE PERIOD OF 1ST APRIL 2021 TO MARCH 31ST 2022

The Fostering Services Regulations 2011 require that the Fostering Services provides written reports on the management, outcomes, and financial state of the fostering service. This Annual Fostering Service Report provides quantitative and qualitative evidence relating to fostering services in the Bradford Council area as required by statutory guidance. The Annual Fostering Service Report must be presented to Corporate Parenting Panel.

 

The Strategic Director of Children’s Services will submit Document “C” which presents the Fostering Service’s annual report which provides an overview of the work of the Fostering Service and should be read in conjunction with the fostering Service Statement of Purpose (Appendix A).

 

Recommended -

 

Members are requested to note the content and actively consider and comment upon the strengths and future recommendations.

 

(John Heron – 07816 522073)    

Minutes:

The Fostering Services Regulations 2011 require that the Fostering Services provides written reports on the management, outcomes, and financial state of the fostering service. This Annual Fostering Service Report provides quantitative and qualitative evidence relating to fostering services in the Bradford Council area as required by statutory guidance. The Annual Fostering Service Report must be presented to Corporate Parenting Panel.

 

The Strategic Director of Children’s Services submitted Document “C” which presented the Fostering Service’s annual report which provided an overview of the work of the Fostering Service and should be read in conjunction with the fostering Service Statement of Purpose (Appendix A).

 

  1. John Heron, Bradford Council Strategic Lead for Fostering (SLF), introduced two carers from BIFCA: Steven Watson and Belinda Neilson.  The agenda paper was taken as read.  SLF highlighted the development of the relationship between the Fostering Service and BIFCA: the aim was to work in partnership with foster carers to recruit and retain more carers and improve the quality of service.  He talked through the developments planned for 2022-23 as set out in section 14 of the agenda paper.
  2. Noting the conversion rate of 6.6% from initial contact through the website to approval as a new foster carer, the Panel asked whether the non-conversions were due to potential carers dropping out or being eliminated by the service.  SLF said they were both: some visitors to the site might be curious but have no real interest in fostering.  Those who downloaded information from the site were required to give an e-mail address, and these contacts were followed up: of the 1625 initial website contacts, 381 had downloaded material and responded to this follow-up contact by confirming their interest in fostering.  The Fostering Service was in competition with independent fostering agencies, many of which could pay carers significantly more than the local authority could: on average, a potential carer would consider around five agencies before deciding whether to foster and if so with which agency.  For this reason, the Fostering Service made appointments to see potential carers as quickly as possible.  Of the 381 potential carers who had confirmed interest, the Fostering Service had visited 320, of whom 118 had been invited to make an application: 33 had done so, and of those 25 had been successful.  Asked what use was made of the internet for recruitment of carers, SLF said that it was second only to existing carers in its importance to recruitment.
  3. Noting the relatively poor conversion rate at an advanced stage of the recruitment process (33 applications from 116 home visits), the Panel asked whether this reflected unsuitability of the potential carer’s circumstances or the potential carer withdrawing as they learned more about fostering.  SLF said that there was more that the service could do to help potential carers to envision how their lives as fosterers would look.  A new manager had been recruited to the fostering recruitment team and was undertaking creative promotional work with BIFCA, but there was a need to support this with a budget.  It would be helpful if Councillors and Council workers wore badges promoting foster caring: all in the Council should see foster carer recruitment as part of their job.
  4. The Panel discussed the scope to tap into the willingness of the public to open their homes under the Homes For Ukraine scheme. Councillors who had been involved with Homes For Ukraine would be in a position to support this.  Foster carers present saw value in a campaign encouraging those who had thought of taking in a Ukrainian refugee to consider fostering.  AD/SRCP agreed: these families were known to the local authority and had been DBS[1] and household checked: there was no reason why they should not be asked the question.
  5. Referring to section 6 of the agenda paper, the Panel asked whethervirtual fostering panels were effective.  SLF confirmed that they had worked well, enabling people to take part who might otherwise have been unable to do so.  It would be unfortunate to lose those benefits, but there were also advantages in in-person meetings.  A hybrid model would be adopted.
  6. Replying to questions, SLF confirmed that there was a shortage of foster carers in Bradford: ideally, around 75% of children would have foster carers, compared with 69% at present.  The gap was particularly stark for children with more complex needs.  A Level 4 foster care setting was needed, with wraparound care for both the child and the carer, including therapeutic, medical, police, educational and CAMHS[2] services. 
  7. Ali Jan Haider, WYHCP, undertook to discuss with SLF the issue of crisis support for children with severely complex needs.

ACTION: WYHCP

  1. AD/SRCP highlighted the need to consider the profile of carers: it was more challenging to recruit carers for adolescents or young people with disabilities or life experiences that affected their ability to form attachments.  Potential carers needed to be confident that the local authority had an effective structure to help them to develop strategies to support these children.  A Panel member observed that carers she knew said that they did not receive the CAMHS support that was needed: carers present agreed strongly that this was an issue.  This needed to be a major priority for Children’s Services.  Replying to questions, SLF agreed that the availability of CAMHS and other multi-agency support to wrap around the carer was partly a budget issue.  However, if agencies were willing to work together flexibly, there was also scope to do more with existing resources. 
  2. A carer observed that having strong training and other support gave carers the confidence to take on children with more complex needs.  Collectively, carers needed to be able to manage the needs of any child in Bradford.  Another carer said that, when a carer was asked to take on a child, they typically received little information about the background or needs of the child or the length of the placement.  Thus it was difficult to tell whether the child would be a good match, particularly if the carer already had other long or short term foster children: carers were reluctant to risk unsettling those existing placements.  Asked what carers would need to make them more confident about taking on foster children, the carer said it would be helpful to have some flexibility for agencies to intervene if the child started to disrupt existing placements.  Asked what support currently existed in such situations, the carer said that there was none.  SLF said that the supervising social worker could help, but that a more robust support structure was needed.
  3. Asked about the risk that independent agencies would poach carers trained at the expense of the local authority, a carer quoted Richard Branson: “Train people well enough so they can leave, treat them well enough, so they don’t want to.”  SLF said that foster carers showed great loyalty to their supporting social worker and to their organisation.

 

 

 

Resolved –

 

1.  That Members of the Panel wish to thank foster carers for their care of the children of Bradford both throughout and beyond the Covid pandemic

 

2.  That information is provided by the service to help with the recruitment drive of more foster carers

 

Action: Strategic Director, Children’s Services



[1]DBS - Disclosure and Barring Service

[2] CAMHS – Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service: CAMHS supports children and young people from pre-school years up to 16 years of age, (or up to 18 years of age if still in school) where there are severe and long standing concerns about emotional well-being and behaviours

Supporting documents: