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Corporate Parenting Panel

13th March 2017

Fostering Service Report

Bob Spencer, Head of Placements and Looked After Children’s Resources

Decisions Required The Corporate Parenting Panel are asked to note the Hounslow Fostering Service Report (2015/16) and provide comments.

Purpose of the Report and Summary

This reports provides information relating to the Hounslow Fostering Service. It identifies progress from 1 April 2015 – 31st March 2016 and the work undertaken within the team. The CPP are invited to make any necessary comments or recommendations. This report reflects on the following areas within the Fostering Service;

Recruitment and Marketing, including information about enquiries, foster carer approvals and de-registrations, as well as updates and outcomes of marketing strategies to promote fostering.

Staffing updates, which include details about the current team structure and vacancies.

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1. Fostering Recruitment Graph 1 shows the number of fostering enquiries and new carers approved in 2015/16 and includes the number of fostering households, children placed, de-registrations and resignations. The data shows a decrease in the number of enquiries, placement households and approved carers, compared with the previous year. The decrease in enquiries could be attributed to the reduction in budgets, which impacted on advertising which imposed limitations on publicity outlets and types of promotions that could be used to engage potential carers.

Graph 1

316

269

116

1412

120 116

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

2014/2015 2015/2016

Fostering Recruitment

Enquiries received Approvals Deregistrations /Resignations Fostering Households

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The slight decrease in placement households can be attributed to de-registrations, which have occurred for a variety of reasons, as outlined in Table 1:

Table 1 (for Financial Year 2015 – 2016)

De- registrations Panel Date Reason for resignations

Couple 1 26/06/2015 Moved out of the area to Lincolnshire and resigned

Couple 2 26/06/2015 Moved to an IFA

Couple 3 26/06/2015 Went abroad to try IVF

Single Carer 1 26/06/2015 Moved out of the area

Single Carer 2 26/06/2015 Full time job clashed with fostering duties

Couple 4

IRM 04/08/2015 Standards of care issues

Single Carer 3 24/09/2015 Unable to meet the needs of diverse children

Single Carer 4 08/12/2015 Retired

Couple 5 10/12/2015 Transferred onto the shared lives scheme with LBH child

Couple 6 10/12/2015

Adopted the child their LBH LAC and no further bedroom available

Couple 7 18/02/2016 Wanted to start their own family

Total: 12

There were 10.3% of de-registrations which is high. The department has taken steps to address this by increasing the recruitment target (20) for 2016/17. Hounslow will also conduct exit questionnaires for carers who resign, as a matter of course. Feedback from the consultation will enable assessment of the fostering services and will determine whether there is a need to improve the Hounslow Support and Packages or any aspect of the service. The absence of an allocated marketing budget has impacted on the numbers of carers being assessed, due to limited restricted marketing avenues. For example, the Recruitment Strategy identifies the need to recruit prospective carers that are able to care for the increasing number of children with complex needs and challenging behaviours. Research has shown that the potential market for these carers needs to be targeted to those within professional services e.g. nurses, police and probation. However, specific advertising in relevant professional publications can be expensive and difficult within a restricted budget. That said, the number of enquiries and approvals remain broadly comparable with our neighboring boroughs (Brent, Harrow and Hillingdon).

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2. Fostering Placements

Graph 2 demonstrates the fostering placement activity for 2015/16, including comparative data from the previous year: Graph 2

The graph shows that the number of children placed with IFA has reduced since the previous year (2014/15). This has been achieved by working with in house foster carers to increase their flexibility and approval age range.

3. Staffing Analysis

The Fostering Team has had a number of staffing changes during the year. The team includes:

a Team Manager

an Assistant Team Manager (Full time)

an Assistant Team Manager (Part time - three days)

a Specialist Social Worker

eight Social Workers

a Panel Administrator and

a Business Support Officer. The Fostering Team has lost the following staff positions:

Senior Specialist Social Worker (promoted in another Local Authority).

Specialist Social Worker (Retired)

Therapeutic Advisor (Part time)

Recruitment and Training Co-ordinator

226217

118113

0

50

100

150

200

250

2014/2015 2015/2016

Placements Analysis

Number of Children Placed In house Number of Children Placed IFA

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The Fostering Team has the following vacancies:

two senior social workers

a part time Therapeutic Advisor and

a full time Recruitment & Training Co-ordinator.

Gaps in posts have impacted on service delivery, however existing staff have become resourceful and efficient in supporting team roles and functions. For example, the initial visits and assessment aspect of the stage 1 and 2 process is now undertaken by all social workers within the team. The Recruitment and Training Co-ordinator duties have been absorbed into the current remaining officer’s post. All requests for advice and placement support for foster carers are referred to the in-house clinical psychologist service.

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Improvements, Achievements and Learning for 2016 Appendices

Attached are four appendices to supplement this reports and to provide further detail about the Fostering Service:

Appendix 1 - 2016/2017 recruitment target updates; number of enquiries in stage 1 and stage 2 and impact of Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) delays

Appendix 2 - Latest Quarterly Recruitment Progress Report October 2016 – December 2016

Appendix 3 – Monthly Recruitment Update Report

Appendix 4 – 2016/2017 Recruitment Campaign

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Appendix 1 The table below illustrates 2016/2017 recruitment targets including the number of enquiries in stage 1 and stage 2 and the impact of Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) delays. Key: Green – Process stage complete Amber – Case on hold Red – Process stage not started Grey – Recruitment application closed

Pre-stage

Stage 1

Stage 2

Applic

ant

Deta

ils

Date

enquiry

questio

ns

com

ple

ted

Date

allo

cate

d

to S

W f

or

Initia

l V

isit

Allo

cate

d S

W

for

Initia

l V

isit

Date

of In

itia

l

Vis

it

Date

of

Applic

atio

n

Receiv

ed

Date

Sta

ge 1

allo

cate

d

Date

of P

rep.

Gro

up

DB

S r

eceiv

ed

Date

of

Assessm

ent

Allo

catio

n

Allo

cate

d S

W

for

Assessm

ent

Date

Fo

rm F

com

ple

ted

Tim

e fro

m

sta

ge 1

to t

he

com

ple

tio

n o

f

sta

ge 2

(F

orm

F c

om

ple

tion

date

)

21/04/16 22/04/16 KIRAN 28/04/16 13/05/16 13/05/16 JUNE DBS

received 16/05/16 CLAIRE TBC

27/05/16 27/05/16 MICHELLE 09/06/16 20/06/16 20/06/16 JUNE DBS

received 09/06/16 MICHELLE 23/01/17 7 MONTHS

29/07/16 01/08/16 JANE 11/08/16 07/09/16 07/09/16 OCT DBS

received 07/09/16 MICHELLE TBC

16/05/16 (applied before) 12/09/16 KIRAN 19/09/16 28/10/16 28/10/16 OCT Pending 14/11/16

PRIVATE (KR) TBC

17/10/16 18/10/16 AMIE 11/11/16 18/11/16 17/11/16 JAN Pending

21/10/16 23/10/16 KIRAN 28/10/16 17/01/17 17/01/17 JAN Pending 09/02/17 PRVATE

(PB)

03/11/16 07/11/16 MICHELLE 11/11/16 10/01/17 10/01/17 JAN Pending 09/02/2017 PRIVATE

(SS)

11/11/16 14/11/16 MICHELLE 18/11/16 10/01/17 10/01/17 MAR Pending 09/02/17 PRIVATE

(PB)

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08/12/16 21/12/16 GILBERT 10/02/17

08/12/16 14/12/16 MICHELLE 20/12/16 TBC TBC JAN

16/12/16 21/12/16 MICHELLE 06/01/17 17/01/17 17/011/17 JAN Pending

04/01/17 04/01/17 KATHRYN 10/01/17 TBC

05/01/17 05/01/17 KIRAN 17/01/17 TBC

13/01/2017 16/01/2017 AMIE 26/01/17 TBC

19/01/2017 23/01/2017 CLAIRE 03/02/17 TBC

14/02/2017 15/02/2017 CJ 20/02/17

Approvals to Date 2016/17

Pre stage 7

Stage 1 2

Stage 2 4

Total approvals from April 16 7

Target to date 7

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The table below provides information about approved foster carers since April 2016.

Pre-stage

Stage 1

Stage 2

Applic

ant

Deta

ils

Date

enquiry

questio

ns

com

ple

ted

Date

allo

cate

d t

o

SW

for

Initia

l V

isit

Allo

cate

d

SW

for

Initia

l

Vis

it

Date

of

Initia

l V

isit

Date

of

Applic

atio

n

Receiv

ed

Date

Sta

ge

1 a

llocate

d

Date

of

Pre

p.

Gro

up

Date

of

Sta

ge 2

Assessm

ent

Allo

catio

n

Allo

cate

d

SW

for

Assessm

ent

Date

Fo

rm F

com

ple

ted

Tim

e fro

m

sta

ge 1

to

the

com

ple

tio

n

of sta

ge 2

(Fo

rm F

com

ple

tio

n

date

)

Off

icia

l

Appro

val

Date

26/08/15 26/08/15 AMIE 01/09/15 30/09/15 01/10/15 NOV-15 01/11/15 MICHELLE 18/03/16 6 months DBS

DELAYS 26/05/16

14/09/15 15/09/15 KIRAN 22/09/15 06/11/15 06/11/15 NOV-15 01/12/15 KATRINA B 18/03/16 4 months DBS

DELAYS 26/05/16

19/10/15 19/10/15 PRITI 26/10/15 11/11/15 11/11/15 01/11/15 20/11/15 MICHELLE 21/4/16 5 months DBS

DELAYS 26/05/16

23/11/15 25/11/15 CHRIS 26/11/15 07/01/15 11/04/16 01/04/16 07/01/16 PRITI 25/05/16 4 months DBS

DELAYS 04/08/16

29/01/16 01/02/16 KIRAN 04/02/16 18/02/16 18/02/16 11/04/16 09/03/16 MICHELLE 18/07/16 5 Months DBS

DELAYS

TBC (Panel date

29/09/16)

04/04/16 06/04/16 KIRAN 07/04/16 26/04/16 26/04/16 11/04/16 29/04/16 MICHELLE 12/10/16 8 MONTHS DBS

DELAYS

09/01/16 - (Panel - 08/12/16)

07/09/16 08/09/16 PRITI 20/09/16 10/10/16 10/10/16 10/16 10/10/16 PRIVATE 27/12/16 2 MONTHS

09/01/16 -(Panel

27/01/17)

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Appendix 2

Fostering Recruitment Progress Quarterly Report

1st October 2016 – 31st December 2016

Compiled by Manjeet Panesar Recruitment & Training Officer

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The flowchart demonstrates the number of initial enquiries through to fostering assessments between 1st October to 31st December 2016.

Number of initial visits to applicants

11 (2 outstanding IV)

Total number of enquiries received

41

Number of questionnaires completed

12 (2 closed questionnaires)

Number of initial visits completed & closed

4

A breakdown of the reasons for why IV’s were closed.

- Foster later – decided fostering is not suitable

- Lodgers living in the property

Number of enquiries closed at first point

of contact

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Number of applicants undergoing assessment commenced during the period of 1 October –

31 December - 4.

(To date there are 6 pending assessments)

A breakdown of the reasons for why enquiries were closed at first point of contact:

4 no spare room

5 Information Only

2 Later Foster

1 Flexibility

1 Immigration Status

1 Working hours not Flexible

2 Language

13 active enquiries

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Monthly Breakdown of Enquiries

Graph 3 illustrates the number of initial fostering enquires received.

Graph 3

Ethnicity Breakdown

Table 2 illustrates the ethnic background of received enquiries.

Table 2

Ethnicity Number of Enquiries

White UK 8

White Irish 1

Any Other White Background 3

Black Caribbean 1

African 8

Indian 5

Pakistani 8

Sri Lankan 3

Any other Mixed Background 1

Any Other Ethnic Background 2

Unknown 1

Total 41

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9

6

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

October November December

Number of Initial Fostering Enquiries

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Breakdown of Publicity Sources Table 3 illustrates publicity sources utilised for encouraging fostering enquiries.

Table 3

Approvals of Foster Carers

Table 5 identifies the number of approved foster carers, including their ethnicity, approval age range and publicity source: Table 5

Month

Number of Approvals

Ethnicity Approval Age Range

Publicity Source

October

0 - - -

November 0 - - -

December 2 Black African/White UK TBC Internet

Assyrian Iraqi TBC Applied before

Total: 2

Publicity Source Number of Enquiries

Word of Mouth 10

Hounslow Matters Magazine 3

Self Interest 4

Community Outreach Information Session 10

Applied Before 3

Civic Centre 1

Google Search 3

Internet 2

Social Media 1

JCDecaux 2

Unknown 2

Total 41

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Deregistration/Resignations of Foster Carers Table 6 illustrates the number of foster carers deregistered or who have resigned, including their ethnicity, approval age range and reason for deregistration/resignation: Table 6

Month Number of Deregistered/resigned

Ethnicity Breakdown

Approval Age Range

Reason for resignation

October 0 - - -

November 2 White UK & White Italian White UK

0 -18 Years 8 – 8 Years

Relocation Change of career

December 0 - - -

Total 2

October 2016 WLA Preparation Group Training There were a total of 4 Hounslow Households which attended October’s Preparation Group Training. Below is a table which illustrates these carers’ ethnicities, their publicity sources and a current update on their fostering application.

Placements Information

Total Number of Children in Placement

Currently there are 144 children who are placed with in-house foster carers Total Number of Approved Placements (as at 31st December 2016)

201+ 20*(placements for sibling only) = 221

Ethnicity Publicity source Update as of 31/12/2016

Any Other Black Background (Couple)

Word of Mouth Going to January Panel

White UK (Single male)

Fostering Fortnight Stalls

Going to February Panel

Black African (Couple)

Applied Before Going to March Panel

Black African (Couple)

Word of Mouth Application terminated by LBH. Applicant has inflexible attitudes to fostering

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The total number of vacancies (as at 31st December 2016) are as follows:

8 vacancies for babies

1 vacancies for teens only

11 current vacancies for all other age groups

3 respite vacancies

1 vacancies not to be used currently

14 hold/blocked placements with vacancies

2 Reserved vacancies

Total: 26 available vacancies.14 vacancies which are unavailable.

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Appendix 3 Monthly Recruitment Update Report

Financial Year 2016/2017 Apr May June Jul Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec Jan

Pre- Stage N/A N/A 2 4 3 6 5 4 7 6

Pre- Stage - Closed questionnaires and IV's N/A N/A 6 2 1 2 2 5 0 1

Stage 1 Assessments 3 2 0 1 1 1 2 1 1 5

Stage 2 Assessments 10 10 8 7 8 8 7 7 6 5

Withdraw from Stage1/ 2 1 1 1 0 0 0 2 1 0 0

Approvals 0 3 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 1

Resignations 0 3 0 1 0 0 0 2 0 0

De - Registration 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Total number of fostering households 115 115 115 115 115 115 116 116 114 115

Total number of in - house placements

135

134

142

135

141

135 140 136 144 142

Total number of IFA placements

66

65

60

61

58

61 68 69 59 60

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Appendix 4

Recruitment Strategy 2016/17 The effectiveness of the Recruitment Strategy will be monitored and recorded on a daily basis via the use of the Prospective Carers Database, LCS and the Recruitment Stats Database. Our databases record information including;

the prospective carers’ contact details

date applicant first enquired

date questionnaire was completed

if they had an initial visit

if they went on to full assessment

if the applicant was closed and reasons

recording of the applicant’s publicity source

ethnicity. These databases are a vital source of information for storing and gathering data. It provides a snapshot view of the prospective carers and allows us to monitor and evaluate recruitment activities and identify performance indicators. Further, it allows us to check if we are meeting timescales according the NMS and past Ofsted reports. From the information gathered, quarterly reports will be produced to review and analyse the marketing strategy, as well as to help re-evaluate working practices and improve systems. We are now working closely with the Communications Team to plan and implement the marketing Recruitment Strategy for 2016/17. The strategy will be regularly reviewed by the Communications Manager and the Recruitment and Training team to evaluate the cost effectiveness of the chosen marketing channels. Regular meetings will be held with the recruitment team to discuss recruitment issues, activities, policies and procedures.

Recruitment Marketing Channels

The service will employ more targeted, creative and cost effective marketing channels to compensate for the continuous decrease in the marketing recruitment budget. In 2015/16 the Fostering Department had a marketing budget of £10K, which was agreed by the Head of Communications at the time. However, as a result of budget cuts, the service no longer has an allocated budget. This reflects the shift in change towards more digital and social media marketing in order to generate fostering enquiries. Analysis of the publicity source of perspective carers shows that the top three main successful marketing channels include the Internet, word of mouth and community outreach work. These will be used to recruit carers with a focus on those for teenagers, sibling groups and children with complex needs. This is cost effective as these publicity channels are free. The following publicity initiatives are being pursued:

Hounslow Council website/Internet

Social Media Marketing (Facebook/Facebook boosts and Twitter)

Email advertising

Press releases to local paper

Hounslow Matters Magazine

Prospective carers database

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Word Of Mouth -Utilise approved foster carers to help recruit new carers

Fostering Information Sessions/Events

Civic Centre/Window

Promotional material – Re – branding, focused campaigns

Fostering Fortnight Road show

JCDecaux Sites

Community Recruitment Activity- Including engagement with specific Faith and Ethic Groups

E- adverts and E –newsletters

Company Retirement Packages/

Staff advertising on pay slips

Fostering Tea Parties

Networking and Engagement

Leaflet Drop

Radio The recruitment strategy for 2016/17will focus on:

Utilising the Council’s website and making the most of social media marketing

Maximising the need to engage and network with Hounslow’s local community and faith groups. This will potentially enhance opportunities for us to set up information stalls around local places of worship and community events, therefore, building leads for the team to follow up

Building HR links from the Youth Offending Service, Probation Service, Fire Service, Police, Secondary school education, PCT/Health care and Social care.

The mixture of strategies will increase the Fostering Team’s exposure within the local community. This will, in effect, create more enquiries coming through local media advertising and face to face interaction with the public, with the aim of recruiting carers who have the right experience, characteristics and skills set to be able to look after teenagers, sibling groups and parent and child placements. In addition, the recruitment team will analyse and evaluate the marketing strategy on a quarterly basis. The department will analyse quantitative and qualitative data including:

number of enquiries

number of questionnaires completed

reasons for why applications have been closed

ethnic background of perspective carers

prospective carers age preferences (e.g. complex needs, sibling groups, mother and baby, teenagers)

The continuous analysis and evaluation of the recruitment data will allow us to identify which marketing channels are successful in recruiting our targeted foster carers, as well as identifying potential barriers. More importantly, analysis will enable improvement in services and identify any recruitment protocols that may require revision. Hounslow will also need to monitor their competitors marketing strategies and outcomes as this will consequently help to forecast next year’s strategy.

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Conclusion The proposed strategy for 2016/17 is to recruit:

25 new carers

5 specialist carers for children with complex needs

5 White UK carers

3 Black African carers

2 Asian carers

2 Somali carers

1 carer from dual heritage households and

3 general carers

5 carers specifically to meet the needs of unaccompanied asylum seeking children The following target groups to approach include:

Professionals or retirees from the following professions: Youth Offending Service, Probation Service, Fire Service, Police, Secondary school education, PCT/Health care, Social care

Faith based/church groups and community based groups

General public

Foster carers for Unaccompanied asylum-seeking children (UASC) - This group would consist of perspective carers interested in looking after UASC and have an empathic understanding of asylum – seeking and refugees. This target group has been identified as a response to the Syrian Refugee/UASC crisis.

The forecasted recruitment target to date is 13/20.

This report highlights that in the third quarter we have had two newly approved foster carers. Therefore, since the start of the financial year the department has recruited seven foster carers. In addition to this, we currently have six applicants in stage two and six applicants in Pre- stage. We are potentially on target to recruit 20 carers with opportunity for more enquiries and assessments in quarter four. Although we have had 41 fostering enquiries for this quarter it is important to note that the number of enquiries received have been impacted by the following factors:

No allocated marketing budget which will impact on number of enquiries received and inability to reach target audiences for carers.

Hounslow’s Fostering Profile remains low across the borough which gives our competitors more of head start to raise their profile of fostering within Hounslow. Therefore, Hounslow risk losing perspective carers to other boroughs. For example, in the previous quarter Hounslow had been informed that Ealing utilise leaflet drops within areas such as Cranford and Norwood Green which are on the boarders of Ealing and Hounslow. Kingston had also been advertising JCDecaux poster sites in Feltham. IFA’s in Hounslow were also publishing JCDecaux adverts across the borough. In addition, over the Christmas period, Richmond has set up JCDecaux poster sites within the Hounslow borough.

The Recruitment team is continuing to work with the senior management to identify a marketing

budget which can be used to fund following publicity sources/adverts:

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JCDecaux - estimated cost £610.00

Leaflet Drops - estimated cost £5000 + VAT

Sky Advert – Fostering television advert which can be used specifically broadcast to

households within the London Borough of Hounslow. Note: this is being progressed

Digital Marketing – RTO has completed some extended research to find out what

sources of marketing channels other boroughs including Greater London Boroughs

are utilising and Digital Marketing/ Social Media was a common tool used to raise the

profile of fostering and recruit foster carers.

The Recruitment team are keen for funding to be agreed so that Hounslow can reach prospective applicants. Over the past 9 months zero cost publicity sources have been exhausted. The response to hopefully obtaining some funding is with Senior Management and we are hoping that for the final quarter we can run at least one Fostering Campaign to generate more enquiries and potentially recruit more foster carers. The positive aspects of the recruitment service has been that Hounslow has run and completed more Preparation Training Groups compared to its neighbouring boroughs. To date, Hounslow has run a total of four preparation training groups since March 2016. This has resulted from the high number of in-house prospective carers needing to attend the training groups as part of their assessment. The Preparation Training Groups that have been set up have all had good attendance. The Recruitment Team have also revised its polices and procedure to reflect the National Standards of the Recruitment Process allowing the service to identify a high calibre of perspective applicants and shortlisting those that may go from the pre-stage to Stage1 of the recruitment process. The department has also invested in specialist training to help both approved carers and newly recruited carers to develop more specialised skills to meet the challenges for when looking after children who display challenging behaviours.