Report to Corporate Parenting Panel Panel Date 8 September …democracy.anglesey.gov.uk/documents/s4833/Child Placement Team Report... · Mai / May 16 Meh / Jun 15 Cyfanswm / Total

Anglesey Children Services Corporate Parenting Panel Reports

1 Fostering and Adoption Team

Report to Corporate Parenting Panel

Panel Date 8th September 2014 Report Title Child Placement Team Report

Report Author Deborah Stammers

1 Additional Information for Quarter 1 April – 30 June 2014

Placement Types for Anglesey Looked After Children

Requests for Placements

Graph 1

This graph illustrates the number and type of referrals received by the team in Quarter 1 (Apr-Jun 2014).

Recruitment information

Table 1

Nifer o ymholiadau (misol) / No of enquiries (monthly):

2014

Ebr / Apr 3

Mai / May 16

Meh / Jun 15

Cyfanswm / Total 34

No of initial visits (total) / Nifer o ymweliadau cychwynnol (cyfanswm):

3

4

11

6 8 9 6 4

9 7

0

10

20

Lleoliadau argyfwng /Emergency Placements

Lleoliadau Cynllunedig /Planned placements

Lleolaidau ysbaid / RespitePlacements

Nifer Cyfeiriadau am Leoliadau Number of Referrals for Placements

Ch2 / Q213-14

Ch3 / Q313-14



Sut ddaru nhw glywed am faethu? / How did they hear about fostering?

Table 2

Often, more than one source of information was stated by enquirers, in addition to the primary source. The complete picture was as follows:

Graph 2

Prif ffynhonnell o wybodaeth / Primary source of information (Ch1 / Q1 14-15)

Diddordeb erioed / Always been interested 2

Trwy ffrind / Through a friend 0

Trwy weithiwr cymdeithasol / Through a social worker 2

Teulu wedi maethu / Family fostered 0

Y wefan / Website 1

Facebook / Twitter 1

Papur newydd / Newspaper 1

Sesiynau Gwybodaeth ‘Galw Heibio’ / Drop-in info session 11

Wedi dangos diddordeb o’r blaen / Previous interest shown 0

Trwy waith / Through work 1

Siarad cyhoeddus / Public talk 1

Poster neu daflen / Poster or leaflet 4

Cystadleuaeth pobi / Bake-off 1

Gŵyl Haf i’r Teulu / Summer Family Festival 7

Ymholiad dros y ffôn / Telephone enquiry 2

Cyfanswm / Total 34

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14

Diddordeb erioed / Always been interested

Argymhelliad / Recommendation

Profiad (gofalwr maeth / wedi gadael gofal) / Experience…

Y we / Internet

Papur newydd / newspaper

Teledu / Television

Digwyddiadau lleol / Local events

Sesiynau Gwybodaeth ‘Galw Heibio’ / Drop-in info session

Trwy waith / Through work

Siarad cyhoeddus / Public talk

Ymholiad dros y ffôn / Telephone enquiry

Marchnata - poster neu taflen / Marketing - poster or…

Sut ddaru nhw clywed am faethu? / How did they hear about fostering?



Gwybodaeth bellach / Further information:

This quarter has seen a 325% increase on the number of enquiries received during Q1 13-14. Q1 14-15 has also seen the largest total number of enquiries per quarter when compared to the records available to the Recruitment Officer (since 2011/12).

Graph 3

With 34 enquiries and 3 intial visits completed to date, the conversion rate from enquiry to home visit is 11.33:1 at present. There is potential for one or two additional initial visits as a result of these enquiries.

Assessments

Graph 5

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

2011/13 2012/13 2013/14 2014/15

Nifer o Ymholiadau i Faethu / Number of Enquiries to Foster Care

Ch1 / Q1

Ch2 / Q2

Ch3 / Q3

Ch4 / Q4



Three new mainstream fostering households were approved this quarter, with 6 mainstream assessments still awaiting completion.

Friends and Family

This was a very busy quarter for Friends and Family work, with 6 assessments going to Panel for approval during this quarter. One full Friends and Family assessment remains ongoing, and there have been a number of referrals for viability assessments.

Training Provided

Following a very successful Foster Care Fortnight and a high level of enquiries received over the summer months, a Skills to Foster course has been planned for September / October. It is hoped that more recruits for the course will be gathered during the Anglesey Show. The course will again be delivered in-house, and one of our most experienced foster carers will be helping to deliver the course, which we see as a very positive step forward.

The training plan for foster carers 2014-15 has been finalised. As in previous years, we have commissioned Cartref Bontnewydd to deliver much of this training, but for the first time this year this will be in partnership with social workers from within the team who will each be developing areas of expertise within the Fostering Network Pathway training programme. Other sessions will be delivered by BAAF and CAMHS in partnership with the Workforce Development Unit.

Inspection

See attached Action Plan.

Foster Care Forum

As discussed in the previous Corporate Parenting Panel meeting, the second meeting of the Foster Care Forum was held in April and this raised a number of concerns regarding Foster Carers’ dissatisfaction with the status quo in terms of the payments and recognition they receive. As a result of this meeting, three working groups were set up to look at:

Review of payments scheme



Foster Carers’ Charter

Foster Carers’ handbook. All three working groups have now met. The Charter is nearing completion and it is hoped that by the

next Corporate Parenting Panel we will be able to present the finished document. The Handbook is also well into development. The payments review is discussed separately below under ‘Risks and Concerns’.

The forum met again in June and is due to meet again in September, trialling an early evening meeting to see whether this enables some foster carers to attend who would not usually be able to do so. The forum enjoys a close relationship with Anglesey Foster Care Association, which provides agenda items for the Forum.

Staffing Llyr Bryn Roberts has been appointed to the post of Principal Officer for Corporate Parenting and

Partnerships. His start date is 1.9.14.

2 Analysis & Commentary

Trends

Changes

Issues Recruitment – see Tables 1 and 2 and Graphs 2 and 3 In this quarter the work of the Recruitment and Marketing Officer has begun to bear fruit. This can be seen by the high level of enquiries during Quarter 1, in the main due to our extremely successful Foster Care fortnight. The fortnight included a ‘roadshow’ which attracted local and national press attention, including an interview on BBC Radio Wales, culminating in the first ‘Great Corporate Bake Off’ at the Council which raised money for the Anglesey Foster Care Association and the Fostering Network. In the past 2 years Quarter 2 has been our busiest in terms of Enquiries, with a spike due to the Anglesey Show. It is therefore extremely encouraging to see Quarter 1 yielding such a high level of enquiries and we hope that this trend continues. Table 2 and Graph 2 demonstrate that the local drop-in information events combined with posters, as well as presence at local events such as the Family Festival, are proving to be a successful way of raising our profile and generating enquiries, with fewer enquiries being generated by ‘traditional’ advertising such as in print media. We are hoping to increase our ‘word of mouth’ enquiries through the Recommend a Friend scheme which we are hoping to launch at the Foster Carers’ Long Service Awards to be held later this year. Assessments There were still 6 mainstream assessments ongoing at the end of Quarter 1, with encouraging signs from the level of the enquiries that we will be able to begin a further 3-5 assessments following the Skills to Foster course. Our goal is to maintain this recruitment level ( 3-5 assessments commenced per quarter) for the next 3 years, in order to reach our recruitment targets. We are currently assessing all households who appear appropriate due to our general shortfall in carers; however, there will be a need to review our recruitment strategy to ensure we are prioritising assessments of carers who can best meet our placement needs. In Year 2 it is envisaged that we will move away from assessing respite only carers (apart from those who can provide respite to children with disabilities) and to move towards concentrating on those who can provide full-time placements.



3 Risks and Concerns (including how these being addressed)

Quality of enquiries There is a concern that, despite the rise in the number of enquiries, many of them are unsuitable or have issues to consider which mean a delay or dilemma in moving forward with the assessment process. We have now begun monitoring our conversion rate which at 11:3 is currently slightly worse than the received average of around 10:1. We will need to consider issues such as:

Quality and suitability of our marketing materials

Support package we offer – how attractive is it to the people we want to reach? The work being done by the payments working group and other retention work, eg the Charter, may help with this.

Slow rate of assessments coming to Panel There is still an issue regarding the slow rate of assessments coming to Panel (see Graph 5). This is in part due to our success – the new carers approved need to be supported, and often they need a higher level of support at the beginning of their fostering career. This high level of supporting work has meant that social workers have struggled to invest time in the assessments. There are a number of ways in which we are addressing this:

Commissioning some assessments from independent workers where funding allows

Providing support to mainstream sub-team from Friends and Family sub-team where workload allows

Review of team restructure planned in the Autumn – seems that there may be an over-weighting on the Friends and Family side

Encouraging workers to work at home occasionally in order to concentrate on assessments. Invest to Save As part of the original Invest to Save bid it was envisaged that the savings from the Non-standard placement budget would allow us to recruit a new social worker to increase capacity in the team. Unfortunately, despite beginning to see a rise in numbers of foster carers, we have not yet seen the hoped-for level of savings. The reasons for this include:

1. Inevitable time delay from recruitment officer commencing in post (Dec 2013) to recruitment and assessment of new carers

2. Several children with specific needs have been referred that we have been unable to place within our own resources (eg siblings need to be placed together; child needs carers with specific skills; child needs a long-term placement)

3. New carers not being registered to provide long-term care and Fostering Panel being resistant to registering them as long-term without more experience of fostering

4. New carers need to be matched carefully with potential placements due to their limited training / experience.

Number 1 above is the main issue at play; it takes time to assess and approve foster carers and it is only in recent weeks that we are beginning to have a choice of in-house carers for matching referred children with foster carers. It is hoped that, as numbers of carers continue to increase over the next two quarters, that the predicted savings will begin to emerge. For example, for respite to cover foster carers’ holidays this year we have been able to place all children with in-house carers which would not have been possible a few months ago. Payments Review Genuine concerns emerged from the Foster Care Forum that in considering our Recruitment Strategy we have not given enough consideration to retention of foster carers. There is a risk that some of our most experienced foster carers, frustrated by lack of attention to their financial needs and lack of ability to progress and develop in their fostering careers, may choose to move to an independent fostering agency, and this has been raised within the Forum as a possibility. This presents a significant risk to the service. If only 3 sets of foster carers were to leave for an



independent agency, each with 2 children in placement, we are looking at a cost comparison as follows: Current: 6x in-house placements at an average cost of £256 per week (inc maintenance allowance and skills payment: £1536 per week Agency: 6x independent agency placements at an average cost of £741 per week: £4446 per week This does not include hidden costs such as staffing and other overheads, but the weekly difference of £2910 is a huge concern and across a year adds up to £151,320. It takes time to train and develop new foster carers to the point where they are able to take difficult (often long-term) placements which reflect the needs of the children in our Looked After system, which is why some children have continued to be placed with independent agency carers rather than being able to . If we are not able to retain the experienced carers we do have, our recruitment strategy will fail because we will not be able to offer carers with the level and range of experience required. The payments group has therefore been looking at different options for a payments and fees package that will be attractive to new foster carers, but which will also allow existing carers to progress and develop as they increase their skills and knowledge. There is currently no money set aside for this within the Children Services budget. We are currently working on an options appraisal and a further Invest to Save proposal which will enable us to address this issue.

4 Achievements & Good Practice

Very successful Foster Care Fortnight campaign which has led to a significant increase in the number of enquiries to the Fostering Service.

4 new sets of mainstream carers have now been approved this year, with a further 6 assessments still ongoing.

Working groups set up to develop themes raised in the Foster Care Forum.

5 Planned Actions

Continued implementation of the Invest to Save bid including assessment and approval of 10 new fostering families by end 2014.

Agreement and implementation of performance framework for the Fostering service, looking at local PIs for our recruitment and assessment of foster carers, as well as statutory duties such as supervision and Annual Reviews – this will be done following the new Principal Officer taking up his post

Significant recruitment activity including Sioe Môn and Skills to Foster course

Placement Strategy is currently being reviewed

Updating of Policies and Procedures: Fostering, Special Guardianship and Permanency

Options appraisal and proposal to be developed regarding foster carers’ fees and payments

Foster Carers’ Charter to be ratified and agreed

Foster Care Handbook to be completed, ratified and distributed.

Additional Points to Note

CSSIW Fostering Inspection: Action plan

March 2014 OUTCOME:

The inspection found no areas of noncompliance with the Fostering Service (Wales) Regulations 2003.

There are examples of the service being responsive to individual children’s needs and

preferences.

Children and families are supported by a psychological and play therapy service.

The motivation of staff has increased now that the fostering team is fully staffed.

Implementation of the Invest to Save scheme has increased capacity and output from the

service.

The appointment of a recruitment and marketing officer is beginning to have a positive impact

on the service.

The inspection identified areas where practice standards could be improved.

Developmental priority:

Key actions Good practice recommendation – success criteria / measure

Timescale

Risks and risk mitigation commentary

RAG Status and Trend

Corrective action Lead officer

1 It is recommended that the department considers capacity demands and limits to management time available within the fostering service.

The fostering service is adequately resourced. Permanent and temporary posts will be advertised in a timely manner.

Ongoing Delays in recruitment. The fostering team has been restructured in order to manage competing demands within the service. The implementation and early impact of the revised public law outline will need to be monitored in relation to any increased demands for family placement and impact on resources available to meet recruitment targets within the service. It is anticipated that the appointment of a full time principal

Capacity within the fostering service is monitored and reviewed by CSMT. 2013/4 has seen the addition of a Recruitment and Retention post and a .4 increase in Principal officer (Corporate Parenting) capacity. The fostering service is currently fully staffed. The sections business plan includes the addition of 2 support workers if recruitment and placement targets are met

A.H.

officer within the service will be a significant increase in management capacity.

2 It is recommended that current advocacy arrangements are reassessed.

Children and Young People’s views are heard and their wishes are taken into account. Children and Young people have access to advocacy that is proactive rather than reactive. Children and young people’s needs and

Quality Assurance Manager to consider how efficacy of advocacy services can be reviewed and monitored. A mapping exercise was undertaken collaboratively by the six North Wales local authorities, Health and the voluntary sector to address identified gaps and duplication in the provision of advocacy for vulnerable groups of children and young people. Based on all

The provision of advocacy services are being reviewed on a regional basis and re tendered. This is one of the North Wales collaborative initiatives. This matter is being considered by the Corporate Scrutiny Committee on 1/7/2014. The Missing Voices action plan has been reviewed and updated by the local authority’s participation officer. A participation/ advocacy task group meets on a bi-monthly basis to review outstanding actions and incorporate any participation/ advocacy agenda issues.

G.H. L.G.H

views are given consideration when advocacy services are commissioned and reviewed.

information gathered by the project group and following consultation a number of commissioning options were presented to the North Wales Family Support Group for consideration.

3 It is recommended that consideration is given to how children’s views can be obtained and recorded within the annual foster carers review process.

Children and Young People’s views are adequately recorded within the annual foster carers review.

Child placement manager to liaise with Quality Assurance Manager regarding incorporating Children and Young People’s views about effective participation in the fostering annual review.

The Participation Officer to consider how children and young people’s views in relation to their fostering experience can developed. This action plan to be incorporated into the Participation Business Plan. The participation officer is liaising with the advocacy service with the aim to establish a children and young person’s group. It is intended that looked after children will be prioritised initially.

D.S L.G.H.

4 It is recommended that the department assesses how children can be seen by the IRO at statutory reviews.

Children and Young People are seen by the IRO either before or during the statutory review.

A growth bid for 2014/2015 was not approved by the local authority.

Interim Service Improvement Manager to meet with Operational Managers and IRO to discuss service priorities in relation to statutory reviews and review performance targets accordingly.

J.G.

5 It is recommended that the

Children and Young People

Ensure clarity regarding roles and

Quality Assurance manager liaises with the IRO and

L.G.H.

department identifies who is responsible for preparing children for statutory review.

are adequately prepared for statutory review.

responsibilities in relation to statutory review process.

Operational Managers to review policy and identify any possible training needs.

6 It is recommended that the department assesses the attendance of children at reviews.

Children and Young people’s attendance at review is monitored and evaluated.

This is monitored by the IRO.

The Quality Assurance Framework ensures that children are encouraged to attend statutory reviews or where this is not possible that their views are included. The Quality Assurance annual audit will incorporate a measure of attendance at statutory reviews, reasons for non- attendance and whether or not the views of children and young children have been ascertained.

L.G.

7 It is recommended that the current structure and functions of the fostering and permanency panel be reviewed to ensure there is sufficient capacity to meet current and future demands.

Panel arrangements are effective. Volume of work presented to panel is manageable. Revised panel protocol and permanence policy.

Nine months

Volume of assessments is likely to increase due to revised PLO. Consider alterative process in relation to non-contentious annual reviews. Ensure timeliness in relation decision

CSMT to review permanency panel arrangements. Permanency policy and procedure to be reviewed accordingly.

G.H. H.E. & D.S. G.H

making process for permanency matters. Cases are appropriately referred to panel.

N.W.

Version Control Log

Version Date Change Log

V1 11.06.14

V1.1

V1.2

V1.3

V1.4

V1.5

V1.6

V1.7

Child Placement Team report Apr-Jun 14DRAFT CSSIW Fostering inspection action plan 2014 format

Documents

Report to Corporate Parenting Panel Panel Date 8 September …democracy.anglesey.gov.uk/documents/s4833/Child Placement Team Report... · Mai / May 16 Meh / Jun 15 Cyfanswm / Total