Brighton and Hove Link Plus Service

Statement of Purpose

Fostering Standards

Brighton & Hove Link Plus Service

55, Drove Road

Portslade

BN41 2PA

Tel: 01273 295179

Reviewed and updated October 2015

1. Introduction

The National Minimum Standards for Fostering Services and the Fostering Services Regulations 2013 govern the work of fostering providers throughout England.

According to Standard 16 of the National Minimum Standards for Fostering Services and Regulation 3 of the Fostering Services regulations, a Fostering Agency is required to produce a Statement of Purpose.

As part of the regulatory requirement a copy of the Statement of Purpose will be provided to Ofsted and will be placed on the Barnardo’s website. The document is also available on request to: - staff, Placing Authorities, foster parents, prospective foster parents and children.

This Statement of Purpose has been prepared in accordance with these requirements and will be a useful source of information to Barnardo’s staff, foster carers and prospective foster carers, children and young people who are placed with the Brighton & Hove Link Plus Service, and also to colleagues from other agencies.

This Statement of Purpose is reviewed and updated on a regular basis, and at least annually.

2. BARNARDO’S BASIS AND VALUES

Barnardo’s …. Believe in children

Barnardo’s Basis and Values

Barnardo’s is an organisation whose inspiration and values derive from the Christian faith. These values, enriched and shared by many people of other faiths and philosophies, provide the basis of our work with children and young people, their families and communities.

Barnardo’s wishes to:

Respect the unique worth of every person

Encourage people to fulfil their potential

Work with hope

Exercise responsible stewardship

These aspirations are reflected in our Equal opportunities Policies and our efforts to ensure that our practice challenges oppression in all its forms.

We are committed to meeting the religious, racial, linguistic and cultural needs of our service users by:

Working in partnership with children and families of all races

Challenging discrimination and disadvantage

Creating positive opportunities

3. BRIGHTON & HOVE LINK PLUSSERVICE

MISSION STATEMENT

Our Service is proud to be part of the UK’s largest children’s charity. Barnardo's vision is that the lives of all children and young people should be free from poverty, abuse and discrimination. Within this vision it is the overall objective of the Brighton & Hove Link Plus Service, to work in partnership with local agencies, to provide high quality care in a family setting in order to help and enable the most vulnerable children and young people to transform their lives and fulfil their potential.

Brighton and Hove Link Plus is managed by the South East & Anglia regional branch of the national children’s charity, Barnardo’s (Registered No. 216250). The service is run in a funding partnership with Brighton and Hove’s City Council. The partnership operates through a Contract between Barnardo’s and the Brighton and Hove’s City Council. Link Plus works closely with the Child Development and Disabilities Team, the Fostering & Adoption Team, Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH) & CIN Teams, Brighton & Hove Adult Services (transition) and associated professionals with the Brighton & Hove NHS, County Council and Education Departments. In addition, Link Plus works with other local voluntary organisations to develop innovative services and provide co-ordinated packages of care. The Service is currently the only family-based short break care provider for disabled children in Brighton and Hove. The service is free at the point of delivery.Parents are able to purchase our short-break services via their Individualised Budget.Other Local Authorities can spot purchase fostering and short-breaks placements we are currently on the West Sussex short-break framework.

The service provideslong term, short term, and short breaks/respite placements for disabled children who live in the Brighton & Hove and surrounding areas.

Many of these children and young people have complex needs; some have learning and physical disabilities thus placing considerable demands on their foster carers. To achieve successful long term placements the Service provides a high level of support to its carers and works closely, in partnership, with the placing local authorities. Support and training groups for carers are held regularly.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES OF BRIGHTON & HOVE LINK PLUS SERVICE

AIMS

Brighton & Hove Link Plus aims to provide family-based short break care for disabled children who live in Brighton & Hove area.Placements range from a few hours day care, through to overnight stays, weekend/week breaks, shared care and, for a limited number of children full-time care. We also now provide placements on a spot purchase basis from other Local Authorities, both full-time and short-break placements with agreement from Brighton & Hove City Council.

SERVICE 0BJECTIVES

1.To offer a family-based short and long term care service, which meets the needs of disabled children, young people, and their families.

2.To offer disabled children and young people a carer, who is able to meet their cultural, racial, religious and linguistic backgrounds.

3.To ensure that the carers are able to offer appropriate care for the child’s particular needs, paying attention to the child’s gender, understanding, health and medical care.

4.To ensure that the child’s family and the carer can work together with the child to meet his/her needs and promote his/her, interests and abilities.

5.To offer disabled children the opportunity to socialise and to develop their independence outside of their immediate family.

6.To provide support and training to carers to enable them to carry out the task effectively.

7.To work in partnership with parents, both in relation to their own particular child and in developing the service generally.

8.To help parents and carers develop supportive networks and relevant skills.

9.To maintain effective links with our Partnership Authority (Brighton & Hove City Council).

10.To engage the child’s family, including the extended family in the work of the Service.

11.To ensure that all our work is carried out in an anti-discriminatory way, which promotes the inclusion of disabled children and young people in mainstream activities and takes account of children’s rights.

12.To create the opportunity for disabled children and young people to enjoy time away from home, to experience new friendships and enrichment to their lives and to enhance a sense of wider inclusion in the community.

13.To enable parents of disabled children to have regular breaks.

14.To monitor and evaluate the service as part of the Service’s quality assurance.

15.To recruit, train and assess prospective short break carers and to present their applications to a properly regulated Approval Panel.

16.To offer short break carers efficient, reliable, well-informed and regular support and training.

17.To ensure all carers are reimbursed accurately and regularly.

18. To visit the child and family requiring the service and ensure the most appropriate link with a carer is made taking into account the child’s needs, cultural and religious requirements and the type of service requested.

19.To take part in reviews of all children who use our service and regularly monitor their links.

5. OUTCOMES OF BRIGHTON & HOVE LINK PLUS SERVICE

Each disabled child is enabled to meet their maximum potential as set out in the ‘Every Child Matters’ 5 Outcomes: Stay Safe, Be Healthy, Enjoy and Achieve, Make a Positive Contribution, and Achieve Economic Wellbeing.

Services provided are tailored to meet the individual's child's needs over time.

Carers feel supported, encouraged and rewarded in working with the emotional, behavioural and developmental needs of the disabled child/ren placed with them.

Carers have development, training and support opportunities to enable them to meet the needs of the disabled children placed with them.

The work of carers is appropriately rewarded and recognised.

The development of the Service takes into account the views and wishes of its carers, children and young people in placement, the staff and colleagues from other agencies.

6. PRINCIPLES AND STANDARDS OF CARE

Barnardo's Brighton & Hove Link Plus Service is a family-based short-break service for disabled children and young people who need a, safe and secure family environment. The Service believes that the children in placement have the right to expect the following things in all of their contacts with the Service:

1.The Service’s principles and standards of care are underpinned by the Basis and Values statement pertaining to all Barnardo’s work and set out in a leaflet given to all enquirers. The prevailing culture is one in which children are valued and their right to be safe is respected.

2.The Service will promote a standard of care that is safe, reliable and enjoyable, for the disabled children and the families using the service.

3.The Service will provide carers who are professional, caring in their attitude and approach to the work and who maintain confidentiality.

4.Care will be designed to meet as far as possible the individual needs of each child as outlined in his/her profile.

5.Care provided will place value on diversity and promote equality.

6.The Service will develop, through its carers, a standard of care that helps a child learn to deal with discrimination in all its forms, by raising carers’ awareness of discrimination and its impact on the child.

7.The Service will expect carers to offer each child encouragement to develop and pursue his/her interests, and help him/her access opportunities to do so.

8.The Service will encourage carers in enabling children to access a wide a range of activities to help further each child’s inclusion in the community and community activities.

9.The standard of care will be designed to enhance each child’s sense of worth and promote his/her well being, and help prepare him/her for increasing independence by working with parents and others engaged in this task.

10.The Service will promote the safe care of children by use of training/preparation, written guidelines.

11.The Service aims to be responsive to the views of users and to promote and encourage user representation and consultation, by encouraging carers and service users to give feedback to the Service on the service they receive.

BRIGHTON & HOVE LINK PLUS MANAGEMENT AND STAFFING

The Service is managed by a full time Children’s Service Manager, assisted by a part time Team Leader with a full time Administrator (and part-time assistant) and equivalent to 2 Full-time Supervising Social Workers. The Children’s Service Manager is responsible to the Assistant Director for Sussex and Surrey Locality at the South East Regional Office.

The Children’s Service Manager is a Registered Manager with the Care Quality Commission and Ofsted.

See Appendix 1 for staff currently in post.

The current establishment for the service is 60 hoursper week management time, 74 hours social work hours per week dividedbetween 2 staff. 52.25 Administrative hours divided between 1 Service Administrator and 1 Admin Assistant.

At any one time the Service has approximately 30 - 45 approved carers, who offer full-time care, overnight or day care breaks for approximately 25 - 45 children and young people.

SERVICES PROVIDED BY BRIGHTON & HOVE LINK PLUS SERVICE

TheService provides a range of services aimed to meet the varying needs of disabled children and families. This currently includes overnight care, day care, and for a limited number, full-time care. (Please see separate Statement of Purpose for the Home Support service) The Service works with children who have a wide range of disabilities both physical and learning difficulties, children with complex health/medical needs, autism and challenging behaviour.

The vast majority of the children are living at home with their parents, although some children are long-term fostered.

The Service provides a planned service in which the aim is to establish links which will last over a number of years.

REFERRAL PROCESS

The Service provides support to disabled children aged 0-18 years. To be eligible for the service children and young people must have a physical, learning or sensory disability, and require a place in a school for children or young people with special needs, or attendance at a main stream school with full-time one to one support.

To access the service you need to contact the Child Development & Disabilities Team who will visit you and complete a single assessment and then take your request to the multi-agency Resource Panel who is responsible for allocating services. The Child Development Team is based at the Seaside View Child Development Centre (Edburton building), BrightonGeneralHospital, Elm Grove, Brighton, BN2 3EW. Telephone: 01273 265825. If your child or young person does not meet the criteria for the Child Development and Disabilities Team, you can call the CIN Team Telephone: 01273 294470 a social worker will visit you to undertake an assessment and they will also take your request to the multi- agency Resource Panel who is responsible for allocating services.

RECRUITMENT AND APPROVAL OF CARERS

Procedures and processes adopted by the Service to carry out these duties are in line with Barnardo’s policies and standards and with DOH Regulations and Standards. (National Minimum Standards & Regulations for Fostering Services/2013)

The Service regularly seeks to recruit carers. Carers are recruited throughout the year via leaflets and flyers, advertisements in local newspapers and magazines, and talking to staff and students from health, social work, education, fundraisers and volunteers.

EnquiriesOn receiving an enquiry from a prospective short-break/foster carer the Service requests basic information and sets out an Information pack containing material about Barnardo’s, the Service and short-break/ fostering generally. An initial home visit is then arranged by a Supervising Social worker from the Service to discuss in more detail the work of the Service and to answer any queries or concerns the enquirer may have. A decision will be reached as to whether the prospective foster carer wishes to and or is suitable to proceed.

Assessment and Approval: If the applicant wishes to proceed they complete an expression of interest form together with written consents for the Service to ascertain their suitability to foster/provide short-breaks. The service will take up a number of checks and references (see list below), this is now called Stage one of the Assessment process. If any information comes to light from the checks which are listed below or references that deem the applicant not suitable to foster the applicant has no right to a review of the decision by the Independent Review Mechanism (IRM).

Applicants will be notified of the decision to proceed to Stage 2 of the assessment process or not to proceed within 10 working days of all the required information in Stage 1 being received.

Brighton & Hove Link Plus Service obtains references from the police (via the Disclosure & Barring Service), the Department of Health Social services and any other relevant agency, e.g. Health, NSPCC, Ofsted etc. Police references are obtained on all members of the household who are over 18 years of age, and on any other regular visitor to the household who may have care of foster children when placed. Some checks are repeated every three years.

The applicant is required to have a medical examination which is completed by their GP, who sends the completed Medical Report to Brighton & Hove Medical Adviser for comments about the applicant(s)’ health.

The applicant is also asked to provide at least three personal referees who can provide written references and who will also be interviewed as part of the approval process. Where appropriate we also ask for permission to approach the applicant’s current or past employer. Adult children and previous ex-partners will also be contacted when they have parented children, as part of the Stage one process.

A qualified and experienced social worker will carry out the Stage 2 assessment process by visiting the applicant(s)’ home (on 6 – 8 occasions), to meet with all members of the family and to collate information about the applicant(s)’ experience and skills. The information from the social workers visit will be collated and forms the basis of an assessment report, using the Fostering Network, (formerly known as National Fostering Association) competency based assessments format for short-breaks, for full-time fostering applicants are prepared and assessed using the BAAF Form F Assessment format. The stage 1 and 2 process can be carried out concurrently. If stage 2 has been started a ‘Brief report’(or full report) has to be taken to panel, the applicant then can access the IRM within 28 days of ‘qualifying determination.’ If during the stage 2 assessment process information comes to light indicating the individual is unlikely to be suitable before the assessment is complete. A brief report can be compiled and reason for considering the ‘applicant’is unsuitable. The applicant will be notified in writing that the brief report will be sent to foster panel and a copy will be provided to the applicant and they have 10 days from the date report provided to send their observations/comments to the service.