Arrangements for the inspection of services for children looked after and care leavers

Consultation document

1

Arrangements for the inspection of services for children looked after and care leavers

July 2012, No. 120080

Questionnaire for the inspection of services for children looked after and care leavers

Confidentiality

The information you provide will be held by us. It will only be used for the purposes of consultation and research to help us to become more effective, shape policies and inform inspection and regulatory practice.

We will treat your identity in confidence, if you disclose it to us. However, we may publish an organisation’s views.

Are you providing a group response on behalf of an organisation or responding as an individual?

Group responsePlease complete sections 1 and 2.

Individual responsePlease complete Section 2.

Section 1

If you would like us to consider publishing the views of your organisation, please indicate this below.

Organisation: The Fostering Network

Section 2

Which of the below best describes you? Please tick one option.

I am a:

young person / parent/carer
charity / elected representative
foster parent/carer / independent provider
local authority Chief Executive / local authority Director of Children’s Services
Local Safeguarding Children Board Chair / Ofsted employee
practitioner in health / senior manager in health
practitioner in social care / senior manager in social care
practitioner in education / senior manager in education
umbrella group / voluntary sector organisation
Prefer not to say / Other (please specify)

The consultation questions

For each of the following questions, please select the option that most closely fits your view and include any additional comments in the boxes provided.

Q1. To what extent do you agree or disagree with our proposal to replace the three current inspections with a single inspection of the arrangements for children looked after and care leavers (as outlined in paragraphs 19 and 20)?

Strongly agree
/ Agree
/ Neither agree nor disagree / Disagree
/ Strongly disagree
/ Don’t know

Do you have any comments or suggestions?

There are some advantages to combining the inspections but there are also some risks. One risk is that foster care will drop out of view. In recent years fostering services have been found to be of a high standard, but it is only through explicit on-going scrutiny that it is possible to be assured that the high standards will continue to be met. Local authority fostering services provide placements for the largest proportion of looked after children. On 31 March 2011,53% of all children looked after were placed by local authority fostering services, 21% by independent fostering agencies, 9% were placed in secure units, children's homes or hostels and 4% were placed for adoption. Therefore we are deeply concerned that it is only local authority fostering services which will not be given a specific sub judgement within the overall framework.

Q2. To what extent do you agree or disagree with our proposal for unannounced inspections (as outlined in paragraphs 21–24)?

Strongly agree
/ Agree
/ Neither agree nor disagree / Disagree
/ Strongly disagree
/ Don’t know

Do you have any comments or suggestions?

We believe that this is a good principle but it will only work well if there is enough time for the inspectors to get feedback from the full range of team members who work with the child. Therefore, the methodology of the inspections needs to enable this to happen within the timescale for the inspection. The participation of the child during the time that they are looked after is a key factor in determining the quality of their journey, and inspectors will need to see how participation is embedded into the policies, procedures and processes of all parts of the local authority, and inspectors should be trained in this aspect.

Q3. To what extent do you agree or disagree with our proposed inspection judgements (as outlined in paragraphs 25 and 26)?

Strongly agree
/ Agree
/ Neither agree nor disagree / Disagree
/ Strongly disagree
/ Don’t know
Overall effectiveness
Outcomes for children and young people looked after and care leavers
Quality of practice
Achieving permanence, including a sub-judgement on adoption performance
Leadership and governance.

Do you have any comments or suggestions?

We agree that overall effectivess should be judged, but are concerned that no detail is given about the basis of such judgements. As set out in relation to Q1, there should be an explicit judgement or subjudgment on foster care. We agree that there should be a judgement on permanence, but if there is to be a sub-judgment on adoption, equally, there should be sub-judgments on foster care, and special guardianship and residence orders. We believe that a judgement on permanance and how these decisions are made for each individual child is key and that the hierarchy with adoption at the top is unhelpful. A sub judgement on fostering would give the potential to cross reference across the whole fostering sector including independent fostering agencies and would allow like for like comparisons to be made.

Q4. To what extent do you agree or disagree with our proposed inspection methodology (as outlined in paragraphs 27–31)?

Strongly agree
/ Agree
/ Neither agree nor disagree / Disagree
/ Strongly disagree
/ Don’t know

Do you have any comments or suggestions?

We broadly support the proposed methodology and welcome the fact that foster carers will be involved in appraising outcomes . The sample of children chosen for the focus of the inspection must be large and broad enough to enable valid judgements to be made. We welcome the reference to health and well-being and trust that the CQC will have sufficient capacity to contribute appropriately. Education arrangements need to be properly scrutinised since these are a key factor in placement stability and shortcomings can lead to the disruption of placements. It is important to have regard to the child's overall development, and to examine achievement broadly and not merely attainment. It will, for example, be important to use the new "Measuring Hapiness" methodology developed by the Children's Rights Director.
Again, adoption is over-emphasised in relation to stability and permanence overall.

Q5. We would no longer be inspecting local authority fostering and adoption services separately. Are there any particular aspects of fostering and adoption services that you think we should consider in the new inspections?

There needs to be a proportionate approach to permanent options. The framework currently laid out has an overemphasis on adoption, whereas for some children long term fostering, a residential placement or SGO or residence order is the best option.
With regard to fostering the following need particular attention:timeliness and effectiveness of assessments and reviews of approval; evidence of completion of TSDS for all foster carers plus continuing professional development; effectiveness and timeliness of placement planning meetings and placement plans; strategy and policy on delegated authority; provision of all the information needed by foster carers (local authority and agency) to provide care which meets the child’s needs; contribution to effective care planning and provision of care in accordance with care plans; management of allegations - evidence of good policies, procedures and implementation;Foster Carer Charter- evidence of how this is embedded and implemented on an ongoing basis. For comments on family and friends foster carers and workforce training please see p.8.

Q6. To what extent do you agree or disagree with our proposed approach to evaluating Quality of practice (as outlined in paragraphs 32–43)?

Strongly agree
/ Agree
/ Neither agree nor disagree / Disagree
/ Strongly disagree
/ Don’t know

Do you have any comments or suggestions?

We would like to see a more explicit statement that foster carers will be involved in providing evidence for this part of the inspection. We welcome the inclusion of sufficiency planning as an explicit issue; we would also like to see recruitment, retention and training of foster carers dealt with specifically. The effectiveness of matching children to placements which will meet their individual needs must be addressed. Paragraph 43 - whilst we agree with this point it is crucial that first line managers and social workers have the sanction and support of senior managers and the organisation as a whole including policies and procedures to carry out these duties. There needs to be evidence of a sensible approach to risk management within the culture of the organisation, which accepts the need to take considered risks to help children to develop rather than to set a risk averse culture.

Q7. To what extent do you agree or disagree with our proposal forthe effectiveness of achieving permanence for children, with a sub-judgement on local adoption performance, to be a major focus of the inspection(as outlined in paragraphs 44–47)?

Strongly agree
/ Agree
/ Neither agree nor disagree / Disagree
/ Strongly disagree
/ Don’t know

Do you have any comments or suggestions?

We agree that there should be a judgement on permanence, but if there is to be a sub-judgment on adoption, equally, there should be sub-judgments on fostercare, and special guardianship and residence orders. The great majority of children who require long-term stable homes away from their parents will continue to be based in foster care.
The key criteria set out under paragraph 46 for inspecting adoption, should equally be applied to foster care and other permanent arrangements. The proposal for judging effectiveness of achieving permanence for children needs to be linked to the sufficiency plans of the local authority.

Q8. To what extent do you agree or disagree with our proposed approach to evaluating Leadership and governance(as outlined in paragraphs 48–54)?

Strongly agree
/ Agree
/ Neither agree nor disagree / Disagree
/ Strongly disagree
/ Don’t know

Do you have any comments or suggestions?

The fundamental changes to management of education and health services will have a significant impact on provision of services for looked after children and this will need to be taken into account.
It is not clear how the Ofsted and Care Quality Commission joint inspection will work, and there needs to be more clarity and transparency about how this will be implemented and how data will be fed into both regulatory bodies. It will be important to have confidence in other bodies such as the Care Quality Commission in their ability to operate a robust and reliable inspection system.

Please add any further comments you would like to make about our proposals on the arrangements for the inspection of services for children looked after and care leavers.

It is necessary to consider how the new framework would operate in relation to children who move between foster placements and residential care (continuation of our answer to question 1).
The new inspections should consider the availability of, and implementation of, comprehensive family and friends care policies, tailored pre- and post-approval training, robust assessment process, evidence of meeting TSD Standards for family and friends foster carers, support for contact and quality of decision making regarding individual contact arrangements which are regularly reviewed and adjusted over time to meet the needs of growing children (link to recent research on contact e.g. Schofield, G. and Simmonds, J. (2011) Contact for Infants in Care Proceedings, Family Law, 41, June 11,pp.617-622). (Continuation of question 5).
There should be opportunities for shared training across different roles within the workforce including children's social workers.There is little mention throughout the proposals of the needs of care leavers; supported lodgings and 'staying put' need to be addressed.
Many children's social workers are not to be fully conversant with the journey of the child through care. Insufficient time is given to the training of newly approved social workers on fostering and adoption. This should be addressed within the inspection.
There is no mention of young offenders and how those who are looked after will relate to the youth offending teams.
The consultation document provides insufficient detail about the proposed inspection framework to make comment in some areas. The current grade descriptors and evaluators that are used to inspect fostering services are excellent and we hope that these are retained.

Thank you for taking part in our consultation.

Additional questions about you

Your answers to the following questions will help us to evaluate how successfully we are communicating messages from inspection to all sections of society. We would like to assure you that all responses are confidential and you do not have to answer every question.

Please tick the appropriate box.

1. Gender

Female / Male

2. Age

Under 14
/ 14–18
/ 19–24
/ 25–34
/ 35–44
/ 45–54
/ 55–64
/ 65+

3. Ethnic origin

(a) How would you describe your national group?

British or mixed British / English
Northern Irish / Irish
Scottish / Welsh
Other (specify if you wish)

(b) How would you describe your ethnic group?

Asian / Mixed ethnic origin
Bangladeshi / Asian and White
Indian / Black African and White
Pakistani / Black Caribbean and White
Any other Asian background
(specify if you wish) / Any other mixed ethnic background
(specify if you wish)
Black / White
African / Any White background (specify if you wish)
Caribbean / Any other ethnic background
Any other Black background (specify if you wish) / Any other background (specify if you wish)
Chinese
Any Chinese background
(specify if you wish)

4. Sexual orientation

Heterosexual
/ Lesbian
/ Gay
/ Bisexual

5. Religion/belief

Buddhist / Muslim
Christian / None
Hindu / Sikh
Jewish / Any other, please state:

6. Disability

Do you consider yourself to have a disability? / Yes / No

What did you think of this consultation?

One of the commitments in our strategic plan is to monitor whether our consultations are accessible to those wishing to take part.

Please tell us what you thought of this consultation.

Agree / Neither agree nor disagree / Disagree / Don’t know
I found the consultation information clear and easy to understand.
I found the consultation easy to find on the Ofsted website.
I had enough information about the consultation topic.
I would take part in a future Ofsted consultation.

How did you hear about this consultation?

Ofsted website

Ofsted News

Ofsted email alerts

Ofsted conference

Another organisation (please specify if known).

Other (please specify) .

Is there anything you would like us to improve on or do differently for future consultations? If so, please tell us below.

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Arrangements for the inspection of services for children looked after and care leavers

July 2012, No. 120080