Alison Thomas, Cabinet Member for Children's Services at Norfolk County Council.
Norfolk County Council fostering service rated satisfactory by Ofsted
By VICTORIA LEGGETT Education correspondent
Monday, January 30, 2012
6:30 AM
The fostering service in Norfolk is now just “satisfactory” according to inspectors, having previously been rated “good”.
The department, part of the county council’s children’s services, was visited by Ofsted in November and a report has now been published.
Fostering in Norfolk has undergone a major restructure recently and inspectors found some of those changes were still settling down.
But they found many good areas, including the way the service helped children to be healthy, protected them from harm, promoted educational achievement and allowed them to make a positive contribution to their community – particularly thanks to the authority’s “in-care council”.
Their report added: “Young people throughout the service say that their views are listened to by carers.
“The service helps young people to develop a positive self view and understanding of their background.”
Yet the inspectors found a lack of consistency in a number of areas.
The Ofsted report said while some “good and very good” examples of good practice were found, others fell short of expected standards.
It added: “There is a similar lack of consistency in areas of training for carers, carer reviews, and matching of young people to foster carers.”
Alison Thomas, Norfolk County Council cabinet member for children’s services, said it was unsurprising that some “administrative and development issues” had slipped during a time of great change and increasing demand on the service.
But she said the authority knew more needed to be done and it wanted “every aspect of the service to be good or better”.
Mrs Thomas said ensuring the county had a high-quality fostering service was an “absolute priority” and added: “This report shows that these children are being very well looked after by their foster carers and we are extremely grateful to them for their ongoing dedication to Norfolk’s looked-after children.”
The county council has been given 14 points to work on to improve the fostering service. They include making sure carers are reviewed at least once a year and checking training needs are identified for carers. Ofsted also recommended children were able to visit a foster home before beginning a placement wherever possible and carers had all the information they needed about a child in their care.
victoria.leggett@archant.co.uk
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2 comments
David Cameron said recently that ‘Satisfactory’ is now unsatisfactory. The recent Ofsted inspection measured the Fostering Service against the National Minimum Standards which set the lowest acceptable standard of performance. Anything which does not meet those standards is therefore unacceptable. It must be noted that foster carers are regularly de-registered for ‘failing to meet the required standards’. It is important to understand the real significance of this Ofsted report. In 2006 the management of Norfolk County Council’s Fostering Service was rated by an Ofsted inspector “Standards Exceeded” (now reclassified as ‘Outstanding’). The report listed five actions and recommendations for improvement. In 2007 the management was described by the same inspector as “Standards Met” (now ‘Good’). There were only two actions and recommendations listed. In 2011 the management has been rated “Standards almost met” (today’s ‘Satisfactory’). There are no less than 14 actions and recommendations for improvement listed in the report. I concur with Alison Thomas that Norfolk foster carers have come out of this inspection with a clean bill of health. All the failings noted were down to the management. Restructuring is a commonplace in Children’s Services and cannot be used as an excuse for failing to meet the Minimum Standards, especially these failures have direct implications for the most vulnerable children in our society and those entrusted with their day-to-day care.
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Ray
Monday, January 30, 2012
Hardly a surprising result given that number of children being 'looked after' in the County has increased to well over 1000. The number of staff involved has been reduced and with their wages 'frozen' for 3 years those that are carrying out this valuable, and difficult, task can expect a lower standard of living for their efforts. The Foster Carers a paid little more than an allowance for a 247 job with some children with very complex needs.
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bumble7
Monday, January 30, 2012