Statement of Purpose
Contents
Introduction
Devon County Council (DCC) believes that most children’s needs are best met witThis Statement of Purpose fulfils the requirements of Standard 16 of the Fostering Services National Minimum Standards 2011 and Chapter 4 of the Children Act 1989 Guidance and Regulations Volume 4. There is a requirement that all Fostering Services provide a written Statement of Purpose setting out the aims, objectives and details of the service and facilities provided. The Statement of Purpose should be reviewed and updated every year.
The statement is intended to provide a clear description of the service for the information of foster carers, service users, Devon County Council staff, elected members, professionals in other agencies and members of the public.
Copies of the Statement of Purpose will be available to:
- Children’s Services staff who are involved in providing services to children and young people in care.
- Foster carers and people who are being assessed as foster carers.
- Stand Up Speak Up Devon County Council Children in Care Council and the Participation Team.
- Devon Foster Care Strategy Group
- Devon Foster Care Association (DFCA)
Devon County Council Fostering Service (fostering Devon) is fully committed to meeting the Fostering Services National Minimum Standards including the values statement and ensuring that children in care, birth families and prospective and approved foster carers understand what they can expect from the service.
Fostering Devon recognises the important role foster carers have in providing high quality and safe care within a family setting for children and young people who have been assessed as requiring a home with a foster carer. Foster carers should be provided with excellent preparation, training and support to carry out their role to maximum effect.
As a responsible Corporate Parent, Devon County Council is committed to listening to the voice of each child and young person, assessing their needs and comprehensively planning to meet them. Fostering Devon will work in partnership with families, foster carers, and other services and agencies to deliver the best possible care and support to children looked after.
Fostering Devon is committed to deliver best practice that is compliant with Fostering Services Regulations 2011, as amended by The Care Planning, Placement and Case Review and Fostering Services (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2013. National Minimum Standards and the Care Planning, Placement and Case Review Regulations 2010.
Devon County Council Commitment and Vision
Fostering Devon provides a fostering service which reflects Devon County Council’s commitment to all children and young people in Devon as set out in Devon County Council Strategic Plan 2021 – 2025. The commitment and vision in the strategic plan include:
- High-quality education leading to good educational attainment is important for every child and young person but some children experience poverty, deprivation or other disadvantages that hinder their life chances.
- We want to narrow the gaps in educational attainment by supporting every disadvantaged or vulnerable child as fully as possible.
- We will relentlessly focus on getting the best outcomes for our most vulnerable children, including those with additional needs, special educational needs, and those living in the most challenging circumstances.
- We will do this by supporting families to care well for their children, with local, place-based support and inclusive education.
- We adopt a restorative practice approach to families with firm foundations in our shared vision and values. This means that as a service, we support families to find their own solutions, building on their strengths and finding solutions to whatever difficulties they are confronting to be resilient, improve family life and increase opportunities for their children’s life chances.
- High aspirations and good attainment will also contribute to Devon’s economic future, helping the county to be a place where everyone can share the benefits of greater prosperity.
Fostering Devon shares the identified four strategic priorities for sufficiency which cover the experience of children and young people at different points in their interaction with children’s social care. These are:
- Building Bridges
- Finding a place called home
- Promoting stability
- Stepping Forward
Aims and Objectives
Fostering Devon should deliver best practice that is compliant with Fostering Services Regulations 2011, as amended by The Care Planning, Placement and Case Review and Fostering Services (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2013. National Minimum Standards and the Care Planning, Placement and Case Review Regulations 2010.
Our main aims for the service are:
- To provide all children in foster care with well-planned, high quality, local care, with local families, which can meet their needs and will enhance their life experiences and improve their lives. All children should experience a safe and happy childhood, benefitting from excellent parenting, care and education, enjoying a wide range of opportunities to develop their talents and skills leading to a successful adult life.
- To ensure we have foster carers who can care for brothers and sisters together, whenever possible and appropriate, and being consistent with their assessed individual needs and informed by a sibling assessment.
- To achieve a matched and supported permanent home as quickly as possible for children in our care who cannot safely remain at home.
- To provide a diverse range of fostering and supported lodgings households that reflects, as far as possible, with the diversity of our children in care population. To ensure all households positively promote children’s racial, cultural, religious and linguistic heritage as well as considering their needs arising from gender, sexuality or disability.
- To recognise and support the unique role kinship carers have in enabling children and young people to remain with adults they know and trust if they cannot, for whatever reason, live with their birth parents.
- Through the use of delegated authority support children in foster care to have the opportunity to experience a positive family life and childhood without unnecessary restrictions.
- To promote the educational achievements of children in care and ensure foster carers are supported to work with schools and the Virtual School to improve the educational achievement of children and young people in their care.
- To promote the health of children in care and ensure Children live in a healthy environment where their physical, emotional and psychological health is promoted and where they are able to access the services to meet their health needs.
- To provide foster carers with high quality supervision, support and training opportunities by suitably experienced, skilled and qualified people.
- To ensure children and young people’s wishes and feelings are heard and they are supported to participate in decisions about their care.
- To enable young people to remain with their foster families beyond their eighteenth birthday if this is what the young person and the foster carer want (Staying Put).
Our Objectives for 1st April 2024 – 31st March 2025:
To deliver Fostering Devon’s agreed communication and marketing priorities.
- To work with 15 other councils across the south west of England as part of the Fostering South West Recruitment Hub launched in April 2024.
- To progress our work to improve the overall offer to foster carers and improve our recruitment and retention. This includes reviewing fees and allowances; streamlining the foster carer payments process to ensure prompt payment and implementing a skills framework.
- To implement and progress the priority actions of the Fostering Recruitment and Retention Action Plan.
- With our Corporate Parenting Teams we shall continue to develop our practice and our service to ensure we have skilled foster carers who can provide permanent foster care.
- To develop our Staying Put offer to foster carers to ensure young people can remain in their home after the age of 18 if this is what the young person wishes.
- To develop the Foster Carer Strategy group to ensure good communication between the foster teams and foster carers and to make sure carers are appropriately consulted and heard.
- With Fostering Devon carers develop a Foster Carers Charter.
Management Staffing and Service Structure
The Fostering and Kinship Services are part of Children’s Social Care under the overall leadership and direction of the Director of Children’s Social Care. The Director reports to the Chief Executive (the most senior officer in the council) and also to the Corporate Parenting Group.
The Corporate Parenting Strategic Partnership Board meets every other month and brings together a wide range of our partners, including representatives from health, the Police, Probation and Foster carers from across Devon who are able to impact and influence our services for children in care and our care experienced young people. The board is chaired by the Lead Cabinet member for Children’s Services and Education, Councillor Andrew Leadbetter. Five sub-groups report into the board, the sub groups are themed around the five things that care experienced young people have told us matter most to them. Each sub- group is chaired jointly by an officer from either Devon County Council or one of our District Council’s and a County Council Member and drives work on 3 key priority areas.
The Head of Service Fostering and Kinship has overall responsibility for the management of the services.
The Service Managers Fostering and Kinship provide the operational management of the services. The Service Manager Fostering is the Registered Manager.
The Head of Service Fostering and Kinship is the Agency Decision Maker (ADM). The ADM makes decisions regarding the suitability of prospective carers and the continued approval of existing carers taking into account the recommendation of the Fostering Panel.
The Deputy Director and Head of Children’s Social Care is the Nominated Officer for Fostering to Adopt. The role of agency decision maker for temporarily approving adopters as Devon County Council foster carers is delegated to Heads of Service Children’s Social Care.
The Independent Chair of the Fostering Panel is responsible for leadership of the Fostering Panel. Three foster panels are held a month and are held virtually by Teams meeting.
The Fostering Panel Advisor role is undertaken by the Fostering Team Managers however this is delegated to the Fostering Advanced Social Workers where appropriate.
Business Support for Fostering and Kinship resources are provided from Countywide Business Support Services. Fostering Panel has a dedicated Business Support Officer.
Refer to Appendix 1 for the Structure Chart. All staff are appropriately qualified and experienced for the roles they fulfil.
Services Provided
Fostering Devon delivers its fostering service through dedicated fostering teams managed by Team Managers covering the geographical areas Mid & North; Exeter & East and South. The lead areas are Recruitment & Assessment; Support & Supervision; Mockingbird and Promoting Stability. The assessment and support of temporarily approved kinship foster carers is undertaken by the Kinship Team.
Foster Carer Recruitment & Assessment
Fostering Devon has a dedicated recruitment and assessment responsible for the initial enquiries, recruitment, preparation training, and the assessment of all prospective foster carers. Following approval by the Fostering Panel and Agency Decision Maker the Recruitment Team provides support and supervision to the foster carers to the point of their first annual review; this provides continuity and supports a planned transition to the appropriate fostering team in carers first fostering year.
Mainstream fostering teams
Fostering Devon has three mainstream fostering teams based in the geographical areas South, Mid & North and Exeter & East. The teams provide support and supervision to approved foster carers including approved kinship carers (connected persons) for children of all ages birth to 18 years old.
Mainstream carers can be approved for short term fostering; short break fostering which includes those carers who can provide regular short breaks (sleep overs) for children from home or looked after by other foster carers.
Long term fostering includes caring for children and young people for the rest of their childhood and with the intention that the relationships between the child and their foster family endure into adulthood and throughout their lives.
Fostering Devon currently has one mainstream foster carer available to provide a safe and supportive overnight or short stay to a child or young person who needs to be transferred from Police custody. The foster carer can support the child/young person in court if required.
Devon Young People Accommodation Service (DYPAS)
DYPAS carers provide supported lodgings to young people in care aged between 16 – 21 years who are not yet ready to live on their own. These young people require a safe and supportive base and someone to offer advice as they develop their skills to live independently. DYPAS carers are key in supporting these young people gain essential life skills anything from showing them how to cook or manage their money, to teaching them how to apply for a job or college.
Child and Parent fostering (CPAT)
A parent and child placement is a specialist fostering arrangement where a parent and their baby or young child are placed together with a fostering family. CPAT foster carers provide support and guidance to help parent(s) develop the skills they need to care for their child; they provide a nurturing family environment to ensure the child is safe and protected from harm. The aim is to give the parent/s and child the best chances of moving on and living together permanently in the community.
Mockingbird Foster Carers
Fostering Devon has established five Mockingbird constellations across Devon (South, North, Plymouth and Exeter x 2). The Mockingbird model is based on the creation of a constellation of 6 to 10 satellite fostering families who are supported by 1 hub home that is operated by an experienced foster carer, offering planned and emergency sleepovers, advice, training, and peer support. The model nurtures the relationships between children, young people and foster families supporting them to build a resilient and caring community.
Promoting Stability Team
The Promoting Stability Team (PST) is a dedicated team providing ‘trauma informed or therapeutic based’ support to Fostering Devon foster carers. Their aim is to promote resilience and give therapeutic support to help foster carers provide secure homes with stable and healing relationships for the children in our care. Planned preventative support can be short, medium or long term. The Team Manager and therapeutic fostering practitioners undertake a range of training including Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy (DDP), Theraplay, BUSS, Sensory Attachment and Brief Solution Focused Therapy. PST offers the following services:
Kinship Foster Carers
Family and Friends foster care (Connected Persons); Connected Persons is a legal term that means someone has a significant connection with a looked after child. This is because they are a relative, a family friend or someone else who has a pre-existing relationship with the child. To be assessed and approved as a family and friends foster carer, you must be recognised as a ‘connected person’ by the local authority. For the purposes of this Statement of Purpose our connected persons foster carers are referred to as kinship carers.
The assessments of kinship carers are undertaken by the Kinship Team. Sometimes children become looked after and live with their kinship carers before an assessment of the carer has been completed; in these circumstances the Kinship Team undertake an initial assessment of the kinship carer to determine if the carer can be temporarily approved as a foster carer whilst the assessment is completed. The Kinship Team provide support and supervision to the carers during the period of temporary approval. Once approved kinship carers are supported by the mainstream fostering teams in the same way as all other foster carers.
Staying Put
Staying Put arrangements provide the opportunity for our young people to remain living with their foster carer when they reach 18 years of age providing this is what the carer and young person wants; it offers the young person security and continuity during their transition into adulthood.
Fostering for Adoption
Devon Children’s Services is committed to planning for children in a way that achieves permanence as quickly as possible; fostering for adoption protects children from experiencing multiple moves within the care system. We work closely with our Regional Adoption Agency Adopt South West to ensure fostering for adoption carers are available for our children where this is the appropriate plan.
Foster to adopt carers are approved adopters (approved by either a regional adoption agency or a voluntary adoption agency) who can offer an early permanence placement to a child with a care plan for adoption. The local authority for the child is required to temporarily approve the adopters as foster carers to enable the child to be placed in a fostering arrangement whilst their final care plan is determined.
Where Devon County Council has temporarily approved the adopters as foster carers the mainstream fostering teams (dependent on geographical location) provides the carers with information about being a foster carer including the foster carer handbook and ensures the carer receives the fostering payments. Support and supervision to the foster carer is provided by the adoption agency.
Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO)
The LADO role is in place to ensure that allegations against people working with children are progressed in a timely and appropriate way. The LADO should be made aware of all cases in which it is alleged a person who works with a child has:
- Behaved in a way that has harmed a child or may have harmed a child;
- Possibly committed a criminal offence against a child; or
- Behaved towards a child or children in a way that indicates s/he is unsuitable to work with children.
This includes any allegation against a foster carer. The Fostering Service has a policy and procedure for investigating allegations made against foster carers.
Medical Advisor
Each geographical are has a Medical Advisor provides specialist medical advice for foster carers, social workers and the Fostering Panel.
Foster Panel
The Fostering Panel is established and acts in accordance with the regulatory framework provided by the Fostering Service Regulations 2011, Family and Friends Care, Statutory Guidance for Local Authorities 2011, and the Standards set out in the National Minimum Standards for Fostering Services 2011. The Fostering Panel takes account of the legislation set out in the Children Act 1989, and the Care Planning, Placement and Case Review (England) Regulations 2010 and Amendments 2015 and 2021 and Guidance, volume 2, 2010.
Foster panels have an important role in ensuring foster carers who are approved to look after children in foster care have the necessary skills and knowledge to do this. Foster Panel has the responsibility for making recommendations in relation to:
- The approval of all foster carers.
- The approval of kinship carers as “connected person” carers for children who are in care with Devon County Council.
- The first annual review of all foster carers (including connected persons).
- Reviews of all foster carers (including connected persons) every four years.
- Reviews of carers where there have been standards of care concerns or allegations.
Each foster panel is made up of an independent Chair, independent panel members and a representative from Children’s Social Care. The foster panel advisor role is undertaken by the Fostering Devon Team Managers on a rota basis.
Training and Support for Foster Carers
Fostering Devon provides an annual training programme for foster carers which is a mixture of face to face; eLearning and virtual. Foster carers can access training from access to training from the Social Work Academy and the Safeguarding Partnership.
The training we deliver covers a wide range of topics to:
- Support foster carers develop and improve their fostering skills.
- Develop foster carers knowledge about the health both physical and emotional of the children in their care.
- Promote children’s education.
- Develop foster carers skills and understanding of therapeutic parenting and trauma informed caring.
- Ensure that all foster carers are competent and confident in safe caring and in protecting children from harm.
- Learn more about the effects of discrimination in all parts of the community, recognising that they care for children, many of whom face discrimination as a part of everyday life.
We provide all our foster carers with full membership of Fostertalk. FosterTalk is an independent organisation dedicated to supporting foster carers in their role; membership provides helplines to give daily advice and guidance, counselling at any time of the day or night, savings on family days out and holidays and the allegation support including legal insurance to protect against allegations.
There are support groups across the county with a regular programme of activities for foster carers and their families.
Foster Carer Strategy Group
There is a foster carer strategy group where the nominated foster carers for the group meet with the Fostering Service Manager to ensure:
- Foster carers are represented, and their views and priorities are heard and understood.
- Foster carers are involved in service development; highlight where change is need, offer solutions, and provide constructive challenge about practice and policies.
- There is good communication and exchange of information between our fostering teams and our carers.
Devon Foster Care Association
Fostering Devon has an active Devon Foster Care Association (DFCA) whose aims are:
- To offer mutual support to foster carers.
- To promote good working partnerships between foster carers and the local authority and to support the Local Authority in protecting and promoting the interests and welfare of foster carers and the children in their care in Devon, by the provision of advice, information, support, and activities.
- To develop awareness, knowledge, and skills.
- To encourage and help foster carers to work well with professionals.
- To represent foster carers as a group
- To create opportunities for children, young people and foster carers to meet together.
- To promote communication and understanding between carers and others involved in fostering in Devon.
- To work with the Local Authority towards improving the outcomes and life chances for all children in care in Devon.
Complaints
We want to make sure that everyone who engages with us is satisfied with our services. We need to know what we are doing well, what we could do better and what we are not doing well. Therefore, we welcome all feedback about our services, whether positive or negative. We take all comments and complaints seriously and aim to resolve concerns in a timely manner and to use feedback to improve our services. The Customer Relations Team handles all customer feedback received regarding Devon County Council, to ensure that complaints, comments, and compliments are dealt with appropriately, in line with legislation, policy and procedure. We promote and support early resolution.
The Customer Relations Team can be contacted by the following methods:
Write to us: Customer Relations Team, County Hall, Topsham Road, Exeter, EX2 4QD
Email us: mailto:customer.relations@devon.gov.uk
Call us: 0800 212 783
Visit our website: https://www.devon.gov.uk/haveyoursay/feedback-and-complaints
Ofsted
Ofsted is the single, independent inspectorate for all social care services in England. It is responsible for monitoring, regulating and inspecting fostering services under the provisions of the Care Standards Act, 2000.
The one point of contact for all questions, queries and complaints to Ofsted is the Ofsted National Business Unit (NBU). The telephone number is 0300 123 1231. The NBU manages all calls and will redirect them as necessary.
The NBU can also be contacted at enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk or at the following address: Ofsted National Business Unit, St Ann’s Square, Manchester, M2 7LA.