LOVING relationships were highlighted during an inspection of Clacks Council’s foster care service.

The council-operated service, which is a branch of the Family Connections Team, received a hugely positive visit from the Care Inspectorate.

Two inspectors visited the practice to speak with 12 carers and six staff and management workers.

Assessing the foster care team across two categories – wellbeing and how well care and support is planned – the council scored highly on both.

Using a six-point scale, where 1 is unsatisfactory and 6 is excellent, the fostering team scored 4 – good and 5 – very good on the two categories.

Under wellbeing, inspectors noted: “Children and young people benefitted from meaningful, affectionate and secure relationships with their caregiver families.

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“Children living with caregiver families were experiencing improved outcomes as a result of the care and support they received.”

Upon speaking with families in use of the fostering service, they reported that they “generally” felt well supported by the service.

One carer commented: “The service are working hard to ensure everyone is supported, everyone is heard and to ensure we all feel part of the family.”

One criticism was noted, which was staff turnover and absence had remained high, with a carer stating: “Short-staffing means there are periods when I have no supervising social worker, but when I do have one, they are very supportive.”

Key strengths within the foster care service included tracking of sibling relationships and educational attainment remaining high.

The report continued: “Caregiver families worked well with important people in children’s lives.

“We saw examples of carers working collaboratively with birth parents and a promotion of sibling relationships. Tracking of sibling relationships took place centrally to ensure that family links were maintained.

“A strong focus on educational attainment within the authority remains a key strength for the service.

“Educational outcomes were promoted through the Virtual Headteachers who champion the needs of care experienced children across the local authority area.”

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In regards to care and support, the foster care service earned a grade of ‘very good’ for their work.

Inspectors stated: “Children and young people were able to express their views in relation to care planning.

“Children and young people were included in reviews of caregiver families and the service was exploring implementing the use of digital technology to support this.

“They experienced an individualised approach to safer caring which ensured their needs were met in caregiver families.”

The foster care service had five outstanding areas for improvement that had been instated during the last inspection.

They have met four of these, while one has been repeated to allow them more time to meet the targets.

The service has improved on carer training, life story work with children, practice reviews and devising training strategies for staff.

For the area of improvement yet to be improved on, inspectors urged the practice to “ensure that analysis of permanence practice informs continuous improvement and service development.”

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During the most recent inspection, they noted: “Permanence tracker under review at time of inspection. Service unable to evidence how analysis of permanence outcomes informed improvement activity.

“This area for improvement has not been met and will be repeated.”

Councillor Wendy Hamilton, spokesperson for health and social care, said: “As part of the overall council’s Transformation Programme, we have led a comprehensive programme of change and improvement in the Family Connections Team over recent years.

“We were delighted to have maintained grading of good and very good over key areas within the fostering service – particularly in relation to outcomes for children and young people.

“The Family Connections Team have achieved this positive inspection as a result of continued focus in building a strong and supportive care community, investing in training for staff and carers, and ensuring robust mechanisms in place to manage risk.”

No complaints had been upheld since the last inspection. The full report can be found at careinspectorate.com.

Residents who are interested in fostering and supporting care leavers, or prospective adoptive families can contact the team for further information at fosteradopt@clacks.gov.uk.