Editorial

There is ample evidence that the diminishing lack of choice of foster placements is a fundamental aspect of placement instability, disruption and placement breakdown.

Fostering is a social care service, and a significant factor in the support available to meet the needs of the society it finds itself in. A fostering service therefore tends to reflect the needs of the community by the type of foster carers approved and the type of foster carers they seek to recruit.

There are no foster carer stereotypes, quality foster carers might be aged twenty one to seventy years, married or living together, single, divorced, widowed, in a single sex relationship, be working or unemployed, own a home or rent, have birth children or not.

Simply Fostering web site feedback
A significant number of people interested in fostering were put off from pursuing an enquiry due to the stigma of having their personal details remain on social services files if they decided not to continue with an application.

Enquirers felt intimidated by the application process however significant numbers felt more reassured by IFA’s than by Local Authorities who tended to give the impression that they were “offhanded” in their approach.

IFA foster carers felt that the relationship with their fostering social worker was on more of an equal footing than did Local authority foster carers who described a more negative, unequal partnership with their fostering social workers.

Local authority foster carers moved to IFA’s due to not feeling valued and for a more generous or appropriate support package.

IFA foster carers moved back or transferred to Local authorities due to lack of placements with IFA’s.

Foster carers are generally happy with the service they receive and the relationship they have with their fostering provider. However from the evidence, there is a significant majority of approved foster carers who are not happy with their agency and would consider transferring to another fostering provider if the move improved the service they provide for foster children and the day to day life of themselves and their family.

Facts

Successful recruitment requires long-term policy direction, clear targeting and a professional marketing approach

A sound knowledge of the area and the particular agencies' fostering needs
· Potential applicants require rapid, structured and knowledgeable response appropriate to individual enquiries
· Fostering providers need to encourage and to listen to their foster carers. The evidence is that foster carers are becoming the most successful recruitment source.

National registration scheme
Foster carers are deterred from exercising their right to move to another fostering agency because they are concerned about damaging their relationship with the agency who holds their approval and because they are required to undergo another full foster carer assessment.

Family Services believes this should be challenged, who else in the childcare workforce has to ‘re qualify’ every time they change their circumstances?
Foster carers have no choice but to be self employed, however if so, they should also have the right to be available to choose which agency they provide their unique and valuable service for without the unreasonable requirements imposed by providers.

Family Services finds that all the evidence supports a National register for foster carers providing it recognises the true extent of the unique service they provide and supports foster carers to exercise their rights under regulations.

Foster carers would benefit from the status and freedom of movement by the ‘professionalising’ of their role and children would be better safeguarded by a scheme which ensured that foster carers themselves be responsible to an independent body for meeting a minimum standard of service and quality of care.

From the evidence, a foster carer’s registration scheme would be a significant factor towards attracting and retaining quality foster carers to provide quality placements.

Fostering fees?

Due to the care needs of demands of foster children and the requirements of fostering providers, foster carers in most instances are expected to be available to foster on a full time basis.

There are a large number of fostering agencies that Family Services, through the web site Simply Fostering work with, who will not consider new foster care applicants unless one of them if they are joint applicants either does not work or is prepared to give up work.

As a consequence, to be a foster carer with these agencies often means committing to the risk of losing a much-relied on income when fostering, as for the majority of foster carers no child in placement means no fostering allowances. This obviously precludes many families from fostering, in particular, single people unless they are in receipt of Benefits, or in relatively rare instances, are paid a retainer by their fostering provider.

Family Services believes that the IFA’s fee based structure is a more successful model than the outdated payment structure adopted by Local Authorities. The evidence being that foster carers prefer it and foster carers are transferring agencies because of it.

Quality placements – Quality Foster carers

Quite simply, quality placements require quality foster carers; adults who naturally have children’s welfare as their priority and who have the potential to look after children who are not their own.

Quality foster carers possess real empathy with children and their situation. They foster for the right reasons; their primary motivation is to make a positive difference in children’s lives. Successful foster carers have resolved any painful issues in their past and have moved on to become emotionally stable adults who can make and maintain positive relationships.

Quality placements are those where all of the members of the fostering family are listened to and who feel secure in their position in the family.
Quality placements are associated with foster carers who value training opportunities and who genuinely recognise that learning is lifelong. Successful foster carers access appropriate resources efficiently; they are confident and can converse at all levels.

Although there are particular factors involved in quality foster care, quality placements are made when there is sufficient choice of foster placement and when the matching between the foster placement and the foster child is considered carefully and not needed to be driven by the pressure to place.

There are many factors which attract and maintain quality foster carers however, Family Services concludes the following that the government should consider:

Local authorities ‘think outside of the box’ when developing their recruitment strategies (Simply Fostering received over one thousand completed enquiry forms)

A form of retention or non placement benefit payment for all experienced foster carers
A national fee based payment structure
A registration scheme for foster carers

It is of paramount importance to choose the right fostering agency, there are over seven hundred in the UK. Simply Fostering, the UK national foster carer recruitment website provides help by answering questions and identifying the most suitable local fostering agencies with vacancies.

Simply Fostering help people interested in becoming foster carers to act on the Government's advice to 'contact more than one Fostering Agency if you are interested in a fostering career'.

For comprehensive and easy to understand information, help and advice, contact Annette or Joe at Simply Fostering.

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