Inspection praises Shropshire’s foster care service

Press release - 20 July 2007

Shropshire County Council’s fostering service has been praised in an annual inspection carried out by the Commission for Social Care Inspection - and has received a commendation for the standard of training provided to foster carers in the county.

A report to be presented to the county council’s Cabinet next week (Wednesday 25 July) summarises the findings of the inspection carried out in January, and the actions that will now be carried out to further improve the service.

The fostering service trains and supports foster carers – and places children with these carers. Inspectors judged the service against a number of national fostering standards and reported that many improvements have been made since last year.

They failed to record any major shortfalls in the quality of the service provided – and found that standards had been exceeded for the quality of training offered to foster carers.

Action plans to address the inspectors’ recommendations and statutory requirements are now in place, and much work has already been carried out.

Chris Dennison, Head of Shropshire County Council’s children’s placement service said: “The inspectors’ report acknowledged the investments and improvements made in the fostering service in recent years. We are committed to building on the progress made and are already ensuring that the requirements and recommendations in the report are being addressed.”

Ann Hartley, Shropshire County Council’s Cabinet member for children’s services, said: “I welcome the inspectors’ findings and congratulate all in the fostering service, and our foster parents, for helping to provide a high quality and improving service.”

The inspection process included a series of pre-meetings to provide the inspectors with detailed information about the service. The inspectors also conducted interviews - and arranged focus groups - with managers, staff, foster carers, and children and young people.

The inspection was carried out in January 2007 and the final report received in May 2007.

Shropshire County Council is currently looking for more people interested in becoming foster parents. Anyone wishing to find out more can call 0800 783 8798 or visit www.shropshire.gov.uk/fostercare.nsf.

ENDS

Further information

(1) Since 1 April 2002 new national standards and accompanying regulations for the fostering service have been in place and inspections are carried out on an annual basis. The inspection in January was the fourth such inspection and the inspectors’ final report was received in May 2007.

(2) Some of the positives highlighted by the inspectors in their report included:

· Young people are helped to be healthy, and kept safe, by their foster carers
· The staff and managers work very hard to help foster carers care for young people.
· The foster carer’s homes were warm and comfortable.
· Young people are listened to by their foster carers and their social workers.
· Foster carers are able to do lots of training to help them to understand things that are important to young people.
· Foster carers get written information about how to keep young people safe.
· Social workers make sure that young people are safe when they have contact with their families.
· The fostering service make sure that every year foster carers are checked and report written to make sure that they are doing their job properly.

For further information, call:
Ann Hartley, Cabinet member for children's services. Tel (01691) 624858
Chris Dennison, Head of children’s placement service. Tel (01743) 254301
For media contact, call Gareth Proffitt, Communications Officer. Tel (01743) 252828