CYP(3) PCC 08
Children and Young People Committee
Inquiry into Arrangements for the Placement of Children into care in Wales
Response from Pathway care – South East and South West Wales
Pathway Care was founded in 1996 in Cardiff. Since the formal registration of the South East and South West Wales regional offices with CSSIW in January 2004, Pathway Care has consistently received Inspection reports that confirm its status as leading and innovative in practice and service delivery of foster care in Wales (Inspection Reports 2009 are available on the CSSIW website www.cssiw.org.uk)
Pathway Care’s development has been driven by our commitment to providing:
Children in care an experience of a local, stable and nurturing family environment in which they can thrive, grow and achieve.
Local foster carers with continuous high levels of local support and training to enable them to provide and maintain that stable, transforming environment.
Working in partnership with 15 Local Authorities across South East and South West Wales, we strive to deliver high quality foster placements consistent with the All Wales Outcomes Framework and the seven core aims for children in Wales. Pathway Care’s philosophy is that the vast majority of children and young people can be helped to overcome the difficulties they have whilst living within a family placement. We aim to provide transforming care in the lives of vulnerable children and young people by placing them first , striving for excellence and providing value The focus for children in our care is directed to promote individual outcomes by making a significant contribution to each child’s wellbeing expanding the opportunities available to them to realise individual potential. This is supported and enhanced through robust systems for agreeing and reporting on children and young people’s progress through outcome measurements.
The success of each individual placement is derived by the rigour of our matching process and through the expertise and performance of our practise social work and foster care team. The following eight foster placement services are available:-
Mainstream Foster Care (including emergency, short term, permanent and sibling placements)
Parent and Child
Complex Need (This particular placement type can come under the definition of solo placement)
Transitional Care-Safe Steps ( from Residential to Foster Care )
Disability care
Disability – short break care
Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children
Respite Care
With collective experience of over 200 years childcare the 29 practice staff working in the Welsh regional teams bring with them a wide range of skills and expertise from a variety of backgrounds (child protection, disability, adoption, youth justice, residential). Through this local expertise we are able to provide our Local Authority partners with a choice of services that are tailored to best fit the needs of the child and young person and the depth of knowledge to assist in the developing of new services to meet changing needs.Service improvement is led through direct consultation with external and internal service areas. Example of innovative service delivery has been commended by CSSIW (July 2009).
Listening to and consulting with Children and young people is enshrined in our practise and we have improved methodology for consultation through the carer Annual Review Process A number of groups for Looked After Children and Children of foster carers led by our staff have been also successfully established and have been invaluable in shaping services and key contributors to legislative requirements such as The Children’s Guide. We continue to develop and expand these groups to represent the individual needs of all Children and Young People placed
Pathway Care has gained a reputation for service excellence by remaining true to its principles and values, whilst responding to the evolving needs of our Local Authority partners. We pride ourselves on delivering local support services to its team of foster carers and in accordance with the Placement of Children’s (Wales) Regulations 2007, are passionately committed to local placements for local children. The services we provide are supported and enhanced by a centralised Learning and Development team, Quality Assurance Team and HR Function.
Both the South East and South West offices registered in Wales work closely together ensuring that services are delivered cohesively, utilising staff and carer team expertise across the locality.
Pathway Care welcomes this opportunity to submit written evidence ahead of providing oral evidence to the NAFW Children and Young People’s Committee.
Written responses
In determining whether and where to place a child into care, a social worker will need an accurate picture of a child’s needs and circumstances, which may require them to have information from a range of local services- health services, social services, etc. who may also have to consider their responsibilities towards confidentiality. To what extent is information about a child’s needs effectively shared with decision makers, and do you have any examples of good practice in such inter-agency communications? Is there a clear understanding of who is ultimately accountable for decisions about a child’s care?
Pathway Care as an independent fostering agency receives referrals at a stage that this process should have been undertaken and in place. We are aware that every child in the LAC system should have an up to date core assessment, assessment and action record and care plan but these are documents that are rarely shared with us prior to placement. The referral process presents the relevant information to a fostering agency to inform the matching and potential placement with available foster carers. Comprehensive information sharing is best practice but reality is rather different in practice and agencies such as Pathway Care spend significant amounts of time trying to get further information so that we can be confident that we can meet the presenting needs and ensure our foster carers are provided with all the information that they need.
The developments in the tendering and commissioning process has been beneficial in providing clarity for inter agency partnership but it has the potential to limit the amount of pre-placement information provided. This is especially true when placement commissioning is undertaken by a department separate from the responsible social worker who have only access to initial information reports and seek immediate matching with an independent agency based upon such limited information. There is often relevant ‘soft information’ that will be known to the social work team but not accessible prior to placement when the referral is being handled by a Family Placement Service. We also find examples of the opposite with some referrals being accompanied by a large amount of historical and confused information that is no longer relevant to the service being requested. Our experience is that Local Authorities do not deliberately set out to mislead during the referral process but unfortunately their information sharing is not as consistent as it could be.
As an agency we are now seeing limitations in social work expertise within local authority teams that causes some concern when linked to the collation of children’s case information and understanding of processes and social work practice.
We recognise that children and young people requiring placements have often only come to the attention of the social works teams such that their information and presenting need is limited and we are used to and fully prepared to work with such cases. The information sharing process is vital here post placement as new information becomes available and the foster carer builds a picture of the child and their presenting needs. This is particularly true in the cases of unaccompanied Asylum Seekers and emergency placements.
Good Practice Points
Well established and regulated Family Placement Teams in some local Authorities re able to improve the level of gate keeping, information sharing and placement planning. We would point to the experiences we have had working with the Service Manager in the Vale of Glamorgan as a positive example of how this can work in practice.
Referrals for longer-term placements where there is no requirement for immediate placement provide good examples of how information sharing can lead to the best matching, introduction and planned placement taken at a child’s pace with their wishes and feelings being clearly understood.
We have placed several children during recent years who have had life threatening illnesses. These placements have demonstrated how well agencies and partnership professionals can work together to deliver an effective service to children.
To what extent does the Children’s Commissioning Support Resource Database provide sufficient information about child placements, and to what extent is the database currently utilised? How could the database be better utilised?
It is our understanding that the database is targeted to provide preliminary matching considerations by identifying possible foster carers with a vacancy in the required geographical area. This initial search will be followed by a full and effective information sharing process directly between the referring local authority and agencies providing potential matches. This is our opinion the most effective use of the database as a trigger not a complete placement system. We are also concerned about the recent initative in S.E.Wales to place Individual Placement Tenders on the CSSR database . Although in it’s early stages , the access to these tenders via CSSIW can be technically confusing resulting in potential response delay to tender requests. We are furthermore concerned that the intention to undertake the initial contacts between local authorities and agencies via e-mail exchange could be a potentially limiting factor as the opportunity for a face to face or telephone conversation is often when information can be verified or explored further to ensure effective matching takes place.
We would welcome the development of the database to include the ability to produce reports from the activities recorded upon it. This could be very informative in terms of placement statistics, presenting trends, geographical information and children requiring placements. Such information could inform pro-active service development, resource targeting and development of effective placement choice.
If the database is to be used as a commissioning tool we would like to see the development of a reporting element to the process for agencies. This would be especially useful in cases where a potential match is offered but not chosen. Feedback on the reasons for rejection would help agencies understand the reasons fro these decisions and take appropriate individual and strategic decisions which could further develop the services provided.
Information about a child’s needs and circumstances will be needed by fostering agencies and foster carers in order to appropriately conduct risk assessments, provide for a child’s needs, etc. To what extent is appropriate information normally provided to fostering agencies and foster carers, and how could such communication be improved? Does the commissioning system enable or inhibit the provision of information to prospective fostering agencies and carers, and do you have any examples of good practice in the provision of information to fostering agencies and/or foster carers?
Our responses to this question are mainly consistent with question 1. The best practice is when a placement is made in a planned and coordinated manner with all the information available to the local authority social work team being shared and discussed with the fostering agency and foster carers. In Pathway Care we have a robust system in place that will seek risk assessment information at the point of placement to understand and manage the presented risks. If risk assessments have already been put in place by local authorities these are a valuable source of information which can be revisited once the placement becomes established and we see how a child settles into their foster placement. If no risk assessment is on place but presenting information alerts us to a level of risk that requires management we will complete our own assessment and share it with the local authority. This will then be reviewed and amended as the placement progresses. Such risk management systems are only as good as the information that informs them which re-emphasises the need for effective communication and access to case managements documents. Social worker consistency is an important factor in managing risk and sharing information during the time of a foster placement. Children and young people often raise the rapid change of social worker and lack of handover of their information from one worker to another as a major frustration in their care. As an agency we see considerable personnel change in children’s cases and it can be very frustrating when such changes lead to the care plan drift and lack of task completion. The numbers of cases where children have no allocated social worker have been falling which is positive. The most effective placements are ones where there is clarity of case worker, regular visiting arrangements and clear care planning in place that provides for a unified team approach with the child at the centre.
Good Practice examples
We are encouraged by the local authority initiatives that establish LAC health and education professionals which take an active part in placement planning and care plan delivery. This assists greatly the sharing of information and clarity of responsibility.
To what extent are placements planned out? Is there clarity over whether placements will be for a short period of time, whether it may eventually lead to adoption, etc.? Can you provide any examples of good practice in the planning of foster placements?
It continues to be the experience of Pathway Care that the majority of placements are reactive and almost immediate giving little time for effective preparation and introduction prior to actual placement. We had hoped that by now our local authority partnerships would so established that we could work with them in the planning and coordination of their placement requirements in a manner that understands their short-term, medium-term and longer-term placement needs. We understand that placement requests will still be made in reaction to circumstances that are outside of local authorities control but this is relevant when it is clear that time has been spent considering placement options for a child but the request and decision to seek an agency placement still comes as an immediate request. We wish to work with local authorities to meet the need that they cannot provide internally to be a complimentary service. Within a mature commissioning arrangement regular placement communication and joint planning would be in the best interests of all parties especially children.
We have been especially concerned when requested to provide parent and child placements and the request comes to us much too late in the process. These are complicated placements that require careful matching and assessment considerations. The direction of travel within the local authority care planning has in most cases identified the need for a parent and child placement but the request to identify a potential placement has come much later forcing hurried matching and placement. As an agency we consider ourselves to be well placed to provide such complex placements but early identification and good planning is vital.
Good Practice points
The local authorities which have established permanency panels to consider matching children with foster carers able to provide permanent placement deliver effective and well considered longer-term arrangements for those children who require long-term families but where adoption is not appropriate.
Referral and matching planning where a social worker has three potential families to choose from, is able to make pre-placement visits to in for choice and effective matching.
Effective communication systems that provide accurate pro-active information on children and young peoples progress against agreed and established outcomes provide the best opportunity for placement monitoring and forward planning. Pathway Care has an established outcomes based reporting system to local authorities so that they can monitor placement progress and care plan delivery.
To what extent are the risks of foster placements explained to foster carers?
Within Pathway Care practice and service delivery the risks of becoming a foster carer are clearly addressed with prospective foster carers during the initial interest, assessment and pre-approval training stages of the application process. Post approval we prepare cares to ask relevant questions and seek all the pre-placement information they can so as to be able to make informed choices on placements. As an agency we will work on the behalf of carers to seek and provide all the information that is made available by the local authority so that our carers will have all the information that the agency has been provided with. Pathway Care will proactively seek additional information if we feel clarity is required or potentials need to be discussed further. We firmly believe that carers need all the information that is available so as to make informed choices about placements and understand the risks that any placement may present for them or their families. Pathway Care will make appropriate decisions not to consider placement if we consider that the presenting risks are too great, the needs presented are too complex or the families that are available do not have the skills or experience to meet the presented need.
When it appears post placement that relevant information was known to a local authority and not shared with the agency Pathway Care will robustly and professionally challenge such lack of provision in children ad foster carers’ best interests. We believe that local authorities who choose not to share information are being naïve about foster carers’ wishes to provide placements for the most challenging children. They have come into fostering to help the whole range of children and have been trained and prepared to cope with the most challenging of situations. Not to share important information is unacceptable and carers will not necessarily be put off by the realities of children’s situations but they will certainly be disadvantaged by not having that information.
Good practice points
As an agency we are reassured that local authorities do share information appropriately and wish foster carers to understand the risks that any placement may present. Non sharing of risks only happens in a small number of cases.
Effective risk assessment is best practice and if not in place prior to placement Pathway Care will undertake to establish risk assessment within a placement for those children presenting such risks.
To what extent do children and young people participate in their own placements’ process?
The situation for children and young people is complicated by the majority of placements being needed immediately resulting in a lack of opportunity to engage with them in the decisions being made about their placements. There is a debate about the extent to which children and young people should be involved in placement choice when there is a need for the adults to make best interests decisions on their behalf. Pathway Care believes that children and young people must be encouraged and enabled to participate in the placement process to ensure their wishes, feelings and preferences are understood and taken into consideration. Placing social workers should be actively consulting with children to understand their wishes about what type of cares/foster family that social worker should be seeking for them e.g. other children, rural/urban location etc. Placements stand a higher chance of success if children and young people can have an introduction process that progresses at their pace and seeks their views throughout the process.
Post placement consultation and involvement is important and too often given less attention that it deserves. Involvement is not always welcomed by some children or young people who wish to be able to live their lives without having reviews, social workers and CSSIW inspectors asking them about their lives. This would not be a reason to reduce or remove involvement opportunities rather systems must be appropriate and sensitive to each child/YP’s situations. LAC reviews can often be very formal meetings that place stress on children limiting their constructive involvement. More participative work needs to be undertaken with children between formal reviews so that children and young people have access to ongoing involvement.
Pathway Care believes that opportunities should be sought to strengthen children and young people’s participation in a manner that engages with them such that they feel that they have a clear voice. We are concerned about the ability of those children with disabilities, language difficulties or very complex needs to engage in such processes and we would welcome practice development in these areas.
Good Practice points
Child friendly LAC reviews with children feeling able to have a say about who will be there, where it will take place and how they will be helped to participate.
Questionnaires have their place in these systems especially if they enable children to present their views in respect of their reviews, their carers’ reviews and service developments
Children and young people participation groups have been established within local authorities and fostering agencies enabling forums to discuss and inform practice and legislation. Older young people can be a source of support and encouragement for younger children within their placements either by direct contact or designing information guides that are child centered.
Advocate schemes can be effective in ensuring some children and young people have access to information and representation.
Following a placement
To what extent do you consider that a child’s social worker remain engaged in their care, once they have gone into a foster placement? For example, who is responsible for initially liaising with schools? Are foster carers given sufficient flexibility and autonomy to care for their children, without bureaucratic impediment?
This question is impossible to quantify as there are so many variable situations in practice. Pathway Care raises concern about the high turnover of local authority social workers and the number of responsible social workers that a child or young person may experience. Children need consistency in all aspects of their lives but it would be impossible at this time to ensure that they have the same social worker during their time in placement. What they do need is reassurance that the transfer of their case will be well coordinated and handled with a smooth transition. The level of unallocated cases is lower now but this is again variable from one authority to another. Children’s cases will encounter drift and decisions will be delayed when there is no active social worker involvement and agencies are limited in their ability to intervene on children’s behalves.
Enabling foster carers to take responsibility for required tasks is often appropriate and welcomed by carers who are often well placed to undertake such tasks and wish to be partnership professionals working with their social work colleagues. What is important is overall coordination and monitoring to control task allocation and completion. Foster carers remain limited in their ability to have autonomy to care for their children as do not hold parental responsibility and delegation of such power is currently very limited. One example is overnight stays but this is still open to interpretation across authorities. Carers would feel much more empowered if given increased autonomy but this needs to be achieved within clear policy directives so that everyone understands where the decision making responsibility lies.
Pathway Care remains concerned about the resources that are available for those children and young people out of school either on suspension, exclusion or between placements. Foster carers are often left to cope with these often very challenging situations. We would welcome a nationally coordinated response to these situations within placements.
To what extent are placements of children into care qualitatively reviewed? Can you provide any examples of placements being given a cost-benefit analysis for example?
Pathway Care as an independent fostering agency is not included in any cost benefit analysis work with local authority commissioning departments. There are positive developments at this time with the SEWIC initiative that Pathway Care has been keen to be actively involved with. Research has produced comparable costs between internal and external foster placements and agencies are well placed to provide cost effective placements that can compliment local authority provision to meet the needs of their hard to place children and young people. Pathway Care welcomes further development in this area so that placement choice can be developed in partnership with local authorities. Cost benefit analysis is one part of placement reporting and monitoring and in our opinion must not be given a higher profile that the benefit provided to a child or young in terms of meeting their needs or promoting best outcomes.
Are there any further comments you'd like to make about the placement of children into care? Are there any specific recommendations you would suggest the Committee makes to the Welsh Assembly Government.
Pathway Care remains concerned about the level of CAHMS provision for children and young people in foster care. We consider that a review of the therapeutic support available to children and young people in Wales needs to be taken to understand current pressures and future resourcing.
