Support and Supervision

1. Introduction

As a foster carer you will be well supported to ensure that plans for children in your care remain in their best interests. You are an important part of the team around the child, who will also support you. You will be actively involved in planning for the children in your care, and your views are valued by the fostering service provider and will help to positively influence a child’s progress.

You will face many challenges when you become a foster carer and you will also feel very rewarded when you see a child or young person progress in a positive way. Once approved you will be allocated a Supervising Social Worker. The primary task of the Supervising Social Worker is to supervise and support you to enable you to carry out your role as a foster carer. The support you receive from your Supervising Social Worker is also designed to help you to cope with the additional demands of fostering on your family life.

You will receive regular and effective supervision that is focused on children’s experiences, needs, plans and feedback. Supervision is an important part of practice and as foster carers it is considered a key part of your training and development and is a reflective space to consider how to implement DDP Principals and learn from fostering experiences. Supervision also allows you time to consider complex case dilemmas and give you space to think through and share strategies and ways of helping a child in your care with your Supervising Social Worker.

The Supervising Social Worker will ensure you have the necessary guidance including an understanding about working within the National Minimum Standards for Fostering, DDP Principals and all of Children Always First’s policies, procedures and guidance.

The Supervising Social Worker will also work closely with the child’s social worker.

There will also be a number of other places you can get support from including:

• The child’s social worker;
• Other foster carers including Foster Carers’ Support Group;
• Our Clinical Lead
• Our Youth Support Service
• Other professionals;
• Duty and Out of Hours advice.

It is the social worker for the child/young person in the foster placement who holds responsibility for specific advice or support for the child and their Care Plan and Placement Plan.

2. Regular Supervision Meetings

Frequency of supervision meetings is on a monthly basis and this can be increased if needed or is deemed necessary in the interest of the children placed, or for your own needs. Your allocated Supervising Social Worker will agree times and dates. Each session will be recorded and you should receive an electronic copy for you to digitally sign.

It is important that supervision includes both foster carers (if there is more than one in the household). While Children Always First understands that one carer may have employment/other commitments, it is a requirement that the second carer engages in supervision on at least a quarterly basis.

Supervision is essentially a supportive and reflective space that enables open and engaged two-way communication to:

• Ensure you are taking into account the child's wishes and feelings;
• Ensure you have the opportunity to reflect on and discuss any issues you have;
• Help you to make sense of the child/ren’s behaviour and to identify possible solutions to any issues;
• Discuss and consider any issues you may be having with your own children;
• Ensure you understand how you contribute to Children Services objectives;
• Give you feedback on your work to make sure you have the right skills and competencies;
• Ensure you are accessing relevant training and resources and are working towards achieving the Training, Support and Development Standards within a year of approval;
• Ensure you are working within the National Minimum Standards for fostering;
• Sort out any financial or practical issues;
• Keep you updated about new policies, procedures, training and good practice.

The supervision meetings will be an important part of collecting information for your annual review as a foster carer. The supervision session will be confidential; however, the Supervising Social Worker will discuss relevant information with the child's social worker, or other professionals working with the child or family.

As a foster carer, you are seen as a professional and both you and the Supervising Social Worker are expected to work within a framework of respect, honesty and trust.

Supervision helps you to evidence how you are developing, how you are meeting the National Minimum Standards and how you are providing appropriate care for the child/young person.

If you are not happy in any way with the arrangement or content of supervision, speak to your Supervising Social Worker or the Team Manager.

Your Supervising Social Worker will do at least one unannounced visit per year. The main purpose of the unannounced visit will be to look in each room of the property to consider at the home environment that a child is living in and to speak to the child. This visit will be recorded.

There is a Duty and Out of Hours service for you to seek support when your Supervising Social Worker is not available or when support is needed out of working hours – please see Section 4, Duty and Out of Hours Service for Foster Carers.

3. What Your Supervising Social Worker Will Do

Your Supervising Social Worker should ensure the following tasks are done:

After Approval

1. Ensure you complete the induction programme and that your support, development and training needs are assessed and met so that you meet the standards and achieve the Training, Support and Development Standards certificate of completion by your first annual review, or soon after if extra support is required;
2. Give the Foster Care Agreement to you: 2 copies to be signed and one returned and placed on your file;
3. Support you with any specialist issues for disabled children for e.g. support in completing applications for relevant entitlements etc.

Before Placement

4. Complete risk assessments surrounding bedroom sharing (each child over 3 has their own bedroom or, where this is not possible, the sharing of the bedroom has been agreed by the child's social worker), mixing with other children in the home, etc.
5. Discuss and check equipment (especially in the child's bedroom) and ensure it is appropriate to the age of the child to be placed;
6. Take part in discussions about potential placement and planning meetings;
7. Ensure that the child's social worker gives you full information about children, including a history of abuse or suspected abuse and the reason for the placement;
8. Discuss contact with birth parents and family members;
9. Discuss how the child's health needs are promoted and how children should be encouraged to adopt a healthy lifestyle;
10. Help you in dealing with services such as health and education;
11. Help you to access training needs for safer care practice, including skills to care for children who have been abused or training on issues affecting disabled children;
12. Discuss financial issues with you: allowances, pocket money, leisure activities, toiletries and travelling and the importance of your insurance policy;
13. Find out about holiday plans you have made, and whether the child is going with you? If not the child's social worker must be informed so alternative arrangements can be made;
14. Exchange contact numbers with all relevant members of the family, including out of hours support;
15. Ensure that arrangements are made for the provision of specialist equipment for disabled children;
16. Set a date for a first visit after a child is placed with you.

During Placement

17. Check and follow up on all issues raised during the placement planning. Discuss any concerns with you and ensure appropriate support is provided immediately rather than waiting for reviews;
18. Provide you with breaks from caring as needed, which must meet the needs of placed children;
19. Take part in any Strategy Meetings and Section 47 Enquiry relating to your foster family. Be involved in interviews/support as agreed if allegations are made against you;
20. Ensure you receive invitations to a child's Looked After Reviews and Child Protection Conferences, and attend when appropriate;
21. Prepare for and attend your Review meetings;
22. Ensure the training programme is updated and accessed by you and your family and children;
23. Visit and call regularly;
24. Make unannounced visits as required;
25. Update Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks on members of your family every three years, including those reaching 18, and other persons who come to live at the home, who are 18 or over;
26. Record all contact with you;
27. Assess and review any health and safety issues within your household including the addition of any new pets and the environment in which they are kept;
28. Provide reports for panel as required under the relevant procedures;
29. Where appropriate contribute to Court Reports as agreed with child's social worker;
30. Discuss how you can support young people into adulthood;
31. Provide a reflective space for you to consider how to therapeutically parent your child whilst maintaining the DDP Principles;
32. Arrange additional support for children via our Youth Team;
33. Arrange additional therapeutic input required from our Clinical Lead.

At the End of a Placement

34. Support your family in what can be a difficult time;
35. Discuss with you and your family all the issues that have led to any unplanned end of a placement and identify any learning opportunities;
36. Support you to complete an end of placement report;
37. Attend Placement Disruption Meetings as required.

If your Supervising Social Worker has any concerns about the care you are providing  or feels you need extra support, they will not wait until supervision meetings or reviews to address these issues but will openly discuss and reflect with you about any issues as they arise.

4. Duty and Out of Hours Service for Foster Carers

Children always first provide a Duty and Out of Hours Service to support Foster Carers and external agencies.

Each day of the working week, an agency Supervising Social Worker acts as a Duty Worker for the working day. This is to offer support and guidance should the allocated Supervising Social Worker not be available at that time. The Duty Worker can be contacted by calling the office within working hours.

The aim of the OOHs service is to:

• To respond to emergency situations affecting children or Foster Carers;
• To provide out of hours guidance and support.

When the office is closed, the service becomes available by calling the office telephone number (evenings and weekends). The OOHs Social Worker is a Children Always First Social Worker, who will be able to provide guidance and support.

Children Always First would expect foster carers to call in the following instances:

• Child missing from placement;
• Concerns in relation Child Sexual Exploitation;
• Accidents;
• Serious illness;
• Self-Harm;
• Safeguarding issues for the child and yourself;
• Allegations that may have been made;
• Verbal/Physical abuse of the Foster Carer;
• Child/young person staying overnight with a friend;
• Carer family emergency.

However, foster carers can call for support and guidance when needed and if the matter cannot wait until the next working day.

When contact has been made with the agency through the Duty or OOHs service, the Social Worker will record all details and the advice that was provided. This information will be provided to the Manager and allocated Supervising Social Worker for follow up actions to be completed.