Southwark fostering service statement of purpose 2024 to 25

Recruitment

The recruitment manager works with the communications team to design and coordinate recruitment campaigns. A fostering web page has been created to give potential foster carers information on fostering for Southwark and allows them to register their interest online. Regular online information events are held as well as attending community events to promote fostering for Southwark. 

The recruitment strategy is designed to attract prospective carers who are able to meet the identified needs of the children and young people who require placements, based on the age, ethnicity and cultural needs. In addition to this the strategy has also identified the need to increase specialist professional foster carers to offer placements to young people with more complex needs. 

Foster carers are recruited through advertising, targeted recruitment events, via word of mouth and through meetings with local community and faith groups, and professional organisations within Southwark. Specific recruitment for individual children and other activities are co-ordinated by the Achieving Permanence team. 

Southwark Council is the largest single employer in Southwark and regular information is distributed to council staff inviting enquiries from staff who may be interested in becoming foster carers. Southwark council is a fostering friendly employer and achieved fostering friendly accreditation with the Fostering Network in October 2019. 

Existing foster carers are extremely important in encouraging new prospective carers to come forward for assessment. Southwark acknowledges the important role that foster carers often play in encouraging friends, neighbours and family members to consider becoming foster carers. A special recognition payment is made to any foster carer who is instrumental in bringing a new foster carer into the service.

Assessment of new foster carers 

Southwark aims to expand its pool of approved foster carers in order to better meet the needs of looked after children and young people. Southwark places a high proportion of its looked after children in foster placements but there is not always sufficient choice when making placements and sometimes it is necessary to place children and young people some distance from the borough. It is also vital that new foster carers are approved in order to replace carers who are retiring or leaving fostering for other reasons. 

The aim of the recruitment hub is to be able to respond quickly and professionally to all enquiries and to allocate new assessments to specialist and highly experienced assessors who will generally complete and deliver an assessment to the Fostering Panel within six months. 

The assessment process consists of the following stages: 

1. Initial Enquiry received and logged 

2. Response to Initial enquiry by telephone 

3. Initial Home Visit by a social worker or recruitment manager to the applicant(s) 

4. Outcome of initial home visit notified in writing 

5. Applicant(s) submits a formal written application to become approved as a Southwark foster carer 

6. Allocation to an independent or in-house assessor or recruitment Social Worker 

7. Applicant(s) attend pre-approval training 

8. All references, health and safeguarding checks are taken up by fostering team 

9. The prospective foster carer is presented to Fostering Panel, who will recommend their approval to the Agency Decision Maker (or not if they do not think they are suitable to be approved as a foster carer) 

10. Agency Decision maker decides whether to approve as a foster carer and range of approval 

11. Applicant(s) notified in writing of the outcome of the assessment 

12. Applicant(s) allocated a supervising social worker

Assessment and approval of foster carers 

Who can apply to become a Southwark foster carer? 

Southwark welcomes enquiries from all suitable people who are interested in becoming foster carers. There are many myths and misunderstandings about who can and who cannot be a foster carer. The Fostering Service therefore takes every available opportunity to stress that: 

• the essential requirement is the ability to give children a full experience of family life, keep them safe from harm and help them to grow and realise their potential 
• it is not necessary to be a home owner but fostering does require having a spare room that is suitable as a bedroom for a foster child (the exception being specialist foster carers who only care for babies for short periods) and a secure tenancy
• the service requires and warmly welcomes foster carers from all racial, ethnic and religious groups, reflecting the diversity of Southwark’s looked after children and young people
• foster carers need to be over the age of 21 - there is no upper age limit but in practice it is unusual to start an assessment of someone who is over the age of 65, unless it is with a view to caring for an older child or becoming a friends and family foster carer 
• having health problems will not necessarily rule anyone out from being a foster carer, but foster carers have to be fit enough to be able to meet the demands of fostering 
• foster carers can be single, married, in civil partnerships, or living with a partner 
• a person’s sexual orientation is not a barrier in any way to becoming a foster carer 
• fostered children sometimes need their carers to be available during the day - we will not rule out people who work, although some flexibility may be needed for some types of placements
• some criminal convictions will rule a person out – these include serious offences such as violence or fraud, and any offence against a child or vulnerable adult. However, other less serious offences will not necessarily prevent a person from becoming a foster carer. 
• the circumstances relating to any cautions or convictions will need to be explored fully in the assessment and balanced with the applicant’s strengths and current circumstances
• in Southwark we discourage our foster carers from smoking, so any new applicant will be encouraged to give up smoking during the assessment process and before they are approved

Responding to Initial enquiries 

All initial enquiries about becoming a foster carer, however they are received, will receive a response from a member of the recruitment hub within 3 working days. Usually this will be by telephone. The social worker will clarify the following:

Is the person interested in a particular type of fostering (such as teenagers, children with special needs, young babies etc)? 

Does the person have any paid employment?

What is the family composition?

What is the person’s race and ethnicity?

Does the person have a spare room suitable for a foster child?

Is the person or a member of their household a smoker?

Initial home visit 

Following this discussion the Fostering Recruitment Manager will decide whether or not to offer an initial home visit. If it is decided not to offer an initial home visit at this stage the reasons for this will be explained to the person. 

An initial home visit will usually take place within 10 working days of the telephone conversation (assuming this is convenient for the prospective carer).  initial home visits are carried out by a social worker. An initial home visit will usually last for up to two hours, during which time the social worker will:

• provide information about fostering for Southwark and the diverse needs of Southwark’s looked after children and young people 
• look around the home to assess its suitability for fostering - obtain information about family background and composition 
• ask for information about the current employment and employment history of all adult members of the household 
• enquire about personal history and experiences relevant to training support and development standards (TSD’s) for foster carers 
• enquire about any convictions or cautions for criminal offences in regard to all relevant members of the household 
• provide information about the fostering assessment and pre-approval training process.

Common reasons for not proceeding with a full assessment 

Sometimes, as a result of discussions during the initial home visit, the person concerned will decide that fostering is not right for them, or not at the present time. It sometimes becomes clear at the initial home visit that the home is not suitable for fostering. This may be because it is not possible to provide a suitable bedroom for a foster child or it may be that there are serious health and safety hazards present in the home. 

A fostering assessment is a detailed and lengthy process and sometimes prospective foster carers decide that the process is too intrusive or time consuming. At the initial home visit the social worker will always explain the range of safeguarding checks including health, local authority and enhanced DBS (Disclosure and Barring Service) checks which need to be made on all adult members of the household. These are an essential part of the assessment process as they help to highlight any factors which may indicate an applicant is not suitable to foster.

Informing applicant about outcome of initial home visit 

The social worker making the initial home visit will inform the applicant(s) in writing within 5 working days of the outcome of the initial home visit. If the decision is not to proceed with a full assessment, the reasons will be given in writing.

Appealing or making a complaint about a decision not to proceed with a full fostering assessment 

An applicant may write to the manager, fostering recruitment hub, to request a review of a decision not to proceed to a full assessment. The recruitment manager will review the information available and will respond in writing within 5 working days. 

An applicant who is unhappy with the way in which an initial fostering home visit has been conducted may also lodge a formal complaint using the council’s complaints procedure.