STATEMENT OF PURPOSE FOR SANKOFA · PDF fileSankofa Care – Statement of Purpose June...

STATEMENT OF PURPOSE

FOR

SANKOFA CARE

FOSTERING AND PERMANENCY SERVICES

REG No. SC386669

(VERSION 1.7)

Last Reviewed June 2017

Sankofa Care – Statement of Purpose June 2017 2

Contents

Introduction ....................................................................................................................................................... 3

Aims and objectives ................................................................................................................................... 3

Principles and standards of care................................................................................................................ 3

Services provided ...................................................................................................................................... 3

Support to foster carers ............................................................................................................................ 3

Keeping children safe ................................................................................................................................ 3

Complaints ................................................................................................................................................. 3

Staff and organisational structure ............................................................................................................. 3

Aims and Objectives........................................................................................................................................... 5

CORE AIMS ..................................................................................................................................................... 6

OBJECTIVES OF OUR FOSTERING SERVICES ....................................................................................................... 6

OBJECTIVES OF OUR SEMI-INDEPENDENT SERVICES: ....................................................................................... 7

PRINCIPLES AND STANDARDS OF CARE ............................................................................................................. 8

Long-term/Permanent Foster Placements .................................................................................................... 9

FOSTER CARERS ................................................................................................................................................ 12

Recruitment & Approval Process for Foster Carers ........................................................................................ 12

Training for Foster Carers ............................................................................................................................ 12

Support for Foster Carers............................................................................................................................. 13

Review of Foster Carers ......................................................................................................................... 14

Listening to Foster carers ..................................................................................................................... 14

KEEPING CHILDREN SAFE ....................................................................................................................... 14

Listening to Children and Young People ...................................................................................................... 15

COMPLAINTS .................................................................................................................................................... 15

STAFF AND ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE .................................................................................................... 17

Children Act 1989 ............................................................................................................................................. 18

The UN Convention of the Rights of the Child: Summary of relevant articles ............................................... 18


FOSTERING MISSION STATEMENT

The overall aim of Sankofa Care is to give back so that children placed in our care will grow, achieve and exceed in their hopes for the future. In order for this aim to be achieved all staff and foster carers undergo a four day course on Therapeutic Principles in Childcare within the first year of joining the Sankofa Family. This training among others allow us to have an in depth knowledge and understanding of the needs of our children and young people.

We believe that children and young people’s experience in foster care should be positive and contribute to their overall sense of well being. Our involvement therefore must be to meet individual needs, exceed expectations and respect identity.

Introduction

Aims and objectives

Principles and standards of care

Services provided

Support to foster carers

Keeping children safe

Complaints

Staff and organisational structure

SANKOFA CARE FOSTERING AND PERMANENCY SERVICES

Sankofa Care Fostering and Permanency Services operates as an independent fostering agency and is part of Sankofa Care Ltd. Sankofa Care is an approved London Care Placement provider and registered and regulated by OFSTED, registration number (SC 386669). We are also members of the National Association of Fostering Providers (NAFP) and Fostering Network (FN).

This statement has been prepared according to the requirements of all current legislation

including the Children Act 1989, The Children Act 2004, the Care Standards Act 2000,

Fostering Services Regulations 2011 and the Fostering Services National Minimum

Standards 2011. A copy of the Statement of Purpose is provided to OFSTED, the

government agency that regulates and inspects fostering services.

It is available on the Sankofa Care’s internet website at: www.sankofacare.co.uk. It is

routinely made available to foster carers, children in our care and our local authority partners.

It is also shared with fostering panel members and staff working in the fostering services.

Printed copies are also available from:


Sankofa Care Fostering and Permanency Services,

15 Station Road,

London, SE25 5AH

Tel: 0208 544 5100.

The Statement is reviewed regularly and updated annually to include changes in legislation as

well as changes and developments within the service.

We believe that most children’s needs are best met within their own families. However, we also recognise that this is not possible for some children and in such cases we will endeavour to find high quality local placements within a family setting. Sankofa Care Fostering and Permanency Services has been established to provide such alternative care arrangements and offers high quality, safe, flexible alternative family environments for children and young people up to 18 years old on placement, either on a temporary or Long-term/Permanent basis. Sankofa Care believes that by placing the child at the centre of all

our service provisions, the best outcomes for children will be achieved. The Agency will

also continually strive to improve the services it offers through consultation with service

users and will not accept anything other than the highest standards.

Sankofa Care is indeed alive to the Fostering Regulations and the findings of research where agencies working with vulnerable children are being called to ‘apply consistently safe and sound vetting procedures and recruitment strategies,’ to their staff and carers. The management, staff, and foster carers of Sankofa Care have since the inception of the agency worked tirelessly in its quest to raise standards to a higher level. Sankofa Care is therefore pleased to report that in our Ofsted Inspection in 2009 it achieved an overall good service in all categories. In addition, in the areas of Being Healthy and Enjoying and Achieving, Sankofa Care was judged as providing an Outstanding Service.

Furthermore, our commitment to ongoing training and highest support to Foster Parents

and Staff; making the best matches between Foster Parents and children which

embraces their unique needs and diversity; has enabled us to achieve consistent overall

Good Service judgement from Ofsted in 2012 and July 2015.

Our family placement service assists Local Authorities in supporting their vulnerable ‘Looked After’ Children.

The principles underpinning Sankofa Care – Fostering and Permanency Services are the Children Act 1989 and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. We are also governed by a set of national minimum standards for fostering services and are regulated and inspected by the Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills, ‘OFSTED’.


A children’s guide is available for all children and young people fostered through our service to help them get the best out of their care, which includes how to access an advocate and/or make a complaint.

Sankofa Care is a learning agency and warmly welcomes any comments or suggestions about our fostering services, please contact us direct via email [email protected] or Tel: 020 8544 5100.

You may also contact OFSTED Tel: 0300 123 1231

Aims and Objectives

AIMS

Sankofa Care Fostering and Permanency Services aims to provide an effective, efficiently managed, high quality, safe, flexible family placement service that will assist Local Authorities in supporting their vulnerable ‘Looked After’ Children.

The Fostering and Permanency Service has a key role in supporting and contributing to Sankofa Care Ltd.’s mission statement, ‘to meet the needs of children and young people and ensure best possible outcomes in foster care’.

In relation our continuum care, Sankofa Care believes that the basic need for secure and safe

accommodation is fundamental to the personal and educational development of care

leavers. Central to our philosophy is the belief that adolescence can be a difficult period in

the journey to adulthood, and that the transition from care to independence compounds

these difficulties. Within this, we believe that it is essential that our services address the

educational, social, emotional and personal needs of the service users. Our mission

therefore, is to assist socially excluded young people to become fully integrated members of

society who in time will become future role models for other people leaving care.

We intend to deliver our mission through providing:

1. Sankofa Care Fostering and Permanency Services is working towards exceeding minimum standards of the five outcomes for children, as set out by the government in ‘Every Child Matters: Change for Children’

Be healthy Stay safe Enjoy and achieve

mailto:[email protected]


Make a positive contribution Achieve economic well being

CORE AIMS

To meet the requirements of the Fostering Service Regulations 2002, Children (Leaving Care) Act 2000 and accompanying schedules 1 to 8

To meet the National Minimum Standards for Fostering Services and other good practice standards

To ensure that prospective foster carers from all backgrounds are welcomed without prejudice and are considered on their individual merits

To ensure that the recruitment process is respectful, fair and timely To ensure that the preparation process prepares foster carers as well as is possible

for the task of caring for looked after children To ensure that foster carers are supported and supervised in their task of caring for

looked after children To engage in a child-centred matching, introduction and placement process To develop working partnerships that are inclusive of children and young people;

their families; foster carers; child care social workers; and colleagues in other agencies including Health and Education.

A commitment to on-going training and learning of foster carers and supervising social workers within the service

OBJECTIVES OF OUR FOSTERING SERVICES

To provide a flexible service that is child-focused and able to respond to the range of needs presented by children looked after.

To recruit, prepare, assess, approve, monitor, train and review foster carers in accordance with the required standards in order to ensure that there are sufficient foster carers to respond to the demand for family placements.

To provide targeted, on-going training, support and supervision of foster carers, to ensure that they have the skills and knowledge to provide a quality, responsive Family Placement service.

To support the care plan for the child, in partnership with Local Authority, the child, parents and other agencies.


To work in partnership with Education and Health Services to maximise the effectiveness of the child’s placement.

To consider and respond to the emotional and spiritual needs of all looked after children in a sympathetic and supportive way, recognising all children as valued individuals with opinions, aspirations and expectations.

To ensure that all staff has the required knowledge, qualifications, skills and attitudes to contribute positively to the Fostering Service.

To encourage and support foster carers to participate fully in the day-to-day running of the Fostering Service via the Sankofa Care foster carers' Support Group, the carers’ Forum and coffee mornings.

2. Sankofa Supportive Semi-Independent accommodation for Looked After young

people including pregnant or teenage parents aged 16 and over, who have made

sufficient progress in fostering, Residential or Family Assessment Units. We work

alongside Social Workers and Housing Services to provide assistance with finding

move-on accommodation when required. We also offer a short-term or

emergency accommodation service that makes available a space for those who

need a place to reside whilst sorting out any difficulties that they may have.

The Four Units (two in Croydon and other two in Enfield) are shared

accommodations developed to very high standards and promote the practice of

independent living. They also have a warm, welcoming atmosphere that

encourages growth, settlement, and personal development.

OBJECTIVES OF OUR SEMI-INDEPENDENT SERVICES:

To provide temporary supported accommodation for young single people and parents aged 16 years and over for up to 2 years; and to work in collaboration with Social Workers/Personal Advisors in identifying and accessing longer-term education, housing and support services appropriate to the individual’s needs.

To provide a good quality home environment where each young person feels safe and secure, and able to work towards independent living through different types of learning activities.

To establish local links with specialist agencies e.g. counselling, education, legal and health, in order to meet the immediate needs of the resident group.


To help young people build up positive connections within their communities and to encourage young people to maintain appropriate contact with their families and significant adults.

To assist young people in identifying their Long-term/Permanent goals with regard to housing support, education, training and employment and developing life plans to achieve those goals.

To help young people to develop their emotional and practical skills, to help them become more responsible and manage their lives more successfully.

To provide on-site crisis counselling and support as appropriate.

To empower occupants by maintaining an active commitment to resident participation.

To ensure that occupants’ housing and citizenship rights are observed by creating an atmosphere where there is mutual respect.

To promote the health, safety and welfare of occupants.

PRINCIPLES AND STANDARDS OF CARE

Our work is underpinned by the following standards:

Children are best cared for in a stable and caring family setting which encourages and promotes continuing links with their own family and community

Children have the right to be safe, secure and protected. We have a clear policy against corporal punishment, including smacking, slapping, shaking and all other humiliating forms of treatment or punishment

Children have the right to be listened to and treated equally and fairly. We will actively engage children and young people in decisions affecting them and in the general operation of our services

Every child is valued for who they are. We will make every effort to provide children with suitable placements and carers will support and promote a child’s sense of identity, self respect and diversity

Foster carers and supervising social workers will work together in partnership with children’s social workers to enable children to reach their full potential, and safeguard their growth and development.

We will value the work foster carers do and their contribution to the lives of children and young people. Foster carers are part of the professional network who support and protect the child

We will provide appropriate levels of support and supervision. We are committed to the ongoing professional development of carers and will review training provision on a regular basis

We will make every effort to promote children’s health and educational achievements

SERVICES PROVIDED


The Fostering Service has a range of family placement options across Sankofa Care to meet

the diverse range of needs presented by children who are unable to live with their own

families.

We also provide support to tasks-centered foster carers as well as specialist provision,

including support to children with complex or specialist needs. The service provides foster

carers with an allocated worker and a 24-hour support system.

Supervising social workers provide assistance in maintaining placements through the recruitment, approval and training of new foster carers and the ongoing training, support and review of existing carers.

Emergency/Short Term Foster Placements

This is a time-limited, task-focused placement for children and young people. The service

provides arrangements for children and young people of all ages for short-term placements

to respond to the needs of children who need:

• A period of assessment to determine appropriate plans

• Interim placement prior to permanence through reunification with parents, adoption, or a

Long-term/Permanent foster placement.

Our foster carers are trained to prepare children to be reunited with their families or to

move onto adoption or alternative placements positively. The foster carers also contribute

to life story work.

Long-term/Permanent Foster Placements

The Service provides arrangements for family placements where the care plan for the child is to be placed with foster carers on a Long-term/Permanent basis. Children and young people are sometimes cared for in Long-term/Permanent foster placements. It may be that they cannot return home to their families for variety of reasons, or it may not be appropriate for them to be adopted. Children and young people in Long-term/Permanent foster care are usually, but not always, subject to Care Orders.

Our concurrent planning means that some of the children placed as short term are able to

remain with their carers when their care plan changes to permanence.

Respite/Shared Care and Short Breaks

Foster carers are available to provide regular short breaks for children and their families.

This Service can support local authorities to arrange for families caring for a child with

additional needs to receive regular, planned breaks. These arrangements for regular respite


to children living at home will support children in need and prevent the child becoming

looked after.

Bridging/Task-Centred Placements

Such placements are often used to prepare children for adoption. In such placements

intensive ‘life story’ work will be carried out in order to help a child make sense of the

transition from foster home to Long-term/Permanent/adoptive home. Life story work is

heavily supported by the child’s social worker in partnership with our able foster carers with

support from the agency’s social workers.

Specialist Placements

Sankofa Care also has and continues to expand a, specialist carers’ scheme to enable us to

offer “difficult to place” children, a foster placement as an alternative to a residential

placement.

This service also enables placements of children aged 11-17years old (on placement) with

complex needs and challenging behaviours, requiring intensive/therapeutic fostering as an

alternative to therapeutic Residential placements. These carers will be paid additional fees

to fostering maintenance allowances and will be entitled to respite breaks. Enhanced

support will also be available through Local Authority CAMHS, Sankofa Care Multi –

disciplinary team and Online Educational Scheme.

Parent and Child Foster Placements

As an agency we pride ourselves on having a number of specialist mother and baby carers specifically recruited from the social care and health sector. They are able to deal with all manner of placements including parental assessments – supervising and monitoring the care of the baby, budgeting and nurturing skills and daily log/report writing. All mother and baby placements are supported heavily by the agency’s social workers.

Remand Foster Care

The Service has a remand foster care scheme to enable young offenders to be placed on bail

as an alternative to custody.

Semi Independent Accommodation

We also have three semi-independent units for young people including those who are

pregnant or parent/s and child. Having listened to the needs of local authorities we have

developed these units to better support young people who have made significant progress


within fostering, residential or family assessment units. This service acts as a continuum to

the fostering services that we provide and therefore comes with a significant reduction in

placement fees enabling local authorities to better meet their constrained budgets.

Canning Road and The Lodge are based in South London and Parkview Lodge is based in North London.

They come with a range of support options ranging from low to high levels of support in order to ensure that the young people make a full but steady transition to independence and become fully integrated members of society. Services include up-skilling, helping with budgeting and cooking skills and parenting support and guidance.

Foster to Adopt Services

Sankofa Care is keen to develop a Foster to Adopt Service in line with the government

agenda for looked after children. Sankofa Care is therefore in the process of developing

policies to reflect the adoption work and recruiting additional suitably qualified and

experienced social workers to compliment our current resource and expressed specialism

conducting the adoption work. This could be achieved by recruiting sessional social workers

who are line managed by a suitably qualified and experienced manager who has at least

three years post qualifying experience in adoption.

Sankofa Adoption Service Care with its status as a charity/voluntary organisation is also

recruiting additional board/committee with diverse expertise to oversee the works of the

organisation.

We envisage to provide children who are placed prior to a placement order being made

(concurrency) and children who are placed post placement order. (It is envisaged that

majority of the agency referrals are more likely to be children referred under post

placement order. These are usually children who have a plan for adoption but whom the

local authority have been unable to identify adopters for the child. The children are

therefore more likely to be children who have complex needs, complex backgrounds

(mental health, drug and alcohol misuse for example). Siblings or older children (school

age), children who have experienced early trauma and are displaying challenging behaviours

requiring on-going work with universal services such as CAMHS.

Special Circumstances

Additional resources are made available to foster carers who offer Long-term/Permanent

foster homes to children with profound disabilities or large sibling groups.


Sankofa Care ELearning

Sankofa Care has the facility to provide a minimum of three hours teaching and drop-in

sessions for homework in the core subjects. ‘Sankofa Care Learning’ is live, online teaching

to children of all ages in foster care homes. We serve to help the children in fostering

households reach their full academic potential. This successful programme has been in

operation since late 2009 and we have teachers who specialises in the Core Subjects (DBS

checked) employed by the agency.

Supervised Contact and Mentoring

Sankofa Care has provision to provide Contact Facilities located in Croydon to include supervised contact. We have experienced supervisors who are available to facilitate contact sessions in office hours, evening and weekends. All of our staff have enhanced DBS checks and are fully trained.

FOSTER CARERS

Recruitment & Approval Process for Foster Carers

Prospective foster carers from all backgrounds who can offer children a stable home will be welcomed. They will be treated fairly and with respect and kept informed throughout the process.

The following provides an overview of our recruitment and approval process. From initial enquiry, the normal recruitment process should take approximately six months.

Initial enquiry

Telephone questionnaire

Initial visit

Skills to Foster preparation course and BAAF Form F Assessment

Fostering Panel - approval or non-approval

Recommendation to Agency Decision-Maker

Final approval

Training for Foster Carers

Sankofa Care views training as an important element of support to foster carers. We recognise also that fostering has become increasingly demanding and complex. We are therefore committed to providing good quality training that is accessible and relevant to all our foster carers. We have devised comprehensive pre- and post-approval training which is available on an on-going basis.

Training is provided to:


Help foster carers become better at doing their job Improve knowledge, develop and refine skills Establish an explicit, positive framework of values, which promotes equality of

opportunity Encourage foster carers to reflect and look at the effects of discrimination and

recognise that they care for children, many of whom face discrimination as a part of everyday life by virtue of being ‘looked after’

Ensure that all foster carers are competent and confident in safe caring and in protecting children from harm

Help foster carers to promote the health and education of children and young people

All foster carers are encouraged to take responsibility for their own professional development. This will be practically supported through the creation and updates of individual training profiles as part of annual reviews. Children and young people will also have the opportunity to feedback their views about their carer via the foster carers’ annual review.

Support for Foster Carers

Sankofa Care values the work foster carers do and their contribution to the lives of children and young people in their care. Appropriate support for foster families is therefore vitally important to a successful placement.

Sankofa Care provides creative and flexible support arrangements for children and young people and their foster carers. Our close working relationship ensures that the necessary level of support occurs when a child or young person and foster family are ‘matched’ at the placement planning stage. This support is then monitored and adjusted throughout the placement.

Our arrangements include:

Supervision and support from a qualified and suitably experienced supervising social worker

Frequent visits and regular telephone contact from the supervising social worker A comprehensive post-approval training programme

Two weeks respite to give foster carers a break Access to additional respite care when assessed as required to sustain placement Access to support groups and development of support groups for children who

foster Access to help from the Online Educational Support Team to support foster carers in

negotiating with schools and promoting children and young people’s educational needs. Increased level of educational input can be further negotiated depending on assessed needs.


Support from our Mental Health Specialist who will provide expert guidance and support to foster carers of children and young people who are experiencing complex emotional difficulties. Individual therapy can be negotiated where appropriate

An allowance for the child that covers the cost of caring for them. The Fostering Allowances and Other Payments booklet will be updated annually and distributed to carers

Access to structured Summer Holiday activities with financial support

Annual Recognition Award for Carers and Children and Young People

Review of Foster Carers

We have a detailed procedure for completion of reviews of foster carers, which reflects the Care Standards Regulations, National Minimum Standards and good practice guidance.

Although our annual review assesses the carer’s competencies and training needs, we have in place procedures which outline situations that could prompt an early review.

Listening to Foster carers

Sankofa Care has a commitment to learn and grow together with our foster carers. We therefore encourage and support foster carers to participate fully in the day-to-day running of the fostering service via the Sankofa Care foster carers' support group and management forums. In addition, Sankofa Care will continue to consult with foster carers and other significant people and invite feedback about the quality of service they receive as part of the annual foster carers’ review.

KEEPING CHILDREN SAFE

Sankofa Care works hard to ensure that children in foster care stay safe and are aware of their rights. The right to be safe, secure and protected, the right for adults to listen, and the right for young people to be treated equally and fairly are fundamental principles.

We have a robust system for checking prospective carers’ backgrounds and their suitability to care for vulnerable children. Elements of child protection and how to provide a safe caring environment are reinforced throughout assessment, approval and training for foster carers.

We have a clear policy against corporal punishment and all other humiliating forms of treatment or punishment. We also have clear guidelines for the acceptable use of sanctions within the home. All complaints against carers are treated seriously and are subject to Sankofa Care’s Complaints and Representations Procedure.

All allegations that carers have abused or ill-treated a child are subject to Child Protection procedures of carer’s home authority, in compliance with the Children Act


1989. The supervising social worker or an alternate worker/independent person will continue to offer support to the foster carer through any process of investigation into an allegation or complaint. Foster carers are also trained to recognise incidents of bullying and work with

children and significant people such as their social worker and school to resolve any problems.

Listening to Children and Young People

The matching document seeks to take into account the views of young people, their families and the placing authority when identifying a suitable placement.

Children and young people’s views about the standard of their care are sought as part of the placement visits by supervising social workers. Similarly, our age appropriate children guides and complaints pamphlets provide guidance of our commitment to listen to their views in shaping our services.

Children also have direct feedback into the foster carer/s annual review about the quality of service they receive and any issues they may have.

Current work is in progress with our website which will provide fostered children with a page to paste their comments, compliments or concerns.

COMPLAINTS

Sankofa Care believes that service users, carers and their families have the right to express their views and make complaints, suggestions or representations about the services we deliver, and that by doing so we can improve quality and effectiveness.

Suggestions and complaints are viewed as a positive means of ensuring the quality of service is reviewed, both at service level and through the formal complaints procedure at the Advisory and Board of Directors level.

A complaint can be a verbal or written expression of dissatisfaction or concern. It may be about the company, about the implementation of decisions, about the quality or appropriateness of services, or their delivery or non-delivery.

Representations include enquiries, suggestions and statements about such matters as the availability, delivery and nature of services and will not necessarily be critical.

The complaints procedure is provided to all staff, children and foster carers, and is readily available on request. It describes how to make a complaint, does not restrict the issues that


may be complained about, and specifies how they are handled. Information is also provided on other ways to complain where appropriate.

Children may use other means such as an independent advocacy service in accordance with the “Get It Sorted” regulations.

For further information or advice about the Complaints and Representations procedure please call the Quality Assurance Officer.


STAFF AND ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE

A list of Sankofa Care (Fostering and Permanence Services) staff and their qualifications, fostering panel membership is available upon request. The organisation chart is listed below:


APPENDIX

Children Act 1989

The paramount duty of Local Authorities under the Act is to safeguard the welfare of the child, but in discharging that duty they must provide services to enable children to live with their families where at all possible. However, if this cannot be achieved and a child needs to be looked after, as a delegated Agency of Local Authorities we must:

work in partnership and encourage parental involvement promote contact with parents and family take the child’s wishes and feelings into account recognise and provide for the child’s cultural, ethnic and religious needs

Children with disabilities should be:

Treated as children first and foremost Included and have access to the same facilities and opportunities as other children Receive services which emphasise and maximise their abilities

The UN Convention of the Rights of the Child: Summary of relevant articles

Article 3: All actions concerning a child should take account of their best interests. The State should provide adequate care when parents or others responsible fail to do so

Article 5: The State has a duty to respect the rights and responsibilities of parents and the wider family to provide guidance appropriate to the children’s evolving capabilities

Article 6: Children have an inherent right to life and the State has an obligation to ensure the child’s survival and development

Article 8: The State has an obligation to protect and if necessary re-establish the basic aspects of a child’s identity (name, nationality and family ties)

Article 9: A child has a right to live with their parents unless this is not considered to be in the child’s best interests. The child has a right to maintain contact with both parents if separated from one or both, except if it is contrary to the child’s best interests

Article 19: The State has an obligation to protect children from all forms of maltreatment by parents and other responsible for their care and to carry out preventative and treatment programmes in this regard

Article 20: The State has an obligation to provide special protection for children who do not have a family environment. The State should also ensure that alternative family care or care in an institution is available, taking into account the child’s cultural background.

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