Recruitment, Assessment and Approval

Diverse Fostering is committed to ensuring that our recruitment process enables us to attract prospective carers who, with support and ongoing training, are able to offer the highest levels of care and nurture to children and young people.

We recruit foster carers from a diverse range of backgrounds, ethnicities and family compositions.  It is felt important to us that we search for individuals who may have shared many of the negative experiences of children in care and achieved a positive adult life. We consider that such people are positive role models for children. Word of mouth is often the most effective way of attracting such valuable people; many of our fostering households are likely to be related to each other, and will provide ‘ready-made’ support networks for each other.

Our recruitment practices are fair, efficient, ethical and reflective of current Local Authority needs. We are mindful of the national deficit of foster carers, and ensure that all of the foster carers we recruit have sufficient induction and training to ensure their retention.

Anyone may apply to become a foster carer, regardless of their gender, marital status, employment status, sexuality, disability or culture, providing they have a spare bedroom and are over 21 years of age. There is no upper age limit to fostering, but carers are required to attend an annual medical with their GP, and are subject to annual reviews of approval. Any applicant who has been convicted of an offence against a child or a serious offence against an adult will be excluded.  All offences will be subject to a positive DBS assessment and will be placed before the Registered Manager and/or Agency Decision Maker for a key decision to be made.

The Approval Process – (Please also see our Approval Process Policy, our Diagram and Video)

Initial Enquiry

• We aim to recruit a range of carers with diverse skills and backgrounds.
• Initial enquiries are usually screened by phone or email from our registered office by a qualified social worker to ensure that enquirers are meeting our basic prerequisites (such as having enough bedrooms) and that they have a basic understanding of the application process and the fostering task.
• As part of this process, we investigate personal and work circumstances and try to obtain information about pets and regular visitors as well as current employment etc.

Initial Visit

• Positive initial calls are passed on to a social worker who will undertake a further screening phone call to verify initial information, and then, if appropriate, conduct an initial visit in order to further explore the applicant’s motivation and reasons for wanting to foster, their home life and their willingness to train and commit to the full application process.

• To provide objective and balanced feedback, initial visitors normally visit in pairs and assess the family set-up, including physical environment (health & safety issues etc.) and the suitability of the enquirer (i.e. Skills, qualities, empathy).
• From time to time, our existing experienced fosters carers will accompany the initial visitors to help with this process.

Assessment – Stage 1

• If a social worker recommends continuing the application process, enquirers will complete an application pack, which includes DBS application forms for each member of the household (over 16), AH medical, checks consent form and application form, which enables us to obtain the information required under Schedule 3 to the Fostering Regulations. The Application Pack will then be reviewed by the Registered Manager.
• Additional checks and references may be sought at the discretion of the agency; safeguarding children and young people is our first priority.
• The checks are processed by a designated and experienced staff member at our office, with direction, where necessary, from our Registered Manager and/or Agency Decision Maker.
• The Assessment is carried out in accordance with Statutory Guidance on the assessment and approval of foster parents (i.e. Stage 1 and 2 have distinct decision making processes).

Training (Pre-Approval)

We have a robust pre-approval training programme (Skills to Foster), which also allows for further screening of applicants. All prospective foster carers are required to attend the Introductory Training developed by the Fostering Network. This is usually carried out in group sessions to ensure that attendees benefit from group discussions and to encourage networking.  If we do not have a cohort available to allow for group discussions, we do offer Skills to Foster on a one to one basis. In addition to the Skills to Foster Training we also embed health and safety for foster carers and incorporate work with the prospective carer/s children.

Diverse Fostering have also developed a standalone booklet called Next Steps to Fostering, which is a rich source of information for would be foster carers. This booklet contains lots of video resources and information, which can be accessed from QR codes within the booklet. The aim of the Booklet is to build upon the themes below, but in addition covers our Secure base therapeutic approach and other agency specific material.

“The Skills to Foster” (Third Edition, 2014):

• What do Foster carers do?
• Identity and life chances
• Working with others
• Understanding and caring for children
• Safer Caring
• Health and Safety
• Transitions
• Review
• My Family Fosters

The development standards provide a structured approach to the training and assessment of foster carers. This focuses on the skills, experience and development – or competencies – which are needed to foster effectively. The approach comprises 37 key competencies or abilities grouped under seven broad headings.

The Training, Support and Development Standards (TSDS) for Foster Care (formerly CWDC) are designed to support foster carers from pre-approval through their first year of fostering, and are started during the assessment process:-

• Standard 1 – Understand the principles and values essential for fostering children & young people
• Standard 2 – Understand your role as a foster carer
• Standard 3 – Understand health and safety, and healthy care
• Standard 4 – Know how to communicate effectively
• Standard 5 – Understand the development of children and young people
• Standard 6 – Keep children safe from harm
• Standard 7 – Develop yourself

Diverse Fostering carers will also complete training titled ‘bruises, reporting and recording and training associated with recording daily logs and progress trackers prior to approval.  To ensure that carers have a sure knowledge of safeguarding issues and processes prior to children being placed. We have embedded this within our skills to fostering training, as well as ensuring that our assessing social workers discuss safeguarding matters rigorously as part of the assessment.

A safe care plan is implemented, and discussions are held with household members.

The agency’s expectations of foster carers are laid out in the booklet that is provided titled ‘Next Steps to Fostering’, which is referenced above.

Assessment – Stage 2

• Diverse Fostering uses the CoramBAAF Form F England (2018). A qualified, assessing social worker will gather evidence from a wide range of sources to complete the written report. The evidence is then presented to our Independent Fostering Panel.
• Safeguarding, equality and legal aspects of looking after children are discussed in laymen’s terms to ensure that applicants have a thorough understanding of the requirements for becoming a foster carer.
• Assessments explore extensively the previous experience of applicants and address how these experiences can be used to the best advantage when caring for children who often have complex needs.

Combined Stage 1 and Stage 2 Assessments

• As per volume 4 Amendments to the Children Act 1989 guidance and regulations (July 2013) we can undertaken concurrent stage 1 and stage 2 assessments on applicants. The agency tends to reserve concurrent assessments for agency to agency transfers.

Panel

• Form F’s are presented to our experienced independent foster panel and applicants are invited to attend in order to ask and answer any questions prior to approval.
• The Panel quality checks assessments and cross-checks information provided in order to confirm the suitability of the applicants, and it will recommend appropriate terms of approval with regards to the skills and qualities of the applicants as well as the emotional, physical and practical needs of client groups.
• The Agency Decision Maker, reads the assessments, studies the panel minutes, taking into account the panel’s recommendations and will proceed to make a decision on suitability based on these.
• The Agency Decision Maker will then make a determination and will write to the foster carers

After Approval

It is recognised that newly approved carers require additional support and advice.

Once carers are approved by Diverse Fostering, they will be allocated a social worker. If the social worker was not the worker completing the fostering assessment, then there is an expectation that their post approval social worker will attend the fostering panel, as well as the assessing social worker.

The supervision policy at Diverse Fostering represents a high level of support over the first two months, including weekly and then bi-weekly visits.

In addition to 24 hour support, s/he will be offered a mentor from one of our experienced and trained mentor/carers.  The mentoring provision is co-ordinated by a senior member of staff, along with the mentor and mentee supervising social workers.  The co-ordination of mentoring support enables newly approved carers to meet experienced carers and to have hands on experience support.  We have found the additional benefit of having a familiar face in training sessions helpful to new carers.

The flowchart below, taken from the Department for Education’s website, outlines the accepted process for the assessment of foster carers.