Fostering People receives top grades from Ofsted for third time

Nottingham-based Fostering People, a leading independent fostering agency, has received critical acclaim from Ofsted for its latest inspection.

Rated as ‘outstanding’ across all investigation areas for a third consecutive inspection, Fostering People is one of just four agencies to have achieved this.

Ofsted highlighted the highly effective services Fostering People provides that ‘consistently exceed the standards of good’, with its carers and staff contributing to ‘significantly improved outcomes and positive experiences for children and young people’. The report commended the outstanding progress children make in all aspects of their lives, with them feeling listened to and engaged while carers feel valued and extremely well supported.

The agency’s innovative Mockingbird programme was singled out as an example of Fostering People’s trailblazing approach to delivering child-centred care, along with its video profiling initiative which allows social workers to show children their carers before their placement begins.

Oliver Kirkland, Registered Manager praised the agency’s foster carers as been instrumental in this achievement. “Without your dedication and hard work, nothing we try to put in place as a service would count for anything. It is absolutely fitting that the main body of the inspection report starts with the following observations.

“Children receive highly personalised care and support. From their starting points, there is clear evidence of significant progress being made in children’s lives. They flourish in their foster placements. They feel valued and have a strong and positive voice in all aspects of the care that they receive. Feedback from children includes:

• ‘I could not ask for a better foster carer. She is fully supportive of all my needs.’

• ‘This is the happiest I have ever been in my life. I feel totally safe.’

• ‘I love it here. I couldn’t ask for a better placement. I love my carers to the end of the world.’

I would like to thank all of our foster carers for their hard work and the staff who work alongside them. It’s through our work together that we have achieved this outcome.”

According to the inspection, Fostering People carers act as powerful and knowledgeable advocates for children in education, while children learn the skills to prepare them for independence and enjoy a real sense of belonging.

Meanwhile, the excellent training carers and staff receive is vastly improving the ability of carers to recognise signs of abuse and exploitation and to take action to protect children in their care.