Chapter contents
Your Supervising Social Worker
Unannounced Visits and Inspections
Financial Advice and Accounting Services
Your ISP Centre
Every foster parent is attached to an ISP regional centre. This centre becomes your main source of support throughout your fostering career. The centre team includes:
- A manager
- Supervising social workers
- Fostering advisors
- Centre administrators
- Therapists
- An advisory teacher
You will have a supervising social worker and a fostering advisor who will visit you at home, and you will also be invited to attend support groups at your local centre. These are very sociable events and lunch is provided. It is a chance to discuss fostering issues and meet with other foster parents. Your ISP centre will also offer support and social events to the young people in your care, as well as activities for your own children.
We aim to provide you with a high level of support. We want to look after you and your needs so that you in turn are able to provide excellent care to the children you are looking after.
Your Supervising Social Worker
You will be guided and supported by a qualified social worker. They get to know everyone in your family and they give you advice and support. They will also spend time with the children in your care to make sure that their wishes and feelings are heard.
Your supervising social worker will:
- Make sure that you have access to our policies and understand what is expected of you as a foster parent.
- Supervise your work to make sure that you are meeting the child’s needs and taking into account the child’s wishes and feelings.
- Visit you regularly and make unannounced visits.
- Give you emotional and practical support.
- Support your skills development.
You can read more about the supervising social worker’s role in Standard 21.
Supervision
What is supervision?
Regular supervision gives you space and time to reflect upon your work and identify support that you might need. It is also an opportunity to think about the progress being made by a young person, and the care and support you are giving them.
Supervision is a two-way process. As well as thinking about the care you are giving to the children, it is a chance for you to tell us if you feel we are supporting you well.
The things that you might discuss in supervision include:
- Children’s self-esteem, sense of belonging, level of trust, emotions and behaviour (secure base).
- The risk assessment and whether there are any new concerns.
- Children’s health and any recent appointments.
- How children are getting on at school.
- How your own children are feeling about the fostering task , because we know that they might need some support too.
- Training and development opportunities.
When and where should supervision take place?
You will usually have supervision every 4-6 weeks, but it might happen more often if you need it. In addition, you can always contact your supervising social worker in between visits by phone and email. If you don’t have any children in placement, the frequency of supervision may reduce in accordance with your needs at the time.
Your supervising social worker will wish to meet with all family members from time to time, including working partners, your own children and fostered children. This is so that they can support everyone in the family. For this reason, the timing of supervision will vary, and it will usually take place at your home.
Written records of supervision
Your supervising social worker will write up a record of your discussion. This is useful because:
- It serves as a reminder of any decisions made or action required, and by whom.
- It can help you to monitor a particular situation or problem over time. For example, whether any strategies for helping you manage difficult behaviour are working.
- It provides information for your annual home review.
The record will be uploaded to CHARMS and we will ask you to read and electronically sign it as an accurate record of your discussions. However, if you disagree with the record, you can raise it with your supervising social worker for review. Do not sign the record before you are happy that it is an accurate record of matters discussed. Please contact your supervising social worker if you cannot see your supervision records in your CHARMS account.
For more information, see our Supporting & Supervising Foster Parents policy:
Personal Development Plan
Your Personal Development Plan (PDP) will be started during your initial assessment and reviewed each year. It considers the training, learning, development and support we feel you need at each stage of your fostering journey. You can discuss your development needs with your supervising social worker.
Unannounced Visits and Inspections
We are required by law to make unannounced visits to foster homes. At least once a year a social worker will call round to check that all is well in your household. If the fostered child is home at the time of the visit, the visitor may want to speak to them alone, and view their bedroom.
When we are inspected by Ofsted, the inspectors ask to speak to, and visit, some foster parents of their choice. This helps them to consider how well we are looking after children and supporting our carers. If you are selected, your supervising social worker will be able to answer any questions you have at the time.
Your Fostering Advisor
All ISP centres employ one or more fostering advisors, some of whom have often been foster parents themselves, with many years’ experience. Their role is to offer you support and practical advice, and also listen to your concerns.
Your fostering advisor works closely with your supervising social worker in providing support to you and your family. Your fostering advisor’s role is flexible and responds to your changing needs. There will be times when you speak on the phone or send text/email messages, while at other times you will need them to visit to discuss situations and problems. Your fostering advisor can advise you about our support package including training, respite, supervised contact and transport. Like your supervising social worker, they like to meet the young people and can also offer them support and advice too.
Placement Stability Support
We aim to provide high levels of support for our foster parents to create strong placements and ultimately prevent placement breakdown. Placement breakdown can be a distressing experience for children and carers alike, and is something we wish to avoid.
Sources of support at ISP:
- Our training courses can help you learn ways of managing challenging behaviour.
- Your local ISP team including a manager, supervising social worker, fostering advisor, advisory teacher, therapists are there to help you.
- The out-of-hours system ensures you are never alone or without support when the office is closed.
We maintain a RAG (Red/Amber/Green) rating system on our children’s CHARMS records to identify placements that may be at risk. Our social worker and managers regularly review the stability of placements. Where it appears that there may be a problem, extra support will be offered. This can include:
- Support for the child, e.g. to help them to talk about how they are feeling or how we can make things better.
- Support for you from your ISP team, to think about ways in which we can work differently with the young person.
- Training to further develop your skills.
We will keep in close communication with you throughout difficult times so that your’e not dealing with problems alone.
For more information, see our Placement Stability Policy.
Out-of-Hours/On-Call System
On evenings, weekends and bank holidays, we have an out-of-hours service that you can call for advice and support in an emergency. Some examples of situations where foster parents have called out-of-hours include:
- The child running away
- A serious accident or illness
- Trouble with the police
- Difficulty managing the child’s behaviour
The out-of-hours worker will give you advice and support to manage the situation, and take any urgent action that is needed.
Out of Office Hours/On Call System Contact Number
07775 668970
For more information, read our Out-of-Hours Procedure
Respite Care
Sometimes you and your family need a short break to recover from the daily stresses and strains that can come with the fostering task. We therefore offer you up to 22 nights’ respite each year. We ask you not to take more than two weeks at a time, and not within 3 months of the start of a new placement. Respite is not compulsory, however, and some foster parents choose not to take their full allowance.
To request a period of respite, please speak with your supervising social worker or fostering advisor. We will ask you to fill in a form giving us information about the young person and their needs. The team will look at that, together with the child’s risk assessment, in order to identify the most suitable family to provide a respite placement. We like to ensure that the child has an introduction to the respite family before the placement begins and hopefully, if the respite goes well, this relationship can blossom where trust can be formed and secure attachments made which will enable to child to go to the same respite carers each time. Some foster parents arrange for a member of their family to become an ‘Accredited Carer’ so that the child experiences continuity of care from familiar adults, often in the foster home. There is a leaflet about this below.
We ask our respite carers and the child to complete an evaluation form to tell us how they feel respite went for them. This information helps the team decide whether this respite arrangement should continue or not.
For more information, read our Respite Policy, and our Accredited Carer Brochure
Foster Talk Membership
Foster Talk is the UK’s leading support provider for foster parents and provides a range of membership benefits to foster parents and organisations.
All ISP foster parents receive Foster Talk membership on approval. We pay the annual subscription fee directly to Foster Talk on behalf of our foster parents. This ensures that you can access independent support in addition to our in-house support package.
The benefits of membership of Foster Talk include:
- Legal insurance and a legal helpline
- A fostering helpline
- Helplines for medical advice and counselling
- Financial advice
- Tax and benefits advice
- Allegations support
- Discount at thousands of UK venues and days out
Transport Services
While it is expected that foster parents will provide transportation for young people, we do recognise that there are some circumstances in which this is not possible and that support is required.
In Kent we have a team of trained drivers who are sensitive to the emotional needs of looked after children and who help with:
- Transport to school (this service is limited to SEN/EBD schools which are typically some distance from a carer’s home)
- Taking children to therapy appointments.
- Transport to alternative education services
- Taking children to see their birth family
- Bringing children in to placement
These transport services are, however, only offered in situations where it is not possible for the foster parents to make the journey themselves. To apply for transport assistance, please speak with your fostering advisor or supervising social worker. If they agree that there is a transport need then they will contact the transport manager to find out if there is a driver available to assist.
If you are having to travel long distances each week in order to transport children in your care to their school and appointments, you might be able to claim some mileage expenses. Speak with your fostering advisor/supervising social worker to find out if you are eligible for financial support.
Read our Transporting Children policy.
Financial Advice and Accounting Services
Our foster parents register as self-employed and pay Income Tax and National Insurance contributions in line with tax rules for fostering income. We have a long-standing relationship with William Giles accountants who are experts in the field of foster carer tax arrangements and many of our carers use their services for advice and accounting arrangements.
For more information, please visit www.fosteringtax.co.uk
Foster Parent Training
Access to training is an important part of your ongoing development as a foster parent. In addition, training helps you to stay up to date with changes to national policy and practice guidance and to learn about issues that affect the children in placement. The National Minimum Standards require ISP to provide a range of training opportunities, some of which are mandatory.
For more information, see our Training Policy for foster parents, and view our Training Pathway
The training, support and development standards (TSDS)
All foster parents are expected to compete a portfolio of evidence to show knowledge and skills in relation to the Training Support and Development Standards (TSDS). Your supervising social worker and fostering advisor will support you to achieve this, and in addition we offer training courses to help you.
When completed, your portfolio will be signed off by your supervising social worker. Couples can work together to complete a joint TSDS portfolio.
TSDS Workbook
The Government’s TSDS workbook is available on the GOV.UK website, or by clicking here.
ISP Training Courses
As ISP Foster parents, you have access to a wide range of courses, delivered by our own staff, and by a central team of trainers at Polaris. You will receive training calendars, and your supervising social worker and fostering advisor will help you to choose courses that best suit your stage of development, and current needs. There are 8 courses which are mandatory for all approved foster parents:
- Safeguarding
- Equality, Diversity and Inclusion
- Safer Care and Allegations
- Behaviour Management (PRICE)
- Health and Safety in the Home
- Emergency First Aid
- Medication in the Foster Home
- Recording and Reporting
In order to enable secondary foster parents who work to attend these courses, we try to provide opportunities for evening and weekend training, as well as online training options.
Our training offer is substantial, and covers a wide range of topics. If you have specific training needs relating to the needs of a child you are caring for, we will try to source a suitable training course for you to attend so that you are fully supported.
Our training offer includes a comprehensive City & Guilds Assured ‘Therapeutic Pathway’ of training, which supports foster parents through their development. The Pathway aligns with our fostering ‘grades’ and is therefore achieved over an extended period of time.
What to expect at training
Our training courses may be delivered at our local centres, or virtually, using Microsoft Teams. The timing of courses is typically set within school hours to enable you to attend, while still being available to take children to school and pick them up. On rare occasions, it might be necessary for courses to run for a full day and you might be asked to make alternative arrangements for someone within your support network to do the school run.
A training course typically includes a presentation delivered by the trainer, with discussions that allow you to share your experiences with colleagues and reflect on the fostering task. Our training courses are an opportunity to learn, share and ask questions, and we encourage active participation wherever you feel comfortable to do so. You will not be assessed by the trainer.
At the end of each training course, you will be asked to complete an evaluation form to give us vital feedback on the quality of the course and whether you found it helpful. We use these evaluation forms to inform the development and continual improvement of our training offer.
Training records
You will receive a certificate of attendance for each training course you complete which you can add to your TSDS portfolio.
Your training records are kept within our ‘Learnative’ system, where you can view them. This will inform your annual home review, where your training needs will be discussed.
Foster parent progression
Progression to main grade, and then senior grade, comes with experience and relevant training. Carers who come to ISP with sufficient experience of fostering and the necessary training already achieved might start on main grade.
To progress to main grade, foster parents must complete their TSDS portfolio, 8 mandatory training courses, Level 1 of the Therapeutic Pathway, and 3 additional courses:
- Managing Disclosures
- The Health of Looked after Children
- Helping Children Succeed at School
It is also preferable for the foster parent to have gained fostering experience prior to progression to Main Grade. This will need to be monitored at centre, and will require the agreement of the Centre Manager.
This should be achievable within 2 years.
Progression to senior grade requires:
- A recommendation from your manager
- Completion of all Core and Main grade courses, including Level 1 and Level 2 of the Therapeutic Pathway.
- Completion of the ISP Case Study or NVQ3 or QCF Level 3 Health and Social Care
Our full Training Pathway can be viewed here:
Our Learning & Development team at Polaris also offer a wide range of complementary training courses, some of which are online and others virtual via Microsoft Teams. Courses are mentioned throughout the Foster Parent Handbook, in the relevant chapter. You can also take a look at the current training brochure, and search for courses on ‘Learnative’.
Rewards
All foster parents have access to a range of shopping discounts and cashback offers through The Exchange website. These are available all year round.
We also have a ‘refer-a-friend’ scheme which rewards you when you recommend a friend to become a foster parent with ISP. Your local ISP centre can tell you more about this scheme.
Your local ISP centre regularly rewards foster parents for long service or special achievements, and may give a gift at particular times of the year, such as Christmas. These rewards and gifts are awarded at the manager’s discretion to thank you for your service to the ISP, our children and young people.
