Industry News: Response to Ofsted's Children’s Social Care Questionnaires 2016

Responding to the Children’s Social Care Questionnaires 2016 from Ofsted, Jackie Sanders, director of communications and public affairs at The Fostering Network, said: ‘The Fostering Network has long believed that good foster care can transform lives. Good foster care includes many of the key messages that children have identified as part of Ofsted’s social care questionnaires – the importance of relationships, feeling safe and understanding why they came into care.

‘This report from Ofsted highlights the excellent work that foster carers are doing – for example, 99 per cent of fostered children and young people said that they feel safe in their foster home all or most of the time, and 94 per cent said that they feel part of their foster family all or most of the time.

‘However, there is more to do, especially when it comes to preparing children for a move into a foster home and enabling key relationships to be maintained even when children move on from a placement.

‘One in three children said that they didn’t receive useful information before the move, and that is far too many. This is a long-standing issue which must be addressed. Through our own research we have found that too often foster carers also do not receive information about the child or young person prior to the placement starting. Fostering services and social workers need to work together with foster carers, as part of placement planning, to ensure that both children and foster carers feel as well-prepared as possible before a move. This will help with transitions and give the placement the best possible chance of success.’

Source:
https://www.thefosteringnetwork.org.uk

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