Ofsted glowing praise for Birmingham’s fostering provision
A new Ofsted assessment of Birmingham City Council’s fostering service has found it to be “good” overall with several areas judged “outstanding”.
The rating comes ahead of Foster Care Fortnight (May 17th – May 30th) and is a boost for the city which has put greater emphasis on placing children in foster care.
Ofsted upgraded the service from “satisfactory” following a previous visit in 2008 and judged the key areas of “helping children achieve and enjoy what they do” and “helping children make a positive contribution” to be “outstanding”.
The way in which views of children in foster care are listened to was highly praised. Inspectors judged work undertaken to promote educational achievement as “excellent” and drew attention to an “impressive improvement in examination results”.
Leadership of the fostering service is described as “excellent” despite Ofsted acknowledging the job was “increasingly challenging and demanding due to the varied and complex needs of children and young people and the demands on carers from the courts and others”.
The inspection body praised the city council for addressing all four recommendations made when it last visited two years ago.
Colin Tucker, director of Birmingham City Council’s Children’s Social Care, said: “This inspection report is excellent news and underlines our commitment to improvement.
“We are always keen to recruit more foster carers and this ringing endorsement from Ofsted should give people the confidence to know they will be well supported by us.
“Our increasing emphasis is on finding foster parents for vulnerable children rather than housing them in care homes because all the research shows this results in better outcomes.”
In the report summary, Ofsted said: “This full inspection identifies that the service is now at a good standard overall and that several areas are outstanding.
“Leadership and monitoring are strong and clear strategies are implemented to address shortfalls, for example, regarding recruitment of staff and carers.”
Ofsted said the fostering service pays “outstanding attention to diversity” and ensured carers were selected from all social groups, including single carers, same sex couples, those with minority ethnic backgrounds and disabilities.
Birmingham City Council will be launching a campaign to recruit more foster carers during Foster Care Fortnight on May 21st which will feature eye-catching street entertainment to grab the attention of city centre shoppers and workers.
The Council recently underlined its greater emphasis on fostering with significant increases in fees paid to foster carers.
The maximum amount a week that can now be earned through the service is £430 per child and the lowest amount is £264.
Fostering manager Jacquie Smith said: “Our foster carers do a fantastic job and we are very grateful to them.
“Hopefully Ofsted’s praise for our service coupled with the increase in fees will encourage more people to come forward to pursue what is a rewarding and worthwhile career.
“We are looking for people with the right attitude who want to make a positive difference to the lives of young people.”
“Good” ratings were also given in the areas of helping children be healthy, protect children from harm or neglect and the overall organisation of the service.
Notes to Editors
• Birmingham has 536 foster carers who care for about 900 children
• Foster children can be any age between birth and 17
• New foster carers must be aged between 23 and 60 and live in or within a 25 mile radius of Birmingham
• The average age of a foster carer within the service is currently 51 years old.
• The service currently has a shortage of carers for babies and toddlers who have been exposed to drug or alcohol during their mother’s pregnancy or those who have complex needs
• There is also a shortage of carers for sibling groups, boys, children of mixed parentage and children with special needs
