Government praises fostering service
Warwickshire County Council’s Fostering Service has been recognised by a Government body for how it has brought in new induction standards for the county’s carers.
The Children’s Workforce Development Council (CWDC) is so pleased with the county’s methods to introduce the standards that it has published a good practice case study on its website.
The Training Support Development Standards were introduced by the Government in 2008 with a target for all carers to complete them by 2011. The accreditation process involves carers gathering evidence in a portfolio to show how they meet the seven standards which each relate to a different aspect of care.
Warwickshire decided to pilot the programme with eight foster carers from different areas of the county who could go on to mentor other carers as they undertake the scheme. Support for the initial recruits was provided by fostering service staff who gave advice and assistance to help carers identify areas of good practice.
The pilot phase is now complete and the feedback about the experience from early participants has been really positive. The CWDC have recognised the value of this approach and will be advising other local authorities to adopt similar methods to introduce the scheme in their areas.
Beverley Martin a foster carer from Warwick was involved in the pilot, she said: “Completing the portfolio for me was really all about what we do on a day to day basis whilst caring for young people, and using learning from training courses to enhance our skills and our experience and understanding of our role.
“We had full support to complete the portfolio and it really re-affirms what we already know and do and, for me, proves that we are a valuable and integral part of the fostering service.”
Sylvia Vickers, Warwickshire’s Operations Manager for fostering said: “Warwickshire welcomes these new requirements as they offer a chance for our carers to evidence all the hard work they do in caring for the county’s young people.
“We’re really pleased that the Children’s Workforce Development Council has praised our approach to introducing the standards. There have been a number of benefits from trialling this process with selected carers. It allowed us evaluate how much work is involved and benchmark requirements for the new accreditation.
“We have been able to manage our resources to make sure each carer gets the right level of support and we can now offer additional peer support opportunities as each carer will have a local contact.
“Following the pilot phase we have now started rolling out the standards to all 192 carers in the county and 22 have already completed them.”