FOS0057

 

Written evidence submitted by the Rt Hon Norman Lamb MP

 

 

Re: Norfolk Foster Care Association’s (NFCA) submission to the Fostering inquiry

 

I write in support of the written submission by the Norfolk Foster Care Association to the above inquiry.

 

The failures in the fostering system have been particularly acute in Norfolk, where I have been shocked at the way in which foster carers have been treated by the County Council in recent years. This is serious for two reasons. First, there is, I believe, a serious injustice in how people have lost the ability to foster through the arbitrary behaviour of the council. Second, I believe that there has been a serious negative impact on looked after children.

 

There are, however, serious shortcomings in the national protections for carers and looked-after children, which I am convinced must be addressed as a matter of urgency.  The Committee’s inquiry offers an appropriate forum to shine a light on these failings and provide an impetus for change.

 

The NFCA has identified seven central concerns, which I summarise below. Many of these are issues that I have raised previously on a national and a local level.

 

  1. Fostering services are failing to comply with their legal requirement to provide support to and encourage participation in Foster Care Associations (FCAs), preventing FCAs from operating effectively.

             

  1. Too many children are removed unnecessarily from their established foster placements – often without warning, preparation or consultation, or any substantial evidence of harm or likelihood of harm. This lack of placement stability can have a damaging long-term impact on children’s health and wellbeing, educational achievement, and employment potential.

 

  1. Foster carers continue to suffer a lack of statutory protection if they blow the whistle on policies or actions that represent a danger of harm to looked-after children, despite calls from experts for the Public Interest Disclosure Act (PIDA) to be amended to cover foster carers. 

 

  1. When a child is removed in response to an allegation, complaint or concern, the foster carer is denied the right to a fair hearing. The unsatisfactory manner in which allegations are investigated is a critical difficulty in recruiting and retaining foster carers.

 

  1. In Norfolk, a cap on funding for the placement of 18-year olds under the ‘Staying Put’ means that ‘Level 5’ foster carers who, because of their specialist knowledge and experience, receive the highest pay rates for their skills, have to take a substantial reduction in payments if the young person stays beyond their 18th birthday. Young people wishing to remain with their ‘Level 5’ carers are consequently discriminated against solely because of their foster carer’s status.

 

  1. Fostering is the only profession where the license to practice is completely controlled by the Fostering Provider, rather than a central independent body. This can contribute to an expensive and lengthy recruitment, assessment, training, approval, and supervision process, if a foster carer moves to another part of the country. In Norfolk a significant number of foster carers are currently without any placements. This may be replicated elsewhere. A central register would assist in matching foster carers to children.

 

  1. Foster carers are coming under increasing pressure from local authorities to take out a Special Guardianship Order, which grants the holder parental responsibility over a child until they reach the age of 18. In some cases, local authorities have even threatened to remove children from foster carers if they did not apply to become special guardians. But foster carers are not trained in the implications of such orders and should have access to independent legal advice.

 

The NFCA has included a set of recommendations for the Department for Education to consider in relation to each of these points.

 

  1. The Department for Education should take measures to ensure that fostering providers comply with the Fostering Regulations and the National Minimum Standards by supporting and encouraging participation in foster care associations.

 

  1. The National Minimum Standards should be amended to cover the statutory protocols for the process of removing children from their foster placements.

 

  1. The scope of the Public Interest Disclosure Act should be extended to include foster carers, as recommended by the whistleblowing charity Public Concern at Work and the Whistleblowing Commission chaired by Sir Anthony Hooper.

 

  1. The Department for Education should amend the National Minimum Standards so that investigations into allegations of harm reach an acceptable benchmark of fairness.

 

  1. The Department for Education should consider the legality of Norfolk County Council’s implementation of the ‘Staying Put’ initiative.

             

  1. The Department for Education should consider setting up a Central Register which would establish the standards for recruitment, assessment, training and approval of foster carers, and allow foster carers to relocate more easily to other areas where there is greater need for their services.

 

  1. All foster carers should receive instruction about the responsibilities under Special Guardianship, and it be a mandatory requirement when the local authority is considering Special Guardianship for a looked after child, that the foster carer be funded for independent legal advice before a decision is made.

 

I would urge the Committee to give careful consideration to these concerns and the recommendations put forward. Ray Bewry, the chairman of the NFCA, has informed me that he would be happy to elaborate on these points in greater detail before the Committee, which I believe would be of great value to the inquiry. Therefore I strongly recommend that the Committee considers inviting him to attend one of the oral evidence sessions at a future date.

 

I myself am happy to be of any further assistance to the inquiry.

 

 

 

 

 

November 2016