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News and Comment March 2022

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30 March - Fostering good practice

Caroline NewtonSome Scrutiny meetings may have limited appeal and for me that is true of Childrenְ’s and Adults’ Services, probably because I have no personal interest in them which partly explains why this report comes to you two weeks late. The principal Agenda item was Fostering Services. Covid impeded recruitment for the former but recent promotions have seen the approval of five new fostering households and more in the pipeline so five could rise to 18 by the end of the year.

Two foster carers each with ten years experience provided Councillors with a very brief insight into their experiences and Councillor Richard Diment (Conservative, Sidcup) had some questions. One was how did Covid impact them; what about the ‘churn’ in foster carers? The questions were answered by Council Officers.

24 households were lost over the past year and it was made worse by Covid. Seven of the 24 were long service (10 years plus) retirees and some have moved away from Bexley. Only two households were deregistered for reasons related to the standard of care.

Councillor Diment said he was interested in placement stability for those in care, he had heard from some children that stability was their biggest concern. He was told that in terms of those who have three or more carers a year, “Bexley does very well compared to national measurement statistics”.

Eventually one of the carers was allowed to answer Councillor Diment’s original question. Her biggest problem was the turn over of social workers and the need to educate each new on with the history of each child and the children themselves do not wish to be reminded of that history.

Councillor Lisa Moore (Conservative, Longlands) asked who was being targeted for being a foster carer and where are the new markets? She was told the most successful method was word of mouth; recommendations by existing carers, but events was a mainstay. In the Bexleyheath Shopping Mall, at BexFest and Farmer’s Markets for example.

“What does a typical foster carer look like?” asked Councillor Moore. “Were they retired people perhaps?” An interesting question to which there was no straight answer but Cabinet Member Philip Read said everyone was welcome to apply.

 

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