SUFFOLK COUNTY COUNCIL

Transcription

1 SUFFOLK COUNTY COUNCIL Give a Suffolk child the care they dream about Fostering Statement of Purpose

2 Suffolk Fostering Support Guide Statement of Purpose Page 2 of 22 Suffolk County Council Children & Young People s Directorate The Fostering Service Statement of Purpose 2016/17 What is a Statement of Purpose? The Statement of Purpose is the means of providing information about Suffolk County Council s Fostering Service in accordance with the National Minimum Standards for Fostering Services and the Fostering Services Regulations (2011). The Statement of Purpose is a source of information for prospective foster carers, foster carers registered with Suffolk County Council, Fostering Services staff and all other colleagues or professionals working within Suffolk County Council and partnership agencies. A booklet entitled A Children and Young People s Guide to Foster Care is provided for all children and young people being cared for by the Fostering Service. A children s guide is also available for children under 8 years old. The Office for the Standards in Children s Services & Skills (Ofsted) has the responsibility to regularly inspect the Fostering Service within to ensure that we achieve the aims and objectives as set out in the Statement of Purpose. Our recent inspection report can be located at Ofsted can be contacted directly by telephone or by at enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk or in writing to: Ofsted Piccadilly Gate Store Street MANCHESTER M1 2WD Further information about the service can be obtained from: Sally Stoker, Head of Adoption & Fostering Suffolk County Council Endeavour House 8 Russell Road Ipswich

3 Page 3 of 22 IP1 2BX sally.stoker@suffolk.gov.uk For all enquiries about becoming a foster or Link carer, call or fosterandadopt@suffolk.gov.uk Why foster for Suffolk County Council? By becoming part of the Suffolk County Council Fostering Service you will be contributing to the provision of high quality placements, which give best value to Suffolk communities. We will provide support from our highly experienced team of staff, access to a wide range of training to develop your knowledge and expertise and a tiered payment scheme which reflects the complexity of the children who need placements and the skills you offer. Service Vision To enable all children and young people in Suffolk to aspire to, and achieve their full potential, giving them the basis for a successful life as active members of their community. The Fostering Service Mission Suffolk Fostering Service mission is one of working together, creating an innovative fostering service, which provides safe and nurturing family-based care for children and young people who are unable to live within their own families. The Service continually strives to be a fostering service that provides high quality care for children and young people so they are able to achieve better outcomes in adult life. The Aims & Objectives of the Fostering Service The Suffolk County Council Fostering Service is part of the overarching corporate parenting service, which takes the lead for all of Suffolk s children in care. The Fostering service aims to achieve continuous improvements and deliver best possible outcomes for the widest range of children looked after by our foster carers. This includes the development of the Suffolk Signs of Safety and Wellbeing approach to practice in all aspects of service delivery to children, families and foster carers. The Service is committed to ensuring that anti-discriminatory practice informs all aspects of our work with children, colleagues, foster carers and birth family, and that placement resources provide equal opportunities of access to all children and young people, irrespective of race, ethnicity, culture, religion, language, age, gender, sexuality or disability. 3

4 Page 4 of 22 The mission statement reflects the vision and key priorities of the Suffolk Children s & Young People s Plan This plan is a shared vision across partner agencies that will improve outcomes for children, young people and support for parents and carers over the next year. The priorities have been informed by the views of children and young people, and by the feedback from parents and carers. For more information about Children and Young People s Services in Suffolk please visit our website. The Suffolk Fostering Service aims & objectives are set out in a service plan and are linked to the Children and Young People s Plan which can be found here. Emotional Wellbeing & Health Lifestyle To promote healthy lifestyle choices for all foster carers linked to the health and development of children and young people. Smoke free households for all Suffolk children in foster care. Ensuring Safety To actively recruit, assess and prepare prospective foster carers that reflect the diversity of the local community and who will provide high quality, safe and flexible family care for a wide range of children including disabled children requiring a short break service (Link). To ensure good quality decision making in relation to foster carer registration through efficient, effective management of the Fostering Panel. To review annually foster carer registration in line with the national minimum of standards and regulations. To provide a responsive fostering service that best matches the demands for foster placements with available resources. To provide fostering placements that are stable, nurturing and supportive for the child or young person and which will promote and value their culture, ethnicity and identity. To take full regard of the child or young person s individual needs, however complex, alongside their expressed wishes and feelings when seeking to match with placement provision. To provide a comprehensive foster carer support service during office hours and an out of hours call service to provide support and assistance during the evening and at weekends. 4

5 Page 5 of 22 To provide regular supervision, post approval training and other opportunities for foster carer self-development in line with competencies, skills and knowledge regarding the day-to-day task. To work in close partnership with the Safeguarding Service to monitor placement stability and ensure effective response to any allegations made against foster carers. Achieving Full Potential for Children & Young People To work in close partnership with the Virtual School for Children Looked after and the Looked After Children s Health Service to ensure foster carers are able to promote the best educational and health outcomes for children in their care. To promote the best outcomes for children in placement and foster carers through care planning and promoting carers use of delegated authority. Support & Learning Opportunities To provide an extensive range of learning & development opportunities through the Suffolk County Council CPD online including online training (Kate Cairns Associates), one or two day programmes (Theraplay, brain based parenting, first aid, safeguarding and e-safety) and more in-depth programmes including KEEP and Solihull. Dedicated family support practitioners to support and enable foster carers with theraplay and parenting techniques. To provide a range of foster carer support groups across the county to encourage peer support and development opportunities. To recognise and support the role played by the carers own children and their wider family in the task of foster care. To work closely with the social worker for the child, to ensure good effective communication with the carer regarding the care plan and contact arrangements as set out in the foster carer agreement. To support the role played by the Children s Participation Workers in obtaining the wishes and views of children and young people fostered by Suffolk County Council. To work in close partnership with the Suffolk Foster Care Association and support them to extend their membership to a wider group of foster carers and to contribute to the overall development of the Fostering Service. For more information regarding the SFCA please visit their website. Finance To provide fostering allowances in line with government recommended rates. In addition to the allowance carers can receive a fee in line with 5

6 Page 6 of 22 Suffolk s Tier Alignment Scheme. All carers are aligned to a Tier level, and corresponding fee, in recognition of their skills and experience and the complexity of the placement they are able to offer. For full details of the Suffolk fostering fees and allowances please visit Leaving Care To work in close partnership with the Leaving Care Provider for Suffolk County Council to ensure that foster carers are able to support fully the young people in their care as they make the transition to further or higher education or employment and independent living where appropriate. How we monitor and evaluate our services Suffolk Fostering Service strives to constantly improve and develop with the key aim to improve outcomes for children and families. High priority is placed on monitoring and evaluation of the service and gaining service user feedback to use in service development. Monitoring of the fostering service The performance of the service is monitored and analysed in the Annual Report The Fostering Private Fostering Panel performs a quality assurance function to uphold best practice. An Annual Panel Report is produced Staff at all levels are provided with regular supervision by line manager and consultation is also available for very complex cases. The Corporate Parenting Management Group receives quarterly reports on the performance of the fostering service. The Children and Young Peoples Quality Assurance and Performance Board provide regular monitoring and scrutiny There is regular monitoring by the Permanence Consultation and Referral Meeting of the progress of children prior to placement to include scrutiny of family finding activity of permanent placements. Analysis of disruptions which take place, through a disruption meeting. A member of the fostering service monitors the permanence tracker and the planning for all children in care. The child s statutory review along with the function of the Independent Reviewing Officer has a quality assurance role. 6

7 Page 7 of 22 Feedback from service users Suggest amend to: Suffolk Fostering Service aims to gain feedback from applicants throughout their approval process and from carers and children during their fostering career. This includes: Feedback requested by fostering panel on the views of applicants on the assessment process. Questionnaires following the preparation course for prospective carers. The statutory looked after child review ensures that the child and birth parent s views are fully explored. The Agency places high priority on direct work with children and provide the opportunity for them to explore their feelings and give their views. Brighter Futures links with groups of children and young people who are in care to ensure they are able to have their say in all matters affecting their lives Feedback relating to the experience of coming to permanence panel for all attendees. Evaluation forms are completed with foster carers before and after sessions given to model and encourage the use of Theraplay based strategies. Feedback from child s social worker, child, IRO and carers at least annually for each carers review Feedback collated from carers attending training courses and shared through joint meetings with workforce development/training providers to develop training programme and individual courses Online questionnaires sent out, and forums held with foster carers to consult on key changes of policy and service developments, and general carer satisfaction. The views of foster carers are gathered during regular supervisions with an allocated Fostering Social Worker, and fed through to Practice Managers/Consultant Social Workers. We are improving the foster carers feedback sheet on the initial stages of placement so that managers can identify shortfalls and address this promptly. We have strengthened our working relationship with Suffolk Foster Care Association. They have been actively involved in developing the 7

8 Page 8 of 22 new Tier Allowance Scheme. We are working closely with them, holding regular meetings and consultation sessions to gain feedback, work together and jointly organise a conference for foster carers. The feedback from the above sources is analysed and it is used for service improvement and development We have processes for making, maintaining, monitoring and reviewing contact plans for each fostered child. Principles & Standards of Care The Fostering Service seeks to deliver an excellent service for the children, young people, foster carers and their families that complies with the relevant legislation, regulations and good practice guidance regarding children in foster care. The Fostering Service is committed to the best outcomes for children in care and the service works in close partnership with all Suffolk County Council services with responsibility for children in care. Numbers of Children/Young People in Care & Details of Carer Approval At the end of 2015/16 there were 392 households approved as mainstream, Skills Level, Family & Friends, Link, Support and MTFC foster carers. This is composed as follows: Mainstream and Support 286 Skills and Contract 4 Family & Friends 57 Link 33 MTFC 12 During 2015/16 77% of Suffolk s children in care were placed with Suffolk inhouse foster carers. 298 of these children residing with mainstream foster carers and 90 children with Family & Friends foster carers. 165 children in care were placed externally with independent agency foster carers. Foster Care Placements The Fostering Service provides for children in the care of Suffolk County Council a range of fostering options, that meet a diverse range of needs, circumstances and backgrounds of children who are not able to live with their own families. There are circumstances where a relative or a friend of the child in care may also be assessed as a foster carer and this service is referred to as Family and Friends foster carer (Kinship care). 1. Short-Term / Short Breaks Time-Limited Placements 8

9 Page 9 of 22 Short-term or short-break placements are provided in a variety of different situations, in an emergency where an acute crisis may have occurred in a family, in a more planned way to provide regular short breaks for a parent or carer, or where an assessment of the child or young person and their family situation is required before longer term decisions are made. Foster carers involved in such placements often have to consider children being cared for by them at short notice. Foster carers providing short-term placements often care for children who may be moving on to live with new families through adoption or permanent fostering. 2. PACE Scheme Short term placements primarily overnight, caring for a young person who is on remand in police custody whilst involved in court proceedings and they cannot live at home. Foster carers will relinquish responsibility for the young person once they have taken them to court or the allocated social worker the following morning. 3. Permanent Foster Placements Permanent placements are for children or young people who need an alternative family to provide them with care, stability and support throughout the time they are in care. The matching of children to such families is undertaken in a careful and planned way. 4. Foster to Adopt and Concurrency Placements. When we know it is highly likely that a child will need an adoptive family but the court proceedings are still in progress, we sometimes place the child on a fostering basis with a family who have been approved to both foster and adopt. This avoids a potentially upsetting move for the child and can be helpful in forming attachment but it may initially be a less certain situation for the carers. We offer particular training and support to carers in these circumstances. 5. Zipwire Intensive Support Fostering Programme Zipwire Fostering is an intensive therapeutic programme for children with multiple placement breakdowns, challenging behaviour and complex needs aged 8 +. The team is also able to support mainstream permanent carers whose placement is at risk of breaking down. The Zipwire team is led by a clinical psychologist, who together with the team s therapist, social workers, skills coaches and foster carers provide an individual programme for each child to enable them to manage family living. 9

10 Page 10 of 22 Zip Wire foster carers and the team work intensively with the young people to develop their social skills and emotional regulation to allow them to remain with their permanent carer or move on to an alternative long term foster carer. 6. Family & Friends (Connected Person/Kinship) Foster Carers Family and Friends care is where a child or young person in care lives with a relative or another adult known to them. In Suffolk, Connected Person/Kinship foster carers are assessed and presented to Fostering Panel for approval, they received the same allowances and have access to the range of post approval training and learning opportunities. These foster carers provide both short term care and permanent foster care. Connected Person/Kinship Foster Carers often consider making an application for a Special Guardianship Orders once the child in their care is settled. The Link Scheme This scheme aims to provide a flexible, culturally sensitive and safe service that promotes the diverse needs of those children with severe learning, physical or sensory disability. It seeks to offer a range of short break options that encourage social inclusion by working in partnership with the child and their parents or carers. The objectives of the Link Scheme are: To provide a stepping stone for those who use the Scheme to make local friendships and join in with community activities To offer the child the opportunity of having someone special interested in them, in addition to their own family To give their parents or carers a breathing space and an opportunity to spend time with the rest of their family To offer planned short breaks which could include home sitting, day care and overnight care in the Link Carer s home, and community based activities To assess, approve, monitor and review Link Carers in accordance with the required standards To recruit assess and support Link Up Befrienders approved with Activities Unlimited To provide targeted ongoing training, support and supervision of Link Carers to ensure they have the skills and knowledge to provide an excellent service To provide any special equipment that is required to meet the care needs of any child placed 10

11 Page 11 of 22 Link Carers are supported by and supervised by their own Link Supervising Worker. Foster Carer Support As the largest fostering provider in Suffolk we offer the following terms & conditions for foster carers: Weekly allowance and, where applicable, a fee payment Loan of essential equipment Regular high quality support and supervision with a fostering social worker through a local support team Access to specialist advice via CONNECT (CAMHS) and other specialist services Support groups and activities for carers children in school holidays Membership of the Suffolk Foster Care Association 24 Hour support via a dedicated fostering out of hours service Free Membership of the Fostering Network Computer for those offering placements to school aged children Support to achieve permanent placements 21 days paid respite. Extensive training & development opportunities from short one-day courses to the Diploma in Child Care Level 3 Access to a comprehensive training programme through Suffolk County Council Children Workforce Development Team Access to reading material for adults & children which are reserved in Suffolk County Council libraries specifically for carers 4 weeks extra allowance each year to cover birthdays, holidays and religious festivals Part of wider professional multi-agency team Key Principles in the Recruitment & Assessment Process The Fostering Service welcomes all applicants regardless of their ethnicity, background, faith, sexual orientation or marital status. Applicants may be disabled, responsible for dependents, working fulltime, part-time or unemployed. The Fostering Service has a no smoking household policy, and will not place children under the age of 5 where any members of the household smoke. (This may be reviewed in the case of connected person/kinship foster carers but there would still be an expectation that these carers do not smoke in the home and take steps to stop smoking as soon as possible). 11

12 Page 12 of 22 The Fostering Service is committed to working in a way that does not discriminate. The Fostering Service aims to work transparently and openly with applicants at every stage of the process The Fostering Service makes information regarding the formal complaints procedures available to all applicants The process is designed to ensure enquirers have sufficient time and information to make an informed decision about whether fostering is right for them and their family at this time. Stages of Fostering Approval Process The process of approving a foster carer usually takes 6 months from application to approval, or 4 months for applicants who have previously fostered or are transferring from another fostering provider. Following the intial enquiry, the process is divided into 2 stages, initial checks followed by assessment ad Stage 2. Where appropriate parts of these stages may be completed in parallel. Home Assessment (Form F) In summary, this assessment is completed with the applicants and the assessing social worker during visits to the applicants home. This assessment is presented to Fostering Panel for a recommendation, from which the Agency Decsion Maker (ADM) will make a final decision on whether to approve the applicants as Foster Carers. This part of the process will generally take about 4 months. The Fostering Panel Once the assessment is complete, applicants and the assessing social worker are invited to attend a fostering panel meeting. The Fostering Panel has a statutory role and responsibility to formally recommend approval of foster carer applicants to the Agency Decision Maker following the assessment. Panel also considers assessments from applicants to become kinship carers. The Fostering Panel is made up of social workers, foster carers, a county councillor, professionals involved in child health or education services and independent panel members. All panels are chaired by an Independent Chair. 12

13 Page 13 of 22 Foster Panel also provide annual Quality Assurance of foster carers reviews, that have not come to panel. We review disrupted placements, ascertaining the causes for the breakdown to aid future planning for the child. Unfortunately, sometimes foster placements do break down. Where there is a disruption of a permanent placement the Service convenes a Disruption Meeting in order to try to understand the factors that led to the breakdown of the placement which helps in planning future placements. The meetings are chaired by a Practice Manager or Professional Advisor who does not have case responsibility for the foster carers. A summary of the conclusions of the meeting are sent to the Fostering Management Team and the relevant fostering panel to inform future practice Procedures for the investigation of allegations or complaints made against foster carers Suffolk County Council has the responsibility for ensuring that children are protected from significant harm as defined by the Children Act 1989 and for the investigation of any allegation or report of harm in accordance with the current safeguarding procedures. Children who are fostered are also vulnerable children and where allegations are made regarding foster carers, these are investigated in line with the Working Together procedures. The Fostering Service in partnership with the Safeguarding & Quality Assurance Service has established procedures for the speedy and thorough investigation of concerns. For more information please visit the Suffolk Safeguarding website and independent support, as well as advice and guidance, from the Fostering Network is available to all carers. Learning and Development The training programme for approved foster carers and Link carers in Suffolk offers an ever-increasing and comprehensive range of courses, ensuring that foster carers have the very best opportunity to be trained in the skills required to provide high quality care for children and young people. All foster carers including family and friends carers and those offering short breaks are required to achieve the training, support and development standards (TSD) within the first 12 months of placement (or 18 months for Family and Friends foster carers). All foster carers will receive support and guidance to achieve 13

14 Page 14 of 22 this from their supervising worker and support groups. Learning and development opportunities are offered at introductory and intermediate levels allowing for the ongoing development of foster carers skills and knowledge base. Core course subject areas include Diversity, Attachment, Safeguarding, First Aid, Behaviour Management and Recording. E-learning opportunities (e.g. Health for Foster Carers) are also available and carers are supported in obtaining their Level 3 Diploma by a partnership with West Suffolk College. For full details of the Suffolk Foster Carer Training Programme please visit: The Fostering Service wishes to know itself, to understand what it does well and what aspects could be improved. It actively seeks the views of its foster carers in a variety of ways. For example, via assessment and annual review processes, with surveys, and direct feedback at supervision visits. Complaints When things go wrong it s really important to us that we respond quickly and fairly to put them right. We will always try to resolve any areas of disagreement or concerns informally in the first instance. We will also respond promptly to formal complaints about the fostering service through our County Council Complaints Procedure. This can be found at: Our complaints procedure plays an important role in improving our service and our County Council Complaints Policy commits us to: Give a full and clear response to a complaint within 20 working days. If this is not possible, we advise complainants when an answer will be given. Look into complaints thoroughly and fairly. Be honest and polite, and keep information confidential. Apologise if we have made a mistake. Tell complainants about what we are doing to put things right. Our Children s Safeguarding Service always deals with complaints that involve concerns for the safety or welfare of children in foster care. Information on this service can be found at the Suffolk Safeguarding Children's Board Website: Advocacy and Children s Participation 14

15 Page 15 of 22 Suffolk has developed a children s promise to Looked After Children, which can be found here. Advocacy Looked after children and young people are entitled to the support of an advocate if they wish to make representations or complain about the service they receive. Children and young people are able to access an independent advocate provided by Anglia Care Trust. Participation Children and young people are kept safest when their voice is heard and services are most effectively provided when they have had a say in their development and delivery. Using the principles of You said.we did children and young people are invited to Brighter Futures participation activities across the county. During 2016/17 children and young people will continue to be involved in talking about their experiences of foster care and how well Suffolk is delivering its Promise to children in care. Children s Rights Freephone

16 Suffolk Fostering Support Guide Statement of Purpose Page 16 of 22 Allan Cadzow, Service Director for Children and Young People s Services Cliff James, Head of Corporate Parenting Sally Stoker, Head of Adoption and Fostering Linda James, Adoption Reform Project Manager Kate Randall Practice Manager Recruitment, Assessment & Matching Team Catherine Biedul Practice Manager, Permanence Support Team Christine Smith 0.5 x Professional Adviser, Permanence Panels Hayley Phillips 0.5 x Professional Adviser, Fostering & Adoption Julie Macer- Wright Practice Manager Short Term & Intensive Fostering Team Gill Davies Practice Manager Fostering Changes for Children Melanie Lee & Nicola Lewis Business Support Managers 1 x Ft Graduate Trainee 1 x Ft Permanence Social Worker (Fixed term) 4 x Consultant Social Workers 8 x Ft Social Workers 11 x Pt Social Workers 3 x Ft Support Practitioners 1 x Ft Social Worker (Fixed Term) 1x Pt Community Recruitment Worker (fixed term) 2 x Ft Consultant Social Workers 2 x Pt Consultant Social Worker 10 x Ft Social Workers 4 x Support Practitioners 2.9 x Ft Social Workers (Fixed Term) 3 x Ft Consultant Social Workers 7 x Ft Social Workers 5 x Pt Social Workers 1 x Social Worker 3 x Support Practitioner 2 x Therapeutic Support Children s Worker Suffolk Fostering Support Service, Suffolk Children and Young Peoples 0.5 Directorate. x Psychologist (Vacant) 2 x Ft Consultant Social Worker 7 x Ft Social Workers 2 x Ft Social Workers (Fixed Term) 1 x Ft Business Support Assistant Manager 3 x Ft Business Support Coordinators 1 x Pt Business Support Coordinators 10 x FTC Business Support Officers 2.5 x Ft Business Support Administrators 2 x Modern Apprentices (1 Vacant)

17 Suffolk Fostering Support Guide Statement of Purpose Page 17 of 22 Where to find us The Fostering team is countywide, based at Endeavour House. Our Fostering Teams are based at: Endeavour House 8 Russell Road Ipswich Suffolk IP1 2BX Riverside Campus 4 Canning Road Lowestoft NR33 0EQ West Suffolk House Western Way Bury St. Edmunds IP33 3YU Our Fostering Panels are based at: Endeavour House 8 Russell Road Ipswich Suffolk IP1 2BX Public enquiries: West Suffolk House Western Way Bury St. Edmunds IP33 3YU Public enquiries:

18 Page 18 of 22 Additional Contacts (Agency Managers) Sally Stoker Head of Suffolk Adoption and Fostering Christine Smith Panel Professional Adviser Allan Cadzow Service Director for Children and Young People s Services Cliff James Head of Corporate Parenting Sue Cook Corporate Director for Children and Adults Agency Medical Advisers Dr Regina Chandraraj and Dr Moira Pinkney are based at: St Helen s House, 571 Foxhall Rd, Ipswich, IP3 8LX Phone:

19 Page 19 of 22 Fostering Service Staff and Qualifications Who manages the Agency? Sally Stoker became Head of Adoption and Fostering Services in February Her career in social work started when she qualified at Bristol University in She has worked for 26 years as a practitioner and manager in children s services. This has included planning for looked after children, managing disabled children s services and working as a child protection manager in Suffolk. For 2 years, Sally spent time living in Australia and during this time worked for a market research company specialising in social and political research. Her interest in permanency planning led her to adoption work in Norfolk. Here she worked for 6 years as a manager of an adoption team and for 2 of these was also a professional adviser to panel. Sally s interest in service development and strategic planning led her to return to Suffolk as Head of Adoption in Christine Smith has been the Agency Adviser to the Suffolk Permanence Panel since September She has worked in Children and Families Services since 1980 qualifying as a Social Worker in She has worked as a Social Worker, and Social Work Manager, within Local Authorities and the voluntary sector. She has extensive practise experience particularly in the area of permanency planning. For the last 12 years she has worked as a Children s Guardian in the London region and continues with this work as well as undertaking assessments as an Independent Social Worker Hayley Phillips was appointed as a professional advisor to Suffolk Adoption and Fostering Services in May She is also an Adoption Panel Agency Advisor for Barnardos. Hayley began her career as a social worker for Kent County Council in 1991, and qualified in 1996, since then she has worked in child protection, fostering and adoption and Looked After Children. She has held posts as a Senior Practitioner, Team Manager and Head of Service for Fostering and as a Safeguarding Manager. She is committed to improving the lives of Looked After Children and in permanence planning for children. 19

20 Page 20 of 22 Kate Randall was appointed as Interim Practice Manager of the Recruitment Assessment and Matching team in January She qualified as a social worker in For the first few years Kate took various social work roles in Northamptonshire, the last lear of which was spent as a team leader for a patch-based child care team. In 1987 Kate started work for Essex county Council, where she remained for 23 years in management posts in the adoption, fostering, placements and quality assurance services. From 2002 to 2010, she held Service Manager posts. From 2011 onwards, Kate has held various roles within the Suffolk Adoption and fostering Services, most of which have been management posts. She has provided consistency where interim roles were needed to cover vacancies between apointments. Kate is a very experienced manager with a strong motivation to help maintain and drive forward high standards and to achieve good outcomes for children and young people. Catherine Biedul was appointed as Practice Manager for the Permanence Support Team in April Catherine first became involved in children needing alternative care arrangements 23 years ago when she became a foster carer for the Local Authority. Fourteen years later she completed her Diploma in Social Work at Suffolk College Ipswich. On qualifying as a social worker Catherine worked for two years in the child care teams before joining the Adoption Team in 2006 as a social worker, when the Adoption Support Team was created, In 2008 Catherine completed the Post Qualifying Child Care Award; she then progressed on to become the Practice Manager for the Adoption and Permanence Support Team in April Linda James joined the team on secondment as the Adoption and Permanence Reform Project Manager in August Linda qualified as a social worker in 1977 and has held posts in Fostering and Adoption work in other authorities before joining Suffolk as a child care social worker in 1996: She holds an MA in Social Work Practice and Planning and the Advanced Award in Social Work. Linda is keen to ensure that Suffolk implements the adoption reforms in a manner that maintains high standards for children and adopters whilst accommodating the government s timescale and new initiatives. She is working to update systems and processes to enable staff to achieve good outcomes for children. 20

21 Page 21 of 22 Gill Davies was appointed as Practice Manager for the Fostering Changes for Children Team in April Gill joined Suffolk County Council in June 2005 as a social care practitioner and qualified as a social worker in Before joining Suffolk, she worked for the British Refugee Council supporting adults and families seeking asylum in the UK. Gill has been a member of the County Fostering Panel since July 2011 and her contribution to the Panel process has been sharing her knowledge of social work practice, policy and law as well as advising on resources and services that might be useful. She has recently undertaken the role of Professional Advisor for Fostering on a temporary basis, working on a variety of projects including Staying Put and a new Fostering Allowances and Fees Scheme. Julie Macer-Wright was appointed as Practice Manager for the Short Term and Intensive Fostering Team. Julie worked for several years in drug rehabilitation and prevention clinics across London before qualifying with a Master s Degree in Social Work from Goldsmiths College London, in Julie then worked in child protection in Camden before moving into fostering in Julie joined Suffolk Fostering Service in 2008 and has been a manager in the service since The senior managers with overall responsibility for fostering services in Suffolk are; Cliff James, Head of Corporate Parenting, Allan Cadzow, Service Director for Children and Young People s Services 21

22 Page 22 of 22 Signatures Sign... Date... Sue Cook Corporate Director for Children and Adults Sign... Date... Gordon Jones Cabinet Member for Children s Services 22