Toolkit designed to support social workers find long-term foster carers

An adoption charity has published an online toolkit designed to support social workers, foster carers, and children’s services in finding families for children who need long-term foster carers.

Funded by The Hadley Trust, Family finding for long-term foster care: A toolkit has been designed by Coram to support fostering agencies’ existing policies and procedures for family finding, offering a set of resources that can be used by individuals and organisations.

The kit includes a direct work tool for social workers, family finders or current foster carers to record a snapshot of the child’s life, including their interests, achievements and thoughts that creators say will enable the child to think about and plan for their future, as well as provide an insight of the child for prospective carers.

There are also good practice tips for social workers and family finders with guidance on producing a child-centred written profile, including examples.

Other guidance includes good practice tips for local authorities when organising Exchange Days, which allow prospective foster carers to meet and hear directly from social workers, family finders and current carers about children who need a permanent foster home.

Where long-term fostering is the agreed plan for a child in care, fostering services are responsible for finding the right home and family for that child. However, there is currently a nationwide shortage of foster carers, and Ofsted data has shown year-on-year decreases in the number of approved fostering households in both the local authority and independent fostering agency sectors.

Campaigners say this climate has created a challenging journey to permanence for children who need long-term foster care, who say it is essential that children who are unable to live with their birth families and for whom a plan for long-term fostering has been made are afforded permanence and stability without delay.

Ana Parr, Group Manager of the Permanency Service, London Borough of Bromley, says the resources will help in defining best practices within the array of family finding activities.

“This toolkit will incite practitioners to think creatively together with the children and their carers, and is full of practical tips for redefining children’s narratives in a mindful language.”

Coram says the resources and guidance available to local authorities in the toolkit have the potential to speed up family finding for children who need long-term foster care by improving children’s profiles and increasing profiling opportunities and events in order to reach a wider network of both other professionals and prospective long-term carers.

Sally Beaumont, Head of RAA Services at Coram Ambitious for Adoption, says the guide will support and improve matching chances for children.

“Working closely with a number of local authorities, I can see how useful this free, downloadable guide will be in supporting family finders, social workers and placement teams to family find for children who require permanent placements.”