Ofsted survey highlights communication problems in care system

The inspectorate’s annual survey of children’s homes and foster care found that a third of independent reviewing officers (IROs) and placing social workers that responded indicated they are not asked for feedback about the quality of provision by fostering services.

Of the 1,066 that replied, 30 per cent “disagreed” with the statement that they are asked for their views on fostering services, while four per cent “strongly disagreed”.

In addition, 15 per cent of 2,194 IROs and placing social workers said they “disagreed” or “strongly disagreed” with the statement that their views on how children’s homes services can improve are taken into account.

For both fostering services and children’s homes, around half of respondents said they “agreed” with the statements.

In addition, a quarter of 5,871 foster carers said they “disagreed” or “strongly disagreed” with the statement that they are asked about how services can be improved by fostering services.

Despite these concerns, the survey found that the vast majority of IROs and placing social workers thought communication with children’s homes and fostering services is effective.

The Ofsted report, which collected around 25,000 responses between February and May this year, concludes that while communication between professionals and parents is largely effective, improvements are still needed.

A separate Ofsted survey also gathered the views of more than 3,000 looked-after children about the care they receive.

The vast majority (75 per cent in children’s homes and 93 per cent in foster care) said staff look after them well and listen to their views when making decisions about care (59 per cent residential care and 74 per cent foster care).

The biggest problem for children in care is bullying, with those in children’s homes saying they felt less safe than their peers in foster care – 11 per cent said staff “sometimes” or “never” dealt well with bullying.

In addition, of the 1,114 responses from children in residential care, 18 per cent said staff only “sometimes” made the right decisions about who lived at the home and eight per cent said they “never” did.