Behind the Inspection Rating: Training builds fostering stability

Fostering Solutions South goes the extra mile on foster carer training. “Training is one of the key things for us,” says regional service manager Miquette Novella. “Families come into fostering with different levels of experience and knowledge, so it’s crucial for us to continually develop their skills. The training of our carers – together with the supervision and support we provide – increases our ability to offer stability for children and young people.”

Ofsted agrees. Its latest inspection of the service, which is a separately inspected arm of the national agency Fostering Solutions, identified “a well-established culture of training and development”.

So what makes its training stand out? Rather than sticking to the mandatory training, Fostering Solutions South sends its prospective carers on a comprehensive two-year training programme. “There are clearly mandatory courses that carers should attend within the first year of their training, but on top of that we have an extensive training programme with additional courses,” says Novella. “These additional courses are very much needs-led. So if a carer has a specific interest or skill they would like to develop, we have courses for them. For example, we have specific courses for carers who are interested in offering placements to parents and children.”

The agency provides further courses on an ongoing basis, which are identified in annual training plans for each carer. This training commitment extends to helping carers to undertake the NVQ level 3 diploma for the children and young people’s workforce.

The benefits of this tuition can be seen throughout the outstanding-rated service. The training helps the agency recruit carers, improves carers