As the recruitment campaign for foster carers builds momentum, Manx Care is delighted to share that its Family Placement Service has received excellent feedback in a report from the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC)’s Registration and Inspection (R&I) Unit.
Here are the main findings from the inspection:
- Safe: The service was found to be safe, with people protected from avoidable harm
- Effective: The service is effective, achieving good outcomes and promoting a good quality of life
- Caring: The service is caring, treating people with compassion, kindness, dignity, and respect
- Responsive: The service meets people's needs and is responsive. Previous areas for improvement, such as life history work with children and support for adopters, were being addressed
- Well-led: The service was found to be well-led, with strong leadership, management, and governance ensuring high-quality, person-centred care, supporting learning and innovation, and promoting an open, fair culture
The Family Placement Team is currently working on its action plan, with a view to completing these actions by July 2025. The areas for improvement are around private fostering arrangements and internal processes to evidence service progress, with actions as follows:
- Private fostering: The service will begin by reviewing the procedure and guidance, which will support the progress of developments in this area
- Performance management: The service has already begun to develop the performance management framework, and work is ongoing to embed this in the team
The Family Placement Service provides home placements for children and young people who are unable to live at home. The service falls under the Regulation of Care Act 2013 and Regulation of Care (Care Services) Regulations 2013, and as such is required to be inspected. R&I last inspected the service in October 2018, and OFSTED were invited in May 2023 to inspect the Children and Families Service, including the Family Placement Service, and clear improvements have been made.
The latest inspection took place in November and December 2024, to look at the overall quality of the service provided by the Family Placement Service. From this inspection, an action plan has been agreed to continue the progress made by the team. The full report is available to read online.
If you would like to know more about the Family Placement Service, you can find more information on the Isle of Man Government - Adoption and fostering information page or on their Facebook page.
