Fostering

Creating placement choice

Key findings

• Partnership working and joint commissioning is a developing area and many independent fostering providers and local authorities are developing specialist schemes, partnership arrangements and service agreements within their own agency and with others to increase the number and suitability of available placements.
• Local authorities and independent fostering agencies and in some places voluntary child care organisations are replacing 'spot purchasing’ of placements with service level and partnership agreements.
• Children and young people placed in these schemes include those with particularly challenging and difficult needs.

Practice points

• Ask yourself if you and your service can do more to identify the needs of looked-after children locally and to predict their future needs.
• Consider how to create new partnerships, service level agreements and other working arrangements with other agencies nearby to meet the current and future needs of fostered children in your region.

What we know from research

Partnership working and joint commissioning is a developing area. Many independent fostering providers and local authorities are developing specialist schemes, partnership arrangements and service agreements within their own agencies and with others to increase the number and suitability of available placements.

Local authorities, independent fostering agencies and voluntary childcare organisations are replacing spot purchasing of placements with service level and partnership agreements. Some are extensive, involving large numbers of agencies where costs, services and standards are agreed and monitored.

Children and young people placed in these schemes include those with particularly challenging and difficult needs, such as young offenders, those with learning or physical disabilities, those in sibling groups or those who require long-term foster carers (1).