Fostering regulations and sector legislation

Fostering agencies are subject to regulations, relevant legislation and acts.

These aim to ensure that children and young persons are safeguarded and there is a high level of support to achieve positive outcomes. They also cover practice guidance, key reporting requirements and other key compliance areas.

Please see a summary below of the key and relevant legislation:

• The Children Act 1989
• The Fostering Services (England) Regulations (2011) ) – these provide the regulations for all independent fostering agencies and local authorities.
• Fostering Services: National Minimum Standards (2011)
• The Care Standards Act 2000
• Children and Young Peoples Act 2008
• Care planning, Placement and Case Review (England) Regulations 2010
• Children and Families Act 2014

The legislation above all underpins the governance and compliance for Evolve Therapeutic Fostering.

These are documented in the Statement of Purpose for the fostering agency. Relevant training for all foster carer and staff cover the regulations and their importance.

Ofsted inspection process for fostering agencies

All independent fostering agencies and local authorities are subject to an inspection from Ofsted.

This is on a rolling cycle after the first inspection of when the agency first starts to operate and support foster carers.

The inspection is completed by a relevant skilled and experienced inspector over a weekly visit to the relevant fostering agency. This includes meetings with key staff, engagement with foster carers, children and other relevant parties.

There is a full report shared by Ofsted (which is accessible to everyone) which gives an overall assessment for the agency. This includes an assessment on three key areas including:

• Overall experiences and progress of children and young people, taking intoaccount:How well children and young people are helped and protected The effectiveness of leaders and managers
• How well children and young people are helped and protected
• The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Evolve Therapeutic Fostering’s last Ofsted inspection was in September 2022 with a good rating and Ofsted highlighted “Children are looked after by foster carers who are warm and caring. Care is individualised and carers receive good support from the agency to meet the diverse and complex needs of the children” ..

Please contact us if you would like to understand the fostering regulations further or how to become to a foster carer.

We can also help existing foster carers transfer between agencies under the Transfer Fostering Protocol guidance for this.