Ethelbert Childrens Services...
Where Every Child Has Mattered For More Than 35 Years
Specialist Residential, Fostering & Educational Services
For London & the South East
…”This service is performing to an outstanding standard. This has been achieved by continued improvement over a number of years.
The inspector found that regular review and development is ongoing in this agency and this has resulted in a sustained performance to this high standard” – Ofsted.
With a stability rate of 97%, an extensive range of professional support services and more than sixty specialist carers across London, Kent, Essex and Sussex, Ethelbert Fostering Services are now recognised as one of the leading fostering agencies across the South East.
Ethelbert Fostering Services is a substantial and versatile provision that caters for solo placements, sibling groups, mother and baby, challenging behaviour and young people with a variety of special needs.
The focus of the service is to ensure safe and stable placements where children and young people can thrive and develop in order to achieve their full potential. Often, our children and young people arrive with us following a series of placement breakdowns. By specifically matching the presenting needs of the individual with the identified skills of our dedicated carers, we succeed in providing stability and structure to the young person's life and progress them towards positive outcomes. The results are that the majority either become able to move back to their family home or, if this is not an appropriate option, enter the world of independence in a planned and carefully supported manner. Our devotion to exceptional outcomes was recognised by Ofsted in 2008 when we were awarded the overall grade of outstanding.
Our carers receive extensive, ongoing training and are fully supported by a team of health, education, social work and psychology professionals that ensure our standards of care and development are maintained at the highest possible level.
To support our carers and ensure each placement’s security, stability and progression, we work in close partnership with a variety of professionals that include:
Utilising the vast knowledge, skills and experience of the team enables us to successfully undertake and /or provide:
The service is further supported by a team of qualified supervising social workers and an out of hours, on-call team. Supporting social worker caseloads are kept at effective and manageable levels by our strict adherence to a 10:1 ratio of families to social workers.
For those children unable to sustain a place in mainstream education, we can offer a placement in one of our four DCFS registered schools that include; primary, secondary and two vocational centres that work in conjunction with local colleges and focus on a range of skilled trades and professions.
Close partnership, reward schemes and a culture that continually promotes educational values leads to consistent attendance, motivation and progress. Results for 2005 / 2006 exceeded national averages in all areas of qualification including SATS.
Specialist teaching programmes and approaches such as ASDAN and CLAIT are utilised as appropriate and overseen by high teacher and LSA to pupil ratios.
All foster placements are supported by a clinical psychologist, educational psychologist, and a team of consultants as detailed in our ‘Support Services’ section above. A wide range of therapeutic interventions are available, allowing us to provide a person centred and holistic approach, specifically tailored to meet the assessed, individual needs of each young person. A minimum of six therapists and six qualified social workers support current services, in accordance with the organisations minimum standards in professional intervention and support.
Mentoring and independent visitor services are also available as required..
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