Capstone Foster Care rated “Outstanding” by Ofsted

Staff at Capstone Foster Care based in the North of England are celebrating today after Ofsted rated the independent fostering agency ‘Outstanding’. Ofsted has deemed the agency as outstanding for a number of reasons and inspectors acknowledged, “The lives of fostered children and young people are significantly enhanced by the work of this agency. It helps to achieve excellent outcomes for them and enables them to make exceptional progress in most areas of their lives.” The inspectors also praised the staff, “The management of the agency has developed a highly motivated, enthusiastic and energetic group of staff, who are ambitious for the children and young people.” Children and young people had their say too, about their experiences with their carers with one saying, “I know I always have someone to talk to. My carers are great. They’ve given me a voice and I am now more able to talk about things that worry me.” Connie Robertson-Gurie who spoke with the Ofsted inspectors during the inspection said, “It’s absolutely brilliant that Capstone Foster Care (North) has been given an outstanding rating. I can’t fault the support and training I have had from the team and as a young foster carer it’s been great to feel like part of the family.” The report, which followed a five-day inspection carried out in February noted that “There is strong, competent and effective leadership at all levels within the agency.” Capstone Foster Care has been assessed on three inspection judgements, and received a rating of Outstanding against all three:

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

Catherine Lockett said, “I am delighted that Ofsted has recognised all the excellent work undertaken by all our staff and carers. There are many comments I am pleased with but to hear inspectors say that Capstone Foster Care (North) achieve excellent outcomes for our children and young people confirm that we are building brighter futures.” Capstone Foster Care recruits assesses and supports foster carers to provide a range of long- and short-term placements for children and young people on behalf of the local authorities who commission its services. As a country, we need more than 6,800 foster carers in the next 12 months. There are currently record numbers of children in care, and around 13% of foster carer workforce are retiring or leaving every year (source: Fostering Network). Becoming a foster carer, or a foster family is becoming increasingly more important to cope with the high demand for children and young people who get placed into care, often from a young age. There are 14,070 looked after children in the North West and 8,190 in Yorkshire and Humber – the two areas which are covered by Capstone Foster Care (North) division and each week, the Capstone Foster Care teams based in Heywood, Barnsley and Bradford receive up to 300 referrals for children and young people needing foster homes. 

Capstone Foster Care Capstone Foster Care is an independent fostering agency with offices and hundreds of carers across England who are available to help foster children build brighter futures. At the time of this inspection, the North based agency provided placements to around 155 children in 120 fostering households.

Ofsted confirm Capstone Foster Care (North) have been awarded outstanding at their recent inspection.