Little Acorns Fostering is dedicated to offering unwavering support and appreciation to our foster carers, who are fundamental to the quality of service we provide. Through collaboration with our carers and the child’s placing social worker, we are committed to ensuring that every child placed in our care thrives and reaches their full potential.
Our agency offers a personalized and professional service to all parties involved in each child’s placement. Each placement is meticulously matched to the approved status of our foster carers.
Our foster carers come from diverse backgrounds, but all share the essential qualities required to provide the stability and care that children deserve when placed with them.
Little Acorns Fostering caters to children of all age groups, from newborns to eighteen-year-olds. We provide a comprehensive care package designed specifically for each child, ensuring that our foster carers receive continuous support and assistance to make the placement successful. We firmly believe that prioritizing the child’s needs is paramount for the success of any placement.
Our team at Little Acorns consists of staff and directors with extensive experience and expertise in the field of child care, spanning both the public and private sectors. We are dedicated to delivering a high-quality service, safeguarding children, and working in close collaboration with local authorities that utilize our services.
Our Vision: “We aspire for our children and young people to be resilient in their words and actions, capable of weathering life’s challenges, growing to their full potential, and becoming individuals upon whom others can depend and trust.”
Introduction: Little Acorns Fostering Ltd (LAFL), an Independent Fostering Agency, was established in July 2012, registered with Ofsted in February 2013, and was recently awarded an “Outstanding” rating by Ofsted in September 2017.
Situated near Haverhill, Suffolk, at the heart of the eastern catchment area, LAFL provides well-trained foster carers to local authorities on an outsourced basis, addressing the overflow of placement needs. LAFL’s primary focus is on delivering long-term, stable placements through rigorous matching and top-notch support services.
This Statement of Purpose has been crafted in accordance with Standard 1 of the National Minimum Standards for Fostering Services and Regulation 3 of the Fostering Service Regulations 2011.
These regulations mandate fostering agencies to develop a Statement of Purpose, serving as a valuable source of information for staff, foster carers, prospective foster carers, children, young people in our care, their parents, significant others, and colleagues from partner agencies and local authorities.
At Little Acorns Fostering, our primary goal is to provide a diverse group of high-quality Foster Carers to support Children In Care and young people. Through significant investments in training and support, we aim to develop professional and resilient carers who fully comply with the National Minimum Standards.
We are committed to fostering genuine partnerships with local authorities, other agencies, health and social services trusts, parents, and carers to achieve positive outcomes for Children In Care. Our foremost objective is to work towards reuniting these children with their natural families and homes.
Little Acorns Fostering’s key objective is to deliver services that enable children and young people to develop and thrive while aligning with the secure base philosophy and the “Every Child Matters” framework, focusing on these five key outcome areas:
- Be healthy
- Stay safe
- Enjoy and achieve
- Make a positive contribution
- Achieve economic wellbeing
To support these five outcomes, we aim to:
- Safeguard children at all times and ensure that all carers and staff members share the responsibility of keeping children safe from harm.
- Recruit, train, and support Foster Carers from the East of England, equipping them to provide a wide range of services for Children In Care and Young People.
- Recruit carers from diverse cultural and ethnic backgrounds to reflect the demographic needs of the region.
- Provide foster placements that offer stability, security, and a warm, safe, and caring environment where children can thrive.
- Ensure that the cultural needs of each child are met.
- Maximize educational opportunities for all children and young people, enabling them to develop and reach their full potential.
- Ensure that a child’s physical and emotional healthcare needs are met, and a positive and healthy lifestyle is encouraged.
- Promote contact with the birth family and significant others during a placement and facilitate this as appropriate.
- Develop a plan for each child’s future and act on it within the specified timelines.
- Ensure all foster carers receive training, guidance, and support from fully qualified designated Supervising Social Workers.
- Carefully match the needs of Children In Care and young people with the specific skills, experience, and training of carers.
- Provide 24-hour support for children, young people, and foster carers.
- Foster a culture of continuous review and improvement.
Our Ethos and Principles
At Little Acorns Fostering Ltd, we believe that family placements are suitable for the majority of Children in Care. We aim to provide family placements that offer the same love, encouragement, support, and protection that all children are entitled to experience in their lives.
Children will be supported and encouraged to maintain connections with their families and communities of origin, and our foster carers will support these efforts.
Our foster carers will encourage children to take pride in their background and support them in realizing their potential, celebrating their talents and achievements into adulthood.
Children will be consulted, involved, and listened to, with appropriate consideration given to their views on important decisions affecting their lives. When it is deemed not in the child or young person’s best interest to act on their wishes, they will be helped to understand the reasons behind this decision.
Children in care should be safeguarded and protected from harm, including actions by other children or young people. Little Acorns and foster carers will operate in accordance with the practice and policies agreed upon by the Local Safeguarding Children Board.
Care Standards
Little Acorns Fostering is dedicated to providing the highest standards of care at all times. We acknowledge that family-based settings offer better opportunities for the majority of children and young people compared to a residential environment.
The quality of the family-based setting plays a crucial role in determining whether a child can reach their full potential.
To ensure our high expectations and standards of care are met, we will:
- Select only those carers who demonstrate a commitment to the safety and well-being of vulnerable children.
- Review each foster carer’s approval status annually.
- Emphasize the importance of maintaining family contacts, friendships, and community connections.
- Adopt an anti-discriminatory approach to consider and cater to individual needs, including gender, disability, sexuality, religion, culture, and more.
- Collaborate with the child/young person, their families, local authorities, and other agencies.
- Promote and safeguard each child/young person’s emotional and physical well-being, protecting them from all forms of abuse.
- Seek the views and feelings of each child/young person and involve them in decisions that affect their lives, providing access to advocacy services when necessary.
- Ensure each child/young person has access to appropriate healthcare and a say in decisions about their health.
- Provide each child/young person with access to educational resources that promote achievement and independence.
- Offer appropriate support to prepare children for long-term fostering, adoption, or independent living.
- Encourage ongoing contact for children who leave placements with Little Acorns Fostering when deemed appropriate, recognizing the importance of carers in their lives.
Facilities and Services
Little Acorns Fostering provides placements for children and young people of all ages up to 18 years, including individuals and sibling groups. Beyond the age of 18, we support local authority “Staying Put” schemes.
We have two Contact Suites available for Supported and Supervised Contact, in collaboration with Local Authorities.
Types of Placements
- Emergency Placement: We offer a 24-hour emergency service to provide immediate safety and meet the urgent needs of children.
- Short-Term Placement: These placements are temporary while further care plans are being developed. Support Workers may be allocated to assist with assessments.
- Parent and Child Placement: We provide short or long-term placements for parents and children, regardless of the parent’s age, to facilitate parenting assessments.
- Sibling Group Placement: We prioritize keeping sibling groups together whenever possible and aim to maintain regular contact for separated siblings.
- Bridging and Respite Placement: We work with children and birth families to prepare for adoption, long-term fostering, or independent living.
- Long-Term and Permanent Placements: We offer carers for long-term placements and assist local authorities in finding suitable long-term foster carers for specific known children.
Disability
We assess foster carers for their suitability and skills to care for children with disabilities. We provide appropriate training to ensure carers can competently support and protect children and young people at all times. Specialist professionals are consulted when needed to support carers in this role.
Contact Suite and Supervision Service
We offer two dedicated Contact Suites for Supported and Supervised Contact, whether or not the Local Authority has placed a child or young person with us.
Management and Structure
- Leonard David Gelernter (David Gee) – Responsible Individual & Chairman: David oversees the agency’s management, ensuring we maintain our service standards within the regulatory framework. He brings over 53 years of experience in various roles, including as a Justice of the Peace and Magistrate.
- Cheryl Ann Jillions – Registered Manager and Operations Director: Cheryl is responsible for the agency’s oversight and development of the fostering service, maintaining our standards and reputation. She has 30 years of experience in the childcare field.
- Michael David Jillions – Business Services Director: Michael has over 32 years of experience in financial institutions, primarily in senior management roles. His role at LAFL involves overseeing corporate affairs, accounting, finance and legal.
At Little Acorns Fostering (LAFL), we understand that fostering has become increasingly demanding and complex. We are deeply committed to providing top-quality training that is accessible and relevant to all our foster carers and their support networks. Training and ongoing development are considered essential components of our support to foster carers. To facilitate this, we have established a state-of-the-art training facility located in a new barn at our head office.
We offer comprehensive pre-approval/appointment training, which is based on the Fostering Network’s ‘Skills to Foster’ model. Personal Development Plans are identified throughout this process.
Our training aims to:
- Enhance foster carers’ abilities in their role.
- Improve knowledge and refine skills.
- Establish a clear, positive framework of values that promotes equal opportunities.
- Encourage foster carers to reflect on and address discrimination in various community settings, recognizing that they care for children within the context of a broader society where discrimination is an everyday reality for many children.
- Ensure that all foster carers remain competent and confident in providing safe care and protecting children from harm.
- Encourage foster carers to take responsibility for their professional development by creating individual training profiles.
- All foster carers will complete their TDS (Training, Development, and Support) training within 12 months.
Our training covers key elements at all levels, including:
- Child protection
- Working with children who have experienced abuse
- Radicalization
- Safe caregiving
- Managing challenging behavior
- Identity and self-esteem
- Valuing diversity and promoting equality
- Record-keeping
- First Aid
- Health and Safety
- Healthcare for fostered children/young people
- Education of fostered children/young people
- Empowering children/young people
- Preparing young people for their transition to adulthood and independence
Support for Foster Carers
At LAFL, we highly value the work that foster carers do and the positive impact they have on the lives of children and young people. Providing appropriate support for foster families is crucial to the success of placements. We offer creative and flexible support arrangements for children/young people and their foster carers. The necessary level of support is determined during the placement planning stage and is continuously monitored and adjusted throughout the placement.
We offer the following support to all our foster carers:
- Access to LAFL support services 24/7, 365 days a year.
- Supervision and support from a dedicated, qualified, and experienced LAFL Supervising Social Worker.
- Frequent visits (never more than 4 weeks) and regular telephone contact from the Supervising Social Worker.
- Respite facilities.
- Regular focus group meetings.
- Family Support workers to work with children, young people, and children who foster.
- TDS Training.
- A competitive level of financial support that acknowledges the skills of foster carers.
- Each fostering family will have their own support networks. These identified individuals undergo “enhanced” DBS checks and are interviewed by the agency to ensure clarity regarding their roles and responsibilities when caring for the children in the absence of the foster carer. Training opportunities are also provided.
- A dedicated Foster Carer Support Group.
This comprehensive package ensures that foster carers receive the full support they need, leading to successful placements. LAFL acknowledges the challenges foster carers may face and values the importance of good, high-quality, relevant, and responsive support. Each new foster carer is paired with a more experienced fostering family to facilitate a smooth transition. This ‘Buddy’ system enhances the carers’ support network, providing guidance, induction, and initial training.
Published on behalf of Little Acorns Fostering. More information can be found in their statement of purpose.
