Progress Celebrate Outstanding OFSTED Rating

We are absolutely delighted to announce that following an inspection by OFSTED in November 2021, we have been awarded the highest possible rating of ‘OUTSTANDING’.

The inspectors were full of praise and noted that:

“Children are cared for by carers who know them incredibly well and make exceptional progress from their starting points.”

“Children have excellent relationships with foster carers and benefit from stable, long-term placements.”

“The exceptional nurture and care children receive from their carers means that children feel valued and part of their fostering family.”

“Child-centred practice by foster carers and staff is driven by a therapeutic understanding of children’s needs with an excellent wrap-around service to ensure that everybody works together.”

“All carers spoken to shared that it did not matter who they spoke to in the agency, it felt like they knew them and their children well.”

“New foster carers state that they feel welcomed and valued by the agency.”

“The registered manager is a strong advocate for children and has ensured that children and carers have bespoke support so that children’s needs are met to a high standard”

“The registered manager is passionate, dynamic, and inspirational. She is highly visible and helped the agency to grow and develop. The registered manager has been at the forefront of the agency’s drive for excellence.”

“Foster carers are prepared well for their role, which contributes to the high levels of care and stability for children.” And “foster carers are provided with a range of training that equips them with skills and knowledge to meet the individual needs of the children placed in their care.”

 

 

We are thrilled with the result!

We are beyond thrilled to have received this feedback from OFSTED. Over the last few years, the staff at Progress have worked tirelessly to improve and develop the agency into the caring and nurturing space it is today.

Operations Manager Tina at Progress said:

 “I am delighted with the honour of achieving an outstanding inspection- the immense hard work and support by everyone in the Progress family has brought excellence in care and support.  We pride ourselves in quality and this been ratified by OFSTED and that feels wonderful.”

A fitting celebration

Through their hard work, dedication and care, every single member of the Progress family has contributed to our OFSTED ‘Outstanding’ rating and therefore deserves to be recognised and rewarded.

To commend this achievement as a team, we held a celebration and handed out awards to staff to express our recognition and thanks.

Once again, a huge thank you goes out to every member of the Progress team who has played an integral part in helping us accomplish this accolade. We are immensely proud of this achievement.

Click here to read the full OFSTED report.

If you would like to explore a fostering career with a family-owned, OFSTED-rated ‘Outstanding’ agency that cares, speak to our team today.

Why I foster: Joanna

In a new series of interviews we will be asking Progress foster carers why they choose to foster and why despite some challenges, fostering can bring a lot of joy.

Here’s Joanna’s story.

“You don’t help someone to get a pat on the back. My husband and I foster because we love it. Seeing a child smile because of the support we have given them makes us so happy.

For twenty-two years I was a primary school teacher, including a period where I was a foster mother in nurseries. Back in the 1980s I was also a foster parent but trying to devote time to three children of my own and a foster child was difficult. I’ve always felt that every child needs an equal amount of love and care and one should not be neglected over the other.

I learnt a lot working at the school. One of the biggest things being a child’s behaviour is not always down to them being unreasonable, it may be because they are not understanding their current situation or behaviour expectations. You can’t take things personally. I found that if I was able to nurture a child’s skills and behaviours things could change in a positive way.

Once I retired the idea of fostering kept coming back to me. Wherever I turned I saw fostering. Facebook, the internet, TV, it was everywhere! This was not a coincidence. I debated the pros with my husband, and we decided to go ahead and look for fostering agencies.

I first heard of Progress when I saw them at a summer carnival in Birmingham where I found the staff were friendly and open. I got to learn more about fostering and the different types of foster care we could provide. I went on to speak to another four agencies but found Progress the most professional. So, we chose them as our fostering agency.

The process of becoming a foster carer is rigorous. You have to be completely transparent as a couple and a family. My husband and I have been married for over forty years, so we took everything in our stride.

Once we were confirmed as foster carers, we decided that we wanted to provide short breaks. This type of fostering gives families or a parent without a support network a chance to recharge their batteries, especially when a child has a disability. Looking after my own grandchildren five days a week, meant we could make a realistic contribution to fostering of a weekend once a month without compromising our families or personal well-being. There is currently a huge demand for respite foster placements.

We ended up fostering two brothers. The younger boy was able to communicate but his older brother couldn’t. Of course, we were nervous when we began, however, you soon build a rapport with the children. Learning the fostering guidelines has helped as well as the support from Progress. We have taken part in a lot of training which has been essential for our development as foster carers.

The brothers are very active. We now take them swimming every month, go to parks, museums and nature trails – we have had some really great times.

We’ve also worked on how we could communicate better with the older child by restricting the amount of time he spends on his tablet (while in our care). We hoped he could join in conversations and use a visual timetable to communicate. I read stories to the boys and we play games like “I spy” in the car. One day I was reading the brothers a book and the little one was joining in. Suddenly the non-verbal older brother shouted – BOO! I nearly fell off my chair!

The children are now able to increase their vocabulary and interact with others. It’s wonderful when they tap me and try to say something or count.

Sometimes fostering can be hard. I make sure there’s enough time for me and my husband. We go for walks, spend time with my children and grandchildren and go to church too – we’re very close.

To anyone thinking of fostering I’d say having the ability to change a child’s future for the better is one of the most rewarding things you can do. Every child deserves a safe and secure family environment”.

If this story resonates with you, perhaps you could be the next carer to make a positive difference in children’s lives. Get in touch to find out more about being a foster carer.

 

A Foster Carer’s Story: Pauline

It was late one evening when Sasha arrived. She was just a year-old, dressed in a pink padded coat and carried through the door. ‘She looked so scared and dirty,’ says Pauline who was there to open her heart and give her a home.

Later as Pauline gently placed her in a warm bubble bath, Sasha smiled at her for the first time. For the next few months, she clung to Pauline, never wanting to be put down. Pauline was determined to give her as much love as she needed.

She bought her a pink coat and pink blankets, and at night she read stories and sang songs to her as she drifted off to sleep.

‘I just wanted to look after and protect her. She was absolutely beautiful,’ Pauline recalls.

For almost a year Sasha slept in the corner of the cot on all fours, and Pauline slept in a bed in the same room watching over her. Then one morning she found Sasha sleeping on her back, it was almost as if she had finally relaxed.

Gradually as she grew, Sasha became more confident, playing in the garden or running around in the park. When she was three, she was adopted by Pauline’s sister, and she became Pauline’s niece. There was a happy ending for all of them.

Pauline started fostering seven years ago and has already welcomed five children into her home.

She knew it was what she wanted to do when she was a young child, brought up by her grandmother in the countryside in Jamaica. ‘I used to say that I was going to have a child from every nation,’ she says.

When the first of her two daughters went to university, there was space in Pauline’s three bedroom house, so she gave up her job as a beautician to become a foster carer.

‘I wanted to give a child a chance, to give them support and love,’ she says.

She admits she has a big heart, that she is kind and loving and caring.

Pauline says the rewards come from seeing a child gaining in confidence ‘knowing they can be loved and there’s nothing wrong with them,’ she says.

When Pauline first met Tom, he was less than a year old and being looked after in a children’s hospital. Every day for months she went to visit him before he was allowed to come and live with her. ‘From the time he came home he was happy,’ she says. ‘It was just as if he had been here all the time.’

Tom suffered from a condition which meant he had to wear a mask and was attached to monitors when he was asleep because of the risk he could stop breathing. Carers came into her home to stay with him during the night, and at times Pauline stayed with him instead, sitting in a chair next to his bed or lying in a sleeping bag on the floor.

‘He was always loving,’ says Pauline. He called her ‘mum’ and ran up to sit on her knee if she was watching television. It was hard for her when he left to be adopted two years later, but Pauline knew he was going to a good home with people who loved him. He was adopted by two nurses. ‘I was happy for him,’ she says. ‘I loved him to bits.’

Another little boy arrived when he was six, and Pauline had a big party for his seventh birthday. She hired a room in a soft play centre and gave him a “Spiderman” party so that he could celebrate with his school friends. ‘He had never had a birthday party,’ says Pauline. ‘He said it was the best day of his life.’

Pauline, who is a Fostering Ambassador for Progress, is keen to encourage other people to become foster carers.  ‘I think everyone should have a home,’ she says.  ‘There are loads of children out there that need help, and I can’t have them all.’

If this story resonates with you, perhaps you could be the next carer to make a positive difference in children’s lives. Get in touch to find out more about being a foster carer.

UCAS Blog

Do you have the skills to support a child that has just arrived in the UK without any parents?

Are you able to support a child that has suffered persecution due to their ethnicity, religion, culture, views or spoken language?

Would you be able to make a child feel safe, secure, and loved within your family home?

If you have answered yes to these questions then we at Progress would love to hear from you.

Many of these children arrive in the UK without their parents or carers and therefore are required to go into care to keep them safe as there is no suitable family member or guardian to care for them.

Alongside providing the child with a safe and loving home environment you may also need to support them through the process of applying for permission to stay in the UK. You may have to support them in gaining education or ensuring their health needs are met all of which will enable the child to have a better and brighter future. Many unaccompanied children seeking asylum will also have particular emotional, practical, language and cultural needs that their foster carers will have to consider.

We at progress will support you with meeting the needs of the child with daily, weekly and monthly supervision, training around meeting the needs of an unaccompanied child, in-depth training around becoming a foster carer, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week on-call support, a dedicated supervising social worker designated to you, a supportive and knowledgeable team, the opportunity to meet other likeminded foster carers, a family support worker to support both you the carer and the child and also an in house therapist who will be able to tailor support sessions to meet your needs and also support to the child to support them to come to terms with their journey.

If you feel that supporting an unaccompanied child is for you, please give us a call and let’s make a difference in a child’s life today 😊

The most common 12 fostering myths – busted!

Fostering is one of the most selfless and courageous things one can do; however, it can come with anxieties and common misconceptions surrounding the process.

If you’re someone who has considered fostering, but has unanswered questions – you are not alone. In this blog post we take some of the most common misconceptions about fostering and bust them!

Please keep reading to find out what some of these common (untrue) assumptions are to educate yourself and maybe anyone else you know that might want to foster but has been limiting themselves based on these reasons or more.

The most common fostering myths:

  • I don’t own a home, so I can’t foster This is not true. You actually don’t need to own your home to be able to foster. What’s important, is that you can provide a safe, secure and loving home.
  • I am on benefits I can’t foster Being on benefits does not affect your ability to foster a child. In addition to this, if you’re on JSA or ESA, your benefits will not be affected as your fostering income will not be classed as income.
  • I am unemployed, so I can’t fosterSome foster children require around the clock care, and therefore require a foster carer who is available 24/7, meaning there would be no time for a full time job outside of foster caring, so you would definitely be considered.
  • I can’t drive Driving is not necessary as you will be paired with a foster child who suits your ability.
  • I am disabled, so I cannot take care of a childNot strictly true. Having a disability does not stop you being able to care for a child. In some cases this may be true, but more often than not, a child will be found easily who will be matched to your circumstances and ability.
  • I’m single, so I can’t foster Single people can foster too. You will be matched with a foster child who fits your ability.
  • I smokeIf you smoke there are restrictions to fostering, however you can still foster children over six years old.
  • I would love to foster, but I am gayThis doesn’t matter. You can foster if you are gay, straight or single. As long as you can provide a stable, secure and loving home, you will be considered.
  • I have my birth children, so I can’t foster This can be beneficial in some circumstances. Regardless of whether you have birth children, foster children or no children, you will be considered for fostering.
  • I am retired and therefore too old to foster Whether you retired at 40, 50, or 60, you will still be considered for fostering.
  • I have pets in my home, so I can’t become a foster carer Not true. As long as your pets pass their assessment (carried out by us) then you can foster.
  • I don’t have any children, so I don’t have the experience to foster a child Some foster children are better off in a childless home for many different reasons. Therefore, people who don’t have their own children will always be considered for fostering.

The entire process of fostering has been designed in a way that is flexible and responsive to the reflection of everyday life and people. This means that the process positively considers different life circumstances by catering to each individual’s situation instead of the opposite. A significant number of young people require support, care, consistency and happiness, meaning that it only makes sense to have a diverse range of foster carers available who reflect the different cultures and variety of the young people that come into the care environment.

The bottom line is that we are looking for people that can provide a child with safety and an opportunity to flourish.

If you or someone you know feel that you can be that person, don’t count yourself out on misconceptions; call or email us at Progress to find out more about fostering and answer any of your questions.

Want to find out more about fostering with Progress? Speak to our team today.

 

What is the Skills to Foster Training?

One of the most frequently asked fostering questions is about the type of support a foster carer will receive.

As a foster carer, we want to ensure you are equipped to manage a child or young person’s behaviour.

Therefore, the Progress Skills to Foster training is our chance to prepare you for the challenges of fostering.

What is Skills to Foster?

Skills to Foster is a two-day mandatory training course that all new applicants must complete before becoming approved as a foster carer.

The course is a flexible resource tool and supports new applicants to:

  • understand the different types of placements
  • understand the child/young person journey through their eyes
  • understand and manage their behaviours.
  • learn the vital skills to meet the day to day needs of fostering.

The course also links into the Training, Support and Development Standards in England, other professional development qualifications, as well as our competency-based assessment process.

Skills to Foster is split into the following seven sessions:

Session 1: What do foster carers do?

This first session will give you an insight into your role as a foster carer and focus on why children/young people come into care, why foster care is needed and, how their early life experiences may have impacted their development.

You will also learn what a child or young person will need from you as their foster carer.

Session 2: Identity and life chances

This session addresses the different factors that shape our identity and the importance of identity to a child/young person in care.

Session 3: Working with others

In session three, we will introduce the Progress team. You will learn who will support you in the needs of the child/young person and how you will be working as part of a team and never in isolation.

Session 4: Understanding and caring for children

This session explores the learnt behaviours that the child/young person may exhibit. You will also understand the concept of attachment and the kinds of attachments children/young people in care may possess. These are key concepts to grasp, so you have a non-judgemental understanding of the different behaviours.

Session 5: Safer caring

This session covers safeguarding and delegated authority and exploring why children/young people in care are particularly vulnerable. The session will also equip you with the skills to assess risk competency, balance risk, and develop responsive and proportionate family safer caring plans.

Session 6: Transitions

Within session six, you will look at the importance of foster carers and their families, supporting a child when moving from one placement to another and young people’s transition to adulthood.

Session 7: My Family Fosters

This session provides specialist materials to use with your birth children to ensure that they feel supported and included within your fostering journey.

We support all out foster carers. To learn more about how we do this please click here

To begin your journey in becoming a foster carer contact us today

Progress turns 21!

As we begin our year long festivities celebrating 21 years of supporting children and young people, Progress Chief Executive Bal Dhanoa and Chief Financial Officer Raj Dhanoa have a special message for our staff.

“Thank you all for your continued support, commitment, and dedication to Progress.

  • We are proud of our journey so far, we continue to make happy memories for our young people, so when they reach ‘adulthood’ they can reflect back and think of their time at Progress and what that means for them
  • We are proud to give stability to those needing long term care
  • We are proud to provide a range of amazing support services and care options to so many in our communities through our Hub teams
  • We are proud to expand our residential care portfolio across the Midlands – each home have their own unique offerings
  • We are proud of our foster carers, some whom have been with us right from the start of our journey and all those joining us now and, in the future

Reflecting on the time when this journey started for me, it was just a vision of what can be achieved. We started from humble beginnings and I am so blessed and proud of how the family of Progress has grown over the 21 years. Our journey has been incredible with many ripples and mountains to climb along the way. I am so proud to have such amazing people, who have been part of this journey and truly make a difference and uphold strong values as we continue to make memories.

During this journey we have had so many wonderful staff that have worked with us and developed their career paths – some moving on to achieve their own journeys and even retuning back to us. There are many of our staff who have worked with us for several years and developed their skills and moved on to senior positions within Progress. To all of you our heartfelt thank you.

There are those angels in our journey who have truly understood my vision, my passion, and have put up with my madness, in good and bad times, and have enabled my deepest desire to provide the best that we can to all vulnerable young people in our care. They remain constant, focused, always protecting us, and have been there from the start. A special thank you to our MD Claire. Without you this journey would not have been possible.

As we continue to prosper we hope and pray that we can continue to serve and make a difference in people’s lives, and continue to improve career opportunities for you all as you go through this wonderful journey with us. Always look to the future and learn from the past!

Happy 21st birthday to Progress as we all look forward to celebrating many more in years to come”.

Bal & Raj.

Keep visiting Progresscare.co.uk for further 21st celebration updates. #progress21

Progress recognised with award for Covid work

Progress was named winner of Outstanding Support During Covid-19 category at the 2020 Best Business Awards.

We have been recognised for our approach to the nationwide lockdown caused by Covid-19 in March 2020.

As lockdown came into force, Progress prioritised the care of those that relied on us for critical support. We assigned drivers, offering a ring-and-ride service to our workforce to eliminate the use of public transport and minimise the exposure risks. Progress also offered a triage service to families, to deal with any crisis that might arise and made available some flats as isolation units (and offered that resource to local authority partners).

Progress has been able to keep all residents and staff safe; continue to provide essential services to families and challenge our creativity. Our community team started digital support sessions with young people, engaging in online training on anything from e-safety to managing anxiety, providing families with support and young people with consistency. Progress staff and young people have engaged with the measures we put in place and coped exceptionally well through what has been an uncertain and anxious time, adapting and responding to the constantly shifting sands.

The BBAs pride themselves on having a large panel of independent expert judges who select winners according to strict criteria for each category and sector.

Commenting on Progress, the winner in the Outstanding Support During Covid-19 category, the chairman of the judges said: “After seeing the devastation Coronavirus was causing in Italy earlier in 2020, Progress was quick to lock down earlier than other care homes to protect its vulnerable residents both young and old. Non-essential visitors were asked not to attend care homes, virtual forms of communication were set up so residents could keep in touch with loved ones, and community staff were reassigned to other roles such as drivers, helping staff to avoid public transport. Congratulations to Progress for having the foresight to act quickly and keep people safe.”

Upon receiving the Award, Claire Rogers, Managing Director of Progress said:

“We always pride ourselves on providing high quality care and support, but this has been even more important throughout the Pandemic, with the additional challenges this presented. Keeping our core values at the heart of our decision making has been our strength, providing a fixed point from which to navigate. It is wonderful to have been recognised for the outstanding support we have provided during this difficult time.”

The Best Business Awards are one of the UK’s highest profile awards. Due to its high profile, the Awards attract a wide range of entries from across all sectors from large international PLCs and public sector organisations to dynamic and innovative SMEs.

Growing up in foster care: Stephanie

Growing up in foster care is not easy for some children. Therefore, it becomes the responsibility of the carer to create an atmosphere for a child to feel loved.

We asked Stephanie to share her experiences of fostering and tell us what it’s like to be in a new home.

In your foster placement, what are your favourite things?

I get to go to the park and take part in a lot of activities. I have so much fun riding on the rowboats, playing tennis and running around the track.

I told my carers that I love to read, so they bought me a lot of books. My favourite is BFG. My bedroom is a comfortable place for me to read and play. I also got to choose how I wanted to decorate my room. The room is full of teddy bears and other things that make me happy.

Do you feel encouraged and supported to do well at school? 

I get a lot of help with my homework. My foster carers always encourage me, so that when I am older, I can be whatever I want to be. Whenever I need support on certain subjects, I get it. I take part in a lot of after school activities such as extra English and maths lessons, as well as dance, karate, swimming and ballet classes.

What help do you get in difficult times?

I always sit and talk to my foster carers and ask them for help when I feel down. I enjoy my support sessions with my support worker too. I can now understand my feelings much better and learn why certain things happen.

What things are important to you, when living with a fostering family?  

They find out what children need to make them feel comfortable, like a teddy bear or a hug. I always like it when my foster carers sit with me and watch TV.

A foster carer should also encourage children to do things that they have not done before. This will make the foster child feel special, happy and loved.

If a family were thinking about fostering, what advice would you give them? 

Be kind and loving.

Ready to make a positive impact in a child’s life? Click here for more information

What does a Supervising Social Worker do?

A supervising social worker supports and guides a foster carer in every aspect of their fostering experience. We spoke to Progress supervising social worker Tendai to get an insight on her role.

It is my responsibility to develop a close working relationship with our pool of foster carers. On any given day, I can be leading, coaching, and empowering foster carers to be the best carers they can be.

Whether we are helping carers with their form F assessments or preparing them for the panel presentation, the role of a supervising social worker is a busy one!

Caring for carers

A supervising social worker must have an emotional investment in the lives of their foster carers. If a foster carer wishes to let something off their chest, I am here to listen and advise. When a carer tells me of a problem, I often find there are solutions. Helping a carer, will not only make them feel better but allows them to focus on their foster child.

Training for carers

A foster carer with the right training and support will be able to have a stable placement and ensure better outcomes for a child. I recently worked with carers to identify the training they required to support a child with complex disabilities.

The couple and wanted to be in the best possible position to help the child and were hungry to learn.

Foster carers tend not to have any formal qualifications and instead use their skills and experiences to support those in their care. However, if you care for a child with specific needs, you will need the training to help them.

The training I placed them on was personalised and delivered in a variety of ways. From face-to-face group training to individual online training, the aim is always to make learning fun and informative for the carers.

Working with others

Though primarily my role is about foster carers and children and young people, the relationships I build and the support I provide extends beyond that.

Through positive relationships with foster carers and other professionals, specifically the local authority social worker (s), foundation agreements are made, and expectations laid out.

We all have the same goals, without which, there can be a disruption for a child or young person.

The future

One of the biggest challenges I find is the lack of foster carers locally (and nationally). It is heart-breaking to know that there are children and young people out there waiting for a loving couple to support them.

We need more carers to contribute to the incredible work our foster carers are doing.

No matter what your role is in the Progress foster team, we all have one goal – to ensure the children and young people in our care have positive life outcomes. I feel humbled to be trusted with supporting children, young people, and their carers. It is a privilege to make a positive impact on all their lives.