Statement of Purpose
OFSTED Registration Number: 2752487
Author: Waqas Darr, Registered Manager (MA Hons)
Date updated: 13th February 2025
Website: www.organicfostering.co.uk
Introduction
Statement of Purpose
This statement of purpose is intended to provide clear and detailed information for foster carers, service users, Local Authority staff , professionals in other agencies and members of the public. This statement of purpose has been developed in accordance with appropriate legislation and guidance including:
- The Children Act 1989;
- The Care Standards Act 2000;
- The Fostering Services (England) Regulations 2011;
- Fostering Services: National Minimum Standards 2011;
- The care planning, placement, and Case Review (England) Regulations 2010;
This statement of purpose is produced in accordance with Fostering Services Regulation 3, which includes:
- Aims and objectives of Organic Fostering Ltd;
- Services and facilities provided by Organic Fostering Ltd
This statement also provides details of:
- Our principles and standards of care
- The services we provide
- The management structure of the service
- The number, relevant qualifications, and experience of our staff
- The types of carers provided by the service
- The process and procedure for recruiting, approving, training, supporting, and reviewing foster carers
- Arrangements for revision and circulation
A copy of this Statement of Purpose is on our website and copies will be made available upon request, to:
This Statement of Purpose and our policies and procedures are centred on safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people.
This Statement of Purpose will be regularly reviewed by Organic Fostering’s management team at a minimum of annually and when there is a change in guidance, policy, law or within the agency.
About
Organic Fostering Ltd
Vision:
Supporting Development and Growth in a Nurturing Environment.
Mission:
To support every child and young person’s growth and development by matching them with equipped carers to meet their identity needs in an organic environment.
Values:
- Acceptance: Value and nurture diversity.
- Empowerment: Support personal development.
- Excellence: Provide pioneering services for growth.
Identity – Company Name and Ethos:
Organic Fostering Ltd is an independent fostering agency established in 2023. Its primary aim is to provide foster carers for children that are looked after by the local authority. Our office is based in Old Trafford, Manchester.
Organic was chosen to reflect the values of our company and the way in which we intend to support and train our foster carers to meet the needs of looked after children. The organisation’s name was chosen after extensive reflection and contemplation. Organic Fostering hopes to provide a platform for growth, nurture and development for any child and young person that is cared for by our foster carers. We hope to achieve this by making the process and experience of living in foster carer as organic as possible by meeting their individual needs.
One of the main considerations when matching a child/young person with a foster carer is their ethnicity, culture, and religion. However, there is a shortage of foster carers from an ethnic minority background with an increase of children from those backgrounds coming into care. Therefore, we are bridging this gap by recruiting foster carers that can meet the cultural and religious needs of the children/young people that are placed by our agency.
The organisation is managed by a team of experienced and diverse qualified professionals who provide an innovative and needs-led service to children and young people in foster care. Organic was set up in response to a perceived need for a prompt coordinated service, which provides bespoke packages of care to meet the needs of individual children and young people
Organic Fostering is a private limited company registered under the Companies Act 1989 (Company Registration No – 14619227).
Equality and Diversity:
Organic Fostering is committed to the principles of equal opportunity in all areas of the service. All
staff and foster carers are inducted and receive appropriate training and support in anti-discriminatory practice.
Organic Fostering embraces diversity and is committed to fulfilling its role without discrimination in terms of colour, race, gender, sexual orientation, marital status, HIV status, disability, age, religious belief, or any other status. All staff and foster carers of the agency seek to eliminate discrimination and promote equality and good relations by recognising and valuing diversity.
Aims, Objectives & Principles of Care
Organic Fostering aims to provide outstanding, high-quality fostering services to looked after
children, their birth parents, foster carers and social work colleagues. However, our primary focus
will always be the child or young person in our care. Our key objective is to develop services in order that children and young people can develop and grow within five key areas as detailed below:
Be healthy
- To ensure you are taken to a doctor and dentist
- To help you to keep fit and support you to a range of activities
- To provide a nurturing home which supports your emotional and mental well being
- To give you a home that feels safe with people who care
- To help you make safe decisions
Enjoy and achieve
- To support you in education or training, to identify apprenticeships or work experience.
- To promote your hobbies, interests, and talents
Make a positive contribution
- To support you to have your views listened to
- To make positive relationships
- To be engaged in decision making
- To develop confidence, self-esteem and positive behaviour and be able to manage challenges
in life
Achieve economic wellbeing
- To aim high in further education, employment, or training
- Promote independence skills
- To be aware of entitlements, bursaries, and grants
At Organic Fostering, we are committed to ensuring that every child and young person in our care is embraced with respect, dignity, and a deep appreciation for their unique heritage. We firmly believe that all individuals—children and adults alike—deserve to be treated with equality and respect, regardless of their circumstances or challenges.
We are dedicated to addressing the religious, cultural, sexual, and racial needs of the children and young people placed with us by actively recruiting foster carers from diverse backgrounds. A fundamental goal of our agency is to offer a broad range of placement options to meet the varying needs of the children referred to us by local authorities. To achieve this, we strive to recruit, assess, train, and support a strong and diverse pool of foster carers, ensuring that each child is placed in a nurturing environment suited to their specific needs.
Our overarching mission is to recruit professional, resilient, and compassionate foster carers who can provide children with a safe, nurturing, and positive experience of substitute family care. We seek foster carers who not only meet the National Minimum Standards but also demonstrate a commitment to fulfilling the Training, Support, and Development Standards (TSDS) for foster carers.
At Organic Fostering, we recognise the profound impact that adverse childhood experiences can have on children and young people in need of alternative care. We firmly believe that by equipping our foster carers with trauma-informed training and fostering an empathetic approach to caregiving, we can help children build resilience and develop the confidence they need to thrive.
Services Provided by Organic Fostering Ltd
Organic Fostering provide a comprehensive fostering service. We aim to find the closest possible match when children need to be placed in foster care and identify any additional training, support or resource required. We aim for our foster carers have a range of skills, experience, and knowledge in relation to caring for children and young people.
All our carers are skilled in empathetic care and support children/young people with the trauma and loss they have experienced. We will work closely with referring agencies to ensure that individual needs are fully considered. We strongly believe that appropriate matching is key to achieving placement stability.
Organic Fostering offer the following types of placements:
Emergency Placements
Organic Fostering provide a 24 hour a day emergency service. An emergency placement ideally
should not exceed a few days and it would be anticipated that the child or young person should be
moved to a more suitable placement within a week in a planned way. Foster carers who care for
children in an emergency will be trained to and specialise in providing intensive care and
interventions.
Short Term Placements
Short term care is usually for a few days, weeks, or months whilst plans are made for the child’s permanence by the Local Authority. Foster carers will work in partnership with children/young people, their families, and social workers as appropriate to fulfil the objectives of the care plan.
Children who need this type of care may have been considered at risk of harm and be subject to public care proceedings by the local authority. Placement with a foster carer is the preferred option for children who cannot remain in their birth family. A period of care may be required until the proceedings are concluded, and a decision is made in relation to them returning home or to family members.
This will require the foster carer to work closely with a range of services and professionals to
ensure the needs of children are fully met. Foster carers may be involved in preparation for a
child moving back to birth parents or adoption.
Respite Placements
Respite placements are provided to give parents a respite or a break from complex family
situations or offer additional support if they do not have their own support network. In addition,
respite is also offered to our own foster carers and is available to support placement demands and
needs
Long Term Placements
Organic Fostering offers permanent placements where adoption or return to birth family is not an
option. The foster carer will care for a child or young person up to and into adult independence.
Unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking Children (UASC) Placements
Organic Fostering advocate, access services and work within the child’s care plan in supporting and caring for unaccompanied children and young people from outside the UK. Foster carers will be supported to fully understand the young person’s cultural and religious needs to provide the most appropriate care.
Standards of Care
Support for Children and Young People:
We believe that children have the right to be protected from harm and abuse and be provided with a safe caring environment.
When matching children with foster carers we will seek to ensure the following, unless they conflict
with promoting the welfare of the child:
- Siblings to be placed together where possible.
- Family time with birth family and/or friends is facilitated, where this is part of the child’s care plan.
- Children/young people are placed within proximity of their local connections, ensuring
consistency with education, health and any other factors which will cause the least disruption for
the child - Children/young people are placed with foster carers that match their racial, cultural, religious, and linguistic background as closely as possible.
- Children/young people are matched long term with foster carers as soon as possible, achieving a sense of permeance
- Wherever possible, any move for the child will be planned to include a period of introduction before
the placement commences. - The views of the child are sought prior to placement and on a regular basis during the placement.
- Birth parents are encouraged and supported in playing a positive role, whilst their child is looked
after, where appropriate. - Ensuring that the educational and health care needs, including any needs arising from a child’s
disability are met by the proposed placement.
Support for Foster Carers
We recognise that foster carers are valuable assets to our agency, and they should be always viewed
and treated with respect and dignity. Organic Fostering will provide the following support services to
our foster carers:
Supervisory home visits/Training
Foster carers will receive monthly supervision from their Supervising Social Worker. Supervision will
provide a space for carers to reflect on their practice and the needs of the children and young people in placement. Any additional training and development needs for foster carers will also be
identified during each visit.
Unannounced visits
The agency undertake two unannounced home visits per calendar year. Checks will be completed to ensure a high level of care is being provided to all children and all young people.
Transport
Day to day transport for looked after children is managed by foster carers, such as school runs and
family time. We endeavour to support the foster carers if they are unable to carry out these duties. However, this will be subject to the resources that are available at the time.
Appreciation
Organic Fostering organise activity days for our fostering families such as trips to the park and fun days. We will also hold foster carers awards ceremonies annually where foster carers are appreciated and recognised for their commitment and hard work.
Foster Carer Reviews
All foster carers have an annual review to reflect on the previous year and new goals will be set
for the year ahead. Training needs will also be identified, and any other recommendations will be
made. This process will look at feedback from carers, children, and professionals.
Record Keeping
Foster carers are expected to record regular logs for the children in their care. These logs will then be reviewed by the Supervising Social Worker. Recording is an essential part of the foster carer’s role which helps monitor the child’s journey.
Policies and Procedures
The agency foster carers have access to the foster carer’s handbook which will have the key policies and procedures along with useful guidance. We also have a wide range of policies and procedures which foster carers are able to access through the Carers Hub.
Additional Support
- A qualified supervising social worker will support each foster carer
- Supervising social workers visit all foster carers at an agreed minimum frequency and maintain telephone contact outside of these visits.
- Supervising social workers visit foster carers at other times when reasonably requested by the foster carer.
- The supervising social worker keeps in mind the needs of foster carer’s own children and ensure that these are discussed as part of the carer’s annual review.
- All foster carers have access to our dedicated ‘out of hours’ support service.
- All foster carers have access to fostering support groups where practical, which are facilitated by Organic Fostering.
Recruitment, Assessment, and Approval of Foster Carers
Our foster carers are assessed, trained, and approved in line with current legislation and best practice.
We endorse the view expressed in the Fostering Network Code of Practice that the use of common standard assessment tools such as those produced by the Fostering Network and the Coram BAAF Form F. This will enable our fostering services to achieve uniform standards.
We, therefore, will fully utilise the above tools in the recruitment, assessment, and approval stages of every fostering application.
We also seek to actively promote the Fostering Network values underpinning the competencies approach and to ensure that they are an integral part of the assessment process.
These are that:
- Child safety is paramount
- Individuals are respected
- Difference and diversity are valued
- Equality is promoted
- Discrimination is challenged
- Confidentiality is maintained
- Advice and feedback are provided in a constructive way
- Applicants are supported to demonstrate their competence
- Standards of childcare are explicit and agreed
Organic Fostering Ltd subscribes to the following statement:
“The aim of our recruitment campaign will be to attract potentially suitable people who may want
to take up fostering and provide them with significant information for them to decide whether or
not to make a formal application.” (Fostering Network Code of Practice)
Recruitment
Organic Fostering aim to recruit a flexible and diverse pool of foster carers who are able to meet
the needs of all children referred for a foster placement. Organic Fostering have an on-going campaign via its website, awareness workshops, direct and online advertising, for the recruitment of foster carers from a variety of ethnic backgrounds.
The assessment process will include:
- Statutory checks being undertaken, including Disclosure and Barring Service and Local Authority checks, of all adult members of the household and other adults who may be in sole charge of a foster child at any time.
- The applicants are required to provide medical references, personal references, and employment references, as well as participate in training and assessment visits from the assessing social worker.
- The assessing social worker will also undertake a financial assessment of the applicant(s) as well as a health and safety assessment of the home.
- Approval
In accordance with the Fostering Services (England) Regulations 2011, Organic fostering maintain a central list of people suitable to sit on fostering panels. The overriding objectives of the panel is to promote and safeguard the welfare of children in foster care. - Panels have a balance of gender, ethnicity and qualifications and reflect our commitment to bring together individuals from diverse backgrounds. We aim to include teachers, foster carers, health professionals, former looked after children and qualified social workers in our central list of suitable panel members. The Independent chair has extensive experience of working with children and young people and is also a foster carer. Each panel will have access to specialist legal and medical advice as required.
- Completed assessments are presented to the fostering panel who will make a recommendation on the suitability of the applicants to the agency decision-maker. The agency decision-maker will, within seven working days of receipt of the panel minutes, either confirm approval or notify the applicant that she is minded not to approve the application. If the decision is to approve the applicants, they will be notified in writing welcoming them to the agency and stating the terms of their approval.
- Should the decision-maker be minded not to approve, the applicant will have twenty-eight calendar days in which to make further representations. They will be advised that they can either appeal back to the agency or apply to the Independent Review Mechanism (IRM) for a review of their application. If further representations are made to the agency, the fostering panel will consider these before the decision-maker reaches a final decision. If the applicant(s) decide to apply to the IRM for a review, then the agency decision maker must await the outcome of the IRM panel before making a final decision.
- If the agency decision maker confirms their decision not to approve, there is no further appeal against this decision. Applicants may however use the complaints procedure if they feel they have been treated unfairly by the agency during the process of decision making.
- Training
Organic Fostering will place a high value on the training of foster carers, and we believe that training and skills development is an integral part of the fostering role throughout their career. - All applicants will be required to complete training and attend Introduction to Fostering training and preparation groups before they become active foster carers. All foster carers will also be required to complete a mandatory training programme within the first twelve months in line with the Training, Support and Development standards. This will include training on empathetic and trauma informed care. Where there is more than one person approved as a foster carer in a household, all will be expected to fulfil this requirement.
- Organic Fostering will ensure that the required training is accessible to all foster carers through adopting a flexible approach. Supervising social workers will complete a training profile (Personal Development Plan) with each foster carer, which will be reviewed and updated periodically throughout the year.
- Reviews of Approval
All foster carers have an annual review to reflect on the previous year. New goals will be set for
the year ahead. Training needs will also be discussed, and any other recommendations are made.
This process will look at feedback from carers, children, and professionals. - The first review is considered by the fostering panel who will make a recommendation to the agency decision-maker. Subsequently the panel will consider reviews every 3 years. Review
recommendations during intervening years will be considered by the Agency Decision Maker who
will confirm the foster carer’s approval. - Additionally, reviews will also be considered by panel in the following circumstances:
- Where there is a proposed change of the terms of a foster carer’s approval
- Where a foster carer resigns
- Where there is a proposal to terminate the approval of a foster carer
- Where there has been a serious complaint/allegation against a foster carer
- Where there has been a child protection investigation involving the foster carer or a member of
their household or where there are significant concerns about the foster carer’s standards of care - In carrying out reviews, the service will always seek to obtain the views of the following:
- The foster carer(s) and members of their household.
- Children who have been placed with the foster carer during the preceding twelve months and their
parents. - Social workers of the children that have been placed with the foster carer during the preceding twelve months.
- Any other professionals that the foster carers have worked with such as education, health, specialist services etc.
All reviews will consider the training needs of the foster carer and the support needs of the carer’s
own children where appropriate.
Where Organic Fostering decides to terminate the approval of an existing foster carer following a
foster carer review, the foster carer will be advised of their right to apply to the Independent Review Mechanism to have their case reviewed. They will also be advised that they can alternatively appeal to the agency.
The Team
- Robert Lunan: Responsible Individual. Robert has 33 years’ experience as a qualified social worker with over 20 years of management experience in fostering services. Robert has a Level 5 Leadership and Management diploma and has worked in the private and voluntary sector as well as the local authority. Robert has broad knowledge of fostering regulations and standards as well as the needs of looked after children
- Waqas Darr: Registered Manager. Waqas has over ten years of social work experience in various roles and departments within different local authorities. Waqas has experience in child protection, looked after children’s and fostering services. Waqas has experience of managing and supervising social workers to ensure the right care plan is in place to meet the needs of the children and keep them safe. In addition to training and developing both social workers and foster carers.
- Sadat Yaqub: Supervising Social Worker. Sadat is a highly experienced social worker who has extensive experience in managing and developing foster carers; as well as matching children & young people with carers that are equipped to meet their identity needs.
- Rubi Miah: Fostering Administrator
- Usman Jalil: Marketing Manager
- Jalal Ali: Business Manager
Organic Fostering commission independent suitably qualified and experienced social work professionals to complete assessments of prospective carers and present these to our fostering panel.
Furthermore, additional social work and administrative staff will be recruited in line with the number of live fostering placements and associated workload this creates.
Contact Organic Fostering Ltd
Address
Organic Fostering Ltd Beaumont House, 455 Chester Road, Old Trafford, Manchester, M16 9HA, United Kingdom