Transcript for the video on Transfer to Kent Fostering.
[The video starts with Sharne Patterson speaking to camera. Graphic on screen says: Sharne Patterson - Parent and Child Foster Carer.]
Sharne: I’m Sharne and I’ve been fostering for just over eight years now. It’s been coming up for two and a half years with Kent, and prior to that I was with an IFA.
[Graphic on screen says: Why did you choose to move to Kent Fostering?]
Narrator: Why did you choose to move to Kent Fostering?
Sharne: I think there was a number of reasons at the time. I was pregnant with my third son, and we predominantly fostered teenagers, and the calibre of children that come through fostering agencies, they are very high risk. A lot of the children that Kent can’t place, unfortunately, and we didn’t want to continue doing that around a young family.
So that was one of the reasons that prompted us to move. We were going quite long periods without getting any referrals, because obviously we had birth children and the children coming through couldn’t be matched alongside us as a family.
I think there was a number of other little reasons here and there, but that was our main decision for moving across.
[Graphic on screen says: What was the transfer process like?]
Narrator: What was the transfer process like?
Sharne: The transfer process for us was amazing and a lot quicker than expected. I didn’t put my application in with Kent until the end of September. I made a couple of phone calls at the beginning of September with Kent, and with a few other agencies at the time.
We spoke to a few other agencies, and then we spoke to Kent, and we were told we wouldn’t go to panel until the new year. But everything went so quick, so smooth, and we actually got a call to say the panel had been brought forward to the 22nd of December, which was amazing for us because we just wanted to get it over and done with as quick as possible.
And I think the only reason it took that long was because we were waiting on referrals and references to come back.
The support was amazing. I remember the lady we had, she was from up North, so we had quite a lot in common. She was a Geordie. Yeah, it was just more like conversations, having a chat, getting to know each other.
We didn’t have to redo all our Form F. That was all transferred across. Really smooth process. A lot of the documentation from the IFA was able to transfer over to Kent, and I was able to use that, so I didn’t have to do a lot of the stuff again.
I didn’t have to redo Skills to Foster. But then again, I really enjoyed the Skills to Foster course, and I used to deliver it when I worked in the agency. I used to deliver it to new foster carers, and I always find that there’s a lot of useful stuff in there anyway, so I wouldn’t have complained if I would have had to do it again.
[Graphic on screen says: What was the support from Kent Fostering like?]
Narrator: What was the support from Kent Fostering like?
Sharne: Regarding the training and support, you always hear things when you work in an IFA, that the support and the training is not as good as what you would get in an IFA, in effect, because IFAs are smaller, Kent’s a lot bigger, and you get told a lot of rumours. And it is just rumours.
The training is exactly the same, if not more. So a lot of the training courses that I have had with Kent have been delivered from the same trainers who I already knew from what we had in the fostering agency. So a lot of them are the same.
The annual conferences - I will never forget the first annual conference I ever went to. She was so inspirational. She was absolutely amazing. And I actually wrote a piece about what I took from that training in one of the newsletters, to promote training to all the foster carers, because it was just fantastic. And we never got things like that in the agency, like the annual conferences. So I thought that was fantastic.
The diploma - I’ve currently been accepted onto the diploma and I’m doing the diploma. You don’t get any opportunities like that in an IFA. So again, that’s something where you can further enhance your skills.
And the skill-level payments as well, that’s not something - you’re not viewed as that in an IFA. So obviously you’ve got the standard at the bottom, and then you’ve got the skilled level one and then the skilled level two. And those come with pay increases as well.
I never had that previously, but it’s really nice to recognise that you do do extra things for Kent, and you’re getting rewarded for your skill level set. And I think it’s important that that is recognised. It makes you feel valued as a foster carer.
[Graphic on screen says: What is your experience like now?]
Narrator: What is your experience like now?
Sharne: Since transferring, the main thing that has stuck out for me, one is skipping out the middleman. So when I was with an IFA, if you couldn’t get through to a social worker, to the children’s social worker, you couldn’t get through to anyone. You always had to wait. There was a long process involved.
Now, because everybody accesses the same systems, so if I can’t get hold of my supporting social worker, I can just ring one of the admins or one of the other social workers, and they can look on the system and see if the social worker’s online, or see if someone else is online. It’s skipping out all the middlemen. So the process of getting in contact with someone is so much quicker, so much better.
And I also think the way in which referrals work. I was overwhelmed with the amount of referrals I got when I first went live on the system. I think we got something like 16 referrals in the first week. I never, ever had that in my fostering career. We were always waiting several months and we’d be lucky if we got one.
So to have that in our first week of going live, I thought was phenomenal, and the fact that we got to pick what we wanted, and they always take it into consideration.
Since I’ve come with Kent, I’ve fostered quite a lot of children now. Parent and child, I’ve fostered siblings, I’ve taken a few emergencies, I’ve done respite. But with every single one of them, our situation is always taken into consideration.
So they will always consider: can you get to family time? What’s the school look like? Is it in your local vicinity? So I do feel like we are taken into consideration a lot.
Graphic on screen says: What advice would you give to someone who is considering transferring?]
Narrator: What advice would you give to someone who is considering transferring?
Sharne: I think if you’re going to do it, don’t think about it. Just do it. My only regret was not doing it sooner.
And the support that we’ve had from our fostering social worker has been second to none. I’ve had the same one since I moved across, and unfortunately she retired last month and we were devastated. I thought she was not going to be replaceable, but the new lady that’s come along - she was actually a fostering IRO and she did the annual reviews - she just has our back all the time.
The way everybody works together as a team. I’ve had a little one that I’ve recently got into nursery, and her social worker wasn’t around. She was on annual leave. But the way everybody worked together to get the documentation and the paperwork that I needed, it was done in less than an hour and I was just absolutely amazed.
She was just on it and I couldn’t thank her enough. Her carer, the school, the manager, the social worker - we were just all coming together on emails. And I sent an email at the end of it all thanking everyone for all the help, because it’s just - that’s what you like to see. Things like that make me happy.
[The video ends with a graphic showing the Kent Fostering and Kent County Council logos. Graphic on screen says: 03000 420 002 and kentfostering.co.uk.]