95% of our foster carers would recommend Five Rivers to friends and family!
In November 2021, we reached out to our foster carers to ask for their opinions about our fostering service, and we are proud to share the positive results with you. The annual survey was answered by 254 carers across England.
Every year, we ask our foster carers to share their experiences of fostering with us; their views about the training we offer, our educational and clinical support, our children and young people’s participation, and much more. This anonymous survey is an important part of how we continue to develop and improve our services, as it shows us the areas where we need to strive to do better. It also shows us all what we do well, and where we have improved, and allows us to ensure that our carers feel supported and valued, and have an additional channel through which they can provide feedback.
The questionnaire has 64 questions covering all aspects of our fostering service, from collecting information about why carers chose to foster with Five Rivers, to understanding their views on the support and training we offer and concluding with a series of statement questions.
We were delighted to see that despite the challenges which the Coronavirus pandemic has brought, the vast majority of our carers are pleased with the support, training and remuneration offered by Five Rivers Child Care.
Key headlines from the survey were:
- 95% were either satisfied, or very satisfied, with the training received.
- 93% were either satisfied, or very satisfied with the supervision and support received from their Five Rivers social work team.
- 87% were either satisfied, or very satisfied, with the financial support received.
- 83% were also satisfied, or very satisfied, with the respite care package offered.
We’re thrilled with the results, which all saw a small percentage increase from the previous survey, with the satisfaction with our respite care package increasing by 12%. We are committed to ensuring that our carers are offered the highest level of support and training possible, and we hope to see a further increase in 2022.
In 2021, we also asked for feedback about our carer recruitment process, from initial enquiry to preparing for a first placement. 76% stated that they enjoyed the assessment process, with one carer commenting “it made our family be sure that fostering is right for us”. In addition to this, 93% stated that they enjoyed their ‘Skills to Foster’ training, and 88% enjoyed their experience attending the fostering panel meeting.
Our Fostering Management Team will discuss these findings and work with our carer representatives to understand how we can further support our carers and develop our service further. We know just how important foster carers are in the lives of children and young people; by ensuring we offer them the highest level of support, we can help them to stay happy, and enable them to continue to turn children’s lives around.