About Ikon Fostering

2. Legislative framework

The Statement of Purpose has been developed and produced to meet the requirements and principles contained within the following legislation and guidance:

Fostering Services Regulations 2011, amended 2013 and 2014

National Minimum Standards for Fostering Services 2011

The Care Standards Act 2000

The Care Planning, Placement & Case Review (England) Regulations 2010

The Care Planning, Placement & Case Review and Fostering Services (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2013

The Care Planning and Fostering (Miscellaneous Amendments) 2015

Children Act 1989

The Children Act 1989 Guidance & Regulations Vol 2; Care Planning, Placement & Case Review 2010

Delegation of Authority: Amendments to the Children Act 1989 Guidance & Regulations Vol 2: Care Planning, Placement and Case Review 2010 (2013)

Children Act 1989 Guidance & Regulations Vol 4: Fostering Services (2011)

Assessment and Approval of Foster Carers: Amendment to the children Act 1989 Guidance & Regulations 2004: Fostering Services July 2013

Children and Families Act 2014

Working Together to Safeguard Children 2018

Disability & Equality Act 2010

Human Rights Act 1998

The Children (Leaving Care) Act 2000

Training, Support & Development Standards (TSD) for Foster Carers

3. Aims and objectives of Ikon Fostering – a child centred, therapeutic service

Ikon Fostering aims to provide loving and nurturing foster homes for children who are unable to live with their birth families.  Ikon Fostering is committed to the development of children, to help achieve their potential and to build resilience, in order to overcome any loss and trauma they may have experienced in the past.

Ikon Fostering will endeavour to provide:

1. A service where children come first, in terms of our thinking and planning as well as their achievements.
2. Foster homes where children feel they belong rather than placements in a care system.
3. Foster carers who are fully prepared, supported, supervised and trained in their role;
4. Foster homes which provide stability and security to children.
5. Foster homes which promote a child’s positive sense of their own identity – including their culture, religion and ethnicity – respecting the child’s origins in every aspect of the care provided.
6. Foster homes which promote contact where appropriate for the foster child.
7. Foster homes which help the foster child make sense of their past.
8. Foster homes which actively promote the child’s education and learning, including celebrating their hobbies and talents.
9. Foster homes which actively promote the child’s health, including mental health.
10. Foster homes which help children understand and manage risks for themselves;
11. Foster homes which actively prepare the young person for adulthood, at a pace and style that the young person can absorb.
12. Foster homes which are carefully matched with the needs of the child.
13. Foster homes which children leave, whenever possible, in a planned way or, when this is not possible, which help foster children to understand why they had to leave unexpectedly.
14. Social Worker supervision that takes a robust approach to poor practice, challenging foster carers to provide the high-quality care that children deserve.
15. A service which takes its safeguarding seriously, both in terms of the recruitment of foster carers and staff and also in terms of involving statutory agencies appropriately when issues of concern come to light (in line with Working Together guidance).
16. A collaborative approach to care planning with the responsible authority, supporting the development of an up-to-date and child-focussed care plan for each child, ensuring a clear pathway to permanence is achieved as quickly as possible.

4. Organisational structure

Ikon fostering is managed by Responsible Individual Shiv Pattni, Head of Service Madhuri Pattni and Registered Manager Ann-Marie Jones. The registered manager supervises other members of the management team which includes social work team manager Laura Scott, Assistant team managers Melissa Hammonds and Nadine Eccles and Quality and Assurance Manager Laura Gower. In addition, there is also a Home Finding Team Manager, Asha Pattni and HR & Development Assistant Team Manager, Scott Jones. Social work managers supervise all qualified social work staff and the support team.

All social work line managers and Supervising Social Workers hold social work qualifications and are registered with Social Work England.  We support staff to enhance their portfolio of academic and professional qualifications to continually develop their practice, skills and knowledge. Supervising Social Workers are responsible for up to 12 foster carer households who they will visit, provide support and supervision through regular contact.

Ikon Fostering is committed to promoting the values of family within a therapeutic environment and thrive to ensure every foster family, child, and the young person feels supported, respected and valued.

In order to minimise any conflict-of-interest Ikon Fostering has in place an independent consultant, Gail Hardy. Gail can be contacted directly at;  gail.hardy@ikonfostering.org

5. Accessibility

In accordance with the expectation of the National Minimum Standard 16.1 this Statement of Purpose is made available to the following:

• Foster carers and prospective foster carers of Ikon Fostering.
• Staff members of Ikon Fostering.
• Any social worker of a child placed with Ikon Fostering.
• A parent or person with parental responsibility of any child placed with Ikon Fostering.
• Our website

A shortened version is also made available to foster children. A Children’s’ Guide is available to all looked after children who are fostered by Ikon Fostering agency, and where appropriate, it will be produced in varied formats to meet the needs of different groups of children. The guide, to ensure the wellbeing of children in placement, clearly outlines how they can access an independent advocate, and make direct representations and complaints.

With the purpose of meeting these aims and objectives, Ikon Fostering provides the following services:

·      An ongoing programme of group activities and individualised direct work provided by our resident psychotherapist, Senior Therapeutic Support Worker and wrap around support worker.

·      Foster homes drawn from a range of cultural and religious communities, reflecting the needs of the communities we serve.

·      Foster homes able to care for children of different ages.

·      Foster homes able to keep siblings together when needed.

·      Foster homes where the child is the only child (sometimes known as solo placements);

·      Foster carers able to contribute towards the ongoing assessment of each foster child, supporting the development and review of the child’s care plan as appropriate.

·      Foster carers will have the opportunity to be trained in order to care for children with complex health needs.

·      Foster carers will also have the opportunity to be trained for parent and child placements.

Foster carers can be approved to look after children of any gender aged 0-18 years (although foster carers can have matching preference for age groups, gender and number of children). Foster carers and household members who smoke or vape cannot have a child under 5 placed in their care as per our policy.

We offer short-term, long-term, emergency, bridging and respite care. Some foster carers are also approved to offer parent and child foster placements, where carers have been assessed and trained to offer this specialist type of placement.

A range and number of diverse types of fostering provision ensures flexibility in meeting children’s individual needs. The recruitment, assessment and approval of foster carers is focused on providing a range of carers able to meet the diverse needs of children referred to us. Children will only be placed with fully approved foster carers.

Ikon fostering reports on its performance regularly through a variety of means:

• Ofsted will inspect regularly to ensure that the fostering service complies with legislation and standards
• A robust Foster Care Panel with the majority of Panel Members having independent status with annual appraisals undertaken annually.
• The Agency Decision Maker reviews all Annual Reviews completed by the fostering service for all approved foster carers.
• Managers quality assurance of documentation being submitted to the Foster Care Panel and ADM.
• Feedback forms provided to all who attend the Foster Care Panel evaluated by the panel advisor. The Panel also provides feedback to the fostering service on the quality of reports presented and the presentation of the Fostering Service staff members/Independent assessing social workers.
• Regulation 35 reports submitted to Ofsted 6 monthly.
• Completion of Ofsted annual dataset.
• Educational attainment and attendance.
• Placement stability.
• Number of complaints and allegations.
• Number of incidents of children going missing from care.
• Number of accidents or other noteworthy incidents involving foster children.
• Number of children with an up-to-date care plan and placement plan.

The Fostering service also monitors the following key areas of activity:

• Number of children placed in foster care
• Number of placement disruptions
• Recruitment of new foster carers
• Completion of assessments of potential foster carers
• Induction of newly approved foster carers within one year
• Auditing of foster carers and children’s case files to monitor statutory compliance and good practice standards.
• All the case records completed by Ikon Fostering staff are monitored by the registered manager or an appropriate member of the management team on a regular basis, with action taken to address any shortfalls.
• The voice of child is carefully listened to as evidenced in the Childs Review, the Foster Carer Review and one-off consultation events and questionnaires regularly developed by Ikon Fostering. Ikon Fostering challenges itself each year to demonstrate the difference that seeking the views of children has made to our service.

If you have a complaint or concern about Ikon Fostering, we would very much like to hear from you.  It is only by listening to concerns and complaints that we can improve the service provided.  Always feel free to contact Registered Manager Ann-Marie Jones at Ikon Fostering, on 01922 618790 or email  ann-marie.jones@ikonfostering.org .  Any complaint or a concern will be responded appropriately or you can contact Ofsted.

Ofsted Contact Details

General helpline: 0300 123 1231

By email: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk

Please note that this Statement of Purpose has been drafted to take account of the expectations of the National Minimum Standards, Statutory Guidance and Regulations for Fostering Services issued in April 2011 as well as the amendments to the Statutory Guidance in 2013 and The Care Planning and Fostering (Miscellaneous Amendments) (England) Regulations 2015.

As set out in Standard 16.2 this Statement of Purpose is child-focussed, setting out how the aims and objectives of the service will meet outcomes for children.  It sets out the principles underpinning the service.  It explicitly does not set out details of the processes, procedures and structural information demanded by the superseded 2002 standards, all of which are available upon request.

As demanded by Standard 16.1 this Statement of Purpose is made available to foster carers, staff and children.  A version of this Statement of Purpose is incorporated into the children’s guide.

As demanded by Regulation 3(2) of The Fostering Services (England) Regulations 2011, this Statement of Purpose is made available to the parents of foster children and prospective foster carers.

Our statement of purpose will also be published on our website. If you know someone who needs this Statement of Purpose in another language or format, please also let us know.

Updated 23/07/2025.