Regional office hub helps improve standards in foster care

Key challenges within the fostering system

The fostering system is struggling to meet growing demand due to the rising number of children needing care. “Generally speaking, pre pandemic, we were bucking the trend very much and we were recruiting quite significant numbers of new carers,” recalls Jamie Wright, Finance Director of Compass Community . “Compass has seen a slowdown and indeed at a national level across all fostering agencies, since 2019 there’s been a 7% decline in the number of registered foster carers.”

Compass Community is working hard to combat this trend: “One of the ways other fostering agencies look to solve the issue is by poaching carers from other agencies, but this doesn’t solve the fundamental problem, which isn’t that there’s not enough foster carers. It’s about going out educating and explaining to people why they can be carers and what skill sets we’re looking for.”

A holistic approach to improve outcomes for children in care

Set up in 2012, Compass Community is not just about foster care; it’s about “wraparound support” as they are “committed to providing a positive childhood for every young person ” in their care. They therefore operate using a four-pronged approach to prepare children for the outside world: education, therapy, fostering and residential care.

Since Compass Community was founded, it has seen significant expansion and now operates 50 children’s homes and 20 schools across the UK. “We noticed that there is a crossover between foster care and residential care, so we appointed in-house therapeutic teams and education ambassadors, to support and represent the children while they’re at school. This has resulted in better-than-average attendance in school for children in fostering and, therefore, better-than-average educational attainment across our services.”

To further ensure they offer the highest quality foster care they have set up local networks for carers to share their experiences and help each other solve common problems. They have local offices, such as their office at Churchill Square Business Centre , where they hold weekly to monthly meetings to build a network of like-minded people and help foster carers feel less alone.

Key successes achieved by Compass Community

Aside from their schooling system helping children in care to reach their full potential in terms of educational success, Compass Community also celebrates their high rate of children deciding on staying put , which is when they remain living with their carer after their eighteenth birthday – a testament to the high quality of foster carers which Compass recruits to provide loving homes for the children.

They are also very proud of their inclusivity. “One of our mantras is ‘potential not perfection’,” explains Jamie. We provide them with the opportunity to learn and grow from mistakes by offering them the same high-quality care we would provide any other child.”

The right office space from which to co-ordinate a vital service

Having local offices and a local presence is a key part of Compass Community’s mission to be child centred. “Despite being a national organisation, Compass Community is big enough to support but small enough to care, and having local hubs is part of this. Our Churchill Square Business Centre office in Kings Hill is one of 15 we have across the UK,” says Jamie. “The office provides both children and carers with a support network by having someone who they can liaise with in person so that they truly feel they are part of something.”

It’s also a space for panel meetings and training, with the ability to hire out meeting rooms on an ad hoc basis being particularly beneficial. Jamie told us: “Capital Space’s serviced office works really well” and how the local team were able to choose it to meet their commuting needs and are “very happy there”.

Having a regional branch for your nationwide company can be hugely beneficial when it comes to connecting with your customers and recruiting locally. We are pleased to see the positive impact it has had on the operations of Compass Community and the benefits they have seen from increasing their local presence.

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