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 Independent Reviewing Officer Services 

Case Management and Review for Children in Care

WHAT WE OFFER - IRO SERVICES

Aidhour has a great deal of experience providing child focussed, high performing Independent Reviewing Officer Services to children who are looked after. Our highly trained and experienced IROs operate flexibly to provide short term cover to support capacity issues and long term as a managed service.

  • True Independence

  • Highly experienced IROs with manageable caseloads who are up to date with best practice.

  • IROs located across a wide geographical area.

  • Creative practice, enabling children to attend meetings, to participate and to be partners in creating and reviewing their care plans.

  • Long term commitment to individual children who are looked after by local authorities.

  • Fully Managed Local Authority IRO Services (one for over 20 years)

  • IRO Services for particular children within local authorities

  • Long term placement of individual IROs in local authorities to support with workload management. We can also provide short-term cover, but on a restricted basis as we believe that for children long-term relationships are critical.

  • Secure Reviews

  • Chairs for Disruption Meetings

  • Professional case consultation

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We also provide Fostering Reviewing Officers (FROs):

  • Fully managed Reviewing Officer services for Foster Carers

  • Annual Fostering Reviews for individual foster carers

  • Chairs for Standards of Care meetings

What is an Independent reviewing officer?

 

Aidhour IROs provide a truly independent overview of every child’s care.

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  • Managing local authority IRO, Quality Assurance and compliance services

  • Providing IROs for children placed at a distance from their homes, placed on remand or placed in secure accommodation.

  • Providing IROs to chair disruption meetings and provide professional consultation on cases.

  • Providing IROs to undertake statutory annual foster carer reviews.

Continuity and Consistency

 

Aidhour has been successful in winning a number of long term contracts with local authorities which has benefited children as it means that our associates can develop meaningful and consistent relationships with them over many years.  We can also provide cover for other experienced professionals in the event of issues, such as staff sickness, without having to cancel reviews.  Staff turnover at Aidhour is almost unheard of – this means that our IROs can provide consistency and continuity to children who experience so much change and transition.

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Our service is timely, outcomes focussed and well informed, supporting children to be assured of a secure and stable future. 

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Best quality

 

Our IROs benefit from regularly updated training and feedback from Ofsted reports from local authorities across the country.  Working across so many diverse authorities enables us to benchmark best practice and achieve the best outcomes for children.

The work of our IROs is quality assured by our experienced managers who oversee each contract and meet regularly with them, supporting them in the escalation of any issues relating to children’s care arrangements.

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Partnership

 

Aidhour associates have a long standing and proven track record of positive partnership working with social workers, health professionals and schools in order to promote the best possible outcomes for children.  Aidhour IROs in boroughs are often viewed as thought-leaders in this area and run training events for foster carers, social workers and teachers about the IRO role to ensure understanding and improve the experience for children. 

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To find out more about our Independent Reviewing Services, contact us for an informal chat.

Feedback

 

"The quality of practice of the Aidhour IROs puts our own inhouse IROs to shame!"

(Head of IRO Service)

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"During the last few years we have found ourselves short of permanent IROs on a number of occasions and have relied heavily upon the Aidhour IROs who have never failed to support us so that we are able to continue to meet our statutory obligations and carry out our business as normal."

(Service Manager, IRO service)

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"The work completed by the IROs is of a high standard. They chair productive Children in Care reviews and provide records of the reviews in letter form which are detailed and clear, using language that is appropriate to each child and young person’s age."

(IRO Service Manager)

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"In addition to the fantastic work the IROs do, the IROs function in the same way as our permanent staff members. Such is their integration into our service that some of our colleagues in other services are not even aware they are contractors.  Wherever possible they attend our team meetings, staff conferences and away days, in addition to meetings specifically about our children and young people.  They nominate children and young people to take part in our fun half-term events and take part in the activities themselves. Of course, it cannot always be work and no play and so they are always invited to our Xmas festivities!! Simply put, we do not view the IROs as simply contractors or additional support……we view them they as part of our team. We hope they feel the same."

(IRO Service Manager)

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"My IRO has been the same for years and years, but I’ve had 9 social workers!"

(young person)

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"I have worked with Aidhour for over 2 years and found the service and the leaders to be professional and approachable. The IRO are a skilled set of professionals who always have the needs of children at the heart of what they do."

(Head of LA IRO service)

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