The death of a child in the care of an agency sparked a visit from Ofsted.

Credo Care, which is based in Lydd, specialises in looking after youngsters with physical disabilities, complex medical needs, learning difficulties and autism.

The watchdog conducted a monitoring visit to the foster agency on July 31 after a child died – although inspectors do not investigate incidents of this kind.

It focused on the quality of support provided to children and how staff and foster carers are supported to meet the needs of youngsters in these circumstances.

Credo offers short-term, long-term, ‘staying put’ – where a placed foster child can stay after reaching 18 - and specialised respite care placements.

At the time of the inspection, 71 children were placed, and there were 72 fostering households, some of which offer respite care only.

“All foster carers and agency staff undertake training to help them prepare and cope with bereavement,” the report states.

“They also have access to a range of counselling services and support to help them cope and come to terms with looking after children who may be on an end-of-life care plan and/or receiving palliative care.

“This support is also available to wider family members and any other children living in the foster family.”

Ofsted says the agency recently produced “accessible, informative” guidance for foster carers and staff to help support children with life-limiting conditions and to understand what to do when a child dies.

One foster family described to inspectors how they had a “careful and well-planned matching process” where they could visit a child in hospital for several weeks to get to know him and learn how to meet his health needs.

The report published last month also says the agency’s manager is “knowledgeable” and “understands the needs” of staff, carers and children.

“He has extensive experience in managing services that provide care for children with disabilities and complex health needs,” the document states.

“He is supported by an equally experienced and capable responsible individual.

“Leaders undertake their learning review in response to any child death.

“This helps them to assess what went well and identify any learning to inform future practice.

“They notify all relevant statutory agencies in the event of a child’s death and cooperate with any investigation or review by external agencies.”

Ofsted says foster carers feel “well supported” by the agency and their supervising social workers – and Credo supports them out of hours while also liaising with the professional network and health services.

This most recent visit follows another last August which was sparked by an unexpected death of a child in foster care.

It was reported the agency had experienced the deaths of five children within 20 months – the majority of whom had life-limiting conditions and some were receiving end-of-life care.

Ofsted raised concerns at the time about leaders and managers not conducting learning reviews after the death of a child.

Instead, they were providing information for the responsible authority's review.

Inspectors branded it a “missed opportunity” to review the care and support the child and carers had received, and whether it was adequate.

However, no concerns were raised by the watchdog during the recent visit on July 31.

Credo Care was contacted for comment but did not respond.