• Find a children and families services inspection report
• Understanding a children and families services inspection report
• Types of children and families services Ofsted inspects
• Inspecting children and families services
  • Inspecting children's social care
  • Inspecting Cafcass
  • Inspecting children's centres
  • Inspecting and assessing local authority children's services
• Types of children and families services Ofsted regulates
• Regulating children and families services
• Safeguarding children
• About our survey reports
• How to complain

Inspecting children and families services

We inspect:

• adoption support agencies
• boarding schools
• Cafcass, the Children and Family Court Advisory Support Service
• children’s centres
• children’s homes
• local authorities
• local authority adoption agencies
• independent fostering agencies
• local authority fostering services
• local authority private fostering services
• residential family centres
• residential special schools
• secure establishments
• voluntary adoption agencies.

Inspection of local authority services

We are introducing new inspections of:

• child protection
• services for children looked after.

For further information go to:

• Responses to Ofsted’s consultation on the inspection of local authority children’s services
• our ‘New inspection arrangements for the inspection of local authority children’s services’ letter sent to all local authorities.

Inspection of child protection

From May 2012 we will begin new inspections of child protection.

The key documents for these inspections are:

• The framework for the inspection of the arrangements for the protection of children
• Inspection of the arrangements for the protection of children: evaluation schedule and grade descriptors
• Conducting inspections of local authority arrangements for the protection of children.

Inspection of services for children looked after

‘Children looked after’ is a new term that covers:

• adoption
• fostering
• looked after children.

From April 2013 we will begin to inspect local authority services for children looked after. These inspections will replace our current separate local authority adoption, fostering and looked after children inspections.