Putting relationships back at the heart of fostering for BSN Social Care

Fostering is built on relationships.

Children need consistency. Foster carers need support. Social workers need the time and headspace to support both.

But at BSN Social Care, paperwork was taking time away from visits and conversations with foster families.

BSN Social Care, which supports over 850 children and young people, introduced Notes to reduce paperwork and give their teams more time to focus on the relationships at the heart of fostering.

The challenge

Balancing documentation and frontline support

Social workers were spending large parts of their day on documentation, including monthly reports, supervision notes, contact logs, and Form F assessments.

These administrative requirements could take significant time, leaving less time for visits, conversations, and follow-up with foster carers and children.

Manual processes and fragmented systems 

Much of this work was slowed down by the way systems were set up. Social workers often had to duplicate information, move between multiple platforms, and spend time editing notes. These processes made routine tasks more time-consuming.

The approach

BSN Social Care introduced Notes in two of its six agencies, Olive Branch Fostering and Nexus Fostering. In total, 160 staff began using Notes to record visits and write up assessments.

Following positive feedback from teams, Notes was rolled out across all six agencies. 

How it works:

• Conversations are transcribed and turned into structured notes
• Information is mapped into BSN’s tailored templates
• Staff review and edit the notes before finalising the record

This allows records to be completed faster, while practitioners remain fully in control of what is submitted.

The impact 

Staying on top of documentation 

Notes significantly reduced the time spent on documentation.

80% of staff surveyed reported a reduction in admin time, with 42% saying they saved more than two hours each week.

This extra time made a real difference in day-to-day work. Social workers were able to return calls more quickly, follow up with carers, and keep records up to date alongside their visits and conversations.

“My workload has doubled so this has definitely helped me to get more admin work completed within a day and I don't know how I would have coped without it to be honest!”

Higher-quality notes 

Everyone said the quality of their notes improved. 

Social workers highlighted that Notes captured more detail in a clearer structure, while reducing the time spent editing and rewording documentation.

"Notes has been amazing for TATC meetings. The minutes produced have required little editing and the requests to Notes to edit with more or less text has been fantastic."

Better conversations with children and foster carers 

When social workers weren’t focused on typing, they were able to listen more closely and engage with the person in front of them. 

 "It has made recording meetings much simpler and I can focus more in meetings on discussion rather than making sure I write pertinent points down." 

Improved wellbeing and confidence 

Reducing the time spent on documentation also had a positive impact on how staff felt at work.

Social workers rated the impact on their wellbeing 7.7/10. 

With admin taking less time, many reported feeling less stressed and more in control of their workload.

"As someone who is dyslexic, having Notes helps with me overthinking what I'm writing... I find speaking a lot easier so using Notes to write up sessions has been a game changer and again saved a lot of procrastination and time."

See how Notes can support your fostering teams

Book a demo to explore how Notes can help your teams stay on top of documentation and spend more time supporting people.