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Contents

1. Key Objectives in Permanence Planning
2. Defining Permanence
3. Options for Permanence
4. Assessing and Planning for Permanence
5. Permanency Decision Making Panels
6. Identifying the Best Option
7. Routes to Permanence

1. Key Objectives in Permanence Planning

1. Children and young people who have experienced stability are more likely to achieve across all Every Child Matters areas and show greater resilience to adversity. The objective of permanence planning is to ensure that children and young people have a secure, stable and loving family to support them through childhood and beyond. This will be achieved by planning that addresses the three aspects of permanence defined below.
2. Where it is necessary for a child to leave his or her family and become Looked After,
   
   This should be for as short a time as needed to secure a safe supported return home or,If they cannot return home
   
   Plans must be made for permanent care with birth family members or within the network of family and friends for preference, or
   Where this is not in the child’s best interests, through adoption or long term foster care, depending on the child’s needs. 
   
   Residential group living is provided only when a need for this is identified within the Care Plan and when substitute family care is not appropriate. It is an expectation that the permanence outcome for children and young people aged up to their 3rd birthday will be a family placement. Therefore the final outcome of any legal process of a child aged less than 3 years will be that the carer either holds or acquires Parental Responsibility.
3. Where it is clear that families and children are unable to live together, planning must be timely and focused to identify permanent alternative settings.
4. Wherever possible, care should be provided locally unless clearly identified as inappropriate.
5. Contact with the family and extended family should be facilitated and built on (unless clearly identified as inappropriate).If placements made for children and young people to be looked after do not meet the above objectives, they will be for as short a period as possible.
6. The professionals involved will work in partnership with parents/families to meet the above objectives. The wishes and feelings of the child will be taken into account.  The older and more mature the child, the greater the weight should be given to his or her wishes.
7. When undertaking permanence planning, all workers have a duty to promote the child’s links with his or her racial, cultural and religious heritage by
   
   Promoting placements wherever possible that allows the child to be brought up within the same racial, cultural and religious environment as his birth family.
   
   Where this is not possible, ensuring a placement is identified which can promote links for the child with his or her race, culture and religion.

2. Defining Permanence

Permanence is defined as a framework of emotional, physical and legal conditions that gives a child a sense of security, continuity, commitment and identity.

Permanence for children and young people has three particular aspects:

1. Legal permanence (ensuring whoever is caring for the child has Parental Responsibility or that there is somebody in a position to effectively exercise Parental Responsibility)
2. Psychological permanence (when the child feels attached to an adult who provides a stable, loving and secure relationship.)
3. Physical or environmental permanence (involves a stable home environment within a familiar neighbourhood and community which meets the child’s identity needs)

3. Options for Permanence

Permanence can be achieved in the following types of placements:

3.1	Staying at Home
3.2	Placement with relatives or Friends
3.3	Adoption
3.4	Long Term Fostering
3.5	Long Term Residential Care

3.1 Staying at Home

The first stage within permanence planning is work with children and young people in need and their families to support them staying together.  Staying at home offers the best chance of stability. Research shows that family preservation has a higher success rate than reunification.  This of course has to be balanced against the risk of harm to the child. 

3.2 Placement with relatives or Friends

If the assessment concludes that the child cannot safely remain at home at this time, every effort must be made to secure placement with relatives or friends. This will be either as part of the plan working towards a return home or - if a return home is clearly not in the child’s best interests - as the preferred permanence option. Where relatives and friends are being considered as a possible permanence placement it is important that they have an understanding of the tasks involved in meeting the current and likely long term needs of the child. This includes the exercise of Parental Responsibility. This can be acquired by relatives and friends carers through either Special Guardianship or a Residence Order. Any plans for contact will need to support the stability of such placements.

Special Guardians of children and young people who were previously looked after may be supported including financially by the local authority if child is eligible. They will have the right to request an assessment for support services at any time after the Order is made. See Special Guardianship Support Services Procedure for detailed procedures (to follow).

Residence Order Allowances may be payable is the child was Looked After when the Residence order was made.

A number of children and young people who are looked after by the Local Authority have been placed with relative and friends carers on a short-term basis. This may not be the most appropriate permanence placement. Consideration must be given as to whether the permanence needs of children and young people in such placements can be effectively met with the local authority holding Parental Responsibility through a Care Order. There is an expectation that where a child under 3 years of age is placed with family and friends carers the outcome of any legal process will be that the carer acquires Parental Responsibility.

If it becomes clear at an early stage that this placement is not going to meet the child’s long term permanency needs there is a mechanism for the matter to be considered by an independent panel. (see Section 5, Connected Persons (Formerly Regulation 38 Placements with Family and Friends) Procedure)

3.3   Adoption

See also Placement for Adoption Procedure.

An Adoption Order transfers Parental Responsibility for the child from the birth parents and others who had Parental Responsibility, including the local authority, permanently and solely to the adopter(s). 

The child is deemed to be the child of the adopter(s) as if he or she had been born to them.  The child’s birth certificate is changed to an adoption certificate showing the adopter(s) to be the child’s parent(s).  A child who is not already a citizen of the UK acquires British citizenship if adopted in the UK by a citizen of the UK.

An Adoption Order is irrevocable.

Research strongly supports adoption as a primary consideration and as a main factor contributing to the stability of children, especially if under four years, who cannot be rehabilitated to their birth or extended family.

Adopters may be supported including financially by the local authority if child is eligible. They will have the right to request an assessment for support services at any time after the Order is made.  See Adoption Support Services Procedure

3.4 Long Term Fostering

This permanence option allows the child to live within a family placement until they have reached adulthood and are ready to assume independence. Long Term Fostering can meet the needs for psychological and environmental permanence. It has proved to be particularly useful for older children and young people who retain strong links to their birth families. The local authority retains Parental Responsibility although there is always the option that the carer may apply for a Special Guardianship or Residence Order. 

Research indicates that Long Term foster placements are more likely to meet the child’s needs over a sustained period when there is a long term commitment to the child and where a pro-active approach is taken to identifying and meeting the support needs of the placement.

3.5  Long Term Residential Care    

Long Term residential care may provide the best permanence option for some older children and young people who either have a preference not to live in a family sitting or who have been assessed having needs best provided in a residential setting.

Positive outcomes are associated with clear planning that is informed by an up to date assessment of the child’s needs.

4. Assessing and Planning for Permanence

The Permanence Policy seeks to provide a set of common processes when planning permanence for children and young people who have differing needs and for whom a range of different placement and legal outcomes are required.

The process of Permanence Planning will be informed by an up to date Core Assessment see Core Assessment Procedure and other specialist assessments where appropriate.

4.1	By the time of the second Looked After Review, the child must have a Permanence Plan (incorporated into the Care Plan), which must be presented for consideration at the review This meeting will formulate an achievable permanency plan that can meet the child’s needs for permanence within realistic timescales. If assessments have not been completed in time for the second Review, or another option for the care of the child emerges at a later stage of the planning process, a further Review should be held once the outcome is known, in order that the plan to proceed towards adoption may be ratified, if appropriate.
4.2	The Permanency Planning Meeting formulates a Permanence Plan following consideration of : The assessment of the child’s current and future needs Whether such needs can be meet on a permanent basis by a return home or through an alternative substitute. Where an alternative to a return home is considered: The viability of any possible family or friends placements The most appropriate placement type that will meet the child’s permanence needs. The most appropriate legal outcome to ensure permanence in the proposed placement type For guidance see “Identifying the Best Option” below
4.3	Permanency planning is based on sound assessments of the child’s needs that are focused on the Every Child Matters outcomes. The assessment and subsequent Permanency Plan will include consideration of: stability issues the child’s current and future needs Implications of permanence for the child and their birth family particularly with regard to contact and identity. Current and likely support needs for the child’s and the placement. In all cases, full consultation with all family and community support networks must be considered as a possible method of engaging those who know the child best, or who the child is most attached to, in considering the child’s long term needs.  It may be appropriate to hold a Family Group Conference where the child (if appropriate), and family members can be involved in the decision-making process. Harnessing family and community support networks in this way may be particularly effective, for example, for children and young people from black and minority ethnic groups and for disabled children. In all cases, the child’s own wishes and feelings must be ascertained where possible and taken into account.
4.4	The Permanency Planning Meeting is a professionals meeting attended by both Care Management and Resources Section so that : Timely planning takes place avoiding drift Placement planning is realistic Likely placement needs are identified early on so that placement commissioning/finding activity is informed Placement support needs identified early on Typically the meeting will include the case holder, their manager and the most appropriate representative form Resources Section given the known needs. The Permanence Planning Meeting will be informed by legal opinion.
4.5	Where children are Accommodated under sec 20 of the Children Act 1989 consideration will need to be given to whether a Permanency Plan can be effected within the existing partnership arrangements with the current holders of Parental Responsibility.
4.6	The Permanency Planning Meeting will produce a Permanence Plan (incorporated into the Care Plan) that is presented to the Child’s the second Looked After Review.  The Permanence Plan will be endorsed by the Designated Manager (Decision to Look After)

Where the Permanence Plan includes a Twin Track Plan, the social worker must ensure that the parents are informed of the reasons why two plans (rehabilitation and alternative permanence) are being made to meet the child’s needs and prevent unnecessary delay. 

5. Permanency Decision Making Panels

5.1	A Permanency Decision Making Panel will scrutinise all cases where permanence is being considered. This process seeks to ensure: Equity of access to open planning & decision making process Ensures that the child’s voice is heard when key decisions that affect their future are made. Equality of access to a range of specialist knowledge/experience e.g. All children and young people will have medical assessment using Form IHA-C ‘Initial Health Assessment’ Evaluation of the viability of the support plans Cases are considered by an independent body (A regulatory requirement in both for adoption and fostering) Provides a source of feedback that informs service improvement
5.2	There are three Permanency Decision Making Panels that deal with different aspects of permanence: The Family Support Panel considers rehabilitation home as a route to permanence. The decision maker is the Group Service Manager- Family Support. The Adoption Panel that considers permanency involving adoption. The work of this panel is governed by Adoption Agency Regulations. The Agency Decision Maker is the Assistant Director, Children’s Social Care Services. The Fostering Panel. This panel considers children and young people where the permanence plan involves either a placement with family and friends carers, long term fostering. The work of this panel in respect of the approval of foster carers is governed by fostering regulations. The Agency Decision Maker is the Group Service Manager- Resources.
5.3	The panel will consider:
A.	The Permanency Plan for the child. The plan will be presented to the panel after the 2nd Looked After review has confirmed the Permanence (Care Plan). The panel will consider and make comment on: The appropriateness of the Permanence Plan to meet the assessed current and anticipated future needs of the child. Current and future support needs The proposed plan for contact The viability of the plan The most appropriate legal outcome to ensure permanence in the proposed placement type.
B.	The Proposed Permanence Placement The Adoption and Fostering Panels usually approve carers who can provide placements for children and young people who are not known to them. They may approve carers for specific children. Such situations may include prospective family & friend carers seeking approval as foster carers or adopters seeking approval so that the younger sibling of a child already adopted by them can be placed with them.
C.	Matching Proposed matches between children and young people and identified permanence placements will be presented to the Permanence Panel. The Panel will consider and make comment on: The capacity of the placement to meet the child’s identified current and future needs The viability of the proposed match The current and future plan to support the placement The proposed legal basis for the placement.
D.	Disruption of Placements. Where a permanence placement disrupts a Disruption Meeting will be held. A report of the disruption meeting will be presented to the appropriate Permanence Panel who will consider what lessons can be learnt in respect of: The child and future needs and planning Practice and service improvements for the agency.

6. Identifying the Best Option

6.1	Findings from research
6.2	Advantages and disadvantages of different legal outcomes
6.3	Comparison of legal outcomes and placement type

6.1 Findings from research

Supporting rehabilitation to birth or extended family

• The importance of clearly communicating to the family what needs to happen so that the child can return home, and within what timescales
• The importance of exploring family ties and long term relationships with family, school and community, especially in the light of changing workers
• The use of Family Group Conferences as an effective way of facilitating both the above.

Guarding against drift

• Unintended negative consequences of a ‘sequential’ approach, even where it emphasises the primacy of family reunification as a permanence option.  Children and young people who cannot return home often linger in foster care for many years, experiencing multiple moves before exploration of other permanence options begin.
• The prevention of such damaging delay occurring through a: Twin Track Plan, a Parallel Plan, a Contingency Plan or through Concurrent Planning’. 

Stability:

The importance of considering within the assessment process “how will stability for this child be achieved?”  Refer to  Advantages and disadvantages of different legal outcomes below.

• This means considering long term stability in the sense of a permanent home with the same family or group of people, as part of the same community and culture, and with long-term continuity of relationships and identity. 
• Short or medium term stability or continuity may also be an important issue both for children and young people who are going to stay in the Looked After system for a brief period before going home and for children and young people who are going to need new permanent arrangements.  Making every effort to reduce changes of placement, school, separations from friends and family, to minimise the number of uncertainties or unwelcome surprises a child has to contend with, may make a huge difference to the quality of the child’s life.
• The importance of giving attention to issues such as educational experiences, links with extended family, hobbies and friendships - all of which contribute to guarding against disruption and placement breakdown.

Hearing the child

• The importance of carefully listening to what children and young people want from the placement, helping the relationship between carer and child to develop, making thorough plans around contact with family, providing vigorous support during crisis times and taking a sufficiently flexible attitude to adoption by carers

Family finding

• The older a child is then the less likely it is that the child will secure a permanent family through adoption.
• The larger the family group of siblings then the harder it is to secure a single placement that will meet all the needs of all the children.

Contact

• Promoting stability of the prime aim of permanence planning.
• Contact can play an important part in promoting a child’s sense of identity and may in some circumstances promote placement stability.
• Planning for contact should consider:
• Impact of contact arrangements on the stability of a placement- this is of particular importance in family placements when the carer holds Parental Responsibility
• Sustainability of contact
• Provision to support parties in contact
• Direct contact may be indicated when the child has a positive and ongoing attachment to a parent or significant other.
• Direct contact is more likely to be meaningful and sustained when the child’s parent supports the permanence plan and there is an existing relationship between parents and carer
• There may be a need for ongoing agency involvement through a Care Order where contact issues remain challenging or contentious.
• Indirect contact can provide a means for an exchange of information when the parent does not support the permanency plan or where the placement is with a “stranger”. Such contact needs to be carefully planned for and may need to be supported through an intermediary.

Placement/Contact with Siblings -

• It is important to assess the extent and quality of relationships in a sibling group.  Usually, and especially where there is a pre-existing and meaningful relationship, it will be important to seek to maintain sibling relationships within any Permanence Plan, including those where an alternative family placement is sought. 
• The impact on separated siblings of losing vital support, a shared history and continuity affects stability in the placement 
• The importance of identifying strengths and difficulties in sibling relationships in order to make appropriate permanent placement decisions.  It is important to ascertain the perceptions and wishes of the child and their family, to assess the shared experience of siblings and the children’s individual permanence needs.  This involves thorough consideration of issues of gender, race, disability and identity
• More successful outcomes occur for children and young people placed together with their siblings.  Children and young people should therefore be placed with their siblings unless there are exceptional circumstances, such as dynamics that are likely to significantly undermine either stability of the placement or its ability to meet the needs of one or more child.
• Difficulties in finding a suitable placement for a sibling group may lead to drift.  The immediate non-availability of a suitable placement should not prevent rigorous home-finding efforts, within an agreed time frame, based on balancing the potential for success against the risk of undue delay.
• Placement Planning should include arrangements for contact when siblings cannot be placed together. Planning should consider the child’s need for contact, the ability of the placement to support contact and the impact of contact on the stability of the placement.

Clearly communicating the Permanence Plan

• Communicating a Permanence Plan effectively involves setting it out clearly and concisely as part of the Care Plan, in a way that acts as a useful reference to all involved during the Review process.
• Good quality Care Plans set out clear, concise statements about intended outcomes.  Although ‘a sense of permanence’ can in itself be stated as an outcome, it can also be presented as a means to achieving particular developmental outcomes.
• Make timescales clear.  These are about “having regard to the child’s age and circumstances, achieving a balance between a framework for an action plan to provide a sense of stability for the child and flexibility to allow for adequate changes in the parents or birth families circumstances” (Family Rights Group 1998). 

6.2 Advantages and disadvantages of different legal outcomes

Adoption

Adoption has the following advantages as a permanence plan:

1. Parental Responsibility is held by the carers
2. No future legal challenge is possible
3. The child is a permanent family member into adulthood. 
4. Ongoing support is available through assessment of Adoption Support needs

Adoption has the following disadvantages as a permanence plan:

1. It involves a complete and permanent legal separation from the birth family of origin

Special Guardianship

Special Guardianship has the following advantages as a permanence plan:

1. The carers have Parental Responsibility and clear authority to make decisions on day to day issues about the child’s care
2. There is added legal security to the Order in that leave is required for parents to apply to discharge the Order and will only be granted if a change of circumstances can be established since the Order was made
3. It maintains legal links to the birth family
4. There need be no social worker involvement
5. Ongoing support available through assessment of Special Guardianship Support needs

Special Guardianship has the following disadvantages as a permanence plan:

1. The Order only lasts until the child is 18 and does not necessarily bring with it the sense of belonging to the Special Guardians family as an Adoption Order does
2. As the child is not a legal member of the family, if difficulties arise there may be less willingness to persevere and seek resolution.
3. Although there are restrictions on applications to discharge the Order, such an application is possible and may be perceived as a threat to the child’s stability.

Residence Order

A Residence Order has the following advantages:

1. It gives Parental Responsibility to the carer whilst maintaining the parents’ Parental Responsibility
2. No need for social worker involvement, unless this is identified as necessary.
3. There is no review process
4. The child will not be Looked After and there is less stigma, therefore, attached to the placement
5. Any contact is likely to be agreed and if considered necessary by the Court, set out in a Contact Order

A Residence Order has the following disadvantages:

1. It is less secure than adoption or Special Guardianship in that an application can be made to revoke the Order.  However, the Court making the order can be asked to attach a condition refusing a parents right to seek revocation without leave of the court.
2. There is no formal continuing support to the family after the Order although in some instances, a Residence Order Allowance may be payable - see Residence Order Allowances Procedure
3. There is no professional reviewing of the arrangements after the order unless a new application to court is made, for example by the parents for contact or revocation. 

Long Term Fostering

Long-term fostering has the following advantages as a permanence plan:

1. The local authority retains a role in negotiating between the foster carers and the birth family over issues such as continuing direct contact
2. There is continuing social worker support to the child and foster family in a placement which is regularly reviewed to ensure that the child’s needs are met
3. It maintains legal links to the birth family who can still play a part in the decision making for the child

Long-term fostering has the following disadvantages as a permanence plan:

1. Lack of Parental Responsibility for the carers
2. Continuing social work involvement
3. Regular reviews, which are statutorily required to ask if rehabilitation to the parent is to be considered. This may be regarded as destabilising to the placement
4. Stigma attached to the child through being Looked After
5. The child is not a legal member of the family. If difficulties arise there may be less willingness to persevere and seek resolution.

6.3 Comparison of legal outcomes and family placement type

The table outlined below compares key needs associated with permanence and benefits differing legal orders bring.

Permanence Need	Residence/Special Guardianship Orders	Adoption	Long Term Fostering
Security & Identity	Child needs the security of a legally defined placement with alternative carers, but does not require a lifelong commitment involving a change of identity	Child’s primary need is to belong to a family who will make a lifelong commitment	Primary need is for a stable, loving family environment whilst there is still a significant level of continued involvement with the birth family
Exercise of Parental Responsibility	Child’s relation, foster or other carer needs to exercise day to day parental responsibility and is prepared to do so as a lifelong commitment	Child’s birth parents are not able or not willing to share parental responsibility in order to meet their child’s needs	Child has a clear sense of identity and involvement with the birth family, whilst needing to be cared for away from home
Contact	There is no need for continuing monitoring and review by the Local Authority, although support services may still need to be arranged	Child needs an opportunity to develop a new sense of identity whilst being supported to maintain or develop a healthy understanding of their past	Ongoing need for  continued monitoring and support by Local Authority
Support	Special Guardianship Support Services. or Residence Order Allowance	Adoption Support Services	There is need for continuing oversight and monitoring of the child’s developmental progress
Attachment	Child has a strong attachment to the alternative carers and legally defined permanence is assessed as a positive contribution to their sense of belonging and security	Child expresses a wish to be adopted if old enough	Birth parents may be able and willing to exercise a degree of parental responsibility

7. Routes to Permanence

The Permanence Policy seeks to provide a set of common processes when planning permanence for children and young people who have differing needs. Key features that will impact open the route to permanence and the type of outcome are:

• Age and view of child
• Availability of possible relative /friend placement
• The needs of the child particularly in respect to attachment and ability to function in a family placement

The scenarios set out describe different routes to permanence:

Scenarios

1. Children under 7- no relatives available
2. Children under 7- relatives available
3. Children and young people 7-10 no relatives available
4. Children and young people 7-10 – relatives available
5. Children and young people 11 plus- no relatives
6. Children and young people 11 plus- relatives available

1. Children under 7- no relatives available

Permanency Meetings	Permanency Planning in Panels	Permanency Outcomes
Permanency meeting considers twin track unless clear return is not possible- Produces adoption plan with Adoption referral Meeting Attended by Social Worker SCM Resource worker- A&F Family Finder	Adoption Panel considers “should be placed for adoption” and match/adoption support	Adoption

2. Children under 7- relatives available

Permanency Meetings	Permanency Planning in Panels	Permanency Outcomes
Permanency meeting considers twin track unless it is clear return is not possible This meeting possibly informed by feedback from a Family Group Conference to consider kinship options. Attended by Social Worker SCM Manager - F&F Fostering Team Any potential carer informed about our policy on 0-3 at earliest opportunity	Fostering panel considers Need for permanence Approval of kinship carers Match & support	Priority order of outcomes- Special Guardianship- Residence Order Care Order – possibility of move to SGO/RO Where the child is 0-3 and a potential relative/friend carer is not able to consider Special Guardianship/Residence Order at end of legal process then placement is not seen as viable permanency placement. Go to scenario 1 See Section 5, Connected Persons (Formerly Regulation 38 Placements with Family and Friends) Procedure

3. Children and young people 7-10 no relatives available

Permanency Meetings	Permanency Planning in Panels	Permanency Outcomes
Permanency meeting considers twin track unless clear return is not possible- Produces adoption plan with Adoption referral Meeting or plan for Long Term Fostering Attended by Social Worker SCM Resource worker- A&F Family Finder and/or fostering worker	Adoption Panel considers “should be placed for adoption” and match/adoption support If fostering outcome Fostering Panel. Either way key issues considered are: Need for permanency Approval of carers Evaluation of support issues & plan Match child to carers	In this age group the ranking of preference would be: Adoption LT Fostering (carer may apply for SGO/RO) Residential Assumes that assessment indicates that child’s needs can be best met in family setting

4. Children and young people 7-10 – relatives available

Permanency Meetings	Permanency Planning in Panels	Permanency Outcomes
Permanency meeting considers twin track unless clear return is not possible This meeting possibly informed by feedback from a Family Group Conference to consider kinship options. Attended by Social Worker SCM Manager - F&F Fostering Team	Fostering panel considers- Need for permanence Approval of kinship carers Match & support	Priority order of outcomes- Special Guardianship- carers must agree to this as outcome prior to assessment? Residence Order Care Order – possibility of move later on to SGO/RO

5. Children and young people 11 plus - no relatives

Permanency Meetings	Permanency Planning in Panels	Permanency Outcomes
Permanency meeting. To include: Social worker SCM Resource worker? Could be somebody from A&F, Residential, LCS	Panel consideration of: Need for permanency Best placement type Approval of carers Evaluation of support issues & plan Match placement to child	Hierarchy of desired outcomes: LT Fostering with Care Order (possible resumption of PR by carers through SGO/RO) Residential with Care Order – possibility of move to SGO/RO Assumes that assessment indicates that child’s needs can be best met in family setting

6. Children and young people 11 plus - relatives available

Permanency Meetings	Permanency Planning in Panels	Permanency Outcomes
This meeting possibly informed by feedback from a Family Group Conference to consider kinship options. Attended by: Social Worker SCM Manager - F&F Fostering Team	A panel considers- Need for permanence Approval of kinship carers Match & support	Priority order of outcomes- Special Guardianship Residence Order Care Order – possibility of move to SGO/RO

End