4.2.2 Placements in Foster Care

SCOPE OF THIS CHAPTER

This procedure applies to all planned placements of Looked After Children in foster care including placements with independent Fostering Agencies.

AMENDMENTS

This chapter was updated in July 2011 to take account of the changes in the Care Planning, Placement and Case Review (England) Regulations 2010, and Associated Guidance.

Consultation and Planning
Placements Process - Planned Placements
Support, Monitoring and Ending of Placements
Permanent Placements
Placement Strategy

1. Consultation and Planning

1.1 Consultation

At the point that it is determined that a placement may be required, and throughout the subsequent process of identification, planning and placement, the social worker must consult and take account of the views of the following people:

The child
The child’s parents
Anyone who is not a parent but has been caring for or looking after the child
Other members of the child’s family who are significant to the child
The child’s school or education authority
The Youth Offending Service, if the child is known to them

The views of these people should be given by them, in writing, or should be recorded by the social worker. If the child's wishes are not acted upon, the reason should be given.

1.2 Planning

See Decision to Look After, Care Plans and Permanence Planning Procedure for procedures relating to the initial decision to Looked After a child, and the drafting and approval of the Care Plan.

2. Placements Process - Planned Placements

2.1 Definition of Planned Placement

A Planned Placement is the placement of a child in a foster home following an assessment and planning process whereby, at the time of the placement, a Care Plan and Placement Plan are in place.

Where the above plans are not in place, the placement is deemed to be an Emergency.

For Emergency Placements see Emergency Placements Procedures.

2.2 Placement Request

For placement with permanent/long-term foster carers, see Section 4, Permanent Placements.

Before a placement request can be processed the child’s case must have either been discussed at the Family Support Panel, see Family Support Panel Procedure or the placement must have been approved by the Designated Manager.

The Family Support Panel will only authorise a placement if satisfied that there are no alternatives to the child being/remaining Looked After.

The Placement Co-ordination Meeting will ensure that all internal resources have been explored and if no in house provision is identified then discussion about the next step is undertaken with the Designated Manager (Placement of Looked After Children Outside the Authority). If there is no resource available for a particular child/children the relevant person/s from the Placement Co-ordination Meeting will discuss further with the relevant Group Service Managers.

The information provided to the Family Support Panel will form the referral information that will be used by the Placement Co-ordination Team to identify a placement and this should include:

The Referral for Service Form which contains information about the child; the type of placement sought, the date by which the placement is required, the likely length of time for which the placement is required and the expected level of contact between the child and parents. The referral should be supported by the following documents:

Initial Assessment or Core Assessment,
Any relevant medical reports, including details of medication that the child may be taking at the point of placement,
The child’s Statement of Special Educational Needs (SEN) (where relevant),
The most recent Looked After Review minutes (in relation to a child already Looked After),
The most recent Strategy Meeting or Child Protection Conference minutes (where applicable)
This will also be supplemented by a telephone referral taken by Placement Co-ordination Team.

All placement requests will be discussed at the Placement Coordination Meeting following the family support panel and a placement will be identified.

2.3 Matching and Approval of Placement

The matching process should consider the child's needs especially regarding the following key areas:

The child's education
The expectations around contact with relatives and friends
The child's identity/race/culture
The child's history
The child's behaviour
The child's health
The focus of the placement

The matching process should also consider the carer's availability and:

Their experience
Their strengths
The family composition
The distance from the foster home to the child's school
Other children in the placement
The foster carer's children

If an in-house foster placement is identified, the Placement Planning process can start – see section Placement Planning below. If the placement is outside the foster carer’s terms of approval, the approval of the Designated Manager (Foster Placement - Exemption To Exceed Usual Limit) is required. If the placement is for longer than 3 months, the Fostering Panel must also agree the exemption.

If a placement with an external fostering agency has been authorised by the Designated Manager (Placement of Looked After Children Outside the Authority), the Placement Co-ordination Team will consult appropriate providers, identify possible placements and liaise with the social worker about their suitability. Wherever possible, the child's social worker should visit potential carers as required consult with other professionals, prior to a decision about the appropriateness of a placement being made.

In relation to the sharing of bedrooms, each child over three years old should have their own bedroom, or where this is not possible, the placing authority must agree to the sharing of the bedroom and this must therefore be addressed during the matching process.

The fostering service must also take steps to promote the child's identity, self- esteem and confidence through a range of measures which respect the child's individual identity.

These should include:

Enabling children to develop emotional resilience and self esteem
Allowing children to exercise choice about what they eat, preparing meals and snacks within the limits that a reasonable parent would set
Enabling children to exercise choice about clothes and personal requisites

Children receiving a personal allowance appropriate to their age and understanding.

At this stage initial discussions will be held with the providers as to the appropriateness of the referral, time-scales for vacancies and the basic costs of the placement.

The Placement Coordination Team will ascertain the services included in the basic cost, what would be regarded as extra cost and the conditions relating to the notice period, and liaise with the child’s social worker and relevant manager as necessary.

If an external placement appears suitable, preferred providers will always be contacted in the first instance and if a vacancy is available, the Placement Co-ordination Team will undertake the following:

Contact the Regulatory Authority
Request a copy of the provider’s registration certificate and the most recent inspection report
Obtain at least verbal references from other local authorities who have placed children with the provider in the last 12 months
Liaise with social workers who have previously used the provider

Where the proposed placement is with a foster carer living outside the district, the views of the local authority where the foster carer lives must be sought and taken into account. The Placement Co-ordination Team will send a standard notification letter to the Authority in question.

Where there is a child already in the proposed foster placement from a different local authority, the consent of that child’s local authority should be sought by the social worker for the child about to be placed.

The social worker may then arrange visits to the proposed placement, with the child (if old enough) and parents (if appropriate).

When the placement has been agreed as suitable, Placement Co-ordination Team will negotiate the terms and conditions of the placement with the provider.

The provider’s admissions procedure will then be followed.

NB: In addition to the above approvals, in order to avoid placements that disrupt a child's education, the Nominated Officer must approve any change of placement affecting a child in Key Stage 4 except in an emergency/ where the placement is terminated because of an immediate risk of serious harm to the child or to protect others from serious injury - see Education of Looked After Children Procedure.

2.4 Placement Planning

Before the child is placed, the Placement Co-ordination Team will liaise with the child’s social worker and the fostering link worker (where the placement is with in-house carers) or independent fostering agency. The Social Worker will then arrange a pre-placement planning meeting. The child’s social workers will do this in consultation with the Link Workers in Fostering or Independent Fostering Agency.

The child, parents and any other significant family members and relevant professionals should also be invited.

The purpose of the meeting is to share information about the child and the Care Plan, complete/update the Placement Plan (which is recorded on the Placement Information Record), the timing of the placement and ensure that a Placement Plan is drawn up. This will involve discussion of the child's needs, to ensure careful matching including their child's personal history, religious persuasion, cultural and linguistic background and racial origin, as well as the child's health and education needs and how these are to be met. It will also include the arrangements for registering the child with local health professionals (GP, Dentist, and Optician). Following the meeting, the child’s social worker will complete and arrange for the circulation of the Placement Plan to the child, parents and foster carers.

The social worker should ensure that any Children’s Guide or other information about the placement that is available for the child is obtained and given to him/her.

If the child is being placed with an independent agency, the social worker must also ensure that the child is provided with information on using the authority’s Complaints Procedure.

Information about children who have medical conditions or who are on a course of medication must be obtained by the child’s social worker and passed on to the carer.

In all cases, the child should be accompanied to the placement by the social worker and helped to settle in.

In addition the placement planning meeting will consider the type of introduction process required, for example whether arrangements should be made for the child, parents and the social worker to visit the foster home and/or whether it may be appropriate to have an introductory overnight stay. Children should be able to visit the foster home and talk in private with the carer. If this is not possible, arrangements may be made for the carers to visit the child and parents; or for information about the foster carers to be sent to the child and/or the parents, for example about routines in the foster home, bedtimes, meals, visitors, pocket money, school, privacy and the overall expectations in relation to the child's behaviour within the home.

For children placed in foster care, the Placement Plan should cover the following issues in addition to those for all placements set out in the Decision to Look After and Care Planning Procedure:

The type of accommodation to be provided and the address.
The child's personal history, religious persuasion, cultural and linguistic background and racial origin.
Where the child is Accommodated, the respective responsibilities of the Local Authority and parents/anyone with Parental Responsibility; any delegation of responsibility by parents/anyone with Parental Responsibility to the Local Authority for the child's day-to-day care; the expected duration of the arrangements and the steps to bring the arrangements to an end, including arrangements for the child to return to live with parents/anyone with Parental Responsibility; where the child is aged 16 or over and agrees to being provided with accommodation under Section 20 Children Act 1989, that fact.
The circumstances in which it is necessary to obtain in advance the Local Authority's approval for the child to take part in school trips or overnight stays
The Local Authority's arrangements for the financial support of the child during the placement
The obligation on the carers to comply with the terms of the foster care agreement.

2.5 Notification of Placement

In order to ensure the appropriate arrangements to pay carers are in place, the child’s social worker must complete form C250 and pass it onto administrative staff as soon as possible.

The notifications should be made before the start of the placement wherever possible, or within five working days.

Notification of the placement must also be sent to all those consulted and involved in the decision-making process.

The social worker must also notify the following:

The Conference and Reviews Unit. This notification may be given verbally, to an already allocated Independent Reviewing Officer, but must also always be confirmed in writing.

This notification will trigger, if necessary, the appointment of an Independent Reviewing Officer, who will contact the social worker to make arrangements for a Looked After Review.

The appropriate health trust, local education authority and Children's Social Care Services for the area where the child is placed.

These notifications must be made in writing advising of the placement decision and the name and address of the home where the child is to be placed.

It will be necessary for the social worker to ensure the child is registered with a GP, Dentist and Optician, either retaining practices known to them or in the area where they are placed.

In relation to a first Looked After placement it will also be necessary for the social worker to arrange a Health Care Assessment (See Health Care Assessments and Plans Procedure).

The social worker must also complete a Personal Education Plan (see Education of Looked After Children Procedure).

3. Support, Monitoring and Ending of Placements

3.1 Support And monitoring Of Placements

The child’s social worker must visit the child in the placement within one week of the placement and then at specified intervals; See Social Worker Visits Procedure.

Also see Placement Plan Reviews Procedure (to follow)

The Placement Coordination Team (MAPT Administrator) will also liaise with health and education in relation to jointly funded placements with external providers, and will maintain contact with external providers in relation to the children placed with them, taking up with them any concerns or funding issues as soon as they are drawn to the Team’s attention.

Where the needs of the child in the placement will involve costs in addition to those approved, the placement must be referred by the social worker to the Multi Agency Placements Team for authority for any such additional costs before they are incurred.

The records should be monitored for quality, adequacy and retention.

3.2 Ending of Placements

All those notified of the placement should be notified also when a placement ends.

All written information on the child, which the foster carer holds, should be transferred to the fostering link worker for transfer to the child's social worker.

Children must, when they leave the home, be helped to understand the reasons and be supported with the transition - including return home and independence.

Foster carers must be supported to maintain links with children who leave their care where appropriate.

Where a placement with an external provider ends in an unplanned way, the child's social worker will call a meeting to discuss the causes of the breakdown and inform further placement planning. The child's social worker, the child, the parents, a representative of the external provider and any other significant people (as agreed by the child's social worker) should be invited.

4. Permanent Placements

4.1 Identification and Approval of Placement

Where a child’s proposed placement with a foster carer is to achieve Permanence or the plan is for the existing placement to become permanent, the request for a placement must be made directly to the Designated Manager (Permanent Placements). The referral must include minutes of the last review meeting, a Core Assessment and a Referral for Service Form.

The following must occur in order to obtain the necessary approval:

In relation to children under 12, the plan to achieve permanence for the child through a long term foster placement must initially be referred to the Adoption Panel upon whose recommendation the Designated Manager (Permanent Placements) can give approval in principle.

Where the identified foster carers are not already approved as long-term foster carers, it will be necessary to conduct an assessment to obtain such approval.

When complete, the assessment should be presented to the Fostering Approvals Panel, who may recommend to the Designated Manager (Permanent Placements) that the foster carers be approved as long term.

In all cases, an assessment of the suitability of the match of the long-term foster carers to the child or children in question should be conducted.

In these circumstances, the child’s social worker should liaise with the foster carers’ supervising social worker to agree who should undertake the assessment. Where the child is already placed with the foster carers, the assessments must be completed within 4 months.

When complete, the assessments should be presented to the Fostering Approvals Panel, who may recommend to the Designated Manager (Permanent Placements) that the matching be approved.

The Panel will require the following information:

In relation to the foster carers:

BAAF Form F updated as necessary Last foster home review report
Fostering Approvals Panel minute recommending approval of foster carer’s long term status
Up to date medical report from GP and any further information required by the Medical Adviser

In relation to the child:

BAAF Form E if available; full pen picture of child if not
Looked After Review minute recommending the plan for the placement
Personal Education Plan
Any specialist assessments and up to date medical information
Report of any home-finding

4.2 Disruption Meetings

Where a long-term foster placement, which was intended to be permanent, breaks down, the child’s social worker will arrange a disruption meeting to:

Help the child by understanding his or her needs better
Improve practice by understanding what went wrong
Recognise all the positive work and good experiences for the child, among the difficulties
Support every-one involved and enable them to carry on and recover
Demonstrate that disruption is never the fault of one or two people or the result of a single factor, but the outcome of a series of connected factors.

The Chair of the meeting should be independent of the placement.

Those invited should be:

The foster carers and fostering link worker
The child’s social worker and practice manager
The present carers, where appropriate

The agenda should consider the following:

The child’s early history before being looked after
The child’s care history before the placement
The assessment and preparation of the foster carers and the child
The matching decision in relation to the placement
The introductory period
The actual placement
What has happened since the disruption
The child’s current priority needs.

Where a former carer's records are requested by a new agency, these must be made available within one month of the request.

5. Placement Strategy

5.1 Purpose of the Strategy

The purpose of the Strategy is to ensure that:

All Looked After Children are only placed in the Looked After Service after a full assessment of their needs has been carried out, other than in an emergency when a full assessment is not possible.
All Looked After Children are only placed in the Looked After Service once it is demonstrated that they cannot be retained with support, in their own family or community.
A clear Placement Plan is drawn up, which identifies how the placement will meet the child’s needs and that all possibilities for the safe rehabilitation of the child to their own family have been exhausted.
The placement provides appropriate, high quality care.
Permanence is achieved as soon as possible either through the child’s return home or through permanent substitute care.

5.2 Assessment

All children referred for placement must have been subject to a Core Assessment. This should normally have been completed prior to a child becoming Looked After, but should be completed after placement if this is not the case.

All children referred for placement should have been considered at a meeting of the Family Support Panel (see Family Support Panel Procedures)

5.3 Planning

Placements will be made in a planned way wherever possible.

Appropriate Plans will be in place – see Decision to Look After, Care Plans and Permanence Planning Procedure.

5.4 Quality Assurance

The Commissioning Team, in consultation with the allocated social worker and team manager, will draw up and agree contracts with all external providers. Preferred providers will always be used in the first instance.

All external placements will be reviewed on a regular basis by a meeting of Managers from Resource and Care Management and Education. External placements are also reviewed at the Multi Agency Placement Team Meeting.

Placements will be made within the child’s family network wherever possible.

Where this is not possible, children will be placed in a family placement.

No child under 12 will be placed in a residential placement except where this has been shown to best meet the child’s identified needs.

Requests for residential placements for children over 12 must be supported by a written needs assessment.

Placements will be in in-house resources and local (within 20 miles of Bradford) wherever possible.

Placement moves will be avoided unless these are part of the Placement Plan whereby children are to return to in-house resources.

Where a placement ends in an unplanned way, the child’s social worker will convene a meeting to discuss the causes of the breakdown. Where the placement was intended as permanent, the Fostering or Adoption Service will convene the meeting. (Circumstances in which a child moves from a placement made with an external provider on a short-term basis while an in-house resource is being identified are not considered as unplanned for these purposes.)

When planning for placements, the contribution that any or all in-house services can make to the placement should be considered.

5.5 Permanence

The child should be returned home as soon as possible where this is in his or her best interests.

Permanent substitute care will be planned at an early stage with adoption considered for all Looked After Children.

Adoption for children will be considered at the child’s second Looked After Review.

No placement with an external provider will be regarded or confirmed as permanent except in exceptional circumstances.

Social workers should not discuss this possibility in any depth with carers from external providers or with children unless and until this has been agreed with the MAPT (Multi Agency Placement Team) and the Designated Manager (External Placements).