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Contents

1.	Planned Placements
	i.	Introduction
	ii.	Approval of Decision to Place Child with Parents
	iii.	Placement with parents' strategy
	iv.	Consultation before placement
	v.	Assessment and checks before placement
	vi.	Assessment of Parents' Suitability to Care for the Child
	vii.	Relevant plans
	viii.	Approval of the placement
	ix.	Short term placements
	x.	Notification of placement
	xi.	Support and monitoring of placement
	xii.	Ending of placement
2.	Unplanned Placements
3.	Placement for Residential Assessment
4.	Immediate Placements

1. Planned Placements

In exceptional circumstances a child may be placed without the immediate need for the following procedures; please see Section 2, Unplanned Placements.

i. Introduction

A child must not be  placed with parents if that would be incompatible with an order as to contact under Section 34 Children Act 1989.

The Local Authority should consider whether the Care Order is still required. The Authority and parents may agree to apply to discharge the Care Order; such an agreement must include the level of support and supervision by the Local Authority, and co-operation by parents.

The Authority must provide such services and support to the parents as appear to be necessary to safeguard and promote the child's welfare, and record details in the Care Plan and Placement Plan (see  (vi) Assessment of Parents Suitability to Care for the Child as to additional information to be provided).

ii. Approval of Decision to Place Child with Parents

A decision to place the child with the parents must not be put into effect until it has been approved by the Nominated Officer (the Designated Manager (Placement with Parents)) and the Placement Plan prepared.

The Nominated Officer must be satisfied that:

• The child's wishes and feelings have been ascertained and given due consideration;
• The assessment of parents' suitability to care for the child (see below) has been completed;
• The placement will safeguard and promote the child's welfare;
• The Independent Reviewing Officer has been consulted (this is a new requirement)

iii. Placement with parents' strategy

Before a placement with parents is sought consideration must be given to:

1. The overall aim of the plan and how the placement contributes to this. The child should not remain at home on a Care Order any longer than is necessary and the variation or revocation of the order must be addressed before the placement is made
2. Being specific about the nature and the source of support (which may come from a variety of agencies) to the parent before the plan is drawn up
3. The need for support by the parent must be expected to diminish as time goes on

iv. Consultation before Placement

Before a child is placed, the following people must be consulted and their views accounted for:

1. The Child
2. Both Parents including a parent who is not the proposed carer of the child
3. Any other member of the family who is significant to the child
4. Relevant health practitioners including the child’s GP
5. The child’s school and the local education authority
6. The Foster Carer or manager of the children’s home currently caring for the child
7. The probation service if it has contact with the family
8. The Police
9. The Youth Offending Service
10. The Independent Reviewing Officer (IRO)

The views of these people should be given by them, in writing, or should be recorded in the case file by the social worker.

The proposed placement should also be referred to the Family Support Panel(see Family Support Panel Procedure)

v. Assessment and Checks before Placement

The suitability of the proposed placement should be assessed through:

• Obtaining relevant information about the proposed main carer or carers and all members of the household
• Inspecting the accommodation and
• Checking the proposed carer and all adult members of the household with the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB), the carer’s GP, NSPCC and Children's Social Care Services records.

vi. Assessment of Parents' Suitability to Care for the Child

Before deciding to place a child with parents, the Local Authority must:

• Consider whether, in all the circumstances and taking into account the services to be provided by the Local Authority, the placement will safeguard and promote the child's welfare and meet his/her needs set out in the Care Plan, and
• Review the child's case
• Assess the suitability of the parents  to care for the child, including the suitability of the proposed accommodation and all other members of the household over 18

Take into account: 

1. The parents' capacity to care for children and,  in particular in relation to the child:
   • To provide for the child 's physical needs and appropriate medical and dental care;
   • To protect the child adequately from harm or danger, including any person who presents a risk of harm to the child;
   • To ensure that the home environment is safe for the child;
   • To ensure that the child's emotional needs are met and he/she is provided with a positive sense of self, including any particular needs arising from religious persuasion, racial origin, and cultural and linguistic background, and any disability the child  has;
   • To promote the child's learning and intellectual development   through encouragement, cognitive stimulation and the promotion of educational success and social opportunities;
   • To enable the child  to regulate his/her emotions and behaviour, including by modelling appropriate behaviour and interactions with others;
   • To provide a stable family environment to enable the child  to develop and maintain secure attachments to the parents and other persons who provide care for the child.
2. The parents' state of health (physical, emotional and mental).  This is now extended to include the parents' medical history, including current or past issues of domestic violence, substance misuse or mental health problems;
3. The parents' family relationships and the composition of the parents' household, including:
   • The identity of all other members of the household, their age and the nature of their relationship with parents and one another, including any sexual relationship; their relationship with any parent of the child;
   • Other adults who are not members of the household but are likely to have regular contact with the child;
   • Current/previous domestic violence between household members including the parents
4. The parents' family history, including:
   • The particulars of the parents'  childhood and upbringing, including the strengths and difficulties of their parents/carers;
   • The parents'  relationship  with their parents and  siblings, and their relationships with each other;
   • The parents' educational achievement, including any specific learning difficulty/disability;
   • A chronology of significant life events;
   • Other relatives and their relationships with the child  and parents
5. Criminal offences of which the parents have been convicted or cautioned
6. Parents' past and present employment/sources of income
7. The nature of the neighbourhood and resources available in the community to support the child  and parents  
   • In relation to other members of the parents' household, the assessment must take account of the above considerations except (d), (f) and (g).

The assessment should include any available information about the parents' previous experiences of looking after children.  Where a parent has other children subject to care/adoption orders, earlier case records should be explored to ascertain the circumstances which led to social work involvement, and any indication that the capacity of the parent to bring up children has changed

vii. Relevant Plans

In normal circumstances, the child’s placement with his or her parent must be part of the Care Plan upon the recommendation of a Looked After Review.  

The Care Plan should be completed before the child is placed. If there are exceptional circumstances preventing this, the manager can authorise that the Care Plan is completed up to a maximum of seven days after the placement starts. This plan must specifically state the source and frequency of support to the family.

Prior to the placement, a Placement Plan (recorded on Placement Information Record) must be drawn up by the child’s social worker in consultation with the parent(s).

If the child has previously suffered Significant Harm when living with the parent, the placement must be in the Care Plan upon the recommendation of a Child Protection Review Conference.

viii. Approval of the Placement

Before the placement is made, approval must be obtained from the Nominated Officer Designated Manager (Placement with Parents).

The manager will require evidence that the consultation, enquiries and checks required under this procedure have been carried out. The minutes of the Looked After Review or Child Protection Review Conference will be taken as evidence of the consultation with those present.

The manager must also be satisfied of the following:

• That the Care Plan has been amended or that it will be within seven days of the placement
• That a Placement Plan has been drawn up and agreed by the parent who is the proposed carer.

ix. Short Term Placements

Where the relevant Plan or Plans provide for a series of short term placements of a child with a parent, the requirements as to consultation, enquiries and checks can be carried out once only rather than every time a placement is made, provided that

• All the placements take place within a twelve months period
• No single placement is for a period of more than 17 days and
• The total duration of the placements does not exceed 75 days.

If a series of short-term placements is part of a longer-term rehabilitation plan, further consultation and approval must be obtained before the rehabilitation plan is extended or the child is returned to the parent’s full-time care.

x. Notification of Placement

Notification of the placement must be sent to all those consulted and involved in the decision-making process. Where the child is to be placed with a parent who lives outside Bradford, notification should also be sent to Children's Social Care Services,  education authority and the relevant health trust for the area where the parent lives. 

Notifications must advise of the placement decision, the name and address of the person with whom the child is to be placed, details relating to the child’s contact with others and the arrangements related to the care and welfare of the child.

Where the child was previously placed with foster carers, the social worker should complete Form C250 which will end the payments to the foster carers.

The social worker must also ensure that the child is registered with a GP, Dentist and Optician; and that a Health Care Assessment takes place.

xi. Support and Monitoring of Placement

The child’s social worker must visit the child in the placement within one week of the placement and at intervals of no more than 6 weeks during the first year of the placement.

If there is a series of short-term placements, the child’s social worker must visit the child at least once every week either during the placement or before the next placement occurs.

In the second year of the placement and subsequent years, the child’s social worker should visit the child at least every three months and whenever reasonably requested by the child or the carer. 

Wherever possible, the child must be seen with the carer and alone. If this is not possible, a further visit must be made at short notice in order that the child can be seen alone and observed with the carer. 

The social worker must also ensure that Placement Plan Reviews are conducted; see procedures contained in Placement Plan Reviews Procedure (to follow).

xii. Ending of Placement

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

2. Unplanned Placements

The Designated Manager (Placement with Parents) can approve an unplanned placement without the necessary consultation and checks having been made provided that:

1. There are exceptional circumstances which justify an unplanned placement
2. There has been an interview with the proposed carer who agrees to the placement,
3. The accommodation has been inspected and
4. Information has been obtained as to the other people in the household.

The reasons for a decision to place a child on this basis must be fully recorded, signed by the Designated Manager and placed on the child’s file. In these circumstances, the Care Plan should be amended at the time or within a maximum of seven days of the placement.

A Placement Plan must also be completed, as far as possible, before or on the day of the placement and approved by the manager.

Thereafter, the full requirements of the procedure for planned placements must be completed within 6 weeks of the placement.

3. Placement for Residential Assessment

Where the placement with parents is for the purposes of a the family being the subject of a residential assessment, the social worker should follow the procedures set out in Section 1, Planned Placements, with the exception of 1.2 Assessment and Checks before Placement. Such a placement would only be possible following a recommendation from the Family Support Panel that the case be considered by the Multi Agency Placement Team.

Instead, the social worker must make a referral to the Placement Co-ordination Team for a suitable residential placement to be identified and the same procedures should be followed in relation to the Placement Request and Identification of a Placement as are set out in Placements in Foster Care Procedure.

4. Immediate Placements

Placement of Child with Parents before Assessment Completed

There is a new provision that, where the Nominated Officer considers it necessary and consistent with the child's welfare,  the child may be placed with parents before the Assessment of Parents' Suitability to Care for the Child has been completed, provided: 

• Arrangements are made for the parents to be interviewed to obtain as much of the assessment information as can be readily ascertained at that interview;
• The assessment and the review of the child's case are completed within 10 working days of the child being placed; 
• The decision on placement is made and approved within 10 working days of  the assessment being completed, and
• If the decision is to confirm the placement, the Placement Plan is reviewed (and if appropriate amended);
• If the decision is not to confirm the placement, the placement is terminated.

Practitioners should also seek to meet with all other members of the household before placing the child.  This is particularly relevant to identifying issues such as domestic violence and substance misuse which may impact on the child's safety.

End