Looked After Children Living with Connected People

The manager of the Family and Friends Team (Family Placement) should be made aware of a prospective placement as soon as possible and will allocate a social worker from the team. Joint working at an early stage to jointly assess any prospective emergency placement complies with the Fostering Services (England) Regulations 2011. See Appendix 3: Assessment Report Regulation 24 Relative or Friend of a Child or Connected Person as temporary approved foster carer, pending full approval of a Named Child - to follow.

Following discussions between the child's social worker and the Team Manager regarding the appropriateness of placement, the child’s social worker /assessing social worker should proceed as outlined in Appendix 1: Connected Persons Flowchart. Matters to be taken into account when assessing the suitability of a connected person line with schedule 4:

1. The nature and quality of any existing relationship with the child;
2. Their capacity to care for children and in particular in relation to the child to:
   1. Provide for the child's physical needs and appropriate medical and dental care;
   2. Protect the child adequately from harm or danger including from any person who presents a risk of harm to the child;
   3. Ensure that the accommodation and home environment is suitable with regard to the age and developmental stage of the child;
   4. Promote the child's learning and development; and
   5. Provide a stable family environment which will promote secure attachments for the child, including promoting positive contact with parents and other connected persons, unless to do this is not consistent with the duty to safeguard and promote the child's welfare.
3. Their state of health including their physical, emotional and mental health and medical history including any current or past issues of domestic violence, substance misuse or mental health problems;
4. Their family relationships and the composition of their household, including particulars of:
   1. The identity of all other members of the household, including their age and the nature of their relationship with the Connected Person and with each other, including any sexual relationship;
   2. Any relationship with any person who is a parent of the child;
   3. Any relationship between the child and other members of the household;
   4. Other adults not being members of the household who are likely to have regular contact with the child; and
   5. Any current or previous domestic violence between members of the household, including the connected person.
5. Their family history, including:
   1. Particulars of their childhood and upbringing including the strengths and difficulties of their parents or other persons who cared for them;
   2. Their relationships with their parents and siblings, and their relationships with each other;
   3. Their educational achievement and any specific learning difficulty or disability, a chronology of significant life events; and
   4. A chronology of significant life events; and
   5. Particulars of other relatives and their relationships with the child and the Connected Person.
6. Particulars of any criminal offences of which they have been convicted or in respect of which they have been cautioned;
7. Their past and present employment and other sources of income; and
8. The nature of the neighbourhood in which their home is situated and resources available in the community to support the child and the Connected Person.

To complete the Assessment, the social worker must undertake a home visit(s) to the family or friend to interview them and:

• Be satisfied that the placement is the most suitable means to safeguard and protect the child's welfare;
• Inspect the home including sleeping arrangements and decide whether it is safe and appropriate for the child/ren;
• Obtain information about the members of the household and carry out statutory checks including Disclosure and Barring Service checks on all members of the household who are aged 18 years of age and over;
• Obtain the carers written consent for the statutory checks;
• Identify what support available will safeguard, and promote the welfare of the child and meet the child's needs as detailed in the Care Plan;
• Gain written agreement from the carers that they will allow social workers to visit the home and the children, that they will inform social workers of changes of their circumstances and that they will not use any form of physical punishment. See Appendix 4: Family and Friends Care Agreement.
  
  When the Assessment has been completed, and if it identifies a temporary arrangement is appropriate, the Assessment and Care Plan should be forwarded to the relevant head of service who will agree temporary approval of the placement.

At the point of placement the social worker will:

• Pass on any necessary Looked After children documentation to the carers: medical consent, risk assessment, as well as Care Plan, in accordance with Fostering Services (England) Regulations 2011;
• The child's social worker will need to complete a change of circumstance form;
• Regulations 28 and 29 of the Care Planning, Placement and Case Review (England) Regulations 2010 require that the child is seen alone (unless the child, being of sufficient age and understanding to do so, refuses/ the social worker is unable or considers it inappropriate to do so, having regard to the child's age and understanding), and that visits take place weekly until the child's first Looked After Review, thereafter at intervals of not more than 4 weeks;
• The family and friends applicants will then need to be added to Liquid Logic as temporary carers;
• Immediate arrangements are made for a full assessment to be undertaken within the 16 week period and presented to foster panel for approval (an additional 8 weeks are available in exceptional circumstances - Regulation 25.

Expiry of temporary approval:

1. Subject to paragraph (4), the responsible authority may extend the temporary approval of a Connected Person if:
   1. It is likely to expire before the full assessment process is completed; or
   2. The Connected Person, having undergone the full assessment process, is not approved and seeks a review of the decision in accordance with Regulations made under paragraph 12F (1) (b) of Schedule 2 to the 1989 Act (1).
2. In a case falling within paragraph (1)(a), the responsible authority may extend the temporary approval once for a further period of up to eight weeks;
3. In a case falling within paragraph (1)(b), the responsible authority may extend the temporary approval until the outcome of the review is known;
4. Before deciding whether to extend the temporary approval in the circumstances set out in paragraph (1), the responsible authority must first:
   1. Consider whether placement with the Connected Person is still the most appropriate placement available;
   2. Seek the views of the fostering panel established by the fostering service provider in accordance with the Fostering Services (England) Regulations 2011; and
   3. Inform the Independent Reviewing Officer (IRO).
5. A decision to extend temporary approval must be approved by the Nominated Officer;
6. If the period of temporary approval and of any extension to that period expires and the Connected Person has not been approved as a local authority foster parent in accordance with the 2011 Regulations, the responsible authority must terminate the placement after first making other arrangements for the child's accommodation.

New Guidance on the Assessment & Approval of foster carers, issued under the Care Planning, Placement and Case Review and Fostering Services (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2013 states that if, at any point during Stage 1 of the assessment process the agency decision maker decides that the applicant is not suitable to foster, they must write to the applicant informing them of their decision and give full reasons for it. At the latest, the decision must be made within 10 working days of the information required by stage 1 being received.

If during stage 1 it is decided that an applicant is not suitable to foster, the applicant has no right of review of this decision by the Independent Review Mechanism (IRM) or to make representations to the fostering service provider. However, if they are unhappy about the way their case has been handled, they are able to complain using the fostering service’s complaints procedure. This would address only the way their application was handled, not their suitability to foster.

If it is decided to proceed to stage 2 of the assessment, further information will be sought by the fostering service. Once a Stage 2 assessment has been started, it must be completed, unless:

• The applicant withdraws from the process;
• The applicant is deemed unsuitable as a result of stage 1 of the assessment & only where stages 1 and 2 have been carried out concurrently);
• It becomes apparent that the applicant or a member of their household has been convicted of or cautioned for specified offence (see Regulation 26(6)).

If during stage 2 of the assessment, information comes to light indicating that the applicants is unsuitable to foster, a “brief report” can be written setting out details of the assessment so far and the reasons for considering the applicant unsuitable.

The applicant must be notified that a Brief Report is being sent to the panel, provided with a copy of this report, (this will need to be discussed with the legal team) and given 10 working days from the date of the notification to send their observations to the fostering provider.

The brief report will be presented to panel along with any observations submitted by the applicant for the panel to consider. The agency decision maker will then make any decision as to whether to terminate the assessment taking into account the recommendations of the panel.

If it is determined that an applicant is not suitable to foster, they must be informed in writing of this decision, the reasons for it, and that they may, (within 28 calendar days) seek a review of this decision (known as a Qualifying Determination) by the IRM or make representations to the fostering service’s own panel.

Upon completion of Stage 2 a written report, covering both stages 1 and 2 of the assessment should be completed, with recommendations as to the applicant’s suitability and terms of approval. As with the brief report, the applicant must be notified that the full assessment report is to be sent to panel, provided with a copy of the report (following discussion with LA legal department), and given 10 working days from the date of the notification to send their observations to the fostering service.

The full assessment report must then be presented to panel together with any observations submitted by the applicant and any other relevant information.

The details included in the assessment form need to be proportionate to the circumstances of the case. It should be noted that family and friends care often involves complex adjustments in relationships within the family. For example, divided loyalties, loss, blame guilt can all arise and carers may need support in managing some of these dynamics and in helping the child to manage and understand them too.

The assessment also covers the carers' understanding of the reasons for the child being unable to live with their birth parent/s at this moment in time and what support and services the carers might need in order to meet the child's needs.

The assessment should be conducted in light of the fact that there is a legal presumption in favour of relatives caring for a child/ren (Children Act 1989). The onus is therefore on the Local Authority to demonstrate or show evidence of prospective family and friends carers' unsuitability.

The assessment should be approached in partnership with the family and friend’s carer and take proper regard of all the positives they can offer.

It may also be important to assess the carer's abilities to overcome past difficulties and for the assessing social worker to form an understanding of the insight they have gained by doing so.

The assessment will conclude with an analysis carried out by the assessing social worker, of the risks and benefits to the child, including what steps might be taken to remedy any risks.

The analysis should include an assessment of the carer's parenting capacities and how effectively the carers will meet the child's needs, particularly the child's long term needs if he/she will need to remain with these carers into adulthood.

When approval of a long-term placement with family/friends carers for a child under 10 is sought, a child permanency report will need to be completed by the child's social worker. When approval is sought for a child over the age of 10 then the child’s social worker will need to complete a child’s profile Appendix 7: Child(ren)'s Needs (Information) (Coram BAAF Form C Sections A & B) - to follow.

The assessing social worker and the child's social worker will then need to present these reports to panel for approval/advice/direction. It is usual for applicants to be invited to attend the fostering panel, along with their assessing social worker, when their application is being discussed so that they can answer any questions panel may have for them.

Once Panel has made their recommendation, the Agency Decision Maker will make their decision taking into account panel’s recommendation.

Once a foster carer is approved, they must be notified in writing of this fact and of their terms of approval. These will specify, for example, that they may foster only a specific child. Terms may include, short term, long term, respite, or shared care placements, and family and friends foster carers will be required to sign a family and friends Foster Care Agreement with their fostering service.

In Family and Friends care arrangements, birth parent/s retain legal Parental Responsibility for the child. In situations, therefore, where a child needs a long-term or permanent placement away from home, workers should discuss with the carers the benefits to the child of carers applying for a Child Arrangement Order or Special Guardianship Order, which would give the carers and the child a legally protected parental arrangement.