3.1.1 Children in Care Policy Statement |
AMENDMENTS
This chapter was updated in September 2011 to take account of the Care Planning, Placement and Case Review (England) Regulations 2010. The changes are in Sections 3.1 (Permanence Plan to be in place by the time of second Child Care Review); 3.3 (avoidance of disruption in education in Key Stage 4); 3.6 (timing of social worker visits), and the updating of legislative references in section 5.
Contents
1. Guiding Principles
| 1.1 | The foremost consideration in all Peterborough City Council’s involvement in children’s lives is to promote and safeguard their welfare through good quality care and education. There are unique advantages for children to be brought up in their own families and every effort should be made to support families to provide the best quality care for their children. |
| 1.2 | Services will be provided in partnership with parents and will seek to enhance rather than substitute the family’s capacity to care for their child. No child, therefore, should enter or remain in care where it is within Peterborough City Council’s means to provide services which would enable the child to live with their family. |
| 1.3 | Peterborough City Council recognises the serious consequences for children who are separated from their families and therefore a decision for a child to come into care will only be made when family and community networks have been extensively explored, when it is clear that the child’s situation will be improved by being in care and when there is no alternative to securing the safety and wellbeing of the child. |
| 1.4 | Being in care is not an end in itself and whenever a child comes into care, their need for long term security will be the primary consideration and continued contact with their family will be actively promoted wherever possible. |
| 1.5 | Disabled children are children first and wherever possible will have their needs met through mainstream services which aim to maximise their potential and which give them the opportunities available to all children within their families and their community. |
2. Policy Statement for Children in Care
| 2.1 | Peterborough City Council’s policy reflects the principles of the Children Acts 1989 and 2004, which promote children being brought up by their families where they are most likely to achieve the best life chances. Every effort will be made to enable children to remain in their families and intervention in children and families’ lives will be kept to the minimum required to ensure the safety and wellbeing of the child. |
| 2.2 | The City Council will work in partnership with agencies providing services to children and families in Peterborough, both to prevent children coming into care and to provide the best possible care and support when in care. This is in the belief that partnership arrangements are the most effective means of ensuring that a child’s needs are met holistically, in keeping with the principles of Every Child Matters and the National Service Framework for Children, Young People and Maternity Services. |
| 2.3 | Assessment of need will take into account resources available through family and community networks and professional services will be directed to support those networks where necessary. |
| 2.4 | We will aim to support children and their families with good quality services within their community to prevent the need for children to come into care. Where it is in the best interests of the child, respite and short term breaks will be provided to support parents in meeting their children’s needs and to prevent the need for longer-term care. |
| 2.5 | A decision for a child to come into care will only be made where it is established that support to the family network cannot ensure adequately the safety and wellbeing of the child. Any decision for a child to come into care must balance the risks associated with care against those associated with remaining in their family’s care. |
| 2.6 | Any decision for a child to come into care must give due weight to the significance this holds for intervention in the child and their family’s life. This decision will not be made solely on the basis of access to resources. The first consideration must always be to provide services without the need for care and a child must not come into care unless this is the only means of meeting their needs. |
| 2.7 | The event of a child coming into care should be seen as a positive and flexible option, serving as a pathway to secure the future of the child, either with their family, with an alternative family or, for an older child, through independence. |
| 2.8 | Every effort will be made to ensure the child’s speedy return home, providing that this is consistent with their welfare. Where this is not possible, the child and their parents will be helped to consider alternatives and to contribute to making an informed choice about the most appropriate arrangements to secure the child’s future care. |
| 2.9 | Parents will be expected and enabled to exercise their Parental Responsibility and to remain as closely involved in the child’s life as is consistent with their child’s welfare. |
| 2.10 | Peterborough City Council will ensure that legal interventions are kept to the minimum necessary to secure safety and well being of the child. |
| 2.11 | We will always work in partnership with children and young people, subject to their age and understanding, ensuring that children and young people are given the opportunity to participate in decisions about their lives, to contribute their views about services they receive or need and are kept informed about matters which affect their lives. |
| 2.12 | Intervention will be based on the best available evidence about what is effective. |
| 2.13 | Peterborough City Council adheres to the principles of corporate parenting, aiming to provide children in care with the same degree of support as that which would be provided by any good parent, taking into account the child’s need for care, education, good health, security, respect and support into adulthood. Councillors and officers in all Council departments will seek to ensure that the services for which they are responsible make a positive contribution to this objective. |
| 2.14 | Peterborough City Council also aims to ensure that children are securely attached to carers capable of providing safe and effective care for the duration of their childhood. The City Council aims to do so by providing good quality placements and care planning which actively promote the child’s long-term security without unnecessary delay, through early rehabilitation or where this is not possible, through permanent alternative care. |
| 2.15 | Peterborough City Council has a duty to reduce the risk of a young person committing offences and to provide alternatives to custody for the more serious offenders. Services will be provided which minimise the possibility of placement in secure accommodation or custody. |
| 2.16 | Every young person in care who is the responsibility of Peterborough City Council, regardless of where they are placed, will be properly prepared for their move to independence and will have access to the full range of support to become independent at a time which is appropriate for that young person. |
| 2.17 | Provision of services in all cases must be cost effective to maximise the use of resources available for all children in Peterborough. |
3. Statements of Intent
3.1 Care Planning
We will ensure that children in care are cared for in a way which continuously promotes their wellbeing, maximises their life chances, effectively secures their long-term future and meets their racial, cultural, linguistic and religious needs.
The Care Plan must demonstrate that the child’s quality of life and life chances are improved through coming into care.
Care planning for children in care will reflect good childcare practice, in accordance with the Children Act 1989, Adoption and Children Act 2002 and the National Minimum Standards for fostering, residential and adoption services.
Care planning will ensure that the child’s need for long-term security is the primary consideration and that a Permanence Plan is in place within four months of the child coming into care, i.e by the time of the child’s second Child Care Review.
The Care Plan will actively aim to secure the child’s long term future through early reunification with their family of origin or, where this is not possible, through long term placement with an alternative family – wherever possible this will be a relative friend or other connected person - by the most legally secure route possible in the child’s particular circumstances.
Parallel planning for reunification or alternative placement will take place to ensure that the child’s long-term future is secured without delay, should reunification with their family not be possible.
Parents will be actively encouraged to participate in planning for their child and their views will be respected so far as may be consistent with the child’s welfare.
All children in care will have a written Care Plan which is confirmed and reviewed through the statutory review process. All children of sufficient age and understanding will receive a copy of this plan in a format appropriate to their age, development and understanding.
Care planning will be monitored at each statutory Child Care Review, which will take place at the prescribed statutory minimum intervals and additionally whenever there is a change in the plan. Any request by a parent or child for an additional review will be given serious consideration. All children of sufficient age and understanding will be invited and receive a copy of their review in a format appropriate to their age, development and understanding.
Care planning will take place in consultation with the child, subject to their age and understanding, and those with Parental Responsibility.
Peterborough City Council will ensure that Care Plans for all children in care aged 16 or over will include a Pathway Plan identifying how the young person’s needs will be met up to the age of 21 or 25 if in further education or training.
3.2 Contact
See also Contact Policy for Children in Care
We will promote, encourage and facilitate contact between children in care, their families of origin and others who have played an important part in their lives.
Care planning will establish arrangements for contact, which meet the child’s needs and promote their best interests.
Where it is deemed necessary for contact to be supervised, the reason for supervision and the arrangements for recording and reporting of contact will be carefully considered and clearly recorded.
Arrangements for contact will be monitored and discussed at each review where the views of children, parents and carers will be considered and taken into account.
Peterborough City Council will ensure that every effort is made for children in care to maintain links with their family or origin, through face to face contact or alternative indirect contact where direct contact is not possible or appropriate.
Contact will only be refused where it is deemed contrary to the interests of the child’s welfare. In such circumstances, the child will be given an explanation appropriate to their age and understanding. The reasons will be clearly recorded on the child’s file and appropriate legal authority for refusal of contact will be sought.
Arrangements for contact will be clearly documented and provided in writing to all parties.
3.3 Education
We will ensure that all children in care have access to education that meets their needs and that they are encouraged and supported to achieve their learning potential.
Peterborough City Council will maintain a comprehensive policy for the education of children in care in accordance with its duty to promote the education of children in care. Policy and practice will meet the requirements of statutory guidance and will be regularly reviewed in the light of developing practice.
Each child in care will have a Personal Education Plan (PEP), which represents effective joint planning, reflects the child’s aspirations and abilities and helps raise their achievement.
Each school will have an appointed and trained designated teacher for children in care who will ensure that the educational needs of every child in care within the school are actively promoted by overseeing the implementation of each PEP and acting as a formal channel of communication.
We will ensure that all children in care are involved in and consulted about decisions relating to their education. Their views will be carefully considered and recorded.
Every effort will be made to maintain educational stability for a child in care. Changes of school place will only be made after careful consideration of all the circumstances and in consultation with all relevant professionals, carers and the child. Placement changes will not be made in a period running up to or during examinations, except where unavoidable through genuine emergency. As required by regulations, any changes of placement affecting a child in Key Stage 4 will only be made if approved by a senior manager, except in an emergency and/or where the placement is terminated because of an immediate risk of serious harm to the child or to protect others from serious injury.
The educational progress of each child in care will be monitored at their statutory Child Care Review. Wherever possible, for children in care who have a Statement of Special Educational Needs (SEN), the annual statement review will be co-ordinated with the timing for their statutory Child Care Review.
Peterborough City Council will work in partnership with schools and carers to promote the educational achievement of children in care.
Every child in care will have the opportunity to participate in ‘out of school hours learning’, including academic, cultural, sporting and leisure activities, to broaden their educational achievement and to promote confidence and self-esteem.
3.4 Health
Children in care will be provided with care that actively promotes their health and which supports them in making healthy choices for life-long wellbeing.
Peterborough City Council will ensure that all children in care are encouraged to lead healthy lives and to make healthy choices with the aim of ensuring that each child reaches adulthood with an understanding of their own health needs and how to meet them.
All children in care will be registered with a GP and dentist. Regular appointments will be arranged with the dentist and optician.
Information regarding ongoing medical appointments will be obtained from the parent or previous carer when a child comes into care and whenever a child changes placement. Continuity of health care will be assured as a priority.
Through statutory Health Care Assessments and personal Health Action Plans, we will ensure that all outstanding issues relating to the child’s physical or mental health are brought promptly to the attention of the relevant health professionals.
Through statutory notification to relevant authorities, we will ensure that continuity of health care is assured wherever there is a change in the child’s circumstances.
Statutory Health Care Assessments will be undertaken with sensitivity to the child’s wishes and feelings and the child’s ability to give consent, according to their age and understanding. Where a child of sufficient age and understanding refuses to give consent to the assessment, their view will be respected. In these circumstances, the young person will be advised of alternative avenues for health information and advice that may be appropriate to their needs.
Working in partnership with health services, we will provide dedicated Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) to children in care, to ensure speedy access to services and specialist expertise, recognising the particular needs of children in care, their families and their carers.
The health of each child in care will be monitored at their statutory Child Care Review.
We aim to enhance the physical and mental health and emotional well being of every child in care by enabling each child to develop sporting and artistic skills and by encouraging each child to participate in a range of cultural and leisure activities.
3.5 Placement
We will provide children in care with placements which are safe, which meet their identified needs and which promote success in all areas of life.
All children in care will be provided with placements which meet their assessed need.
Wherever possible, children will be given the opportunity to live in family placements which enable them to develop strong attachments to carers, which will last into adulthood.
Peterborough City Council recognises that for a minority of children, residential care represents a positive option and the most appropriate way to meet their needs, Therefore, where residential care provides the best way of meeting the child’s needs, we will provide good quality care in residential placements which promote the child’s ability to make and sustain relationships, and which provide continuity with the child’s past whilst planning for their future.
Peterborough City Council will continue to develop a range of placements with the aim of achieving placement choice and to maximise the opportunity to make well matched, stable placements.
Peterborough City Council fostering, adoption and residential services will work to achieve high standards of service provision, promoting at all times the interests of the child, in accordance with the Care Standards Act 2000 and the National Minimum Standards and Regulations for those services.
Every effort will be made to provide a placement within the child’s community to preserve as much continuity as possible in the child’s life, except where this is contrary to their safety and wellbeing. Where continuity cannot be maintained, the placement provided will be supported to maintain as much continuity of experience and consistency of routine, including contact with family and friends, as possible.
Wherever possible, siblings will be placed together, unless this conflicts with their welfare. Where placements cannot be found or where it is inappropriate to place a whole sibling group together, contact arrangements will be made as may be appropriate to each sibling’s care plan and subject to review as plans develop.
Seeking a placement that reflects the child’s ethnic origin, cultural and religious needs will be the first consideration. However, placement decisions must take into account the totality of the child’s needs and the consequences of delay in waiting for an appropriate racial or cultural match where this is not immediately available. Where a decision is made to place a child in a family of different racial origin, the Care Plan must identify how the child’s needs relating to racial and cultural identity can be met in other ways.
Placements for disabled children will be supported with appropriate equipment and adaptations to meet the child’s assessed need.
Agency placements will only be provided where the child’s assessed needs cannot be met within in-house resources and where there is a suitable resource available externally. Peterborough City Council’s access to resources arrangements will carefully consider any requests for specialist placement and provide access to funding where it has been established that the need cannot be met locally.
Funding for emergency agency placements will initially only be agreed on a short term basis, to give an opportunity to review the situation following the crisis placement and to gain a full understanding of how best the child’s needs may be met. This is also in recognition that many emergency placements do not sufficiently meet the identified needs of the child in the longer term and also are not cost effective. All emergency placements will be subject to a time-limited agreement and further review.
All planned agency placements must have a defined purpose, anticipated outcome and specified timescale (even when the placement is intended to be long term). All planned placements will be subject to review by the relevant multi-professional funding panel at intervals determined by that panel for each individual case, to ensure that the objectives of the placement are being met. This review will be conducted sensitively and without compromising placement stability and the child’s sense of security.
Peterborough City Council will ensure that quality time is spent with children and young people placed out of the city in agency placements, to ensure that their networks are maintained and to enable them to return to council provision or home as appropriate.
Peterborough City Council will develop joint commissioning strategies to enhance the overall range of service provision and in doing so, to maximise cost effectiveness, operating to best value principles.
3.6 Personal Support
Each child in care will have an allocated worker who will ensure that all necessary support is provided for their care and education. In addition, all children in care will be provided with access to an independent advocate and will be advised how to access this service confidentially.
The allocated caseworker will be responsible for the overall progress of the child’s Care Plan.
The allocated caseworker will visit the child as a minimum, in accordance with the statutory requirement:
- Within one week of the start of any placement
- Then at intervals of no more than six weeks during the first year of any placement
- Thereafter, at intervals of not more than 6 weeks (or 3 months if the placement is intended to last until the child is 18).
It is essential that caseworkers know the children for whom they are responsible and that they are familiar with the child’s history, in order to plan for their future. In practice, therefore, the caseworker will visit the child at sufficient frequency to build and maintain a relationship which ensures that all aspects of the Care Plan are carried out and which actively promotes the child’s best interests.
Whenever there is a change of caseworker, the newly allocated caseworker will read the child’s file to ensure that they have a detailed knowledge of the child’s history prior to, and since coming into care.
Peterborough City Council will promote direct work with children to provide the best possible personal support and in particular, to ensure that children and young people have clear information and understanding about events that led to them coming into care and of plans and their experience in care.
Whenever the caseworker, within their delegated authority, is required to make decisions about a child’s life, they will do so in consultation with the child, their parents and their carers.
The caseworker will ensure that the child’s achievements are celebrated and recorded and that birthdays and other key festivals are recognised.
The caseworker will ensure that the child and all people important in the child’s life are kept informed of relevant matters in accordance with the child’s Care Plan.
The caseworker will ensure that an accurate childcare record is kept in accordance with the statutory requirement and that all key decisions are carefully recorded with a view to the child having access to their record in later life.
The City Council’s complaints policy aims to resolve complaints by or on behalf of children and young people as swiftly as possible and details of how to access the complaints procedure will be given whenever a child comes into care, at each statutory child care review and on request.
Similarly, all children at the point of coming into care and at each statutory Child Care Review will be provided with information about how to access independent advocacy services. Children and young people will be encouraged to access these services routinely, whenever there is a potential area of dispute between the child and the city council and whenever they wish to make a complaint.
3.7 Children's Participation
We will ensure that children and young people are given the opportunity to participate in decisions about their lives, to contribute their views about services they receive or need, and that they are kept informed about matters which affect them.
All children of sufficient age and understanding will be encouraged and supported to participate in decisions about their lives.
Children will be consulted about their wishes and feelings, using the most appropriate method of communication, which takes into account their age, understanding, linguistic needs, cognitive development and any disability.
Through the use of Viewpoint, Peterborough City Council will ensure that children’s individual views are collated anonymously to inform service planning.
Children will be encouraged to give their views on services they receive or need in several ways; through individual feedback, focus groups and consultation events. Children will be consulted routinely on all policies affecting their lives.
Where a child feels they have cause for complaint, this will be dealt with in the spirit of participation and with the aim of resolving the complaint as swiftly as possible.
Children will routinely be invited to participate in recruitment of staff to key childcare posts relating to children in care. Children specifically involved in recruitment of staff and consultation events will be trained and supported to do so.
Peterborough City Council will ensure that young people are informed about how things have changed as a result of comments they have made about services and will also ensure that lessons from consultation with children inform the learning and development programme for staff and carers.
3.8 Equalities
Peterborough City Council is committed to openness and equality, treating all children and families with dignity and respect. No child or family member will be discriminated against because of their disability, colour, ethnic or national origins, race, gender, age, sexual orientation, and political or religious beliefs. Services will be developed to ensure that minority groups have equal access to services that promote children remaining in their families and to services which provide care, education and support for those children who come into care.
Children and families are entitled to dignity and respect. In all aspects of this policy, Peterborough City Council is committed to openness and equality. No child or family will be discriminated against because of their disability, colour, ethnic or national origins, race, gender, age, sexual orientation, and political or religious beliefs.
Peterborough City Council will ensure that children and families from ethnic minority groups and those who are disabled have equal access to services that promote children remaining in their families. Access to these services will be monitored to ensure that services are being developed which meet the specific needs of these groups.
Wherever possible, the social and educational needs of children in care will be met through access to universal services within their local community.
Whenever children come into care, care planning and placement planning will specifically address the racial, cultural and religious needs of children and the specific needs arising from their sexual orientation and any disability.
All services will address equalities within their annual business and team plans, identifying any areas for development and in particular identifying specific requirements for recruitment of carers.
Quality monitoring will ensure that equalities issues are being addressed within individual care plans and service plans.
All private and voluntary sector service providers, from whom Peterborough City Council commissions placements or services for children in care, will be required to have equalities policies and practices which meet Peterborough City Council’s standard for its own services.
4. Monitoring and Review of the Policy
| 4.1 | This policy will be monitored annually against baseline data established at 31st March 2007. It will be reviewed formally in two years by or on behalf of the designated officer with lead responsibility for children in care. The review will include consultation with young people who are or who have been in the care of Peterborough City Council, parents and other service users. It will also include consultation with the provider of the children’s advocacy service and will take into account feedback received though general consultation and complaints during the operation of the policy. |
5. References and Statutory Framework
- The Children Act 1989 and associated Regulations and Guidance issued in 2010/2011 and effective from 1 April 2011
- National Service Framework for Children, Young People and Maternity Services; DfES and DH October 2004
- Children Act 2004
- Adoption and Children Act 2002
- National Minimum Standards for Children’s Homes 2011 and Children’s Homes Regulations 2001, as amended by the Children’s Homes (Amendment) Regulations 2011
- National Minimum Standards for Fostering Services and Fostering Service Regulations 2011
- National Minimum Standards for Adoption Services and Adoption Statutory Guidance 2011; and the Adoption Agencies Regulations 2005
- Children (Leaving Care) Act 2000 and associated Regulations and Guidance issued in 2010/2011 and effective from 1 April 2011.
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