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Contents

1. Consultation
2. Risk Assessment
3. Placement Request
4. Matching and Approval of Placement   
5. Placement Planning
6. Notification of Placement 
7. Support and Monitoring of Placements 
8. Ending of Placements
9. Permanent Foster Placements
10. Disruption Meetings

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:

1. The child
2. The child’s parents
3. Anyone who is not a parent but has been caring for or looking after the child
4. Other members of the child’s family who are significant to the child or who have a Contact Order in their favour in relation to the child
5. The child’s school or the education service
6. The Youth Offending Service, if the child is known to them
7. Any other relevant person, e.g. nursery, health care professional, Children’s Guardian

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.

2. Risk Assessment

A Risk Assessment must be completed and recorded by the child's social worker before any placement in foster care is made. This will include an assessment of the risk to the child about to be placed as well as any child already living in the placement - particularly where there is a proposal that children will share bedrooms and/or whether the child may display challenging behaviour.

NB It is now included in the National Minimum Standards for Fostering 2011 that each child over 3 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 by a risk assessment which will inform the matching process – for further information, please see Section 4, Matching and Approval of Placement.

3. Placement Request

Where a decision has been made that a child requires a foster placement, the child’s social worker should request a placement by contacting the Access to Resources Team (ART).

In making this request, the social worker will be asked to provide information about the child, the type of placement sought, the Care Plan, 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 social worker should also outline any risks associated with the placement - see Section 2, Risk Assessment.

The ART worker will check whether an in-house placement is available that appears to be appropriate to meet the child's needs. A matching pro forma and the foster carer's profile is used by ART to assist this process. For further information, please see Section 4, Matching and Approval of Placement.

If such a placement is available or if there is a possibility of a placement by the required date, the social worker will be advised accordingly.

If no appropriate in-house placements are available and the child requires a placement without delay, the ART worker will obtain the agreement of the ART manager to make enquiries with independent fostering agencies to identify a suitable placement.

Where there is a child already in the proposed foster placement, contact should be made with the social worker for that child and where the child is from a different local authority, the consent of that child’s local authority should be sought by the ART placements officer.

4. 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 identify/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.

Once a potential placement has been identified, the child's social worker will liaise with the foster carer's fostering social worker to agree arrangements for the placement.  At this stage, the social worker will also discuss the child with the prospective foster carer and, in particular, share the risk assessment with the foster carers and the fostering social worker.

Wherever possible, the child's social worker should visit potential carers and 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 3 should have their own bedroom, or where this is not possible, the placing authority must agree to the sharing of the bedroom. This must therefore be addressed during the matching process through a risk assessment.

The proposed placement will then be presented to the social worker's team manager for approval.

If the placement is outside the foster carer’s terms of approval or an exemption is required, see also the Fostering Exemptions and Extensions Procedure.

Where the placement is with foster carers from an independent foster agency who live outside the local authority area, see also Placements Out of Area Procedure.

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 Children in Care Procedure.

If the team manager approves the foster placement, the placement planning process can start - see Section 5, Placement Planning below.

5. Placement Planning

Before the child is placed, the ART placements officer will liaise with the foster carer and the foster carer’s fostering social worker (who may be from an independent fostering agency) to arrange a Placement Planning Meeting.  The meeting will usually be in the new placement.

 Participants will include:

• the parent;
• the child (if appropriate)
• the foster carer;
• the fostering social worker;
• the Designated Teacher or ETLAC;
• anyone else considered appropriate or to have a role in the Placement Plan, e.g. relative, nursery, health care professional, YOS worker.

The purpose of the Placement Planning Meeting is to finalise the Placement Plan/Placement Information Record. This will involve a discussion of the child’s needs to ensure careful matching, including  the 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).

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:

1. The type of accommodation to be provided and the address.
2. The child’s personal history, religious persuasion, cultural and linguistic background and racial origin.
3. 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.
4. 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
5. The Local Authority’s arrangements for the financial support of the child during the placement
6. The obligation on the carers to comply with the terms of the foster care agreement.

Where the placement arrangements include respite for the foster carers, these arrangements must be included in the Placement Plan - see Respite Policy for Time Limited and Permanent Carers.

The meeting also provides an opportunity to ensure that the foster carers have a copy of any relevant court order and that full information is shared with them about the child's needs and any behaviour management issues.

Except in emergency placements, the Placement Planning Meeting should be held before the placement.  Where this is not possible, it should be held at the latest within 72 hours of the placement.

The child’s social worker will complete and arrange for the circulation of the Care Plan and Placement Plan/Placement Information Record to the child, parents and foster carers before or at the latest, within 5 working days of the placement. In relation to the child’s first placement in care, the Care Plan may be circulated within 10 working days of the placement.

At the time of the placement, the foster carers should also be given any additional information about details of the child’s day to day needs which are not covered by the Placement Plan/Placement Information Record but are important to ensure that the carers are in the best possible position to help the child settle in the new placement, for example any particular fears at night-time or the child’s favourite toys. 

The child’s social worker must provide the child and the parent with written information about coming into care, including information on using the Complaints Procedure.

In addition, the social worker should ensure that any other information about the placement that is available for the child is obtained and given to him/her. Children must understand house expectations before the placement is made.

In all cases, the child should be accompanied to the placement by the social worker and helped to settle in. Suitable luggage should be used and a child’s belongings should never be transported in bin-bags or other inappropriate containers.

6. Notification of Placement

The child’s social worker will inform the Access to Resources Team of the placement and ART will update RAISE with the details of the placement and notify the finance section so as to trigger payments to the foster carer.

Notification of the placement will also be sent by the child's social worker to the Designated Nurse for LAC, ETLAC, the relevant local Children’s Services and education service (if the placement is outside the city) and the child’s GP.

The child’s social worker will notify all family members consulted and involved in the decision-making process of the placement. 

The child's social worker must also notify the allocated Independent Reviewing Officer or, if it is the first placement, the Child Care Review Convenors of the placement. This notification to the Convenors will trigger the appointment of an Independent Reviewing Officer, and the setting up of arrangements for a Child Care Review.

These notifications must be made in writing, advising of the placement decision and the name and address of the person with whom the child is to be placed. The notifications should be before the start of the placement, wherever possible, or within 5 working days.

The child’s social worker should also notify – preferably in writing but it may be verbally - all those involved in the day to day arrangements for the child, including nursery/school and any health professional or YOT worker actively involved with the child.

It will be necessary for the foster carer or the child's social worker to ensure the child is registered with a GP, Dentist and Optician, either retaining practices known to him or her (which is preferable) 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 liaise with the Designated Nurse for LAC to arrange a Health Care Assessment – see Health Care Assessments and Health Action Plans. The social worker must contact the ETLAC with a view to the completion of a Personal Education Plan – see Education of Children in Care Procedure.

For any new placement, every effort should be made to enable the child to remain at the same school unless there are reasons which would be detrimental to his or her wellbeing.

7. 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 least every six weeks during the first year and in subsequent years (unless the placement is intended to last until the child is 18 in which case the minimum frequency of visits reduces to three monthly in the second and subsequent years) - see Child Protection Visits and Children in Care Statutory Visits Procedure.

The foster carer will also receive support and supervision from their fostering social worker (for in-house placements - see Support and Supervision of Foster Carers Procedure) and from the independent fostering agency (for agency placements).

The Access to Resources Team (ART) will also monitor the ongoing progress of the placement, generally through follow up calls to the allocated social worker.

Where there are concerns in relation to the progress of the placement, consideration should be given to seeking additional resources to assist the carers through a referral to the Access to Resources Team - or convening a Placement Support Meeting - see Placement Support Meeting Procedure.

Where there are any changes to the type of placement or to the child's legal status during the placement, the child's social worker must update RAISE and inform the ART placements officer so that any required actions can be taken in relation to finance.

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

8. Ending of Placements

When the placement ends, the child’s social worker will update RAISE and must inform the Access to Resources Team (ART) who will notify the finance section so that payments to the carer/provider will cease.  The social worker will also send inform those notified when the placement was made that the placement has ended.

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

The child's social worker and the foster carer (with the assistance of the fostering social worker) should prepare end of placement reports, copies of which should be held on the child's and foster carer's case record.

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 the ending of the placement is unplanned, but does not meet the criteria for holding a Disruption Meeting (see Section 10, Disruption Meetings), the social worker's team manager, in discussion with the Service Manager, will decide whether to convene a management review meeting to consider the reasons for the breakdown of the placement, whether there are lessons to be learned and whether there are implications for the child's next placement and any support needs that the child and/or prospective carers will need to address any risks of further breakdowns. The social worker's and foster carer's end of placement reports should be presented to any such meeting.

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

9. Permanent Foster Placements

Where the permanence plan for a child is permanent fostering, the plan must be presented to the Fostering Panel for approval. When the plan is presented to the Panel, the child's social worker must present the Child's Permanence Report, the BAAF Form F in relation to the proposed permanent foster carers and a report on the proposed match. The Fostering Panel will make a recommendation in relation to the plan and the proposed match to the Agency Decision Maker who will make the decision.

See also: Permanence Planning Procedure and Permanence Planning for Children in Care Guidance.

10. Disruption Meetings

Please see Adoption and Fostering Disruption Meetings - Responding to Unplanned Placement Endings Procedure

End