3.1.2 Permanence Policy and Procedure |
RELATED CHAPTERS
Also see Permanence Planning Guidance.
Contents
1. Policy Statement
The authority has a commitment to ensure the child’s needs for a permanent home is addressed and a permanence plan made at the earliest opportunity. The aim is to ensure that each child has an agreed permanence plan in place by the second Looked After Review (see Looked After Review Procedure).
The authority recognises adoption as the preferred route to permanence for looked after children, who are or may be unable to return home or live with their extended families. This route to permanence will be pursued after a permanence planning meeting has identified clear reasons and a looked after review has confirmed this recommendation.
2. Permanence Planning Procedure
Permanence Planning Meeting
The permanency planning meeting will inform the care plan to be presented at the second review, or any other prior or subsequent review, unless the plan for the child is rehabilitation.
Purpose
To ensure that all alternatives for routes to permanence are considered fully, a permanence planning meeting must be arranged by the social worker for any child aged under 13 or part of a sibling group containing children aged under 13, for whom a review decision will be sought that he or she is or may be unable to return home. For older children and young people, or for children who require further permanence planning later on in the care plan, a permanence planning meeting can also be considered, although this may follow an amended format.
In order to comply with the time scales set out in the policy statement and the National Adoption Standards, the 2nd statutory review of any looked after child must be presented with a permanence plan. The permanence planning meeting will make a recommendation to the review about the most appropriate type of permanent placement, should the decision be for permanence away from the child’s birth family or for twin track planning. The permanence planning meeting will in no way pre-judge the decision for permanence itself.
If there is a disagreement about the most appropriate route to permanence, the review should be clearly informed of this and the reasons for it.
Process
The child’s social worker should contact the Family Placement Customer Services Officer to set up a permanence planning meeting. People invited to the meeting will normally include:
- The child’s current social worker and the team manager where appropriate (Please note the qualification requirements once adoption becomes the plan);
- The child’s current carer;
- The carers’ supervising link worker;
- A team manager/senior practitioner from the Family Placement Service, who will chair the meeting.
The referring social worker will co-ordinate attendance at the meeting. Other people who are able to contribute to identify the child’s needs may be invited by prior agreement with the chair. It is an expectation that the child’s parents, the child, where appropriate, and other important people in the child’s life, will have been consulted before the meeting.
Format
The meeting will briefly consider the background to the child’s need for permanence, but mainly focus on the child’s identified long term needs. It will make a recommendation on the most appropriate type of permanent placement for the child. Consideration and advice will be given as to the likelihood of identifying a suitable placement, bearing in mind that delay is detrimental to the child.
The recommendations should include which tasks need to be carried and by whom, and when to progress the proposed permanence plan. If appropriate, a co-working agreement should be completed at the time of the permanence planning meeting, which sets out different parties’ responsibilities in achieving permanence for the child.
A record of the recommendations of the permanence planning will be passed to the review co-ordinator.
Permanence Process
The review will consider the plan for the child and the preferred route for permanence. In cases, where it is thought that it is unlikely that an adoptive placement can be identified, adoption should not be excluded purely on these grounds. However, identification of a placement within permanent fostering or another route may need to be pursued in parallel. Where a placement order is pursued, consideration must be given as to lodging an application for such an order within care proceedings.
Following a review decision for permanence, the reviewing co-coordinator will pass the relevant minutes of the meeting to the relevant family placement team manager within a fortnight. The social worker should also arrange a co-working agreement meeting to identify actions required to find a suitable family, if this has not already taken place.
Identification of Placements
The identification of a suitable placement is a joint responsibility between the child’s social worker and the family placement social worker. It will be based on agreed actions to be taken by both parties. Where a child has made significant and strong attachments to their current carers, it may well be that those carers are best placed to provide a permanent placement for the child.
However, no assumptions should be made that existing foster carers or other parties requesting to become permanent carers for the child are necessarily best placed to do so, and no requests should be made directly to foster carers to consider becoming a permanent carer for a child. Where this is deemed appropriate, this should first be discussed with the foster carer’s supervising link worker, who can explore this option with the foster carer. If it appears to be a viable option, then the foster carer will undergo an assessment as a potential permanent carer for the child. This process may take place alongside assessments of other applicants.
As the identification of suitable placements is an ongoing process, regular reviews of the co-working agreement need to be arranged. These meetings should also be used to consider any new applications or expressions of interest raised, resolve any disagreements about potential suitability of enquirers and work to remove any barriers to placement identification.
Matching Process
For children under 13 years of age, or sibling groups containing children under 13, any permanent match must be approved by either the fostering or the adoption panel. For fostering, the following papers must be supplied to panel:
- Family’s Form F or F2, completed or updated within the last 12 months;
- The child permanence report, completed or updated within the last 6 months;
- Matching report, based on the outcome of the matching meeting.
For adoption matches, please see the adoption procedures.
Where the identification of a permanent foster carer for a child has proved difficult, carers wishing to foster a child with a view to permanence should not be excluded. In this case, a matching meeting should take place and provisional match taken to the looked after child’s review. Once the review has agreed, the placement may proceed and its suitability as a permanent placement monitored.
The final recommendation to ratify the placement as permanent for children aged under 13 or sibling groups containing children under 13, continues to lie with the Fostering Panel.
If the carers decide to proceed, an updated matching report should be presented to the fostering panel, once the child or children have been in placement with the intended permanent carers for at least 6 months. The panel will confirm the match as a permanent placement.
The following documents are required for presentation to panel:
- Updated Form F addressing permanence issues;
- The Child’s permanence report;
- An updated matching report.
Where a family or friend carer has been assessed for a child, permanence issues will be addressed within the Form F2 assessment.
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