• contents
• keywords & contacts
• quick guide
• values
• contact us
• search

Contents

1. Introduction
2. Single Point Referral
3. Family Placements
4. Residential Placements
5. Out of Hours Placements
6. Placement Solutions Panel (External Residential Placements)
7. Placement Funding Panel (External Residential Placements)
8. All Placements
9. Support Team: Duty Officer Role

1. Introduction

Walsall MBC Children’s Services acknowledge that the identification of a suitable placement for looked after children to meet identified needs is a complex process. Unless a placement is available, which can meet the entire child’s identified needs, it is likely that a high degree of joint working and problem solving across service areas and teams is required to achieve the most appropriate outcome. 

All requests for placements - foster placements or residential, are to be made to the single placement referral point via the duty officer, fostering support team at Family Placements.

This is for initial placements, but also when a child needs to move to an alternative placement. This includes children who need to move from external residential placements.

This chapter describes the process for securing a needs-based placement for any child. It is not a static process and placement identification may continue after an initial placement is made, if it is agreed that the placement does not fully meet the needs of a child, or if, for example, an external placement is made because there is not an internal vacancy.

It may be possible to meet the needs of a child by shared care in a family placement and the use of residential resources during the day or weekends etc.  It is an expectation that flexible and imaginative arrangements will be sought at the point of admission, and immediate post admission planning stages.

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 Looked After Children Procedure.

2. Single Point Referral

Also see Section 9, Support Team: Duty Officer Role.

Any requests for placements will be made to the Support Team Duty Officer.  The Duty Officer will seek confirmation that the following have taken place:

1. Planning meeting (if appropriate);
2. The decision to accommodate/look after has been agreed by:
   • The Family Support Panel;
     
     or
   • The appropriate service manager;
     
     or
   • It has been agreed that a looked after child should be moved;
     
     or
   • There is an imminent disruption.

The Placement/Matching Form will be completed fully and will include full information about the child’s needs, including a risk assessment. 

Through the referral process, agreement is reached about the type of placement that will be required initially and how the whole team will ensure that all of the child’s needs are met. This may include additional risk management measures or additional resources, where a specific carer or residential placement is unable to fulfil certain tasks or functions.

The following sections (Section 3, Family Placements and Section 4, Residential Placements) provide detailed procedures for the referral, approval and placement of children in Family or Residential Placements - Internally and Externally.

Section 8, All Placements contains details of the procedures that must be followed for all placements, e.g. notifications, LAC records, arrangements in relation to healthcare.

3. Family Placements

3.1 Internal Family Placements

For External Family Placements see Section 3.2, External Family Placements.

If the preferred option is family placement and an internal resource is identified then details of the proposed carer will be given to the referring social worker who will liaise with the carer and make the placement.

If it is a Planned Placement a pre-placement meeting will take place. If an Unplanned/Emergency Placement, then the Support Team Duty Officer will agree a date for an Emergency Placement Planning Meeting, as set out in Placement Planning Meetings Procedure. This meeting must take place no later than 3 working days after placement.  At these meetings all the relevant LAC paperwork will be completed and copies given to relevant parties.

A copy of the placement referral will be faxed to the placing social worker for them to give to the carer on placement. For children placed in an emergency or by the Emergency Response Team (ERT), this document will be given to the carer as soon as possible- certainly by the post placement meeting. See Section 5, Out of Hours Placements.

The placing social worker will ensure that the carer signs the foster placement agreement and that they give the carer one of the signed copies.

Section 8, All Placements contains details of the procedures that must be followed for all placements, e.g. notifications, LAC records, arrangements in relation to healthcare.

3.2 External Family Placements

For Internal Family Placements see Section 3.1, Internal Family Placements.

For External Family Placements which are made outside Walsall, please also see the Out of Area Placements Procedure.

If there is no appropriate internal vacancy, and options such as splitting siblings have been considered, then the process of identifying an external foster family will commence.

A Family Placements Manager will complete the process to agree funding for this placement from the Service Manager, Children’s Resources, and costs will be agreed.

A copy of the Form F on any prospective carers will be sent to the referring social worker for them to make a decision about their ability to meet the child’s needs. The assessment will have been quality checked by Family Placements.

If it is a Planned Placement a pre-placement meeting will take place. If an Unplanned/Emergency Placement, then the Support Team Duty Officer will agree a date for an Emergency Placement Planning Meeting, as set out in Placement Planning Meetings Procedure. This meeting must take place no later than 3 working days after placement. At these meetings all the relevant LAC paperwork will be completed and copies given to relevant parties.

The purpose of the first Placement Planning Meeting is to finalise the Placement Plan (which will be recorded on the 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. 

Confirmation will be given that the placement is appropriate and the child is placed.

The Initial Placement Agreement will be drawn up by the Senior Practitioner in Family Placements and circulated to the relevant parties for agreement and signature. A signed copy to be sent to allocated Social Worker.

If this placement was made because of resource issues, then the referral will remain active and efforts made to identify an appropriate internal family placement.

Section 8, All Placements contains details of the procedures that must be followed for all placements, e.g. notifications, LAC records, arrangements in relation to healthcare.

3.3 Matching and Approval of Foster Placements

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.

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 and this must therefore be addressed during the matching process.

4. Residential Placements

4.1 Internal Residential Placements

For External Family Placements see Section 4.2, External Residential Placements.

If the preferred option is a residential placement or if there is no appropriate external family placement, then the option of a residential placement will be explored.

If there is an appropriate vacancy in an internal residential home then discussions will take place between the Support Team Duty Officer and the relevant unit manager. A copy of the referral will be sent to the unit.

Wherever possible, the child's social worker should visit potential homes and as required consult with other professionals, prior to a decision about the appropriateness of a placement being made.

If it is agreed that the placement will proceed, then the Support Team Duty Officer will confirm this with the referring social worker and the placement will proceed.

If it is a Planned Placement a pre-placement meeting will take place. If an Unplanned/Emergency Placement, then the Support Team Duty Officer will agree a date for an Emergency Placement Planning Meeting, as set out in Placement Planning Meetings Procedure. This meeting must take place no later than 3 working days after placement. At these meetings all the relevant LAC paperwork will be completed and copies given to relevant parties.

If the initial placement in the residential placement was not appropriate in terms of the child’s needs, then the referral will remain active and an appropriate placement will be identified.

The purpose of the Placement Planning Meeting is to finalise the Placement Plan (recorded on the Placement Information Record) and the details of the child's needs in the placement including the daily routine, and discuss the Care Plan. This will involve a discussion of the child's needs, including their personal history, religious persuasion, cultural and linguistic background and racial origin, their 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).

For children placed in residential 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.

Wherever possible, the Placement Planning Meeting should be used to plan any introductions to the placement, for example whether arrangements should be made for the child, parents and the social worker to visit the home and/or whether it may be appropriate to have an introductory overnight stay. If this is not possible, arrangements may be made for residential staff to visit the child and parents; or for information about the home to be sent to the child and/or the parents, for example about routines in the home, bedtimes, meals, visitors, pocket money, school, privacy and the overall expectations in relation to the child’s behaviour within the home.

Section 8, All Placements contains details of the procedures that must be followed for all placements, e.g. notifications, LAC records, arrangements in relation to healthcare.

4.2 External Residential Placements

For Internal Family Placements see Section 4.1, Internal Residential Family Placements. Also see Section 4.1, Internal Residential Placements for information as to the Placement Plan and Placement Planning Meeting.

For External Residential Placements which are made outside Walsall, please also see the Out of Area Placements Procedure.

If there is no suitable internal residential placement or the child’s assessed needs can most appropriately be met by way of a Planned Placement in an external provision, the social worker should liaise with the Support Team Duty Officer, who will liaise with the relevant family placement team manager.  It is the team manager’s responsibility to obtain agreement in principle from budget holder, before the referral is passed to the Placement Co-ordinator, Contracts and Commissioning.

The general principle is that NO external residential placements should be made ON AN EMERGENCY BASIS. 

Documentation Required for Placement Identification

A copy of the placement referral will be sent to the Placement Co-ordinator and they will liaise with the referring social worker to identify an appropriate external residential placement.

In acknowledgement of the complexities of dealing with external providers, it is imperative that the Placements Co-ordinator is provided with full information, before he or she approaches providers for potential placement matches. The following is the minimum required:

1. Placement Referral Form - usually already provided through the single referral point;
2. Care Plan (including exit strategy);
3. Recent Looked After Review Report;
4. Initial Assessment;
5. Core Assessment (if a Core Assessment is not available at the point of referral, this is to follow within 35 working days (the specified timescales as identified by the Department of Health);
6. Risk Assessment (Only required if significant changes have taken place since completion of Core Assessment);
7. Other relevant documentation e.g. most recent psychological assessment PEP, previous placement reports;
8. Availability of Social Worker/duty Social Worker or manager to assist in placement finding and decision making processes.

Points (a) (b) (c) (d) and (e) are required before any placement identification activity can take place.

All documentation requested from Social Workers for external residential placement finding should correspond with those identified for the Single Referral Point. The intention is not to put undue pressures on Social Workers (adding to their existing work-loads) but to assist in improving standards of care services for Children in Need.

Where the Courts have ordered a parent/child residential assessment on an infant, it is accepted that review paperwork may not be available,  A risk assessment should be completed in respect of the adult accompanying the child.

Co-Working Meeting Process

Following the initial referral/liaison between the social worker and placement coordinator, a co-working meeting will usually take place to plan the placement identification activity. The meeting should be attended by the social worker and the placement co-ordinator as a minimum, but will usually include the relevant team manager, a manager from the resources service - currently the Looked After Children Project Manager, and representatives from other agencies who may have an interest in or be able to contribute to the placement.

The child’s social worker will provide the information above, to ensure that the child’s identified needs are clearly understood, and the placement coordinator will advise on potential resources, which may be suitable.  The meeting will agree which placements to pursue, based on both sets of information and will decide on the respective workers’ roles in this.  An initial evaluation will be made at this point of Best Value considerations, and placements which are unlikely to meet these criteria will not be pursued.  It will always be the placement coordinator’s role to make initial contact with placement providers.  The social worker or team manager should not get involved in this, to avoid unwittingly entering into contractual arrangements with providers, unless there are exceptional circumstances.

Once an appropriate placement has been identified, the social worker should arrange for the child’s case to be taken before the Placements Solutions Panel (See Section 6, Placements Solutions Panel (External Residential Placements) and Section 7, Placement Funding Panel (External Residential Placements).

The placement co-ordinator will confirm with the duty officer, Family Placement when a resource is identified and identify proposed costs.

An initial placement agreement will be drawn up by the Placement Co-ordinator, Commission and Contracting. A copy will be sent to the social worker

In the exceptional event of an Unplanned/Emergency Placement having been agreed by the budget holder, the social worker should liaise with the Support Team Duty Officer and Placement Co-ordinator and then arrange for the case to be taken before the Placements Solutions Panel as soon as practicable after the placement.

If it is a Planned Placement a pre-placement meeting will take place.  If an Unplanned/Emergency Placement, then the Support Team Duty Officer will agree a date for an Emergency Placement Planning Meeting, as set out in Placement Planning Meetings Procedure.  This meeting must take place no later than 3 working days after placement.  At these meetings all the relevant LAC paperwork will be completed and copies given to relevant parties.

If it is decided that this is not the most appropriate placement in terms of meeting the child’s needs, or an appropriate internal resource might become available, then the referral will remain active.

The case must then be presented to the next Placements Solutions Panel and Placement Funding Panel (See Section 6, Placements Solutions Panel (External Residential Placements) and Section 7, Placement Funding Panel (External Residential Placements)).

Section 8, All Placements contains details of the procedures that must be followed for all placements, e.g. notifications, LAC records, arrangements in relation to healthcare.

5. Out of Hours Placement

All placements outside office hours must be authorised by the Emergency response team (ERT) Duty Manager. The Duty Manager will also have to agree requests to exceed numbers in an approved placement.

A family placement should always be the first consideration.

A list of vacancies will be drawn up by Family Placements Service on Friday pm. If there any gaps that are identified in the F.P.S then independent  placements will be identified.  There will also be a list of vacancies from the Residential Establishments; this will be updated weekly and via e-mail to ERT.

Carers on the list will be contacted and made aware of possible out of hours contact.

The F.P.S  - will provide a member of staff to support carers and assist ERT if appropriate. F.P.S  will ring in each day and up-date the ERT on what placements are available, details of contact numbers for foster carers will also be provided.

If a carer needs support this should be passed to the family placements officer. 

If a family placement is required, ERT should ring the foster carer direct.  This should decrease the time spent on liasing with F.P.S. 

If there are any problems for example:

• Large sibling placement required;
• The ERT request does not fit the family placement vacancies;
• Carer refusing to take a child;
• Carer cannot be contacted;
• Or any other problem.

Then the F.P.S will need to be contacted. They will then have to set up another placement/or resolve the difficulty.

If the F.P.S have not been involved, when a child has been placed. Information in respect of the placement should be sent to the F.P.S.

If a child has been placed in an External Residential Placement then the Residential Services Manager must also be informed and the case taken before the Placements Solutions Panel and Placement Funding Panel (See Section 6, Placements Solutions Panel (External Residential Placements) and Section 7, Placement Funding Panel (External Residential Placements))

There is a rota of Managers on call for the internal residential establishments. If a residential placement is required approval must first be sought from the ERT manager and then discussed with the “on call residential manager”.

If there are no internal residential placements and the recommendation, after consultation with the EDT manager, is that an external placement is required, the ERT will need to contact appropriate placements as updated by contracts.

If assistance is required in completing this task then this should be sought from the residential on call officer.

Some residential homes have a minimum period of stay. The length of the placement should be negotiated if possible. It is not always in the child’s best interest to be placed a great distance from home. The area office can then always assess and extend the placement if required.

The ERT Manager can authorise placements for up to 28 days.

See Section 8.2, Before the Placement, which contains details of the LAC records that must be completed.

6. Placements Solution Panel (External Residential Placements)

The following only applies to external residential placements.

Before funding (for an Unplanned Placement, as soon as practicable afterwards) is sought for an external residential placement a Placement Solution Panel (PSP) must recommend this course of action.  The PSP will meet to consider all children, who are proving difficult to place within Walsall's resources, or an Unplanned/Emergency Placement has already been made with an independent agency.  This includes children, who have had multiple placements, and this is likely to continue unless a placement with an independent agency is provided.

The PSP will:

• Check that assessments have taken place, including health and education assessments;
• Ensure whether a placement with relatives/friends is an option and the support needed;
• Seek to identify alternative placement resources from within Walsall’s residential and family placement resources;
• Identify an independent agency placement, where this is considered the best way of meeting a child’s needs;
• State the length of time the placement is required;
• Monitor all existing placements with independent agencies to determine if they are still meeting the child’s needs;
• Recommend funding of placements, and consider alternatives if this are not available;
• Identify unmet needs in Walsall resources;
• Recommend to the Placement Funding Panel (see Section 7, Placement Funding Panel (External Residential Placements)), where it is necessary to amend the information held on the West Midlands Consortium database.

The members of the PSP will be:

• Residential Service Manager (chair);
• Family Placement Service Manager (vice chair);
• All Area Managers;
• Reviewing Officer;
• CAMHS representative;
• BAES member.

The PSP will meet at least once every calendar month. If an Area Manager is unable to attend, a Team Manager should attend from the same area team.

The Chair/Vice chair will ensure that members of the PSP, at least 5 working days before the meeting, receive papers. These will consist of Placement Solution Request Form (644-Appendix 1).

The Chair/Vice chair will ensure that the West Midlands Consortium database is available at the meeting, and any other relevant information in respect individual independent agencies e.g. disputes about funding, recent disruption of placements etc.

Presentations to the Panel will be made by the child’s social worker, supported by a team manager.  The presentation can also be supported by a social worker from the Family Placement Team, Residential Manager, Deputy Manager or child’s key worker.

The Chair/Vice chair is to ensure the decisions of the PSP are recorded and circulated to the members.

7. Placement Funding Panel (External Residential Placements)

This section only applies to External Residential Placements.

The Placement Funding Panel (PFP) will meet at least every calendar month, within 2 working days of the Placement Solutions Panel (See Section 6, Placement Solutions Panel (External Residential Placements)). This Panel will also act as the Continuing Care Panel, where there is a request for joint funding of placements.

• To consider all recommendations for funding of independent agency placements;
• To be informed of the current spending on placements and forecasts;
• To determine the budget limit for spending on independent agency placements;
• To approve funding of placements with independent agencies, taking into account whether it is forecast that there is sufficient remaining budget;
• Refer back to the PSP, children where funding has not been approved;
• Agree amendments to the West Midlands Consortium database.

The membership of the PFP will consist of:-

• Children’s Services Manager (chair);
• Contacts Officer (children);
• Senior Finance Officer;
• Commissioning Manager (Health Authority);
• Education Services Representative;

Recommendations for funding from the Placements Solutions Panel will be made, brought to the PFP by the Residential Services Manager and/or Family Placements Service Manager.

The financial arrangements for all external residential placements will be reviewed by the Placements Funding Panel at intervals deemed appropriate by the panel and any concerns reported, or significant changes of the care plan, referred to the Residential Service Manager who will arrange for a referral to the Placements Solutions Panel, if required.

All invoices should be sent immediately to the Senior Finance Officer, who will arrange for these to be approved by either the Residential Services Manager.

Any additional costs or changes to the IPA should be discussed with the Placement Co-ordinator, Contracts & Commissioning.

8. All Placements

The following procedures apply to all placements.

8.1 Before a Decision is Reached to Place the Child

If not undertaken in the previous three months, the social worker must undertake a Core Assessment in relation to the child and the Family Support Panel and Team Manager must approve the proposed placement, taking account of the procedures in Decision to Look After Child Procedure.

8.2 Before the Placement

All proposed placements will be visited by the child’s social worker, who will assess the placements based on the check list (Appendix 2).

A copy of the most recent Regulatory Authority Inspection Report should be obtained from the proposed placement, and any concerns raised within it should be followed up.

Where there are concerns about the placement in general, or in relation to the child to be placed, this should be known to the Residential Service Manager, or Family Placement Service Manager, who will take appropriate action.

The independent agency and the Residential Services Manager or Family Placement Service Manager will sign an Independent Placement Agreement (IPA) before a placement is made.  No one else should sign an IPA.  For further advice contact the Placement Co-ordinator, Contracts & Commissioning (ext 8445).

Planned Placements

Before the child is placed the social worker should liaise with the manager or staff of the home and ensure that the following plans have been completed and circulated or that arrangements are in place to complete/circulate them: a Risk Assessment, Care Plan, Placement Plan, recorded on the Placement Information Record, Chronology, Personal Education Plan and Health Plan.

The social worker must ensure that the child is provided with information on using this authority’s Complaints Procedure.

Unplanned/Emergency Placements

In all cases, even where a child is placed in an emergency, a Risk Assessment, Placement Plan/Placement Information Record and Chronology, with copies given to the carers, child and parent(s). 

Within 7 days of the placement starting, the social worker should liaise with the manager or staff/carers of the home and ensure that a Care Plan is completed and circulated. 

Thereafter, a Personal Education Plan and Health Plan must be formulated within appropriate timescales.

The social worker must ensure that the child is provided with information on using this authority’s Complaints Procedure.

8.3 Contact

Unless agreed by the social worker and set out in the Placement Information Record, no contact may be permitted between the child and parents or siblings. 

8.4 Notifications

Notification of the placement must be sent, in writing, to all those consulted and involved in the decision-making process. 

 If not consulted during the decision making process, the social worker must also notify:

• The appropriate Health Trust;
• Local Education Authority;
• Children's Services Department in the area where the child is placed.

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 or within 5 working days.

The social worker must also notify the Virtual School for Looked After Children and finance section.

PARIS should be updated, when a placement is made, by the child's social worker.

8.5 Health Care

It will be necessary for the social worker to ensure the child is registered with a GP, Dentist and Optician within a week of the placement, either retaining practices known to them or in the area where they are placed.  See General Practitioners, Opticians and Dentists Procedure.

 It will also be necessary to arrange a Health Care Assessment; see Health Care Assessments and Health Plans Procedure for these procedures

8.6 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 specified intervals as set out in Social Worker Visits Procedure.

Also see:

Supervision of Foster Carers Procedure and Placement Planning Meetings Procedure.

8.7 Termination of Placements

When consideration is being given to the termination of a placement, the carer/provider should be consulted beforehand, but must always be given appropriate written notice as agreed within the Individual Placement Agreement.

When the placement is terminated, the child’s social worker must inform all those notified of the commencement of the placement. See Section 8.4, Notifications.

The child’s file should be forwarded to the child’s social worker; for foster carers, this should be forwarded via the Supervising Social Worker.

9. Support Team: Duty Officer Role

To be available as a manager to offer advice, consultation and decisions in relation to any duty matter to both the fostering support team and anyone else within the Children’s Services Division.

Specific Areas

1. To ensure that the single point referral system operates according to process, efficiently and effectively;
2. To process any exemptions from the usual fostering limit and any variations in the carers approval criteria;
3. Process any complaints or allegations against carers;
4. Record details of any trans racial/cultural placements;
5. To monitor information in relation to children missing from placement;
6. To ensure that the standards specified overleaf are monitored and any shortfalls identified, remedied or systems are proposed to rectify the situation.

Single Point Referral

• Ensure process is implemented according to agreed criteria;
• Liaise with colleagues in Residential Services and child care teams;
• Regularly audit duty log book and folder;
• Audit referral forms in terms of;
• Accuracy of information;
• Assessment process;
• Matching process;
• Consultation;
• Sharing of outcomes with relevant personnel;
• Ensure placements logged on relevant form in duty folder (placement monitoring form);
• Ensure referrals remain active until final placement identified (in terms of placement needs of child or young person;
• Place ‘pending referrals’ in separate folder - audit regularly;
• Ensure Out Of Borough (OOB) process is followed;
• Checklist complete;
• Authorisation given at relevant points in process;
• If OOB placement, ensure OLA forms are completed and paperwork is submitted for Fostering Panel;
• Ensure OOB vacancy folder is kept up to date;
• Ensure that Foster Carer and Residential Unit vacancies are accurate and up to date.

Exemptions/Variations

• Ensure that the appropriate paperwork/authorisation's are processed in terms of exemptions from the usual fostering limit and variations from carers approval criteria;
• For exemptions ensure that authorisation is given by the local authority where the carer resides;
• Ensure information in relation to exemptions granted by Walsall Children's Services and any variations in approval criteria are presented to the Fostering Panel for information on a monthly basis.

Complaints/Allegations

• Ensure appropriate paperwork is completed;
• Clarify lead manager role in investigation process;
• Identify independent support to the carer;
• Ensure Regulation 43 notification is completed and authorised by a manager;
• Ongoing monitoring process;
• Monthly information presented to Fostering Panel.

Trans racial/Cultural Placements

• Ensure appropriate paperwork is completed;
• Collate information for discussion at monthly team meetings to discuss identification or appropriate placement;
• Collate details of status of all trans racial placements for presentation of information to Fostering Panel on a monthly basis.

Children Missing From Placement

• Ensure that the appropriate forms are completed;
• Collate the statistic on a monthly basis for the Team Manager, Fostering Support to present to Fostering Panel on a monthly basis.

Monitoring of Standards

• Weekly auditing of standards as per attached pro-forma.

Monitoring of Standards

		Outstanding Issues
Duty Log Book up to Date	YES/NO
Referral forms completed in terms of:
i) Accurate Information	YES/NO
ii) Risk assessment
iii) Reasons for placement choice	YES/NO
iv) Consultation with all parties	YES/NO
Placement Log up to date	YES/NO
OOB checklist completed where relevant	YES/NO
Any variations/exemptions completed	YES/NO
Any complaints/aggregation logged	YES/NO
Any Reg 43 notifications completed	YES/NO
Any trans racial placements	YES/NO
Board/residential unit vacancies are accurate/up to date	YES/NO

End