Quick Reference Guide to Regulations, Guidance and National Minimum Standards from April 2011

Contents

1. Care Planning, Placement and Review of Looked After Children and Care Leavers - Summary of Changes
2. Children's Homes - Summary of Changes
3. Fostering Agencies - Summary of Changes
4. Adoption Agencies - Summary of Changes

1. Care Planning, Placement and Review of Looked After Children and Care Leavers - Summary of Changes

1. A Care Plan must be prepared prior to a child's first placement, or, if it is not practicable to do so, within 10 working days of the child's first placement. Previously there was no statutory time limit.
2. A Placement Plan (usually recorded by the social worker on a Placement Information Record) must be drawn up by the social worker before the child is placed, or, if not reasonably practicable, within 5 working days of the start of the placement. Previously there was no statutory time limit.
3. Emergency placements with an approved foster carer outside the terms of approval can be made for up to 6 working days (previously 24 hours).
4. For children in receipt of Short Breaks, the Placing Authority has the discretion to place Children under Section 17 of the Children Act 1989 (meaning that they are not Looked After) or under Section 20 of the Children Act 1989 (meaning that they would be Looked After). This is new.
5. A temporary approval of a 'Connected Person' (a relative, friend or other person connected to the child) can last for a period of 16 weeks (previously 6 weeks) (and the time period can be extended in exceptional circumstances).
6. Independent Reviewing Officers (IRO's) have been given a more effective and independent oversight of Children's cases.  There are now two clear and separate aspects to the function of the IRO: chairing a child's review, and monitoring a child's case on an ongoing basis including whether any safeguarding issues arise. This includes a requirement that IRO's should receive a copy of the Care Plan, be consulted before and notified after a child is moved to a new placement and notified when a child is excluded from school. This is new.
7. If a child is at Key Stage 4 (year's 10 or 11), a senior manager within the local authority must approve any change of placement, as it may disrupt the child's education. This is new.
8. A senior manager within the local authority must also approve any placement out of area other than with a relative or friend. This is new.
9. The timescales for conducting the first Health Care Assessment have changed from 'as soon as possible after the child becomes Looked After' to 'before the first Looked After Review' - unless one has been conducted in the previous 3 months.
10. Previously, Social workers had an obligation to visit Looked After Children except those placed in Children's Homes; now the requirement has been extended to all Looked After Children and the timescales for the frequency of visits have been amended.  On each visit the social worker must speak to the child in private unless unable to/inappropriate or a competent child refuses:
    1. Within one week of the start of any placement
    2. At intervals of not more than 6 weeks for the first year of any placement
    3. Thereafter, at intervals of not more than 6 weeks (3 months if the placement is intended to last until the child  is 18)
    4. If the child is placed with parents pending assessment, at least once a week until the first Looked After review, thereafter at intervals of not more than 6 weeks
    5. If the child is placed with a connected person with temporary approval, or living with parents under an Interim Care Order, at least once a week until the first Looked After review, thereafter at intervals of not more than 4 weeks
    6. If the child is placed in a Young Offenders Institution, within one week of the start of the placement, at intervals of not more than 6 weeks in the first year and thereafter every 3 months.
11. The timescales for conducting Looked After Reviews (including on children who are the subject of a secure remand) has been amended as follows:
    • First review must take place within 20 working days (previously 4 weeks) of the date on which the child becomes looked after;
    • Second review must take place not more than 3 months after the first;
    • Subsequent reviews must take place at intervals of not more than 6 months.
12. Discussion should take place between the social worker and the child, subject to age and understanding, at least 20 working days before a Looked After Review (previously no time period was specified) about who the child would like to attend the meeting and where the meeting will be held.
13. The Personal Education Plan (PEP) should be initiated as part of the Care Plan before the child  becomes looked after (or within 10 working days in the case of an emergency placement), and be available for the first Looked After Review. Previously 20 working days.
14. A Looked After Review should be held before a decision is made to cease looking after a child or before a young person moves to semi-independent accommodation. This is new.
15. After the Looked After Review, the IRO should produce a written record of the decisions or recommendations made within 5 working days and full record of the review within 15 working days. A designated manager must consider the decisions within 5 working days of receipt and advise all those who attended the review meeting if he or she is unable to agree them. These requirements are new.
16. Independent Visitors should be appointed for children who are looked after where it is considered in the child's best interest to do so (previously the appointment was made where the child had had limited or no contact with a parent or person with parental responsibility).
17. There are extended duties towards care leavers (former relevant young people) who wish to take up full time further or higher education after the age of 21 and under the age of 25 and the duties subsist until the programme of education is completed.
18. Where a care leaver (relevant or former relevant young person) enters custody, pathway planning must continue and the young person must be visited on a regular basis.
19. The local authority must develop 'Staying Put' policies for extending placements beyond. This is new.

2. Children's Homes - Summary of Changes

1. There is evidence of a 'lighter touch' regarding risks and management of children who are absent without consent; Placing Authorities needn't be notified every time a child absconds and there is a reminder that children's homes procedures must reflect LSCB 'Runaway' protocols and also that the IRO must be notified if a child is missing.
2. A whole Standard is dedicated to matters relating to attending to children's wishes and feelings, a new requirement that children have access to the Children's Rights Director.  Also (under the 'Care Planning' Regulations) the circumstances in which an Independent Visitor may be appointed have been expanded - "where it appears to them that it would be in the child's best interest to do so" (previously where there is infrequent communication between a child and parent or where there had been limited contact).
3. In relation to behaviour management, there have been some subtle but important changes in values e.g.
   • The previous Standard title was 'Behaviour Management' emphasising the need to manage children's behaviour; the new Standard is titled 'Promoting Positive Behaviour and Relationships' - a much wider responsibility upon Homes to look beyond the face value of day to day behaviours and explore/analyse methods for helping children improve for the future;
   • There is an emphasis on staff exploring and managing their own feelings and responses to emotions and behaviours presented by children, and in understanding children's past experiences;
   • In relation to bullying, there is an emphasis on the need to create a safe environment for children which is free of bullying, that children do not identify bullying as a problem and that staff understand their role in helping to prevent it.
4. There is now a clear requirement for Homes to have a searching Policy.
5. In relation to use of Restraint, the Standard largely reflects recent Government Policy e.g. restraint may not be used to force compliance or as a punishment where significant harm or serious damage to property are not otherwise likely.  However, staff may now only use restraint techniques that are approved by the home. Volume 5 provides additional guidance on the particular techniques that may be used, and the Standards now state that children and staff can 'call on medical assistance'.
6. In regard to the use of physical restrictions, such as the locking or bolting of doors; the Standards now state that they may be used to restrict the normal movement within and from the home.   The latter is new and may be controversial; Home's Managers should seek legal advice before amending their policies on this matter.
7. There is a new requirement that Home's Managers regularly review incidents of challenging behaviour and examine trends and issues emerging from this to enable staff to reflect and learn and inform future practice.
8. In relation to Police involvement, the Home must have strategies which minimise the need for Police involvement; the requirement for this strategy to be agreed with the Police has been retained.
9. Homes are now permitted to use electronic methods of recording for sanctions, restraints and other forms of discipline; and the list of matters that must be recorded have been amended e.g. details of methods used to avoid the need for restraint.
10. The requirements relating to child protection and allegations against staff largely reflect Government changes in the last year or two; especially those emanating from 'Working Together 2010.  There is now a clear requirement that homes appoint a Designated Child Protection Manager to co-ordinate allegations and CP issues.
11. The  prescriptive requirements regarding staff supervision e.g. that new staff receive one to one supervision at least fortnightly during the first 6 months of their employment, have been replaced with a more generic requirement that staff must receive regular supervision.
12. There is a new provision that all staff have their performance individually and formally appraised at least annually and this appraisal takes into account any views of children the service is providing for.
13. Various Schedules have been amended in relating to records that must be kept in the home and Schedule 5 (Notifications of Serious Events) has been amended in that if  there is an outbreak of any infectious disease which in the opinion of a registered medical practitioner attending children at the home is sufficiently serious to be so notified, it is no longer necessary to notify the Primary Care Trust; also, if a child absconds from the home, it is no longer necessary to notify the Placing Authority.  However, if a child persistently goes missing or absent without consent, the Independent Reviewing Officer (IRO) should be notified.

3. Fostering Agencies - Summary of Changes

The need to consider children's wishes and feelings has been developed. There is an expectation that if the child's wishes are not acted upon, the reason is explained. Positive Identity is promoted including children in foster care being able to prepare meals, snacks and they must be given pocket money. Children must have access to independent advice and support and the Children's Rights Director.

1. Promoting positive behaviour and relationships explains more about how foster carers are expected to understand, manage and deal with young people's behaviour including encouraging children to take responsibility for their behaviour and helping them to learn how to resolve conflict. Fostering agencies must have a written behaviour management procedure.
2. In relation to Police involvement, the Home must have strategies which minimise the need for Police involvement; the requirement for this strategy to be agreed with the Police has been retained.
3. There is an emphasis on carers exploring and managing their own feelings and responses to emotions and behaviours presented by children, and in understanding children's past experiences.
4. There is a new requirement that Agency Managers regularly review incidents of challenging behaviour and examine trends and issues emerging from this to enable staff to reflect and learn and inform future practice.
5. In terms of wider safeguarding issues, a proportionate approach to risk assessment is encouraged. Children should be encouraged (in line with placement plans and risk assessments) to enjoy the activities that any other child can include visits and sleepovers without requiring a CRB check.
6. Foster carers should promote contact with relatives, now including grandparents and half-siblings.
7. Good matching is linked to placement stability. The movement of children for reasons other than their best interests should not happen. Children must, when they leave the home, be helped to understand the reasons and be supported.
8. The fostering agency must now have and implement procedures for introductions. Children must visit the foster home and understand household expectations before the placement is made.
9. Fostering Panel members are drawn from a 'central list' and there is no maximum number although the quorum for each meeting is 5 members. A chair and up to two vice chairs must be appointed. The panel must have papers five working days before the meeting.
10. Foster carers must receive an induction. Workforce development council standard needs to be met. They should be paid at least the national minimum allowance and this should be differentiated from fees.
11. Support should be accessible and transparent and also be aimed at hard to reach carers, including breaks from caring where appropriate.
12. A Designated Person must be appointed to manage allegations and child protection issues and to liaise with the LADO.

4. Adoption Agencies - Summary of Changes

1. There needs to be a strategy to recruit and assess prospective adopters who can meet most of the needs of those children for whom adoption is the plan.
2. Enquirers should not be turned away on the basis that their ethnicity and culture is not shared with those children waiting to be placed with adoptive parents.
3. Enquirers should not be turned away because of their age - there is no upper age restriction on applying to be adoptive parents. Any practice that classifies couples/single people in a way that effectively rules out adoption because of their status, age or because they and the child do not share the same racial or cultural background is now regarded as unacceptable.
4. Ethnicity must not be placed above everything else when identifying potential adopters for children. If the prospective adopter can meet most of the child's needs and, the social worker must not delay placing a child with the prospective adopter because they are single, older than other adopters or does not share the child's racial or cultural background.
5. Adoption Panel members are drawn from a 'central list' and there is no maximum number although the quorum for each meeting is 5 members. A chair and up to two vice chairs must be appointed. The panel must have papers five working days before the meeting.
6. Adoption Panels must meet frequently and at short notice to avoid delay, for example where the child in question is the subject of care proceedings and the timing of the Panel consideration needs to dovetail with the Court timetable.
7. The child's details should be sent to the Adoption Register if no locally identified match is being actively pursued at the latest by 3 months after the decision by the agency decision maker that the child should be placed for adoption; prospective adopters' details are passed to the Adoption Register immediately after their approval (if they consent) if unlikely that there will be a placement with a child in their area or if no locally identified match is being actively pursued at the latest by 3 months.
8. A Designated Person must be appointed to manage allegations and child protection issues and to liaise with the LADO.

End