Placements in Foster Care

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 Justice Service, if the child is known to them;
7. Any other relevant person, e.g. nursery, health care professional..

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.

Where, following the Decision to Look After and Care Planning Procedure a decision has been made at Care Services Panel that a child requires a foster placement, the child's social worker should complete a Referral for Foster Placement Form and email this to the duty social worker at the Family Placement Service. The manager of the Family Placement Service should be copied into this request. 

In making this referral, the social worker will be asked to provide detailed 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 fully outline any risks associated with the placement. The duty social worker will review the information in the referral and contact the child’s social worker in order to obtain further information or to raise any queries they have. The duty social worker will also review the child’s record on Mosaic.  

The duty social worker at the Family Placement Service will check whether a placement is available that appears to be appropriate to meet the child's needs. If such a placement is available or if there is a possibility of a placement by the required date, the child’s social worker and the manager of the Family Placement Service will be advised accordingly.

If no appropriate placements are available and the child requires a placement without delay, the duty social worker at the Family Placement Service will advise the child’s social worker of this and update the manager of the Family Placement Service who will notify the Service Manager, Care Services that there is no appropriate placement available so that consideration can be given to alternative provision in residential care.

Where there is a child already in the proposed foster placement, contact should be made with the social worker for that child to advise them of the proposal to place a child with the foster carer and to seek their views. Where the child is from a different local authority, the consent of that child's local authority should be sought by the Children in Care Team before placing the child.

In considering whether there is an appropriate foster placement for the child 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 identity/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 ability of the foster carer to meet the needs of the child in terms of school transport, family contact etc taking into account their other commitments (birth children, other foster children, work);
• Other children in the placement;
• Availability of accommodation with siblings (if required);
• Suitability in meeting the needs of children with disabilities or additional needs;
• The foster carer's children.

Once a potential placement has been identified, the supervising social worker will contact the prospective foster carer to discuss the child and will share the referral information fully with them including any risks associated with the placement. Following this discussion should the foster carer and supervising social worker agree to proceed the child's social worker will contact the foster carer to answer any further queries and to arrange to visit to provide fuller information and to share any risks associated with the placement with both the foster carers and the supervising social worker. The social worker should also ensure that the foster carers are aware of any risk the child may present to other children and adults in the placement. The child's social worker should visit potential carers with their supervising social worker and as required consult with other professionals, prior to a decision about the appropriateness of a placement being made.

 Once there is agreement to proceed with the placement the manager of the Family Placement Service will be informed and the child’s social worker and supervising social worker will agree arrangements for the placement with the foster carer.   In relation to the sharing of bedrooms, each child over 3 should have their own bedroom, or where this is not possible, the Service must agree to the sharing of the bedroom and this must therefore be addressed during the matching process.

If the placement is outside the foster carer's terms of approval or an exemption is required, see Exemptions and Extensions/Variations to Foster Carer Approval Procedure.

Once the manager has approved the foster placement, the placement planning process can start - see Section 4, Placement Planning.

The child’s social worker will obtain the profile of the foster family and will share this with the child and parents. The child’s social worker will also provide the parents with the Information for Parents and Relatives on Foster Care leaflet. The child’s social worker and supervising social worker may then arrange an introductory visit to the proposed placement, with the child (if old enough) and parents (if appropriate).

Before the child is placed, the child's social worker will arrange a Placement Planning Meeting after liaising with the foster carer and the foster carer's supervising social worker.  See also Placement Planning and Disruption Meetings Procedure.

Participants will include:

• The parent;
• The child (if appropriate);
• The foster carer;
• The supervising social worker;
• Any other relevant professionals, e.g. a representative from the child's school;
• Anyone else considered appropriate or who will have a role in the placement.

The purpose of the first Placement Planning Meeting is to finalise the Placement Plan (which will be recorded on the Mosaic Placement Plan Record). This will involve a discussion of the child's needs, likes, dislikes, routines and health and education needs and how these are to be met.

In addition the Placement Planning Meeting will consider the introduction process required for the child, for example arrangements for the child, parents and the social worker to visit the foster home and 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. Information about the foster carers should be provided and there should be discussion about routines, 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 Bring a Child into Care Procedure:

1. The type of accommodation to be provided and the address;
2. Where the Service has, or is notified of, Child Protection concerns relating to the child, or the child has gone missing from the placement or from any previous placement, the arrangements put in place by the Service to keep the child safe;
3. The child's personal history, religious persuasion, cultural and linguistic background and racial origin;
4. Where the child is Accommodated:
   • The respective responsibilities of the Service and parents/anyone with Parental Responsibility;
   • Any delegation of responsibility by parents/anyone with Parental Responsibility to the Service and /or the foster carer(s) in relation to the following matters (and identifying any of these matters on which the Service/parents/persons with Parental Responsibility consider that the child may make a decision):
     • Medical and dental treatment;
     • Education;
     • Leisure and home life;
     • Faith and religious observance;
     • Use of social media;
     • Any other matters upon which the Service /parents/others with Parental Responsibility consider appropriate.
   • 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, that fact.
5. The circumstances in which it is necessary to obtain in advance the Services’ approval for the child to take part in school trips or overnight stays;
6. The Services’ arrangements for the financial support of the child during the placement;
7. The obligation on the carers to comply with the terms of the foster care agreement.

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 in order that the Placement Plan is prepared at the latest within 5 working days of the start of the placement and wherever possible within 72 hours

The child's social worker will complete and arrange for the circulation of the Care Plan and Placement Plan to the child, parents and foster carers before or at the latest, within 5 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 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, as indicated above, 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. The supervising social worker should prepare and provide the foster carer with the Welcome Box for the child so that it is in situ ideally before the child is placed. Suitable luggage should be used and a child's belongings should never be transported in bin-bags or other inappropriate containers.

The child's social worker will update the child's electronic records with the details of the placement. For children placed in foster care the supervising social worker will ensure that a Movement Form notification is sent to the Foster Payments Officer so as to trigger payments to the foster carer. The Movement Form is distributed to key agencies for their information.

The notifications should be before the start of the placement, wherever possible, or within 5 working days.

Notification of the placement will also be sent by the child’s social worker to the Designated Nurse for LAC and the education service.

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 Independent Reviewing Officer.  This notification will trigger the setting up of arrangements for a Looked After Review.

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 worker actively involved with the child.

The child will continue to be registered with their GP. The School Dental Service is used for all Children in Care.

In relation to a first Looked After placement it will also be necessary for the child’s social worker to liaise with the Designated Nurse for LAC to arrange a Health Care Assessment - see Health Care Assessments and Plans Procedure for further details. The social worker must also contact the relevant school or, where the child does not have a school place, the relevant education officer with a view to the completion of a Personal Education Plan.

For any new placement, the child should remain at the same school (unless there are reasons which would be detrimental to his or her well-being). 

The child's social worker must visit the child in the placement within one week of the placement and then, at a minimum, every six weeks during the first year, thereafter every six weeks (three months if the placement is intended to last until the child is 18). For children in long-term foster placements visits after the first year should not be less frequent than six monthly - see Social Worker Visits to Children in Care Procedure.

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

Where there are concerns in relation to the progress of the placement, consideration should be given to seeking additional resources to assist the carers.

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 the child's electronic records.

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

A Looked After Review should be convened where:

• The child is, or has been, persistently absent from the placement;
• The Service, parents or area authority are concerned that the child is at risk of harm; or
• The child so requests, unless the Independent Reviewing Officer considers that the review is not justified.

See also Child in Care Reviews Procedure.

When the placement ends, the child's social worker must update the child's electronic records. The supervising social worker will notify the Foster Payments Officer via the Movement Form so that payments to the carer will cease. The Movement Form is distributed to key agencies for their information.

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

The child’s social worker must complete an end of placement Child’s Social Worker Report for all placements. This report forms part of the consultation process for consideration at the Foster Care Review.

Where the child is moving to a different placement the foster carer should be asked to complete an end of placement report. This is completed on the CoramBAAF Form C/YP

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 the placement ends in an unplanned way, consideration should be given to holding a Disruption Meeting - see Placement Planning and Disruption Meetings Procedure.

Where a former carer's records are requested by a new agency, these must be made available in accordance with procedure.

The definition of an out of hours placement is one made by the Emergency Duty Service, due to a need to place children in an emergency outside normal working hours.

The Family Placement Service will not be involved in out of hours placements, other than by sending to the Administration Team each Friday, via email, an updated list of carers with placements available for use. This is then shared with EDS social workers and EDS managers.

The EDS social worker must notify the EDS manager of any placements that are made during that EDS shift and they must notify the Family Placement Service duty social worker and manager of any placements that are made on the next working day.

Carers can only be available to take out of hours placements where a "vacancy" exists. Only carers with less than 3 foster children in placement can therefore take an out of hours placement. They should have a spare room available for such placements. For any placement request falling outside of this see Exemptions and Extensions/Variations to Foster Carer Approval Procedure.

Carers agreeing to placements out of hours must be prepared and equipped to receive children in crisis at short notice. They should not expect that children will go to nursery/school/college 'as usual' and they should expect a high level of social work involvement, meetings and appointments (e.g. medical etc), during the initial stage of the placement.

For all out of hours placements the procedure referenced above as for placements made within working hours will apply.

A person who is approved as a prospective adopter may be given temporary approval as a foster carer for a named Looked After child, where the Service considers that this is in the child’s best interests.

Before giving such approval, the Service must:

• Assess the suitability of that person to care for the child as a foster care; and
• Consider whether, in all the circumstances and taking into account the services to be provided, the proposed arrangements will safeguard and promote the child’s welfare and meet the child’s needs as set out in the Care Plan.

The temporary approval period expires when:

• The placement is terminated by the Service ;
• The approval as a prospective adopter is terminated;
• The prospective adopter is approved as a foster carer;
• The prospective adopter gives 28 days’ written notice that they no longer wish to be temporarily approved as a foster parent in relation to the child; or
• The child is placed for adoption with the prospective adopter.

Where it is the case that the most appropriate route to permanence is long-term foster care, staff should follow the Guidance for Staff on Permanency Planning Process. The arrangements for making such a placement include:

• That foster care is the plan for permanence and is endorsed at the child’s Looked After Review and recorded in the child’s Care Plan;
• That the foster carer has agreed to act as the child’s foster carer until the child ceases to be looked after;
• That the Service has confirmed the nature of the arrangement with the foster carer(s), the birth parent and the child; and
• The child and foster carer have a clear understanding of the support services they will receive to promote the placement.

A long-term foster placement (where it is intended that the child will remain with the foster carers for an indefinite / permanent period) should be sought only in circumstances where all alternatives - including placement with the child's parent(s), other relatives or adoption - have been considered and discounted.

Where the decision has been taken that the plan for permanence is long-term foster care and the child is in an existing foster care placement, it may be that the carer and (where appropriate) the child want the existing foster placement to be the long-term foster placement. Such a proposal should be considered in a reasonable timescale taking into account the existing relationship between the child and the foster carer, the length of time in placement, the child’s relationships with the foster carer’s wider family and community. Consideration should also be given to the progress the child has made in the placement, recorded through the case review process.

There may be circumstances where it is not considered appropriate to assess the ability of the current foster carer as the long-term carer for the child. In these instances, the reasons for this decision should be clearly set out in writing to the foster carer. This decision should also be communicated to the child where it is appropriate to their age and understanding.

The assessment and planning process for long-term foster care should address the child’s current needs and likely future needs, and the capacity of the foster carer to meet these needs now and in the future. The length of placement will vary according to the child’s age and the long-term plan for the child, including the transition to adulthood. These factors must all be taken into account in planning for support and services where long-term foster care has been identified as the plan for permanence for a child.

Before deciding to place a child in a long-term foster placement, (whether or not this means moving to a new carer) the ability of the identified long-term foster carer to care for the child both now and in the future should be assessed. The support and services which will be needed to ensure that the placement is stable, secure and meets the child’s needs should be identified taking into account the carer’s previous fostering or other childcare experience, family configuration (including placement of other children under fostering arrangements), existing relationship (if any) with the child, knowledge and skills and capacity to care for the child long term under a fostering arrangement.

It is imperative that the foster carer fully understands and explicitly agrees to the long term commitment they are making to the child. A record of the discussion of these matters including the outcome should be made as part of the assessment and matching process.

A Permanency Planning Meeting will be held following a Review which has endorsed a plan of permanence through long-term fostering for a child. This meeting will be chaired by the managers of the Family Placement Service and the Children in Care Team and will be attended by the child’s social worker. The meeting will only take place where all assessments have been concluded and the plan is one of long-term fostering and, where a Community Parenting Order is being applied for, the meeting should inform the Social Work Evidence Template (SWET). The meeting will evidence the assessments undertaken to date together with their outcome and the factors for and against types of care provision. The meeting will consider whether there is a need to place the child out of jurisdiction (this will only be considered where the level of risk to a child is considered too high to place on Guernsey or where the child has such complex additional needs that a suitable placement cannot be identified on Guernsey). The meeting will also consider the future contact arrangements with birth family. The meeting will set out the work to be completed by the child’s social worker and supervising social worker.

Following the Permanency Planning Meeting, the child’s social worker will complete a Child Permanence Report for Long Term Fostering. The child’s social worker will book a date with the Fostering and Adoption Panel for consideration of a Best Interest Recommendation for long term fostering which will be considered by the Agency Decision Maker who will make their decision. Panel procedures will be followed.  

Where it is agreed that it is in the child’s best interest to be placed in a long-term foster placement, the child’s social worker should notify the child’s parents or any other person who is not a parent but has Parental Responsibility and the child and the foster carer.

When a suitable "match" is proposed, the child's social worker and supervising social worker for the proposed foster carers will jointly visit the foster carers to discuss the child's needs and the Care Plan and to share full information regarding the child. Where the child is to be placed with a foster carer unknown to them, in addition to the process of full information sharing, a Child Appreciation Day will be arranged by the supervising social worker to provide the opportunity for the proposed foster carers to meet and obtain information from key persons involved in the child’s life.

Once a match has been agreed the child’s social worker will complete a Long Term Fostering Placement Report and the supervising social worker will contribute to the Long Term Fostering Support Plan. The child’s social worker will book a date with the Fostering and Adoption Panel for consideration of the Match for Long Term Fostering recommendation which will be considered by the Agency Decision Maker who will make their decision. Panel procedures will be followed.  

Where the match is agreed arrangements will be made for the proper preparation of the child for the move. The Placement Planning Meeting will take place and the procedure set out as above will be followed.

The decision to place a child in a long-term foster placement with a particular foster carer should be discussed and recorded as part of the review process. This decision should then be recorded in the Placement Plan and agreed and signed by the foster carer.