Chapter Contents
The legal framework
How do children and young people get placed in foster care?
All of our children and young people have been placed with us by a local authority. Most of these children are ‘looked after’ by the local authority, which is sometimes called ‘being in care’. This means that the local authority has a legal duty to plan for the child’s care and to review it regularly. You can read more about their responsibilities here.
Some children are not ‘looked after’, but are placed under ‘section 17’ (referring to a section of the Children Act 1989). This might include children with disabilities who are staying for regular short breaks. It might also include some parent-and-child placements.
How do children and young people become ‘looked after children’?
The Children Act 1989 introduced the term ‘looked after child’.
There are four main ways in which a child becomes ‘looked after’:
- Accommodation (section 20) – when the parent agrees to a child being taken into care , or if a young person over 16 gives their own consent.
- Care Order or Interim Care Order (section 31/38) – when a child is in care by order of the courts. Such children sometimes remain living with a parent or a family friend/other relative.
- Emergency Protection Orders (section 44) and Police Protection (section 46) – usually outside of office hours.
- Remanded into care (section 21) – by the criminal courts.
Read the Children Act 1989 .
What are Fostering Services?
Foster care is one way in which a local authority can meet the needs of its ‘looked after children’.
Each local authority has its own fostering service. They can also make placements with an independent fostering service provider. ISP is one of these independent providers. Ofsted regulates and inspects us and we have to comply with a number of laws and regulations, including:
- The Children Act 1989 Guidance and Regulations Vol 4: Fostering Services
- Fostering Services (England) Regulations 2011
- Fostering Services: National Minimum Standards
Becoming a Foster Parent
N.B. The terms ‘foster parent’ and ‘foster carer’ can be used interchangeably.
The Role and Status of Foster Parents
Foster carers have a challenging and key role to play within a foster care service. They need skill, knowledge, expertise, self-awareness, commitment and the ability to work as part of a team, providing a high quality, effective service to vulnerable children. To undertake this role successfully it is essential that their contribution to improving outcomes for looked after children is appropriately recognised and acknowledged, their status respected and their levels of authority clearly defined so that they can give children in their care a full experience of family life, safeguard them and help them to grow and reach their potential. (Children Act 1989)
Foster carers care for the majority of England’s looked after children. All foster carers have to be assessed and approved by a fostering service provider. You can only be approved by one fostering service at a time.
For more information about the process of becoming a foster parent, see our policy: Assessing Prospective Foster Parents
For information about your foster parent Health Report and how we manage the confidentiality of your health information, please see our procedure:
Read our Privacy Policies:
Terms of Approval
When you are approved as a foster parent, your agreement with the agency includes the terms of approval:
- How many children you can care for;
- The agreed age range of children placed;
- Types of fostering, e.g. short-term; permanence; parent and child.
The terms should reflect your skills, experience and confidence. Children can only be placed outside of these terms on an emergency basis, for no more than 6 days, and only by the child’s Local Authority – not by ISP.
Your terms of approval will be reviewed, and can be amended, as part of your annual review of approval (also known as the ‘Annual Home Review’). If you wish for your terms of approval to be formally reviewed at any other time, you need to ask your supervising social worker for a review of approval, which may mean the next timetabled review is brought forward.
The usual fostering limit
The law usually limits the number of children you may look after at any time to three. This means that no one may foster more than three children unless:
- The foster children are all siblings in relation to each other or
- The local authority grants an exemption from the usual fostering limit, for specific named children.
ISP will request any necessary exemption. We will take into account the needs of all children in the house when doing so.
Types of Fostering
ISP provides a range of foster placements to meet the different needs of children and young people. Your terms of approval will confirm the types of placements that you can offer, and you can find this in your Foster Care Agreement.
Emergency placements
Some children need an emergency placement if they are taken into care quickly, e.g. to remove them from a situation of danger or neglect. This can happen late at night. Our out-of-hours workers can make an emergency placement and we need carers who are able to take these children.
A child who needs an emergency placements can be frightened and distressed and they need sensitive care and comfort. You will have limited information about them when they arrive. These placements might only last for a few days, but some children remain for several weeks or months.
Short-term placements
Short-term placements can involve a period of days, weeks or months and may coincide with care proceedings. These placements will usually last for less than one year and they might be ‘time-limited’, with a clear timeframe or date for the child to move on. The long-term plan for the child will be a return home, adoption or (for older teenagers) a move to independent living.
Long-term fostering
Many fostered children need to be looked after for a longer period of time – often for several years. A long-term placement provides stability for the child, and can continue until they are a young adult. They will usually continue to keep in touch with their family and you will help to support this.
Respite placements
ISP foster parents are entitled to take up to 22 nights’ respite each year, during which time any fostered children will stay with respite carers. We will work closely with you and the child to find the most suitable respite placement for them. Some children stay with a friend or family member of their foster parent, or the family member looks after them in the foster home.
Some children come to ISP on a “respite only” basis. They might be children with disabilities, in residential care or whose parents have health problems that affect their ability to care for the child full time.
Placements for unaccompanied asylum seeking children (UASCs)
Unaccompanied children arriving in the UK have often experienced trauma and loss. They have left their families, homes and familiar culture behind and our language and customs can feel strange to them.
Our aim is to provide the best possible care and support for these young people, so that their future offers opportunities to thrive. We must be mindful of their cultural and religious needs, so our centres build links with a broad range of local communities. This can help the young people develop their own sense of identity without feeling isolated from the rest of society.
For more information, see our policy: Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children
Parent & child placements
A foster parent might look after a parent and their baby while the local authority carries out a parenting assessment. This happens when they are unsure if the parent can meet the baby’s needs and keep them safe. The foster parent’s role is to help the parent to understand their child’s needs over time and keep detailed records for the local authority – and sometimes the courts.
To be approved to take these placements you would need to complete our ‘child and parent placements’ training course. You will also need:
- A minimum one year’s experience as a foster parent or experience working in a relevant childcare profession
- To have completed all mandatory training courses
- To have completed Paediatric First Aid training
- A large bedroom plus living space for the parent and baby. Your own bedroom must be large enough to accommodate the baby’s cot, should this be required
- Evidence of good record keeping and clear report writing. You also need to be confident speaking in professional meetings.
For more information, see our policy: Parent and Child Placements
Training opportunity: Parent and Child Placements – book on ‘Learnative’
Placements for children with disabilities and complex health needs
Some children come into foster care because they have disabilities and need specialist care. We match these children with carers who have the necessary experience and training to meet their needs.
Children with disabilities have a large professional network around them and you will receive support with their health and learning. You will also be able to claim DLA payments to provide the extras they need.
See Chapter 15 for more information.
Training opportunity: Disability Awareness – book on ‘Learnative’
Staying Put Arrangements
When young people reach the age of 18 they are no longer ‘looked after children’ or in foster care but they are able to remain living with their former foster parents if this is what everyone wants. This is called a ‘Staying Put arrangement’.
Every local authority has its own “Staying Put” policy. They are all different. For example, the local authority might want to deal directly with you around finances and other support, or they might choose to contract with ISP so that we provide you with support and supervision.
If you wish to consider a Staying Put arrangement, speak with your supervising social worker first and we will then help make this happen.
A young person in a staying put arrangement will not count as a fostered child or affect your approval terms, but they will count as a household member in relation to matching.
For more information, see our Staying Put policy.
Training opportunity: Staying Put. – book on ‘Learnative’
Permanence
Permanence planning aims to ensure that children have a secure, stable and loving family to support them through childhood and beyond. All care placements need to look to the future, and achieving permanence for a child is a key consideration from the day the child becomes looked after. The child’s need for a permanent home must be addressed at the second care review (at four months) and a permanence plan formulated, with clear timescales for achieving it. The permanence plan is part of the Care Plan.
Permanent foster care means the child stays with the same foster parent until they reach 18 years, which offers them stability and a sense of belonging. When a formal permanence match is made between the child and their foster carer, this needs to be agreed by the local authority’s fostering panel. The foster parent continues to receive ISP’s support and services.
Special Guardianship Orders (SGOs)
A Special Guardianship Order (SGO) is a type of permanence. If granted, this means the child is no longer in foster care, and no longer has a social worker. The foster parent gains parental responsibility for the child, and the birth family retains limited parental responsibility. The local authority might offer some practical, emotional and financial support, but ISP will no longer be involved.
If you wish to pursue an SGO, this will be considered as part of the child’s care plan. It is essential that there are detailed discussions with both you and the child’s birth parents about the full implications of Special Guardianship in advance of any planning. Equally, the child or young person should be as involved in the process as possible. Decisions should not be taken in haste or because you feel under pressure – there needs to be a real commitment for the long-term care of the chid. It is also important to consider future relationships with the child’s birth family. If you would like to pursue special guardianship for a child, speak with your supervising social worker.
Adoption
What is an adoption order?
An adoption order transfers full parental responsibility for the child to the adoptive parents and the child becomes a full member of the adoptive family.
If you are looking after a child whose permanence plan is for adoption, you can apply to adopt the child. Like special guardianship orders, there are implications in terms of support and financial assistance so you should explore these in detail and make sure that plans are in the best interests of the young person and your family.
Can a foster parent who adopts continue to foster?
ISP will consider the carer’s continuing status as a foster parent for other children as part of the fostering annual review process, just as we would any other significant change in family circumstances.
National Minimum Standards
What are National Minimum Standards?
The Fostering Services: National Minimum Standards 2011 are issued by the Secretary of State at the Department for Education (DfE). They describe the absolute minimum standards that the government requires of fostering service providers.
The NMS, as they are known, are used by Ofsted inspectors to judge the quality of fostering services and whether or not these comply with regulations.
We also use the standards for self-assessment and to guide staff and foster carers through our responsibilities in caring for children and young people. There are 31 standards which cover both direct care of fostered children and the organisation of a fostering service.
For each of the standards there is a related outcome to be achieved by the fostering service. The outcomes focus on the needs of children, and are measurable. They are well worth reading in full and having a copy to hand. We expect foster parents to be familiar with the first 12 child-focused standards.
A full set of the National Minimum Standards can be downloaded from the GOV.UK website, or by clicking here.
The Role of a Foster Parent
Foster parents work as part of the ‘corporate parent’ team helping the child or young person. The role of the foster parent is to act as the best possible parent for each child they look after and to advocate on their behalf to achieve the best possible outcomes.
As a foster parent, you will:
- Provide a safe and caring environment for the child
- Support and meet the child’s health needs
- Ensure the child attends nursery/school/college
- Encourage children to learn, and help them with homework
- Support contact between the child and their birth family
- Support and promote the child’s development so that they can achieve their potential
- Work towards the outcomes identified in the Care Plan/Pathway Plan.
Foster Care Agreement
Once a foster parent is approved by ISP, they will be notified in writing of this fact and of the terms of their approval. They will also be required to enter into a signed Foster Care Agreement.
The Foster Care Agreement will include:
- The terms of approval
- Training and support arrangements
- The review process
- Placement procedures
- Insurance and legal liabilities
- Complaints and representations procedures
It will also outline your responsibilities to:
- Care for a child as if they were your own, above all keeping them safe and promoting their welfare
- Let us know of any change of address, change of personal circumstances or significant events that would affect the child. This includes:
- Relationship breakdown
- Change of employment, or redundancy
- New members of the household. We will complete a DBS check for any new partners any other adults joining the household.
- Pregnancy
- Physical or mental health problems.
N.B. Changes of circumstances will sometimes lead to a fostering review of approval.
- Not use physical punishment
- Keep children’s information confidential and not share without consent from ISP
- Carry out your duties as laid out in the Placement Plan
- Comply with ISP policies and procedures
- Allow Ofsted inspectors to visit your home.
For more information about the role of a foster parent, and how ISP will support you in your role, read our Foster Parent Charter and Professional Code of Conduct
Fostering Annual Reviews
What are fostering annual reviews?
Fostering regulations require that every carer’s approval must be reviewed each year, although a review can happen sooner if we think this is necessary. The review must consider whether you and your household continue to be suitable to foster and whether your terms of approval are still appropriate.
Fostering annual reviews look closely at:
- Your fostering during the past year
- Your successes and challenges over the past year
- The services and support you have received from ISP
Your first review will be presented to the ISP fostering panel and you are expected to attend. After that, your annual review is overseen by the ISP team.
Process for fostering annual reviews
ISP is responsible for arranging your annual review. An independent social worker will meet with you and your family, gather other people’s views, and prepare a report for ISP. The review might then involve a meeting between yourselves and centre staff, and you will be notified if this is to be the case.
Whose views do we collect?
We are required by law to take into account your views, together with the views of any child placed (if they are able to contribute), and the child’s social worker. In addition, we invite comments from your own children and anyone else professionally involved with you, e.g. schools.
Matters covered by the review
The focus of an annual review is on you and your work as a foster parent. We look at your achievements and any difficulties you’ve had, and in particular we note any fostering work that was out of the ordinary.
The review will identify any training completed as well as your current training needs. You will also have a chance to discuss whether you are receiving enough support from ISP. Your health and safety checklist will be updated and we will confirm that all your insurance arrangements are still in place.
Review reports
- Your centre manager, supervising social worker and fostering advisor will provide feedback to inform the review process.
- An independent social worker will conduct the review and write the report.
- We quality assure the report and submit it to the ISP panel (for initial reviews) or the agency decision maker (ADM) for subsequent reviews.
- The ADM considers the review reports, and the recommendation/s (if any) of the fostering panel, and makes their decision.
- We will send you a copy of your final review report and you can give feedback.
- Local Authorities for the children in your care might request a copy of your review report.
Proposals to change foster parents’ terms of approval
If the agency decision maker (ADM) thinks it is appropriate to change your terms of approval but you don’t agree with this, they will issue a ‘qualifying determination’. You will then have 28 days to appeal or to apply to the Independent Review Mechanism (IRM). ISP will explain how you can do this at the time.
If you do agree with the proposed change to your approval terms, then as long as ISP identifies in writing any additional support needs, the ADM can proceed to an immediate decision. We always ask you to sign the Agreement to Proposed Change in Terms of Approval Form, so the ADM is aware you are in agreement with the proposed change.
For more information, read our policy: Foster Annual Review Procedure
Fostering Panels
Core Functions of a Fostering Panel
- Examine applications for approval, and recommend whether or not a person is suitable to be a foster parent and, if so, their terms of approval (e.g. number and age of children to be placed).
- Consider the first review of approved foster parents, and any subsequent reviews referred to it by the fostering service, and recommend whether or not they remain suitable to be foster parents, and if the terms of the approval remain appropriate;
- Review any representations from applicants or foster parents in relation to matters of approval;
- Oversee the conduct of assessments carried out by the fostering service;
- Monitor and advise on the procedures for undertaking reviews of foster carers;
- Give advice and make recommendations on any other matters.
Fostering panels therefore play a very important quality assurance role. They can challenge practice which they believe falls short of the regulations or national minimum standards, or is not in the interests of children. The panel cannot make decisions, but rather make recommendations which the agency decision maker must take into account. They also give regular feedback to the fostering service.
For more information, read our Fostering Panels policy:
