Assessment under Regulation 24



Assessment under Regulation 24

of the Care Planning, Placement and Case Review Regulations 2010

for Temporary Approval of Family & Friends carers as Foster Carers for a particular child or children.

Practice Guidance for Assessing Social Workers

As this assessment is likely to be undertaken in a short space of time the format has been designed so that Section 1 can be completed by the carer themselves and then discussed with you in a meeting or home visit. You may also complete section 1 through telephone conversations or an office / home visit.

You must visit the home of the proposed carers where the child will live and provide the detail from that visit in Section 2. A child cannot be placed in a home unless a home visit has been undertaken.

All sections of this pro forma must be completed in order for the Designated Manager to have the information legally required for them to provide the temporary approval. More information can be provided but information must not be missing.

Throughout this assessment you need to find evidence of honesty and reliability because these are key elements of safe carers. You need to be able to trust this carer to tell you what is going on, despite the fact that the parent of this child is a relative or friend, of the child or young person themselves, and may have an established emotional relationship with the carer. In your discussions it is important to convey the message that not telling us things often makes us more worried about what it is they are not saying, because it is about how much we can trust them with the care of a vulnerable child/ young person.

Although we share information only with those who need to know it the proposed carers need to know that the assessment will be seen by the following in addition to Local Authority staff:

A copy of this assessment will be provided to the child’s parent (s) and only in exceptional circumstances will information be withheld from the parents. If a child is accommodated under Section 20 the Local Authority has no power to withhold the address of the placement from either parent. If there are particular risks presented by one parent or another, you will need to seek advice from management.

Proposed carers may wish for some of the information within the assessment to be kept confidential from the parents and generally information which the parents do not already know can usually remain confidential unless it is the key reason for the negative assessment. You need advice from your manager (who may also seek legal advice) in order to be clear about what can be withheld from the parents

The child may also have access to this assessment when they are older and request access to their file.

This assessment will be presented to the Fostering Panel after approval has been given in order to ratify the decision. You may be required to attend that panel.

This assessment may also be filed in care proceedings and you may be called to give evidence upon it.

Specific practice guidance is provided in relation to the following questions and all others are self explanatory:

1.3 and 1.4 The length and nature of the relationship is important in assessing the quality of the relationship with the child so that assumptions are not made about how well a relative or family friend knows the child purely by the stated connection.

1.5 Information from schools is helpful in assessing the quality of parenting offered to birth children.

1.6 This information is clearly relevant to risk assessment but we also need to remember that the child’s parents have a right to know who is in contact with their child.

1.10 This question is designed to ensure that we obtain all information about contact with the Police and not solely what may show up on a Police Check. Adults can, and do get confused about what they need to tell us so it is important to ask this question at this stage of the assessment process.

1.11 & 1.12 These issues do not necessarily preclude someone from becoming a family and friends temporary foster carer but we need to know the detail in order to make that decision and ensure that their own health needs will not be compromised by taking on responsibility for a child in such difficult circumstances. We also need to think about the support that the carer may need and how we explain our decision to the child’s parents.

1.13 This provides detail of the availability of carers / members of the household as well as income.

You will need to explain the financial support package in your discussions with the carers. For details please consult with the finance team. Ongoing payments need to be put into a bank account and in order for this to be set up the finance team will need evidence of the carer’s bank account so a copy of a statement or letter from their bank confirming the details.

1.14 This question is crucial to your assessment of whether this carer can be a safe carer for this child at this time. We are all aware of the repetition of parenting difficulties from generation to generation in some families and therefore if those who you are assessing failed to protect their own children in the past you need to gather evidence about what is different now in order to make a recommendation for approval as a foster carer.

1.15 This question is key to your understanding of whether the carer can protect the child from the harm that they have suffered or are likely to suffer so it is ideal to record exactly what the proposed carer says to you are far as is reasonable.

1.16 As above this question is designed to help you understand their thinking process and who, if anyone, has asked them to put themselves forward.

1.17 Again this is about how much the proposed carer understands about what the child’s needs are, and what will be involved in caring for them. It can help carers to suggest that they think through the daily routine to identify what the child will need and how they will fulfil that need, for example how will they get the child to school? Who else in the family can help with meeting the child’s needs? It is rarely in a child’s interests to change schools so if this is a clear issue due to where the carer lives then you would need to discuss this with your manager in terms of what support can be provided. Then you can ask about how that routine may be different at weekends or if the child is ill. The Assessment Framework triangle lists all the main areas of need.

1.18 Carers need to be involved in contact in order to support the child both practically and more importantly emotionally. Is this carer able to have the child’s family in their home, if so at what times and are they able to remain with the child if necessary. If there are safety reasons why the child’s family cannot visit the proposed carer’s home then how will the carer support the child getting to and from the contact? Are there other members of the household who can assist with this?

1.19 Carer’s who can anticipate issues and identify areas where they will need support are clearly aware of the impact of caring for a child in difficult circumstances. Carers will need to talk through their worries with you as they may not be aware of issues that may arise or the support that is, and is not available for them.

Section 2

2.8 This is where you explain to the reader what all the previous information means. You need to explain the reasons why you think this carer and their household can protect the child, work with us and the birth family; maintain as much of the child’s usual life as possible, so school, friends, health and contact with their family. You may not think this is possible or achievable and thus the placement and carer not appropriate. Friends and family carers are usually in a difficult position of divided loyalties between the family they know and Children’s Services so in this section if you support his placement and the appropriateness of the carers to care for this child, you need to explain what has convinced you that they will work closely with us to care for the child even if the child’s family consider that to be disloyal. What has led you to conclude that the LA can trust these carers? If the carer’s have experienced difficulties parenting their own children what has convinced you that they will parent this child differently? Can this carer take on this child or children and maintain their current responsibilities to their own family or work etc.

If it is your conclusion that the carer can take on the child what support do they need, from whom and when?

If it is your conclusion that the carer cannot take on this child at this time please state the reasons clearly.

Section 3 – Approval by Designated Manager

The Designated Manager is the manager of the service who is undertaking the assessment.

When you have completed your assessment ensure that your line manager or Team Manager has agreed it. It should then be forwarded to the Designated Manager for approval together with the outcome of Local Police Checks and Local Authority Checks.

Approval may only be given with full information as described above.

Section 4 – Written Agreement with the Carer

A placement cannot be made unless there is a written agreement with the carer so this must be completed with the carer.

Children placed in Friends & Family arrangements agreed under Regulation 24 are required to be visited weekly until the first review and then at a minimum of 4 weekly intervals following this (Reg 28 - 4 a & b)

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