NEW INDEPENDENT REVIEW MECHANISM FOR FOSTERING WELCOMED BY LEADING CHARITY

For immediate releaseTuesday 31 March 2009

The Fostering Network welcomes a new procedureto review cases where foster carers have their approval to foster removed.

The procedure, known as the independent review mechanism (IRM), is being launched this week by theDepartment for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) and will be operated by the British Agencies for Adoption and Fostering (BAAF).

The IRM offers foster carers in England who have had their approval removed, and prospective foster carers who are not granted approval to foster, the opportunity to have these decisions reviewed and a fresh recommendation made to their fostering service. Currently when fostering service providers remove or refuse approval the only option foster carers have is to ask that provider to review the decision.

The IRM(fostering) is part of a wider package of measures to improve the approvals process for foster carers and to encourage more people to come forward to foster. It responds to concerns from those working in fostering that the current approval process is not independent enough, and it brings fostering into line with adoption where there has been an IRM since April 2004.

After lobbying from the Fostering Network and other charities, the Government announced the IRM in the White Paper, Care Matters: Time for Change. Powers to make regulations implementing the IRM (fostering) were introduced by the Children and Young Persons Act 2008.

The IRM is not an appeals process and the reviewing panel has no powers to overturn decisions. The function of the panel is to review all the documents and information relating to a “qualifying determination” and make a recommendation to the fostering service provider about whether or not a person is suitable to act as a “local authority foster parent” (which includes foster carers approved by independent fostering providers) and/or a recommendation about the terms of approval, as the case may be. The final decision about the individual’s approval/terms of approval will continue to rest with the fostering service provider.

Malcolm Phillips, Fosterline manager at the Fostering Network, said:

‘We reallywelcome the setting up of the new IRM. Every year we receivehundreds of enquiries fromfoster carers about changes to their approval and we also hear from several hundred applicants who wish to becomefoster carers. Our Fosterline advisors will now be able to explain to any dissatisfied caller that they can use the IRM to offer a genuinely independent opinion about their suitability to foster. The very existence of the IRM will be a spur to all fostering services to ensure that theirinformation gathering and assessment procedures are sound and fair.’

BAAF currently has a number of vacancies for IRM panel members. The charity is looking for:

  • A social worker withcurrent experiencein the provision of a fostering service to sit on a London panel
  • Threefoster carers for the twoLondonpanels, two foster carers to sit on the Birmingham panel and two foster carers to sit on the Leeds panel.

The job descriptionsfor both positions and the application form are available on the BAAF website -

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Notes to editors:

1. The Fostering Network is the UK’s leading charity for all those involved in fostering, and aims to make life better for fostered children and the families that care for them. It has offices in Belfast, Cardiff, Glasgow and London.For more information contact the Fostering Network on 020 7620 8415/6441/6416, or email

2.BAAF is one of the UK’s leading charities for children in care. We provide services to meet the needs of some of the UK’s most vulnerable children and young people. In 2007/2008 we sold 43,000 books on adoption and fostering, ran 2,000 workshops and training days UK-wide. In the last three years, we have helped find families for over 1,300 children through BAAF’s family finding services. For more information visit