Children and Young People’s Services – Social Care
Permanence Policy
Borough of Poole
CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE'S SERVICE - SOCIAL CARE
Permanence Policy
Planning for Permanence and Stability for Children and Young People receiving Social Care Services
Authorised by: Gerry Moore, Service Unit Head[C1]
Original document date: 30.07.07
Revised:17.10.11
Date for review:Oct 2013
CONTENTS
1.0Introduction
2.0Equality Impact Assessment
3.0Aim of Permanence Policy
4.0Options for Permanence
5.0Key objectives of planning for permanence
6.0Involving Children
7.0Contact
8.0Partnership with parents
9.0Siblings
10.0Assessment
11.0Permanence for children in need and at risk
12.0Permanence for children at risk of family breakdown
13.0Permanence for children in private fostering arrangements
14.0Permanence for children receiving respite care
15.0Permanence for children who have become looked after
15.1Rehabilitation
15.2Placement with parents
15.3Permanence Planning Meetings
15.4Preventing Drift
15.5Parallel planning
15.6Options for permanence for Children Looked After
15.7Diagram showing placement options for Children Looked After
15.8Preparing children for permanence
16.0Permanence through adoption
16.1Adoption and Permanence Panel
16.2Flowchart showing the process where adoption is being considered as an option for Permanence
17.0Permanence through Fostering
17.1Flowchart outlining process of Permanence through Fostering
17.2Fostering Panel’s role in permanence through Fostering
17.3Process where child is to remain in current placement
17.4Process where the child is to move to new permanent placement
17.5Disruption of fostering placements
17.6Convening a statutory review in relation to disruption
17.7Disruption meeting
17.8Foster Carer Review / Panel attendance in relation to disruption
18.0Permanence through Special Guardianship
18.1Applications for Special Guardianship Order
18.2Foster Carers applying for a Special Guardianship Order or and Adoption Order for a child they are looking after
18.3Support Services for Special Guardianship Arrangements
18.4Special Guardianship Arrangements flow chart
Appendix 1 – Good practice Guidance
Good practice in relation to Permanency for Black and Minority Ethnic Children
Good practice in relation to contact
Good Practice in relation to changing a child’s name in a permanent placement
Appendix 2 -Summary Guidance of Financial Support for Carers applying for an Adoption
Order or Special Guardianship Order
Appendix 3 - Guidance for Financial and other Support Services to Children living with
Family and Friends
Appendix 4 - Definitions of terms used in this policy and within Permanence work
Appendix 5 - Links to legislation, national objectives, standards and guidance and local
policy, procedure and good practice
Appendix 6 – Guidance about Special Guardianship Orders
Appendix 7 - Good practice guide in assessing attachment
1.0Introduction
This Permanence[1] Policy applies to all work with children[2] in need and their families. It must underpin practice in Referral and Assessment, Family Support and Safeguarding, Vhild in Care, Leaving Care, Child Health and Disability and Family Placement Teams. Various hyperlinks within this document will allow the reader to view linked policy, procedure and good practice guidance.
2.0Equality impact statement
Permanence policy, applied effectively, will promote individual development, psychological wellbeing, positive identity, and inclusion of children in need throughout childhood and beyond. It will have a positive impact on equality because additional needs associated with disability, gender, race, religious belief, sexual orientation and age are better understood and more consistently met when children are securely attached to carers and families who have a lifelong commitment to them.
Assessments and support packages should focus on promoting attachments[3] and reducing the impact of care arrangements on attachment experiences and secure relationships.
Equality Impact for work carried out under the Permanence Policy and Procedures is assessed as Low.
3.0Aim of the Permanence Policy
Permanence is the over riding aim of care planning[4] and support to children in need. Children need to be securely attached to adult carers who can provide safe and effective care throughout childhood in order to meet the Government’s Every Child Matters five key outcomes of:
- Be Healthy
- Stay Safe
- Enjoy and achieve
- Make a positive contribution and
- Achieve economic wellbeing
Our priority in promoting permanence is to preserve and promote attachment relationships, minimise disruption[5] and keep children within the context of their birth family[6], ideally with parents[7]. If this is not possible we will support and promote living with extended family or friends. This may be by offering support under Section 17 of the Children Act to these families, or promoting applications for Residence or Special Guardianship[8] Orders. If the child needs to become looked after we will endeavour, where appropriate, to establish “Kinship Care”[9] arrangements. When those options are not possible we will, without delay, provide or plan for permanent placements with foster carers or adopters.
Attachment issues and permanence will be addressed from the point of initial assessment, through care planning, service delivery, placement and review. Child in Need assessments will explicitly identify the child’s key attachment figures in their family and community and the quality of those attachments.
Fragmented and disorganised attachment patterns will be a trigger for early intervention and support services with a specific focus on promoting secure attachments.
Care Proceedings will only be initiated when the parents are unwilling to collaborate in and accept action essential for the child’s safety, wellbeing and development. All reasonable efforts will be made to reunite families, unless there is evidence that further attempts at rehabilitation are unlikely to succeed.
4.0Options for Permanence
Permanence can be achieved by remaining with or returning to birth parents, legal permanence with extended family, adoption or permanent placement with other than extended family through other legal means.
All children will have the same opportunities irrespective of gender, ethnicity, disability, culture, religion, language and sexual orientation.
5.0Key objectives of planning for permanence
In Poole, when considering key objectives in planning permanence for children we aim:
- To meet the child’s long-term needs as soon as possible.
- To ensure the best possible outcomes for the child by providing an environment which encourages the child to reach his/her potential.
- To enable the child to form healthy and lasting attachments.
- To ensure the child feels valued as a member of a family and society.
- To ensure the child develops a sense of belonging and feels secure.
6.0Involving children
Children have the right to understand what is happening to them and why; to know what is proposed in the Care plan; to know and understand the implications for them and their future. They have the right to express their wishes and feelings and participate in decisions about their future. We will encourage and enable them to do this in a way appropriate to their age and understanding. They should also be made aware that the final responsibility for decisions rests with the adults concerned.
Advocacy Services are available for children involved in Child Protection processes and those who are looked after.
Children have a right to make representations and complaints; they will receive help to do so if this is required.
7.0Contact[10]
Contact (direct or indirect) between children and their families is important and will be promoted unless it is not consistent with their safety, best interests, or would jeopardise their chances of achieving a permanent placement.
8.0Partnership with parents
The Borough of Poole will work in partnership with parents in order to:
- enable and support the child’s own birth family to provide a permanent home for the child as long as it is safe to do so.
- provide support in partnership with universal services such as Education, Health or Family Support Services from Social Services and voluntary bodies who often have particular skills in helping families. The aim will be social inclusion, achieving positive outcomes for children and discouraging dependency. A full assessment of need will identify which services may be required.
- ensure services will be sensitive to the needs of children and families and their cultural and linguistic background, ethnic origins, religious persuasion and any disabilities the child or family may have.
- work with parents and carers to achieve the best possible outcomes for children.
Parents will be kept fully involved and informed in all decisions about the child’s future and their views and wishes will be taken into account, so long as it is safe to do so and meets the child’s needs. Support services will be made available to assist parents to communicate and record their views.
Where adoption is the plan, an independent worker will be provided for birth parents in accordance with legislation. Counselling and support with an independent worker will be provided for birth parents who are considering relinquishing babies or children for adoption. Birth families will be encouraged to provide relevant information about themselves and their family history. Parents will receive an explanation of how significant this information is for their child as they grow up.
Parents have a right to make representations and complaints and will be advised of the procedures to do so.
9.0Siblings[11]
Many children live within complex family structures with step or half-siblings living with them or elsewhere. Borough of Poole recognises the life long importance of sibling attachments and therefore is committed to meeting the needs of sibling groups. Every attempt will be made to:
- Keep siblings together whenever possible and appropriate.
- Pay attention to contact arrangements and geographical proximity.
- Ensure that individual needs of children are met.
Permanence Planning will include the placement of siblings together where appropriate and practicable. (See section in Appendix 7)
10.0Assessment
Any assessments will explicitly identify the child’s key attachment figures in their family and community and the quality of those attachments. Fragmented and insecure attachment patterns may be a factor for early intervention and family support services with a specific focus on promoting secure attachments. Partnership working with psychology services may be required to inform more complex assessment and intervention.
Planning to safeguard a child and meet their needs will take into account issues of permanence for the child.
Appendix 7 is a reproduction of guidance produced by the Adoption and Permanence Task Force relating to Assessment of Attachment which should be used to inform practice.
11.0Permanence for children in need and at risk
Attachment issues and permanence will be addressed from the point of initial assessment, through planning, service delivery, placement and review.
Children in need and at risk will have plans which incorporate needs and corresponding actions. These will include any actions which promote good outcomes for the child.
12.0Permanence for children at risk of family breakdown
For children at risk of family breakdown Edge of CarePanel[C2][C3][C4] meetings chaired by a Principal Manager will ensure:
- a wide range of preventative resources are considered
- multi-agency/disciplinary co-operation
- consistent thresholds for the accommodation of children
- good practice in relation to promoting secure care within the child’s family network.
Plans for children at risk of family breakdown will detail the steps to be taken to promote the child’s attachments and secure permanence.
13.0Permanence for children in Private Fostering Arrangements
The Local Authority’s role is to ensure that any private fostering arrangementis safe and suitable for the child. The Policy and Procedure for Private Fostering Arrangements details the assessment, planning and review process for these arrangements. Permanence and attachment can be an area of risk for children and young people who move around living in different arrangements and this should be reflected in any assessment of a child or young person and in the planning for them. Establishing effective partnership working with the parents and carers of a privately fostered child[12]is the best way to promote permanence for them.
14.0Permanence for children receiving respite careshort breaks / respite care
Delia - Need statement about children receiving respite care
Permanence plans for children may be supported by the provision of short term care arrangements. This may be valuable to allow family members to have time and space to ‘recharge’ and to provide opportunities for children to have positive relationships with other care givers. Many parents are able to establish their own informal arrangements with friends or relatives who are able to care for their children for short periods. Family and support networks of this sort will always be considered as part of the Framework for Assessment of children in need.
Short break provision involves the child spending periods of time with other family members or care givers, which may or may not include overnight stays.Positive time spent by a child or young person in a holiday scheme, with a sessional worker or with a member of the extended family, for example, can all provide valuable support to a permanence plan.
Short break schemes for children with a disability include family based approved shared carers, as well as residential provision in some cases. Shared carers are approved in accordance with fostering regulations. Children placed for overnight short stays with shared carers will not usually become Looked After unless they have 70 or more overnight stays or needs which will be best met through becoming looked after. Families may also choose to use Direct Payments to fund their own arrangements with a caregiver.
Permanent arrangements for children in foster care can be supported by periods of time with other carers. This needs to be looked at in the matching process and kept under regular review. If at all possible the foster family is encouraged to identify carers within their own social or family network who may be able to offer regular care. This may help the process of arranging a break to be more ‘natural’ for the child or young person.
If another foster family is identified to provide a period of support to the permanent family, every effort should be made to ensure that the child or young person has time to get to know the family, that clear information is exchanged about the placement, and that there is adherence to regulatory requirements about making placements.
It is most important for continuity of carers to be provided.
15.0Permanence for children who have become looked after
Care plans for children who have become looked after will outline the goal of the episode, i.e. plan to return to family or to seek permanence for the child elsewhere.
Rigorous matching processes will ensure that children’s needs are recorded, understood and matched carefully to proposed carers. Children will be involved and consulted throughout the matching process. Placement planning arrangements will ensure that introductions are at the child’s pace. The purpose of ongoing contact will be clear and based on the child’s needs. Arrangements for contact will be established in the placement plan and agreement.
15.1Rehabilitation
The first aim will be to rehabilitate children to their parents and intensive work will need to take place within the first few weeks of the child becoming looked after to achieve this.
If rehabilitation is not quickly achievable, efforts will be made to place within extended family, referring to Family and Friends Care (Kinship Care) Policy.
Consideration will be given to setting up a Family Group Meeting and reasons recorded if this is not done.
15.2Placement with Parents
Where the child is to be returned to their parents with a Care Order in place under Section 38/31 of the Children Act 1989 any assessment undertaken will have concluded that this is the best way in which to secure permanence for the child. See Placement with Parents Policy. Any placement with Parents agreement will have been authorised by the Service Unit Head.
15.3Permanence Planning Meetings
If the success of rehabilitation to birth parents remains unclear the Child Care Social Worker and Team Manager will formulate a recommendation to a Review about how best to achieve permanency for the child. This must be as soon as possible and no later than the 4-month review. The Review will discuss and, if agreed, make a recommendation for a Permanency Planning meeting to be convened. Sufficient assessment will take place to ensure that placement with relatives or other attachment figures in the child’s network have been fully explored.
Permanence Planning meetings will be held to ensure a clear, task focused plan is in place. The permanence planning process, while focusing on the child’s welfare, will include consideration of key attachment figures. Sufficient assessment will take place to ensure that placement with relatives or other attachment figures in the child’s network have been fully explored.
Parents and children will be involved in Permanency Planning Meetings, as appropriate and informed of the outcome at the earliest opportunity.
15.4Preventing drift
Decision-making must be within the child’s timescales in order to prevent drift. Timescales for continuing efforts to reunite with family will be set against risks associated with drift and disrupted attachments at key stages in childhood, particularly in early years. Delay is damaging to a child’s chances and must be kept to the minimum necessary to achieve the child’s best interests. Our objective will be permanent placement within 6 months of the agency decision that adoption is the plan.
15.5Parallel planning[13]
In order to minimise drift, permanence planning will include a contingency plan, pursued in parallel whenever there are doubts about the viability of a reunification plan.
Reasons for any delay must be explained and recorded. Children should be kept informed at each stage in an age appropriate way.
15.6Options for permanence for Children Looked After
The diagram below show the placement options for Children Looked After