Children & Families Procedure Manual

Placement of children in care

Deciding if a child needs to be looked after
a)Ensuring the child / young person is a child in need
b)Ensuring the legal criteria are met
c)Ensuring the local authority has met its preventative duty
d)Ensuring the wishes and feelings of significant people have been ascertained and taken into consideration

Deciding the most appropriate type of placement

Deciding if a child needs to be looked after.

The key steps to deciding whether a child needs to be looked after are as follows:

Ensuring the child / young person is a child in need
Ensuring the legal criteria are met
Ensuring the local authority has met it’s preventative duty
Ensuring the wishes and feelings of significant people have been ascertained and taken into consideration

See Flow Chart: Deciding if a child should be looked afterdetailing key steps to deciding whether a child needs to be looked after.

a) Ensuring the child / young person is a child in need

In order to meet the criteria for accommodation the child/ young person must be assessed first of all as being a child in need.

A child shall be taken to be in need if:

(a)he is unlikely to achieve or maintain, or to have the opportunity of achieving or maintaining, a reasonable standard of health or development without the provision for him of services by a local authority under this Part;

(b)his health or development is likely to be significantly impaired, or further impaired, without the provision for him of such services; or

(c)he is disabled

b) Ensuring the legal criteria are met

The local authority has a duty or power to accommodate children under the following circumstances

1. Voluntary Accommodation under S17 Children Act 1989

A child / young person can be accommodated on a voluntary basis (with the agreement of the parent or a person with parental responsibility) under section 17 Children Act 1989 as part of a range of services to safeguard and promote the welfare of children in need.

Section 17 arrangements may be a suitable legal basis for arrangements for short breaks for children. .

2.Voluntary Accommodation underS20 Children Act 1989

A child / young person can be accommodated on a voluntary basis (with the agreement of the parent or a person with parental responsibility) under section 20 Children Act 1989

Any person who has parental responsibility for a child may at any time remove the child from accommodation

3. Duty to provide accommodation under S20 Children Act 1989

The local authority has a duty to provide accommdation for any child in need within their area who appears to them to require accommodation as a result of:

There being no person who has parental responsibility for the child / young person;
The child / young person being lost or having been abandoned; or
The person who has been caring for the child / young person being prevented (whether or not permanently, and for whatever reason) from providing him with suitable accommodation or care.
A child / young person having reached 16 years of age is at risk of their welfare being seriously prejudiced if they are no provided with accommodation

Accommodation may not be provided if any person who has parental responsibility for the child / young person is willing and able to provide accommodation for him / her; or arrange for accommodation to be provided for him / her, objects to the child becoming looked after. An exception to this is where any of the folllowing agree to the child being looked after:

Any person in whose favour a residence order is in force with respect to the child;
Any person who is a special guardian of the child; or
Any person who has care of the child by virtue of an order made in the High Court.

Where there is more than one such person all of them must agree.

A child who has reached the age of sixteen agrees to being provided with accommodation

4. Accommodation under section 31 Children Act 1989

Where the following conditions apply the court may make a care order placing the child in the care of the local authority

A child / young person is suffering, or is likely to suffer, significant harm; and
The harm, or likelihood of harm, is attributable to the care given to the child, or likely to be given to him / her if the order were not made or

the child’s is beyond parental control.

No care order or supervision order may be made with respect to a child who has reached the age of seventeen.

5. Accommodation for children in police protection or detention or on remand, etc. Section 21 Children Act 1989

The local authority has a duty to provide for the reception and accommodation of children who are removed or kept away from home for their protection in the following circumstances:

When requested under the directions of an Assessment Order.
When required following the granting of an Emergency Protection Order When they are requested to receive a child who is in police protection

The local authority also has a duty to recive and provide accommodation for children:

When they are requested under section 38(6) of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984
Who are on remand under section] 23(1) of the Children and Young Persons Act 1969;
Who are remanded to accommodation provided by the local authority for breach etc of referral orders and reparation orders Criminal Courts (Sentencing) Act 2000.
Who are remanded to accommodaiton provided by the local authority for breach of youth rehabilitation orders Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008
Who are the subject of a youth rehabilitation order imposing a local authority residence requirement or a youth rehabilitation order with fostering.

See Table: ‘Changes to care status as a result of criminal justice decisions’for information relating to changes to care status as a result of criminal justice decisions.

c) Ensuring the local authority has met its preventative duty

The local authority has a duty to prevent children coming into care and ultimately a child / young person should be brought up by his / her own family if that is a safe place for him / her to be.

The local authority has a duty to make arrangements for a child / young person to live with a parent, a person who is not a parent but who has parental responsibility for the child / young person, or a person who held a residence order in respect of that child prior to the making of a care order, unless this is not consistent with the child’s welfare or would not be reasonably practicable.

Prior to any decision to accommodate, a Family Group Conference must be considered in order to look at the potential for the child to be cared for safely, without the need to be in care, unless there is good reason to believe that delay would prejudice the welfare of the Child / Young person.

Where it is not possible to hold a Family Group Conference prior to the child / young person being accommodated this should be considered as soon as possible after the start of the placement.

Alternatives to care should be considered, including:

S17 support services in order to try and maintain the child at home.

A Child in Need Plan or Child Protection Plan will be required in order to ensure that the support services are properly coordinated. See section 2.5 of the Safeguarding Procedures. In all cases of family breakdown in relation to young people aged 11 to 17 a referral to the CATCH team should be considered and where appropriate no young person will become looked after until CATCH have provided intervention and support.

Short - term breaks. These can be provided under S17 or S20. See procedures for Short Breaks.

Informal care with family members or another person connected to the child. These types of arrangement can be supported with section 17 services, including financial support, but the arrangements themselves are private. The parents, holders of parental responsibility are responsible for setting up the arrangement with the carer and they continue to have financial responsibility for the child / young person. It is important for the parents and carers to understand this and this must be confirmed in writing to them alongside any details of the support that the local authority will be providing. The parents / holders of parental responsibility are at liberty to terminate this arrangement and remove the child from the carers accommodation if they wish to do so at any point.

Private Fostering with someone who is not a relative (where the arrangement is intended to last more than 28 days). These types of arrangement can be supported with section 17 services, including financial support, but the arrangements themselves are private. The parents, holders of parental responsibility are responsible for setting up the arrangement with the carer and they continue to have financial responsibility for the child / young person. Any person involved in the making of these arrangements has a duty to notify the local authority and the local authority has a duty to assess and monitor the suitability of the arrangement on an ongoing basis. See the procedures for Private Fostering for additional information regarding the local authorities duties and responsibilities in respect of private fostering.

d) Ensuring the wishes and feelings of significant people have been ascertained and taken into consideration

Before making any decision with respect to a child / young person that the local authority are proposing to look after, as far as reasonably practicable, the local authority should ascertain and consider the wishes and feelings of the child, his / her parents, any person who is not a parent of his but who has parental responsibility for him; and any other person whose wishes and feelings the authority consider to be relevant.

In making any such decision due regard sould be given to the age and understanding of the child / yong person and their religious persuasion, racial origin and cultural and linguistic background.

Deciding the most appropriate type of placement

Where there are no suitable alternatives to care consideration should be given to the most appropriate type of placement taking into account the following:

The duty of the local authority to give preference to a placement with a connected person i.e. a relative, friend or other person connected with the child.
Duty to enable the child to live near his / her home
Duty to ensure there is minimum disruption to education (particularly at Key Stage 4)
Duty to enable the child and his / her sibling together to live together, if the child has a sibling who is looked after by the local authority
Duty to provide accommodation which is suitable to the child’s needs if the child is disabled; and
Duty to enable the child to live within the local authority area, wherever possible.

The placement decision must ensure that the placement is the most appropriate way to safeguard and promote the child’s welfare. This applies not only to placements with unrelated carers but also to those with parents, other persons with parental responsibility and persons in who’s favour a residence order was made before the child became looked after.

When considering the suitability of a carer or establishment the following matters should be considered:

Ability of the carer / establishment to support the care plan.
The child’s needs and the available experience and skills of the carer or establishment.
Any risk factors and the likely effects of the child / young person’s admission upon the existing children in placement.
The child’s needs in terms of gender, religion, ethnic origin, language, culture,

disability and sexuality. Any gaps in provision must be recognised and planned for.

The period of time the child / young person is likely to need a placement and whether the carer / establishment can accommodate this.
Any gaps in provision and how these will be planned for.

Where a transracial or transcommunity placement is proposed plans must be put in place for any additional training, support and information to enable the child to be provided with the best possible care and to develop a positive understanding of his / her heritage.

Where a child is subject to a care order they should not be placed with parents unless the factors that led to previous abuse have been addressed and resolved.

The available placement options include:

Approved foster placement with a relative, friend or other connected person. Foster placement with an unrelated person who is approved as a foster carer.

Residential children’s home
Residential care home. A home that provides accommodation, together with nursing or personal care e.g. where the adult is receiving alcohol / drug rehabilitation.
Residential educational placement
NHS Trust or other medical establishment providing medical or nursing care. In some circumstances looked after children require specialist medical care, which requires residence in a medical establishment e.g. hospital.
Residential Family Centre e.g. mother and baby unit.
Youth offender institute. See Table: ‘Changes to care status as a result of criminal justice decisions’for details of criminal justice decisions and the effect on care status.
Secure Accommodation.
Placement with parents. These types of placement occur when a child is subject to an interim care order or full care order and is placed at home with parents.
Placement with adopters e.g. where parents wish to relinquish their baby for adoption.
Independent living with formal support. These types of accommodation are used to assist looked after young people aged 16+ making a transition into independent living.

Where the placement decided on is not the optimal choice, consideration must be given to the type of support and services which will be provided to increase the capacity of the proposed carer to meet the child’s needs.

REFERENCE DOCUMENTATION

Children Act 1989
The Care Planning, Placement and Review Regulations 2010

The Children Act 1989 Guidance and Regulations. Volume 2: Care Planning, Placement and Case review.
Fostering Services Regulations 2011
Fostering Services: National Minimum Standards 2011
Statutory Guidance on Promoting the Health and Well-being of Looked After Children 2009