NEW CHAPTER

1.Disruption Meetings

Consideration should always be given to convening a Disruption Meeting in relation to children whose placement has ended abruptly or on an unplanned basis.

For children whose adoptive placement disrupts, a Disruption Meeting must take place - see disruption of adoptive placements procedure.

2.Disruption of a long term fostering placement

2.1 Arranging the disruption meeting

2.1.1 In the event of a placement breakdown of a placement that had been agreed as a long term placement , a disruption meeting must be held within 5 and no later than 10 weeks after the child has left the placement.

2.1.2 The child’s social worker (CSW), must immediately inform the professional advisers for the fostering panel and the adoption and permanence panel that the placement has disrupted. They will update the disruptions monitoring spread sheet.

2.1.3 The team manager from the child’s social work team is responsible for calling the meeting and should arrange for it to be chaired by a manager who has not had direct line management responsibility for the carer, the child or the match. In complex cases and in liaison with the Head of Service an independent person will be appointed as chair.

2.1.4 The CSW must complete all the actions on the end of the Placement Checklist (link doc 1).

2.1.5 The supervising social worker (SSW) for the foster carer if approved by SMBC, must complete the unplanned placements endings form (link doc2) and send to the Team Manager Fostering and the PAto the A&PP.

2.1.6 The CSW and the SSW will liaise with the Chair of the Disruption Meeting to discuss who will attend the meeting and the timing of their attendance at the meeting. An agenda will be drawn up and agreed by the CSW and the Chair – see suggested agenda and example of timing schedule/agenda (link doc 3).

The chair will arrange for an administrator from their service to minute the meeting.

2.1.7 The CSW will invite all attendees and send a copy of the leaflet ‘Disruption Meetings Briefing Note for Participants’ (linkdoc5) to all attendees at least 5 working days prior to the date of the meeting.

2.1.8 The CSW must send copies of all the required paperwork for the disruption meeting (Link doc 4) to the Chair at least 5 working days prior to the date of the meeting.Those invited, or asked to contribute, should be:

  1. The child;
  2. The parents;
  3. The child's social worker and manager;
  4. The foster carer(s) and supervising social worker;
  5. The child's Independent Reviewing Officer;
  6. The child's current carers and supervising social worker;
  7. Other relevant staff/professionals.

The meeting will ensure the child (depending on his or her age and level of understanding) is given the opportunity to understand the reasons for the end of the placement and be supported with managing the transition and their views about what happened and why need to be noted.

.Where appropriate, foster carers must be supported to maintain links with children who leave their care. Any decisions made in relation to this must be based upon what is right for the child ,not the adults.

The precise agenda will depend on the child/circumstances, but the chairperson should ensure the circumstances leading to the disruption are properly reviewed, and that all concerned are provided with opportunities to express their views freely with a view to establishing:

  • How and why the emergency/disruption occurred;
  • To learn from what happened and avoid the same thing happening again - for the child or others in the placement;
  • To contribute to the future planning for the child;
  • To identify work to be done and to ensure it is completed;
  • To ensure that appropriate notifications and other post placement arrangements have been undertaken.

The Chair will draw up an action plan at the end of the meeting with clear actions and learning points. The chair will also recommend what information from the minutes should be saved on the child or carers records. The minutes and the action plan must be produced within 10 working days of the disruption meeting.

If the carers are approved by SMBC, their supervising social worker must book a foster carer review to be held within 6 weeks of the disruption meeting and book the review onto fostering panel

–seeReview and Termination of Approval of Foster Carers Procedure.

Actions to be taken following the disruption meeting

In situations where the match was considered by the Adoption and Permanence Panel for carers approved by Solihull the following actions must take place:

  • A foster carer review will be held within 6 weeks of the disruption meeting
  • The foster carer review and the minutes of the disruption meeting will be considered at the next Fostering Panel
  • The minutes of the Fostering Panel ,the ADM decision sheet ,the foster carer review and the minutes of the disruption meeting will be sent by the panel administrator to the Professional Adviser for Adoption and the A&PP administrator who will book this item onto the next A&PP
  • Any outcomes /learning /actions for the service /panel /individuals will be disseminated as required by the Professional Adviser for Adoption
  • The Professional Adviser for Adoption will update the disruptions monitoring spread sheet.
  • The learning will be shared at the next quarterly panel meeting

In situations where the match was agreed by the HoS for carers approved by Solihull the following actions must take place:

  • A foster carer review will be held within 6 weeks of the disruption meeting
  • The foster carer review and the minutes of the disruption meeting will be considered at the next Fostering Panel
  • The minutes of the Fostering Panel , the ADM decision sheet ,the foster carer review and the minutes of the disruption meeting will be sent by the panel administrator to the Professional Adviser for Adoption
  • The Professional Adviser for Adoption will update the disruptions monitoring spread sheet.
  • Any outcomes /learning /actions for the service /individuals will be disseminated as required by the Professional Adviser for Adoption

In situations where the match was considered by the Adoption and Permanence Panel for carers approved by an Independent Fostering Agency(IFA ) the following actions must take place:

  • The minutes of the disruption meeting will be sent by the panel administrator to the Professional Adviser for Adoption; the A&PP administrator ;the External Placements Team(EPT) and the IFA who approved the carers
  • This item will be booked onto the next A&PP
  • Any outcomes /learning /actions for the service /panel /individuals will be disseminated as required by the Professional Adviser for Adoption
  • The Professional Adviser for Adoption will update the disruptions monitoring spread sheet.
  • The learning will be shared at the next quarterly panel meeting

In situations where the match was agreed by the HoS for carers approved by an Independent Fostering Agency(IFA) the following actions must take place:

  • The minutes of the disruption meeting will be sent by the panel administrator to the Professional Adviser for Adoption; the A&PP administrator ;the External Placements Team(EPT) and the IFA who approved the carers
  • Any outcomes /learning /actions for the service /panel /individuals will be disseminated as required by the Professional Adviser for Adoption
  • The Professional Adviser for Adoption will update the disruptions monitoring spread sheet.

In all cases, the learning from the disruptions will be shared with relevant others in the service, and with panel chairs.

A six monthly report will be prepared by Panel Adviser collating the themes from disruptions and other unplanned endings, and shared in the service.

For further information on disruption see the Coram BAAF book “Dealing with disruption” by Hedi Argent and Jeffrey Coleman (2006).

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