FOSTER CARER AGREEMENT

Issued under the Fostering Services Regulations 2011[1]

Foster carer(s):
Name/s:
Address:
Date of Approval:
  1. The above named are approved as Foster Carers by the London Borough of Brent(“the Council”) in accordance with the Children Act 1989 and the Fostering Services Regulations 2011.
  1. The terms of approval are:

Short Term Foster Carer - Reg 28 / Number of places:
Age range of child/ren:
Gender of child/ren:
For Family and Friends Carer approved for specific child/ren
Name/s of child/ren:
Long Term Foster Carer - Reg 28
Family Links Carer - Reg 28
Respite Foster Carer - Reg 28
Family and Friends Carer Reg 24
Short Term Family & friends Carer - Reg24
Long Term Family & friends - Carer - Reg 24
Family and Friends Respite - Carer - Reg 24
Enhanced Carer / Number of places:
Age range of child/ren:
Gender of child/ren
Targeted Carer / Number of places:
Age range of child/ren:
Gender of child/ren:
All OptionsFoster Carer / Number of places:
Age range of child/ren:
Gender of child/ren:
  1. Foster Carers are required to ensure that any child placed with them will be cared for as an equal member of the household. Foster Carers should promote the child’s welfare, whilst having regard to the short and long term plans for the child.
  2. Foster carers should be adult role models and be a ‘pushy parent’ in advocating for all aspects of the child’s development, including educational attainment and physical and emotional health and wellbeing and co-operate fully as part of a team with other key professionals in the child’s life
  3. Foster carers should support their foster child and do all they can to make the placement work. Take part in learning and development , use skills and approaches that make a positive impact and enable the child’s to reach his or her potential, support their foster child to help them to counter possible bullying and discrimination as a result of their care status
  1. Attendance at Meetings

Planning and identifying outcomes for children is very important. Foster Carers must attend and participate fully in Placement Planning Meetings, Placement review meetings, Disruption Meetings, Matching Meetings, and any statutory meetings re the child i.e.LAC Reviews and Child Protection Meetings - including Case Conferences concerning the children in their care. Brent social care staff will always listen to foster carers and take their views into consideration.

  1. Information Regarding Child/ren Placed

The Foster Carer must keep the Placements Service and the allocated children’s social worker informed about a child’s progress and must notify the Serviceimmediately of any significant events affecting the child. This will include all of following and may include others not mentioned here;

a)accidents in the home

b)allegations made of child abuse or neglect

c)children going missing

d)police involvement

e)serious illness of a child

f)behavioural management problems

g)any other serious occurrence affecting a child in placement

  1. Policies and Procedures

Foster carers must comply with the policies and procedures issued by the Placements Services in respect of arrangement for the protection of children, behaviour management and absence from the home . Also any other policy document issued to foster carers by the Placements Service.

  1. Finance

i) The Placements Service agrees to provide a statement of the fostering allowances (Placements Allowances Rates and Guidance Document) currently paid to Foster Carers, which will be reviewed annually. Details of other financial arrangements including the provision of equipment and clothing allowances are also included in this document.

ii) Payment to carers will be made by Bankers Automated Credit Service (BACS)on a fortnightly basis to the bank account details provided by the carer. Remittance advice will be sent giving details of the payment due and the date the bank account will be credited.

iii) The carer must notify the Finance Officer, as detailed on the remittance advice, of any change to bank account details in writing at the earliest opportunity.

iv) Carers have a duty to notify the council if the carer believes that their payment is incorrect (either overpayment or underpayment). They should consult this document and discuss the matter with their supervising social worker or Placement’s Team Manager within 14 working days of the payment (Remittance advice) being received.

v) The council will investigate the matter within 5 working days and either the supervising social worker, a representative from the Placement’s team or finance team will notify the carer of the outcome.

vi) If an underpayment has been made an adjustment will be made to the next payment.

vii) If an overpayment has been made, the councils Credit Policy and Debt Recovery Strategy policy is available on the council’s website or on request.

Actions may include:

  1. Where a child is still in placement, be it the child for which the overpayment occurred or subsequent children, the overpayment will be recovered by deducting 25% of the fortnightly allowance payment until the debt is repaided. Where the carer believes such a deduction will put the welfare of the child at risk they should discuss the matter immediately with the Finance Officer named on the remittance advice and their supervising social worker.
  2. Where a child is no longer in placement, an invoice will be raised and repayment must be made within 30 days. Failure to pay on time will result in interest and recovery costs being charged to the debtors

(Fostercarers) account. Recovery action may include use of debt collection agents and/or an application to the courts for attachment of earnings, benefits order or a charge on the property etc.

  1. Recovery from any other payment due to the carer by any other part of the council (i.e. Housing Benefit).
  2. Carers who are not able to make full repayment are advised to contact the council to agree repayment arrangements.
  3. Failure to co-operate with the council on the repayment of overpaid allowances could jeopardise any future plans to foster for Brent or another Agency.

Carers are able to exercise some discretion with regards to the purchase of gifts or equipment for the children in their care from the fostering allowancei.e. mobile phones, bikes, camcorders, laptop computers etc – in consultation with the child’s social worker and your supervising social worker. See PlacementsRates and Guidance Document for further advice in this area.

Payment Criteria for All Options Foster Carer (AOFC) retained for emergency purposes.

The Council may engage the services of an All Options Foster Carer (AOFC)where a child needs to be placed in an emergency.

The AOFC will be paid on a retainer basis up to a maximum of £250 a

Weekprovided that theyhave notrefused a placement offered to them by the Council.

The AOFC is expected to have sufficient experience tobe able to deal with complex situations and should be available and on call 24 hours a day.

The AOFC must notify the Councilwhen they are not available to take a child in an emergency situation because of achange in family circumstances, sickness, an allegation, or a complaint.

The AOFC will not be paid a retainer if they are sick or unavailable to look after the child as the Council will need to look for a replacement AOFC to look after the child during this period.

If a child moves out of the AOFCpremises as the result of an allegation, a retainer payment will only be paid to the AOFC for a maximum period of 21 days.

In cases where the Council has not been able to place a child with the AOFC and the carer has had a vacancy for twelve weeks, the Council maypay the AOFC a retainer payment forthe for only 12 week period.

Where theAOFC has received a retainer payment for 12 weeks while having no placement, the retainer payment would be stopped at the 12thweek; The AOFC will need to re- qualify for a regular retainerpayment three weeks after a new placement has taken place continuously.

Where there is no placement with AOFC and they are in receipt of retainer payment, The AOFC is expected to assist and support other carers as and when necessary in Liaison with Fostering support team.

In order to continue to qualify for a retainer payment,an AOFC within the scheme is expected to have had a placement for at least 10 months in the previous year, unless the AOFC is newly approved.

BRENT COUNCIL ANTI FRAUD FRAMEWORK

Brent Council expects high standards of honesty and transparency in their staff, contractors and employees and takes any form of fraud or corruption very seriously.

It is expected that Brent Foster carers will conduct themselves as responsible for administering public funds, ensuring that allowances, savings and any other payments or resources that are provided on behalf of Brent Looked After children (or any other children supported financially by Brent Council) are administered in an appropriate and accountable manner.

Brent Placement staff will refer all suspected fraudulent activity to the Brent Audit and Investigation team for them to investigate this, with a view to prevention, detection and remedy; as necessary to discourage dishonest gain at the expense of the Council. The Council will seek the strongest possible penalties for carers who are found to have committed fraud or financial malpractice against the Council.

Please ask your supervising social worker to refer you to full details of this policy, which is held on the Brent Intranet site.

INSURANCE

It is the responsibility of the foster carer to have in place the required, building, contents and vehicle insurance. It is a requirement for Foster carers to inform their insurance providers of their Foster carer status and inform their supervising social worker if there is any difficulty with their insurance premium as a result of this notification.

Proof of damage i.e. photographs, receipts of the original purchase, quotes for repairs and/or replacements costs must be provided along with a brief description of how the damage occurred - to the placement team immediately after the incident occurs.

It is illegal to make an insurance claim for damage from the council as well as your own (foster carers) insurance company. Failure to advise an insurance company of your foster care status may result in refusal to pay a claim.

SAVINGS

Unless otherwise advised in writing by the council, Foster Carer/s are expected to facilitate a savings account and safe keeping of monies belonging to the looked after child/children of any unspent pocket money or receipts of monetary gifts. Such monies are to be passed to the council to be provided to the child/young person at the end of the placement. A record should be made of all payments to the saving account and withdrawals from the saving as part of thechild’s Log - set out in heading 18 of this document. Failure to account for the child/ren’s savings or to pass savings to the council at the end of a foster placement, will result in an invoice being raised for the amount calculated by the council as being owed to the child/young person.

  1. Support

The Local Authority recognises the importance of the child’s relationship with his or her foster carer family as one that can make the biggest difference in the child’s life and which can endure in not adult hood.

In making placements the Local Authority will be clear about continuing care or support there will be ( including for the child in to adulthood), be sensitive to the needs of the foster carer and the child in making and ending placements and have contingency plans should the placement not work

i)Each Foster Carer will be allocated a Supervising Social Worker by the Placements service. Where a Supervising Social Worker leaves or is on extended absence, the Foster Carer/s will be notified of a named contact within the Placement Service to whom they can address any issues, until a new Supervising Social Worker is allocated to the carer and makes contact. Foster Carers can also contact the Duty Social Worker based in the Placements Duty Team whenever necessary during working hours and there is additional support offered on an out of hours basis where necessary.

ii)All foster carers will get a qualified supervisory social worker. The Placements Service will support and supervise the Foster Carers in order that they can provide the quality of care required for Looked After children and meet the required Standards. The unit regularly has social work students on placements and some of the staff members are social work assistants.

iii)The Supervising Social Worker will visit the carer regularly whilst a child is in placement and keep in contact when there is no child in placement.

iv)Supervision visits to the foster carers will be recorded and a copy of this record will be given to them.

v)Carers can request a review of their approval at any time if they are seeking to change the terms of their approval.

vi)If Carers feel dissatisfied with the support they are being offered or the quality of the supervision they are receiving, they are encouraged to contact the Social Worker's Team Manager. The Placements Service will always try to resolve issues as they arise. However details of the Council's complaints procedure will also be made available, should Foster Carers wish to use this formal process.

  1. NOMINATED CARER ARRANGEMENTS

Brent Placement Service will endeavour to undertake a Nominated carer assessment on behalf of all prospective and newly approved Brent foster carers. We will liaise with you with regards to identifying suitable people to do this task from your support network. We will work together with you to identify replacement nominated carers if they are unable to continue in this role. We will also aim to link you up to other approved Brent foster carers who may also be able and willing to assist you in the fostering tasks.

The nominated carer would need to be willing to be CRB checked and assessed as someone suitable to assist the approved foster carer in caring for the Brent foster child.

It is important for the nominated carer to be able to access information about the child they are likely to be caring for - on a need to know basis. This will include any special or complex needs and that they are carefully briefed by the main foster carer and the relevant placements staff (Supervising social worker/child’s social worker usually) regarding the practical and financial arrangements for caring for the child.

Payments will either be at the hourly day care rate by prior agreement of the relevant Placements Manager, or the relevant daily foster care allowances for arrangements longer than 24 hours. (See Rates and Guidance Document for more guidance details)

  1. RESPITE FOR CARERS

Any requests for holidays or respite, separate from the foster child whilst a foster child is in placement needs to be made via the Supervising Social Worker and relevant Placements Team Manager in the first instance and then agreed by the Placements Head of Service (Principal Officer in the absence of the HOS).

It is expected that any such requests by foster carers are discussed in detail with their supervising social worker before anything is agreed. The expectation is that all LAC placed with Brent approved foster carers go on holiday with the carers, unless there are compelling reasons why they cannot. Placements staff are likely to question any requests for respite they see as unreasonable.

Brent Placements service require that foster carers put in place arrangements to ensure that if they need to take a break from fostering a child, that this will preferably take place when the placement comes to a natural end, when the child has contact with the birth parent or when the ‘nominated carer’ is able to step in to provide stability and continuity whilst the carer is away. Any change of placement arrangements over and above 20 days is seen as a change of placement and detrimental to the stability of the Looked After Child.

Therefore we do expect foster carers to make arrangements to take children and young people with them if they need to go away in an emergency or on a planned basis. If this proves difficult/impossible then we ask that the carer be able to resume their caring responsibilities within the 20 day time frame so as to keep within expected guidelines for placement stability. The service also asks that placements staff are given as much notice as possible (verbally and/or in writing e.g. via email) with regards to respite care requests i.e. at least one month in advance.

We do appreciate that there will always be some exceptional circumstances when respite care might be needed but we hope we can keep such requests on a mutually agreed/planned basis.

If a child is placed with a respite foster carer on an agreed basis, the fostering allowance will be diverted to the respite carer for the duration of the respite placement and payments ceased to the main foster carer for the period they are away.