Friends, Family and Connected Persons

1. Introduction

Sometimes a child or young person cannot live at home with a parent either temporarily or permanently in a variety of circumstances. Adult friends, family members and other connected people including professionals and God Parents, can put themselves forward to care for them.

Depending on the type of arrangement made by the parents or the Local Authority and the legal status of the arrangement there are different statutory requirements placed on those involved.

This policy sets out these requirements and covers the assessments which will be carried out by Slough Children First (SCF) to determine the suitability of prospective carers, the needs of the children and services which will support both the children and carers.

This policy will be regularly reviewed, and made freely and widely available through the Slough Children First website.

For the purposes of this policy, all family, friends and connected persons will be known as connected persons.

2. Values and Principles

Children's safety, welfare, best interests and views will always be at the centre of the work we do.

It is an underlying principle that children should be enabled to live safely within their families whenever possible. We will therefore work closely with parents to maintain children within their own families, and facilitate services to support any such arrangements, wherever this is consistent with the child's safety and well-being. This principle applies to all children in need, including those who are Looked After by SCF.

All local authorities have a general duty to safeguard and promote the welfare of Children in Need living within their area and to promote the upbringing of such children by their families. The way in which they fulfil this duty is by providing a range and level of services appropriate to those children's assessed needs (Section 17, Children Act 1989).

Where a child cannot live within his or her parent(s) whether temporarily or permanently the Local Authority will make strenuous efforts to identify potential carers within the child's network of family or friends or connected people who are able and willing to care for the child and provide them with a happy home life.

Children will not remain Looked After for longer than necessary. Parallel planning to consider who else they might live with until they are grown up will be considered at the same time as parents are assessed and helped to make changes so their children can go home.

If connected people want to be considered as a potential long term family for a child then they should apply as early as possible and not delay things for the child by leaving it very late to apply. If they are assessed as able to provide a safe and happy home for the child then they will be expected to apply for an order which will give them parental responsibility for the child.

3. Legal Framework and Different Situations whereby Children may be Living with Family and Friends Carers

Appendix 1: Legal Framework and different situations whereby children may be living with family and friends carers sets out SCF’s powers and responsibilities in relation to the various arrangements under which children might live with someone other than their parent.

4. What a Connected Person can Expect if Applying to Look After a Child who is Connected with them but is not their Birth Child

To allow you to care for a Looked After Child, relatives, friends or other persons who are connected with the child must be temporarily approved as foster carers under the Care Planning Regulations 2010 to allow an immediate placement. The Local Authority must be satisfied that any placement is the most suitable one available to safeguard and promote the child's welfare, until the full assessment for approval by the fostering panel can be completed under the 2011 Fostering Regulations.

A referral should be made to the Connected Person’s Team for an initial joint viability assessment to be undertaken by the child's Social Worker and a worker from the Connected Person’s Team. The assessment will be presented to the Head of Service, for approval of this emergency placement. The connected person will then be assessed as a family and friends foster carer within 16 weeks of the child being placed under Regulation 24 of the fostering Regulations. This timeframe can be extended by the fostering panel for a further 8 weeks under Regulation 25 of the 2010 care planning Regulations.

A member of the Connected Person’s Team will be allocated to complete a full fostering assessment and present this to the Fostering Panel. Please see Appendix A: Eligibility Criteria for Friends and Family Carers and other People Connected to a ‘Looked After Child’. During this time, the connected person will be allocated a supervising social worker for support and advise. A placement planning meeting should be held within 7 days of the child being paced with delegated authority being agreed.

The panel makes recommendations about whether to approve the prospective foster carers and these will be considered by the Agency Decision Maker who decides whether to approve the foster placement.

Whist the connected person is being assessed as a foster parent for the child, the parent will be having contact with the child which is often supervised. The parents will also be receiving services which are part of the assessment of their ability to have their child back home. Once these assessments are completed the child might return home, however sometimes the child cannot go home to live and needs a permanent home.

Where a child needs a permanent home and could remain with their connected person for the duration of their childhood the connected person who is at that time a foster carer for SCF, can apply to the court for one of three orders to give them Parental Responsibility and thereby take them out of the care of the LA. The orders are Child Arrangements Order, Special Guardianship Order, and Adoption Order. All these orders require further assessment reports to be completed by SCF for the court to consider. Adoption applications have to be considered by the Adoption panel prior to the court hearing.

5. Provision of Support by SCF Connected Carers

1. As a foster carer
   • Foster carers have an allocated supervising Social Worker from Slough Children First Independent Fostering Agency (SCF IFA) who will visit regularly to support them;
   • As a foster parent the connected person(s) will be invited to attend family and friend foster carers / SGO training and other foster carer trainings and conferences facilitated by SCF IFA;
   • As a foster parent the connected person(s) will be invited to attend foster carer support group and coffee mornings facilitated by SCF IFA;
   • A fostering allowance is payable for the child from the date the child is placed see financial rates (see Fostering Tier Policy - to follow).
2. As a connected person with parental responsibility through Child Arrangement Order, Special Guardianship Order or Adoption for a child who was previously Looked After
   • A support plan will be drawn up alongside the assessment of the carer for the permanent care of the child;
   • A CAO, SGO or Adoption allowance may be payable for the child subject to criteria and means testing see financial rates (see Foster Carer Allowances Policy - to follow);
   • Telephone support and advice from the Connected Person’s Team on matters such as contact, and signposting to other services if appropriate;
   • Training.
3. As a connected person with parental responsibility through Child Arrangement Order, Special Guardianship Order or Adoption for a child who has not been previously Looked After.
   
   The LA will make a decision on whether to carry out an assessment for Special Guardianship support services only after the completion of the Special Guardian Order report for court, which includes information about the needs of the child and the financial circumstances of the family.
   
   Assessments will not normally be carried out where the child does not appear to be, or at risk of becoming, a child in need, where the placement appears to have been made primarily for family convenience or in an attempt to gain financial, housing, immigration or other similar advantage, or where the application for special guardianship appears to have been made primarily to shift responsibility for maintaining the child from the parents to the local authority.
   
   Where a standalone application has been made for an SGO the child will have been living with the applicants for an appreciable length of time and SCF would consider whether any financial or other difficulties have been suffered as a result of the placement having been made without access to Special Guardianship Order support services. The local authority has limited resources and access to services must be targeted at vulnerable children and families, not provided simply on the basis of the legal framework underpinning their living arrangements.
   
   If an assessment is carried out SCF will bear in mind that the regulations permit payment of financial support only where SCF consider it necessary to ensure that the Special Guardian can look after a child or the child has special needs which require extra expenditure.(Reg 6(2))

6. What is Expected of a Connected Person who is Agreeing to Look After a Child who is Connected with them but is not their Birth Child

• Carers are expected to attend training offered by the Connected Person’s Team;
• Work in partnership with family members and the Connected Person’s Team and the Child's Social Work team to help agree and implement the plan for the child;
• Attend the child's Statutory Review meetings, completing the consultation prior to the meeting, and working with the child's Reviewing Officer (see Looked After Review Procedures);
• Encourage the child to feel relaxed, happy and at home in their care;
• Allow the child to express their feelings and talk about their experiences even if this is difficult for the carer to hear;
• Facilitate their attendance at school, providing transport if necessary and responding to school issues as any parent would do;
• Attend Personal Education planning meetings (PEPS);
• Ensure that the child attends Initial and Review Statutory Health Assessments (IHA and RHA) (see Health Care Assessments and Plans Procedure);
• Be available for home visits by the carers supervising Social Worker and the child's Social Worker;
• Promote and advocate for the child's wishes and feelings;
• Promote the child's safe contact with friends and family.

Supporting contact with birth parents

SCF is under a duty to promote contact with paternal and maternal family members for all Children who are Looked After. Connected carers will therefore need to be willing to help facilitate contact as agreed with Slough Children First. This may include transporting children to or from contact and /or supervising contact depending on the circumstances. In any event the child is likely to need you to be supporting the child emotionally with the contact which can sometimes be difficult for all concerned.

Where the child is not Looked After, advice and information will be made available to connected person(s) carers about local contact centres and family mediation services, and how to make use of these services.

7. Family Network Meetings

Family Network Meetings (FNM) are meetings held between professionals and wider family members, which aim to agree a plan which will achieve the best outcomes for children. They promote the involvement of the wider family to achieve a resolution of difficulties for Children in Need, and may help to identify short-term and/or permanent solutions for children within the family, friends or connected persons network.

If you are interested in being considered for the care of a young person where there is a Family Network Meeting please let the Child's Social Work Team know.

We will offer a Family Network Meeting or other form of family meeting at an early stage.

8. Complaints Procedure

Where a connected person(s) carer is not satisfied with the level of support provided to enable them to care for the child, then they have access to SCF complaints process. Our aim would be to resolve any such dissatisfaction without the need for a formal investigation but where an informal resolution is not possible, then a formal investigation will be arranged.

The timescales and process are set out in the Complaints Procedure.

Appendix 1: Eligibility Criteria for Friends and Family carers, and other People Connected to a ‘Looked After’ child.

The qualities and abilities that make a good carer:

• Long term commitment to the child and ability to put their welfare first, even when it conflicts with loyalty or concern for the birth parents;
• Understanding and acceptance of the real reasons which led to the child’s removal from the parent’s care;
• Ability to protect the child from further harm;
• Ability to deal with the strain of changing family roles;
• Sufficient support network;
• Sufficient time and space to devote to everyone in the family;
• Capacity to offer warn, stimulating care;
• Capacity to understand, adapt to and meet the child’s changing needs;
• Ability to promote the child’s education and health needs;
• Commitment to helping the child develop an understanding of their history and promote a positive identity, including their ethnic and cultural identity.
• Capacity to be realistic about the possible problems and special needs which the child may present.
• Commitment to using training and professional support.
• Ability to work with professionals and to seek out and accept help.

What makes a friends and family carers unsuitable?

• Health – where medical and or psychiatric history and current state of health gives serious cause for concern about the prospective carers further health prospects.
• Age – where the medical opinion is that the carer may not survive all the years of the child’s dependence or retain sufficient energy and vigour to meet the child’s needs until independence.
• Drug or alcohol problems – if the carer has a drug or alcohol dependence that is likely to affect your ability to offer safe care.
• Criminal record of prospective carer and adults in the household – certain types of offences will automatically bar the prospective carer from caring for a child. i.e. any conviction for an offence against a child under Schedule 1 of the Criminal Justice Act. Other offences will need to be discussed in details to establish if they may impact on the care of the child. Any conviction for an offence involving violence will be of particular concern.
• Housing – where the current accommodation is temporarily overcrowded and or poorly maintained and there are no realistic prospects for re-housing within the near future.
• Finance – where the family is in debt to the point that they cannot manage their finances, are in danger of losing their home due to arrears or would be wholly dependent on the fostering allowance to support the family.
• Work/lifestyle – where the prospective carer’s work responsibilities and or leisure pursuits severely limit the time available for child care.
• Family composition – where the needs of other children and or dependent adults in the household/network are likely to conflict with the needs of the child to be placed.
• Parenting concerns – where there have been serious difficulties in how the prospective carers parented their own children, particularly a history of abuse or neglect.
• Understanding children’s needs - inability to demonstrate an understanding of children’s development and needs.
• Meeting needs of a specific child – unwillingness or inability to understand or meet the identified education, medical or emotional needs of the child, including for those who may require a high level of specialist care.
• Protecting the child – unwilling or inability to protect the child from abusive parents and enforce restrictions on contact with birth parents.
• Working together – lack of cooperation with social care services and other professional services.

Appendix 2: Legal Framework and Different Situations whereby Children may be Living with Family and Friends Carers

Click here to view Appendix 1: Legal Framework Table.

Appendix 3: Useful Organisations and Information for Friends, Family and Connected Carers

Adfam works with families affected by drugs and alcohol, and supports carers of children whose parents have drug and alcohol problems.
Address:
27 Swinton Street
London
WC1X 9NW
Tel: 07442 137421 / 07552986887
E-mail: admin@adfam.org.uk

Advisory Centre for Education (ACE) - Offers free independent advice and information for parents and carers on a range of state education and schooling issues, including admissions, exclusion, attendance, special educational needs and bullying.
Address:
ACE Education Advice and Training.
72 Durnsford Road,
London,
N11 2EJ
General advice line: 0300 0115 142
Opening Hours Monday – Tuesday from 10am - 1pm during term-time only.

Citizens Advice Bureau - Helps people resolve their legal, money and other problems by providing free, independent and confidential advice through local bureau and website.

Coram Children's Legal Centre - provides direct support and free legal advice and representation to children, young people, their families, carers and professionals.
Head Office:
Coram Children's Legal Centre
Riverside Office Centre
Century House North
North Station Road
COLCHESTER
CO1 1RE
Tel: 020 7520 0300
Email: info@coramclc.org.uk

CoramBAAF Adoption and Fostering Academy - Organisation which supports the agencies and professionals who work with improving outcomes for children and young people in care. Provides information and advice about adoption and fostering and publishes resources aimed at both professionals and carers.
Registered Office:
41 Brunswick Square,
London,
WC1N 1AZ
Tel: 020 7520 0300

CoramVoice - enables children and young people to hold to account the agencies responsible for their care.
Head Office:
Coram Voice,
Gregory House,
Coram Campus,
49 Mecklenburgh Square,
London
WC1N 2QA.
Provide a helpline: 0808 800 5792
E-mail: info@coramvoice.org.uk

Department for Education - Lists details of telephone help lines and online services to provide information, advice and support on a range of issues that parents and families may face in bringing up children and young people.

Family Fund Trust - Helps families with severely disabled or seriously ill children to have choices and the opportunity to enjoy ordinary life. Gives grants for things that make life easier and more enjoyable for the disabled child and their family.
Address:
4 Alpha Court
Monks Cross Drive
York
YO32 9WN
Tel: 01904 550 055
E-mail: info@familyfund.org.uk

Family Rights Group (FRG) - Provides advice to parents and other family members whose children are involved with or require children's social care services because of welfare needs or concerns. Publishes resources, helps to develop support groups for family and friends carers, provides advocacy and campaign for families to have a voice. Also have a free confidential advice helpline which is available Monday – Friday 9.30-3pm.  
Address:
The Print House
18 Ashwin Street
London
E8 3DL
Tel: 020 7923 2628
Advice line: 0800 801 0366

The Fostering Network - Supports foster carers and anyone with an interest in fostering to improve the lives of children in care, and also publishes resources.
Address:
87 Blackfriars Road
London
SE1 8HA.
E-mail: info@fostering.net
Tel: 020 7620 6400

Fosterline (UK) - Fosterline a fostering advice service is delivered by FosterTalk on behalf of the Department for Education. FosterTalk is an independent, not-for-profit organisation, focused on providing high quality, independent professional support to its members.
Tel: 0800 040 7675
Email: enquiries@fosterline.info

Kinship - Kinship is the leading kinship care charity in England and Wales. They support all kinship carers – the grandparents and siblings, the aunts, uncles, and family friends who step up to raise children when their parents can’t.
Address:
The Foundry
17 Oval Way
London
SE11 5RR
Tel: 0300 123 7015
E-mail:advice@kinship.org.uk

National Family Mediation (NFM) - Provides mediation services to support families in conflict, including couples who are separated, their children and others affected by this.
Address:
1st Floor,
Civic Centre,
Paris Street,
Exeter,
EX1 1JN
Tel: 0300 4000 636
Email: general@nfm.org.uk

Prison Advice and Care Trust (PACT) - Provides practical and emotional support to prisoners and to their children and families. Also support ex-offenders and offer courses for prisoners and their families.
Address:
29 Peckham Road,
London,
SE5 8UA  
Tel: 020 7735 9535
Email: info@prisonadvice.org.uk

Prisoners' Families Helpline - Offers support if a family member is in contact with the criminal justice system and provides advice and information on all aspects from what happens on arrest, visiting a prison to preparing for release.
Freephone: 0808 808 2003.

Talk to Frank - The government's national drugs helpline which offers free confidential drugs information and advice 24 hours a day. Information and advice is also available via the website.
24 hour advice line: 0300 123 6600
Text: 82111
E-mail: frank@talktofrank.com

Young Minds - Works to improve the emotional wellbeing and mental health of children and young people (up to age 25) and empowering their parents and carers.
Address:
4th Floor India House
45 Curlew Street
London
SE1 2ND
Tel: 0207 089 5050
Parent Helpline: 0808 802 5544 from 9:30am - 4pm, Monday - Friday
E-mail: ymenquiries@youngminds.org.uk.