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4.1.4 Long Term Plans for Children Looked After and Referrals to Oxfordshire Adoption and Permanency Panel and the Fostering Panel

SCOPE OF THIS CHAPTER

Oxfordshire has two Panels which consider long-term plans for Children Looked After:

  1. The Adoption and Permanency Panel and
  2. The Fostering Panel


Statutory Requirements
1. A plan for a child to be adopted must be referred to the Adoption and Permanency Panel for a recommendation as to whether the child ought to be placed for adoption – see Placement for Adoption Procedure.
2. The Adoption and Permanency Panel’s recommendation must be taken into account by the Agency Decision Maker (Adoption) before this decision is made.
3. The Agency Decision Maker (Adoption) must endorse the plan for adoption before it is pursued by the making of an application for a Placement Order or the child is placed with parental consent in the prescribed form.
4. The Adoption and Permanency Panel is responsible for the approval of adopters (see Assessment and Approval of Agency Adoptive Parents Procedure) and the matching of individual children with a prospective adoptive family (see Placement for Adoption Procedure).
5. The Fostering Panel is responsible for the approval of foster carers (long and short term) – see Assessment and Approval of Foster Carers Procedure.


Oxfordshire’s Best Practice Requirements
6.

The following plans for children must be referred to the Adoption and Permanency Panel for a recommendation and subsequent decision by the Agency Decision Maker (Permanence):

  1. Long-term fostering for children up to and including the age of 12.
  2. Long-term fostering with a view to a Special Guardianship Order (SGO) when the Special Guardian is not yet identified – see Special Guardianship Process and Tracking Procedure
  3. Changes made to Permanency Plans which have already been approved by the Adoption and Permanency Panel other than a plan to rehabilitate to birth parents, i.e.:
    1. from adoption to long-term fostering
    2. from long-term fostering or SGO to adoption.
7. The Adoption and Permanency Panel is also responsible for matching individual children with a specific carer(s) for long-term fostering. From January 2009, the foster carers will be invited to the Panel meeting during consideration of this item.


Rehabilitation and Changes from Adoption to SGO
8. The change of a Permanency Plan to a plan for either rehabilitation or an SGO must be ratified at the Looked After Review by the Independent Reviewing Officer.
9. A change of a plan from permanency to either rehabilitation or an SGO of a child subject to a Care Order must be approved by the Service Managers for CLA and Quality Assurance.
10. If the change in plan is one from adoption to rehabilitation or an SGO, the change must be approved by the Assistant Heads of Service for CLA and Quality Assurance.
11. The changes of plan referred to in 8.) and 9.) above must be notified to the Adoption and Permanency Panel for information and, where relevant, advice.


Advisory role of Panel
12. In circumstances when the permanency plan for a child is complicated or unusual, an early referral can be made to the Adoption and Permanency Panel for advice.


Plans, approval and matching which do not require consideration by either of the two Panels
13.

The following applications/plans do not require to be presented to the Adoption and Permanency Panel or the Fostering Panel prior to being approved by the appropriate manager:

  1. an application for or recommendation of a Residence Order – see Residence Order Policy and Procedures
  2. an application for or recommendation of a Special Guardianship Order
  3. long-term fostering plans for a child above the age of 12 (unless there are exceptional circumstances).
  4. approval of Special Guardians
  5. matching of individual children to Special Guardians.  (NB: Special Guardians will be approved or not by the process of preparing a Special Guardianship report and subsequent endorsement, or not, by the Court – see Applications for Special Guardianship Procedure.  The Special Guardian will only ever be considered in relation to a specific child and the process of matching is therefore not necessary).


Special Guardianship
14.

A plan recommending a Special Guardianship Order should not generally be considered as the first option for a child under the age of 6 unless the proposed special guardian is a member of the child’s extended family.  Exceptional circumstances may apply in individual cases.

For the approval process for Special Guardianship for Looked After Children, see also the Special Guardianship Process and Tracking Procedure

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