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Contents

1.	Planned Placements
	1.1	Consultation before Placement
	1.2	Assessment and Checks Before Placement
	1.3	Relevant Plans
	1.4	Approval of the Placement
	1.5	Notification of Placement
	1.6	Support and Monitoring of Placement
	1.7	Ending of Placement
2.	Unplanned Placements

1. Planned Placements

In exceptional circumstances a child may be placed without the immediate need for the following procedures; please see Section 2, Unplanned Placements.

A child must not be placed with parents if that would be incompatible with an order as to contact under Section 34 Children Act 1989.

1.1 Consultation before Placement

Before a child is placed, the following people must be consulted and their views accounted for:

1. The child;
2. Both parents including a parent who is not the proposed carer of the child;
3. Any other member of the family who is significant to the child;
4. Relevant health practitioners including the child’s GP;
5. The child’s school and the local education service where the child will live;
6. The foster carer or manager of the children’s home currently caring for the child;
7. The probation service if it has contact with the family;
8. The Police;
9. The Youth Offending Service;
10. The relevant Children’s Services Department if the child is placed in another local authority’s area;
11. The child’s Independent Reviewing Officer.

The views of these people should be given by them, in writing, or should be recorded in the case file by the social worker.

1.2 Assessment and Checks Before Placement

The suitability of the proposed placement should be assessed through:

• Obtaining relevant information about the proposed main carer or carers and all members of the household;
• Inspecting the accommodation; and
• Checking the proposed carer and all adult members of the household with the Criminal Records Bureau, the carer’s GP, Probation and Children’s Social Care Services records.

The assessment should take account of:

• The parents’ capacity, and the capacity of other adult members of the household, to care for children and, in particular in relation to the child:
  • To provide for the child ‘s physical needs and appropriate medical and dental care;
  • To protect the child adequately from harm or danger, including any person who presents a risk of harm to the child;
  • To ensure that the home environment is safe for the child;
  • To ensure that the child’s emotional needs are met and he/she is provided with a positive sense of self, including any particular needs arising from religious persuasion, racial origin, and cultural and linguistic background, and any disability the child  has;
  • To promote the child’s learning and intellectual development through encouragement, cognitive stimulation and the promotion of educational success and social opportunities;
  • To enable the child  to regulate his/her emotions and behaviour, including by modelling appropriate behaviour and interactions with others;
  • To provide a stable family environment to enable the child to develop and maintain secure attachments to the parents and other persons who provide care for the child.
• The parents’ state of health (physical, emotional and mental), the parents’ medical history, including current or past issues of domestic violence, substance misuse or mental health problems;
• The state of health (physical, emotional and mental) of other adult members of the household and their medical history, including current or past issues of domestic violence, substance misuse or mental health problems;
• The parents’ family relationships and the composition of the parents’ household, including:
  • The identity of all other members of the household, their age and the nature of their relationship with parents and one another, including any sexual relationship; their relationship with any parent of the child;
  • Other adults who are not members of the household but are likely to have regular contact with the child.
• Current/previous domestic violence between household members including the parents;
• The parents’ family history, including:
  • The particulars of the parents' childhood and upbringing, including the strengths and difficulties of their parents/carers;
  • The parents’  relationship  with their parents and  siblings, and their relationships with each other;
  • The parents’ educational achievement, including any specific learning difficulty/disability;
  • A chronology of significant life events;
  • Other relatives and their relationships with the child and parents.
• Criminal offences of which the parents or other members of the household have been convicted or cautioned;
• Parents’ past and present employment/sources of income;
• The nature of the neighbourhood and resources available in the community to support the child and parents;
• Any available information about the parents’ previous experiences of looking after children.  Where a parent has other children subject to care/adoption orders, earlier case records should be explored to ascertain the circumstances which led to social work involvement, and any indication that the capacity of the parent to bring up children has changed.

1.3 Relevant Plans

In normal circumstances, the child’s placement with his or her parent must be part of the Care Plan upon the recommendation of a Looked After Review. 

The Care Plan should be completed before the child is placed. If there are exceptional circumstances preventing this, the manager can authorise that the Care Plan is completed up to a maximum of ten working days after the placement starts.

Prior to the placement, or at the latest within 5 working days of the placement, a Placement Plan / Placement Information Record must be drawn up by the child’s social worker in consultation with the parent(s).

If the child has previously suffered Significant Harm when living with the parent, the placement must be in the Care Plan upon the recommendation of a Child Protection Review Conference.

As well as the usual contents, the proposed Placement Plan must include the following:

1. Details of the support and services to be provided to the parents during the placement;
2. The obligation on the parents to notify the Local Authority of any relevant change in circumstances including any intention to change address, any changes in the household in which the child lives and and any serious incident involving the child;
3. The obligation on the parents to ensure that any information relating to the child or the child’s family or any other person given in confidence to the parents in connection with the placement is kept confidential and that such information is not disclosed to any person without the consent of the Local Authority;
4. The circumstances in which it is necessary to obtain the prior approval of the Local Authority for the child  to live in a household other than that of the parents;
5. The circumstances in which  the placement of the child  with the parents pending completion of the assessment of suitability will be terminated if the decision following completion of the assessment is not to confirm the placement.

NB The Local Authority must provide such services and support to the parents as appear to be necessary to safeguard and promote the child’s welfare, and record details in the Care Plan and Placement Plan.

1.4 Approval of the Placement

Before the placement is made, approval must be obtained from the Nominated Officer.

The Nominated Officer must be satisfied that:

• The child’s wishes and feelings have been ascertained and given due consideration;
• The assessment of parents’ suitability to care for the child (see Section 1.2, Assessment and Checks Before Placement) has been completed;
• The placement will safeguard and promote the child’s welfare;
• The Independent Reviewing Officer has been consulted.

If approval is given, consideration should be given to whether the Care Order is still required. The Local Authority and parents may agree to apply to discharge the Care Order and if so, such an agreement must include the level of support and supervision to be provided by the Local Authority after the Care Order has been discharged, and the level of co-operation by the parents.

The manager will require evidence that the consultation, enquiries and checks required under this procedure have been carried out. The minutes of the Looked After Review or Child Protection Review Conference may be taken as evidence of the consultation with those present.

The manager must also be satisfied of the following:

• That the Care Plan has been amended, or that it will be within seven days of the placement;
• That a Placement Plan / Placement Information Record has been drawn up and agreed by the parent who is the proposed carer.

1.5 Notification of Placement

The social worker must complete a Movement Form and arrange for the team administrator to send copies to the Designated Nurse for Looked After Children and the relevant education officer and/or school. 

Where the child is to be placed with a parent who lives outside the county, the social worker should also send notification to the relevant local authority’s Children’s Social Care Services and the relevant education authority for the area where the parent lives. 

Notifications should be sent within five working days of the placement.

The social worker must also send written notification of the placement to all those consulted and involved in the decision-making process, and ensure that the details of the change are recorded on Framework-I.

Notifications must advise of the placement decision, the name and address of the person with whom the child is to be placed, details relating to the child’s contact with others and the arrangements related to the care and welfare of the child.

Where the child was previously placed with foster carers, the social worker should notify the relevant finance officer of the child’s placement with parents, in order to arrange for the payments to the foster carers to end.

The social worker must also ensure that the child is registered with a GP, Dentist and Optician.

1.6 Support and Monitoring of Placement

The child's social worker must visit the child in the placement within one week of the placement and thereafter every six weeks - see Social Worker Visits Procedure.

If the child is placed with parents pending assessment, social work visits must take place at least once a week until the first Looked After Review, thereafter at intervals of not more than 6 weeks.

Wherever possible, the child must be seen with the carer and alone. If this is not possible, a further visit must be made at short notice in order that the child can be seen alone and observed with the carer. 

The social worker must also ensure that Placement Plan Reviews are conducted; see procedures contained in Placement Plan Reviews Procedure.

The child’s social worker will carry out a Core Assessment with a view to presenting the outcome to the child’s Looked After Review taking place at least six months after the placement, with a view to consider whether an application to discharge the Care Order should be made.

1.7 Ending of Placement

All those notified of the placement should be notified also when a placement is ended.

2. Unplanned Placements

The Nominated Officer can approve an unplanned placement without the necessary consultation and checks having been made provided that:

1. There are exceptional circumstances which justify an unplanned placement;
2. There has been an interview with the proposed carer who agrees to the placement,and provides as much of the assessment information as can be readily ascertained at the interview;
3. The accommodation has been inspected; and
4. Information has been obtained about and the social worker seeks to meet the other people in the household. (This is particularly relevant to identifying issues such as domestic violence and substance misuse which may impact on the child’s safety);
5. The assessment and the review of the child’s case are completed within 10 working days of the child being placed;
6. The decision on placement is made and approved within 10 working days of the assessment being completed; and
   • If the decision is to confirm the placement, the Placement Plan is reviewed (and if appropriate amended);
   • If the decision is not confirm the placement, the placement is terminated.

The reasons for a decision to place a child on this basis must be fully recorded, signed by Nominated Officer and placed on the child’s file. 

In these circumstances, the Care Plan should be amended at the time or within a maximum of seven days of the placement.

If the child is placed in these circumstances, social work visits must take place at least once a week until the first Looked After Review, and thereafter at intervals of not more than 6 weeks.

A Placement Plan / Placement Information Record must also be completed, as far as possible, before or on the day of the placement and approved by the manager. 

Thereafter, the full requirements of the procedure for planned placements must be completed within 6 weeks of the placement.

End