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Contents

1. Introduction
2. Babysitters
3. Foster Carer Supports
4. Respite Foster Care
5. Intensive Shared Care Arrangements
6. Overnight Stays for a Looked After Child

1. Introduction

It is normally necessary to undertake some assessment of the relatives and friends of approved foster carers when they are involved in sharing fostering tasks with the approved foster carer. The following guidance outlines the procedures of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and the formats to be used when undertaking these assessments. It also seeks to clarify the differences between certain types of caring arrangement that may be used within foster placements.

The Department for Education (DfE) have recently issued guidance on this matter particularly concerning CRB disclosures and this should be referred to if in doubt about what is required regarding this area. The DfE and CRB use the term “foster carer support” to describe this supporting role and this is the term used throughout these procedures.

This area still requires definitive and consistent legislation and guidance and it is hoped that this will be available with the National Minimum Standards for Foster Care. In particular current legislation states that anyone caring for a fostered child for more than 6 days must be approved as a foster carer. This is both impractical and not always going to be in a child’s best interests if it prevents a child being cared for by a familiar person in a crisis for instance and the DfE guidance seems to make some allowance for this. The following procedure has been developed in that spirit.

2. Babysitters

2.1 Definition

All foster carers are likely to have a friend or relative who helps out with the children placed with them. If this is only for a few hours during the day this would be considered ‘babysitting’. This could perhaps be for an evening so that the foster carer can visit friends and family or go to the theatre or shopping without the child. However, if a child that is Looked After is placed for a period longer than 6 days the placement must be with an assessed foster carer support.

2.2 Assessment

No formal assessment is required of a babysitter but a babysitter for a looked after child must be at least 18 years old. No teenage looked after children should be given responsibilities for babysitting a younger looked after child. The foster carer who asks a person to baby-sit should be confident in their ability to care for the child and have made sufficient arrangements with them so that they feel confident that a looked after child’s welfare will be safeguarded.

2.3 Checks and References

No CRB check is required for a babysitter. Only in exceptional circumstances, where there is a good reason or a specific risk to consider is it necessary for a CRB check to be carried out before a child stays with a babysitter.

2.4 Finance

Normally a babysitter will be paid by the foster carer from their fostering allowance except when foster carers are required to attend training courses, support groups or official meetings. See Foster Carer Allowance Procedure

3. Foster Carer Supports

3.1 Definition

If there is an arrangement for the child to be cared for by someone else regularly and frequently or if the child is to stay elsewhere for a length of time this person would normally be considered a ‘foster carer support’. In some circumstances it may be necessary to assess this person as a foster carer. See Section 1, Introduction

3.2 Assessment procedure for foster carer supports

When assessing potential foster carers the issue of a named foster carer support person should be considered as part of the assessment process and a Foster Carer Support report should be written by the assessing social worker and presented to Fostering Panel. Once approved foster carers should keep their supervising social workers informed about their foster carer support and information should be reviewed at any subsequent Annual Foster Carer Review. The foster carer support could also be included in any training sessions run for foster carers.

The assessment visit (usually only one) should be carried out to gather the following information before any regular overnight or block period of care commences:

• Family composition;
• Frequent visitors to the home;
• Health and safety checklist to be completed on the home if the accommodated young person is to be cared for in the support carer’s home;
• Basic information about care and control of children practices including discussion of no smacking policy;
• Routine practical issues to be discussed including what the individual would do in exceptional circumstances e.g. if the child was sick, if the child misbehaves (what their attitude towards discipline is), if the child absconded etc.;
• Discuss contact arrangements with the Department if there are problems;
• Confidentiality/safer caring agreement signed.

If the support carer is suggested post approval then the same assessment will be required but undertaken by the supervising social worker or another social worker commissioned to do so. In such cases the Team Manager should initially sign off the report and it should be included at the next Annual Foster Carer’s Review. This will eventually be agreed by the Service Manager

3.3 Checks and References

CRB checks need to be undertaken of the foster carer support. Foster Carer Support is the term to be used on CRB forms fro why the person needs a CRB check. Normally other household members do not need to be checked even if the support carer is going to care for children in their home rather than the foster carer’s. However, if the periods of care are going to be regular and frequent other members of the household may need CRB checks and consideration needs to be given to whether the support carer should be assessed as a respite foster carer. See Section 1, Introduction.

Every foster carer support should give two references. The referee should be someone other than a relative who the foster carer support knows well and would be able to comment on their child care abilities and overall fitness for the task of caring temporarily for a looked after child.

The referees need to provide a short written statement and this needs to be followed up by a telephone call from the assessor to confirm the reference.

3.4 Authorisation

Foster carer applicants going through the assessment process need to have foster carer support assessments presented to the Fostering Panel at the point they are being considered for approval. A letter will be sent to the foster carer from the Fostering Panel Decision Maker to confirm approval.

If the foster carer is already approved and there are changes in the foster carer support person/s or there is no assessment on the foster carer support yet, the assessment will need to be prepared for foster carer’s next Annual Review. If the Annual Review report is going to Panel the support carers will be authorised as above, otherwise authorisation will be by the Fostering Team Manager and Family Placements Quality Assurance Officer as part of the review process eventually authorised by the Service Manager.

3.5 Procedure for using a Foster Carer Support

It may be that the foster carer is going on holiday for a few days or wants to have a regular break from the young person. The foster carer should inform their supervising social worker and the child’s social worker of their intention to place a looked after child with their support carer with as much notice as possible. If the supervising social worker is away the foster carer should inform the duty worker.

The supervising social worker should be satisfied that the arrangements are appropriate for that particular child or children and checks made that the child is happy with the arrangement. There should be a detailed day-to-day plan for each child. The foster carer support should also have an understanding of the Placement Plan and specific needs of the child.

The supervising social worker should visit once when the child is staying with the support carer ideally during the first week for longer placements. If it is a regular arrangement (e.g. once a month) the supervising social worker need only visit once during the cycle.

Recording: Foster carers should keep a clear record of arrangements made with other people who provide temporary care. This should include names, dates, times and place. The Supervising Social Worker should have a recording of the plan for agreed support care arrangements in the carers file.

3.6 Finances

If a support carer requires financial assistance this should be met from the existing allowance that the approved foster carer is in receipt of. There maybe special circumstances where an allowance is paid to a support carer; refer to fostering allowances guidance for more detail. Additional allowance can be agreed when carers needed a break from children with particularly challenging behaviour.

4. Respite Foster Carers

It should be clear that this arrangement is quite separate from respite arrangements where the young person is being placed with another approved foster carer because the child has been assessed as having particularly complex needs and/or the usual foster carer needs a break. The Local Authority funds such placements and the respite foster carer undergoes a rigorous assessment before any child is placed.

If any looked after child stays with a support foster carer for over 35 days in a year than this carer should be assessed as a respite foster carer and a full Form F should be completed.

If the child is to be placed with an approved respite foster carer for more than seven days the foster carer’s payments should be stopped and paid to the Respite Carer (See payments manual for details of respite payments).

5. Intensive Shared Caring Arrangements

Occasionally approved foster carers may involve relatives and friends in more complex and time consuming fostering tasks particularly when the friend or relative is living in the home. It may become unclear who is undertaking the main care functions and decision-making in the household in respect of fostered children. In these cases it will be necessary to undertake a full assessment of the friend/relative who is providing the additional input and they will have to be approved as a foster carer in their own right. Attendance at the Choosing to Foster Preparation Course will also be expected.

It will be necessary to decide who has overall responsibility for making decisions within the foster home, who attends meetings etc. so this is clear not just to Family Placement Unit staff but also locality social workers and other professionals and agencies.

6. Overnight Stays for a Looked After Child

Foster carers can give permission for overnight stays. These types of arrangements should be dealt with in the Fostering Placement Agreement and the Placement Plan. The agreement is dependent on the assessed needs of the child and is drawn up with the Supervising Social Worker and Child’s Social Worker. Find further details in the Department of Health and Department for Education and Skills document ‘Guidance on the Delegation of Decisions on ‘Overnight Stays’ for Looked After Children’.

Foster carers should always have the contact details of where the child is staying. They should make contact with the household beforehand and make sure the parent and child have the carer’s contact details. The foster carers should log this information in their record books.

End