3.2.2 Long Term Fostering |
Contents
1. Legal Position
There is no legal requirement for a Long Term Fostering "Best Interest" decision to go to any existing Adoption Panel.
The child's Looked After Reviews are the existing planning mechanism with Independent Reviewing Officers, as Chairs, responsible for ensuring the formulation of the Permanence Plan by the second review - see Looked After Review Procedure for further details.
The child's Permanence Plan may be further revised to that of an adoption plan either at the same or subsequent review, in which case it will require to be presented to the Adoption Panel for approval - see Placement for Adoption Procedure.
The Looked After Review recommendation and subsequent decision by the CLA Team Manager as to Long Term Fostering is in itself the Best Interest decision.
2. Quality Assuring the Best Match for Children and Long Term Foster Carers
The introduction of the Adoption and Children Act 2002 makes it quite clear that the Adoption Panel can only recommend yes or no on the following areas:
- That a child is suitable for adoption
- That prospective adopters are suitable to be adopters
- That children can be matched with specific adopters
Therefore in ensuring quality assurance of matching between a child and foster carer, the following procedures now arise when a match is required:
| i. | Where a child is already in an existing placement with a Southwark foster carer |
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| Changes of approval of the foster carer from that of short term to long-term are made by the Fostering Panel and Agency Decision Maker.
Following the Looked After Review decision that Long Term Fostering in the existing placement is in the child's best interests, then the procedure for approving temporary foster carers as long-term foster carers for a particular child aged 12 years or under requires the child's social worker to obtain a date / time from the Fostering Panel Administrator and arrange for reports/information to be submitted to the Panel Administrator 2 weeks before that date. See Appendix for required documentation. |
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| ii. | Where a child is in a Southwark placement and an alternative long term foster family placement is required |
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Where the decision made at a Looked After Review is that the present Southwark placement cannot provide a permanent placement and family finding is required, a Referral Meeting should be set up by the CLA worker with the Adoption & Permanence Team. The relevant papers should be sent beforehand or be brought to the meeting. The following will be required:
Information to and from this meeting will clarify whether there are any current or potential Southwark foster carers likely to meet the needs of the child/children. This clarification process will not exceed 4 weeks. |
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| iii. | Where a potential foster carer is identified who already has approval as a long term foster carer |
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In this case, presentation to the Fostering Panel for matching can proceed as in (i) above and the child's social worker should obtain a date / time from the Fostering Panel Administrator and arrange for reports /information to be submitted to the Panel Administrator 2 weeks before that date. See Appendix for required documentation. |
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| iv. | When foster carers cannot be identified from Southwark's own resources The social worker will be informed so they can approach their CLA District / Business Manager for a placement with an independent fostering agency. Where agreement is obtained from the District/ Business Manager to approach Brokerage then the process of family finding is undertaken between Brokerage and the child's social worker as set out in Section 2.3 of the Placement in Foster Care Procedure. Brokerage needs to ascertain that any potential foster carer has the appropriate approval and a relevant Form F. When a suitable match is identified with foster carers from an independent fostering agency, then documentation regarding the potential match needs to be presented to the Agency Fostering Matching Panel prior to the placement. All necessary paperwork needs to be passed to the Senior Executive Officer at Adoption and Fostering for the monthly Panel Meeting, 2 weeks beforehand. The Agency Fostering Matching Panel will meet monthly and be comprised of professionals who will all have knowledge of matching families and children. Service Manager - Adoption and Fostering Service
See Appendix for required documentation. |
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| v. | Where it is recommended that a child who is already with foster carers from an independent fostering agency remain with the same foster carers The independent fostering agency's approval must be verified. Where approval is necessary to for the foster carers to become long term carers, then this approval can only be given by the foster carers' own fostering agency. To ensure that this is the Best Match for a child, documentation regarding the potential match requires to be presented to the Agency Fostering Matching Panel (as in iv. above) All necessary paperwork needs to be passed to the Senior Executive Officer at Adoption and Fostering for the monthly Panel Meeting, 2 weeks beforehand Note : the status of the foster carer must have been authorised by the independent fostering agency, through its Fostering Panel, before attending the Agency Fostering Matching Panel. See Appendix for required documentation. |
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Appendix
Required Documentation for Long Term Fostering Matching Approvals for Southwark foster carers
As with all documentation the intention is to inform the reader in order to make the best possible decisions, so the list is merely a guide and not exclusive.
1. Where children are already in a Southwark placement
| Documentation | Responsibility |
| Recent full Looked After Review documentation | District Social Worker |
| School report / Personal Education Plan | District Social Worker |
| Any other significant /specialist reports e.g. Carelink, speech therapy | District Social Worker |
| Foster Carer Review (which specifically recommends approval as a long-term foster carers) and last review should these not be the same | Supervising Social Worker |
| Chronology of significant events on the foster carer's file (to include all complaints and unplanned moves of children fostered) | Supervising Social Worker |
| Confirmation of all updated medicals and CRB checks | Supervising Social Worker |
| Matching Report / Grid | Supervising Social Worker and District Social Worker |
The foster carer will be invited to attend the Panel, alongside the presenting social workers.
The Fostering Panel's recommendation for the approval and match is then passed to the Agency Decision Maker (Service Manager CLA) for the final decision.
The decision for the long-term approval and match will be sent in writing to the foster carer.
It is expected that cases will be presented at Panel within 3 months of the date of the Looked After Review meeting.
If approval is not agreed, the foster carers have the right to make a representation to the Agency Decision Maker within 28 days of the date of the decision being made.
In relation to a decision not to change the approval of the foster carers to long term foster carers, the foster carers also have the right to request an independent review of the decision - as set out in Section 11 of the Assessment and Approval of Foster Carers Procedure
2. Where children are being considered for matching with foster carers from an independent fostering agency
| Documents | Responsibility |
| As above with the inclusion of the Form F | Supervising Social Worker |
if approval is not agreed, the foster carers have the right to make a representation to the Agency Decision Maker within 28 days of the date of the decision being made. |
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3. Where children are already in a placement with foster carers from an independent fostering agency
As in 2 above.
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