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Contents

1. Decision to Look After a Child
2. The Care Plan
3. Other Plans and Arrangements

1. Decision to Look After a Child

Outside office hours, the Emergency Duty Team can make the decision to Look After a child.  Any decision to place the child outside office hours must be approved by the senior person on call and supported by a Placement Plan (recorded on the Placement Information Record) and must be communicated to the City of London Children's Social Care Service by the beginning of the next working day.

In normal working hours, a decision to Look After a child will be made by the Service Manager where an Initial and/or Core Assessment has identified that a placement is required to meet the child’s needs. Unless there is an emergency, the social worker will convene a planning meeting, which will be chaired by the Service Manager.

Detailed procedures for placing children are contained in the relevant Placements Procedures contained within this manual.

A decision to Look After a child may occur in the following circumstances:

• All attempts or possibilities at intervention to maintain and support the child with his or her family have broken down; or
• The child would be at risk of Significant Harm by remaining with the family.
• And there are no suitable arrangements that can be made within the family

The decision should only be made if appropriate consultation with the Service Manager has taken place on the necessity, purpose and nature of the proposed placement.

If the child is engaged in offending behaviour, the social worker should consult the Youth Offending Service.

Before a decision is made to look after a child, consideration should be given to other extended family members or friends who might be prepared to care for the child without the need for the child to be Looked After.  Any such arrangement would have to be agreed with the parent, and the social worker and manager must be satisfied that such an arrangement is sufficiently secure to meet the child’s needs.  Such an arrangement must be supported by a Child In Need Plan.

If no such arrangement can be identified or is unlikely to meet the child’s needs, a planning meeting will be held to plan or consider:

• The date for the child’s placement in the Looked After Service
• The child's immediate placement needs, including whether a Looked After placement with a relative, Connected Person or friend may be possible (see Placement with Connected Person Procedure)
• The longer term plan
• A date for the child to return home or when the decision will be reviewed
• An action plan of support and work to enable the necessary change for the child to return home
• The obtaining of parental consent to look after the child and Consent to medical care
• The need for Care Proceedings to secure the child’s placement.

The social worker will be responsible for seeking an appropriate placement for the child and making the necessary arrangements in relation to the placement. A placement cannot be made until it has been agreed with the Service Manager and the financial approval has been agreed by the Director of the Children's Social Care Service.

2. The Care Plan

Where a decision is made to look after a child, the child must have a Care Plan , the contents of which to include:

• The child's Placement Plan (setting out why the placement was chosen and how the placement will contribute to meeting the child's needs)
• The child's Permanence Plan (setting out the long term plans for the child's upbringing including timescales);
• The Pathway Plan (where appropriate, for young people leaving care);
• The child's Health Plan;
• The child's Personal Education Plan
• Contingency plan;
• The date of the child's first Looked After Review (within 21 days of placement0;
• The name of the child's Independent Reviewing Officer (IRO)

The child’s social worker is responsible for drawing up and updating the Care Plan in consultation with:

1. The child
2. The child's parents or those with Parental Responsibility
3. Anyone who is not a parent but has been caring for or looking after the child
4. Other members of the child’s family network who are significant to the child
5. The child’s school or education authority
6. The relevant health trust
7. The Youth Offending Service, if the child is known to them
8. Any other agency involved with the child’s care

One of the key functions of the Care Plan is to ensure that each child has a Permanence Plan by the time of the second Looked After Review.

The Care Plan should include the arrangements made to meet the child's needs in relation to his or her:

• Emotional and behavioural development
• The child's identity in relation to religious persuasion, racial origin and cultural and linguistic background
• Family and social relationships; arrangements for contact with sibling(s) accommodated by the authority or another local authority; details of any Section 8 Order, in relation to a Looked After Child; details of any order in relation to contact with a child in care; arrangements for contact with parents/anyone with Parental Responsibility/ any other Connected Person; arrangements for the appointment of an Independent Visitor for a Looked After Child
• Social presentation
• Self-care skills

Timescales for completion of the Care Plan

A Care Plan must be prepared prior to a child's first placement, or, if it is not practicable to do so, within 10 working days of the child's first placement.

Approval of the Care Plan

Any Care Plan taken before the Court within Care Proceedings must be endorsed and signed by the Service Manager

The Care Plan can be updated by the social worker, with the manager’s approval, at any time. 

The Care Plan is subject to scrutiny at each Looked After Review. See Looked After Review Procedure

Circulation of the Care Plan

The Care Plan must be circulated to the following people:

• The child
• The parent(s)
• Providers/Carers - if no Care Plan has been drawn up prior to the child’s placement, the social worker must ensure that the providers/carers understand the key objectives of the plan, and how the placement will help achieve these objectives.
• The child's Independent Reviewing Officer

3. Other Plans and Arrangements

A Placement Plan (recorded on the Placement Information Record) must be drawn up outlining the arrangements for Looking After the child.

Where the child is placed on a planned basis, this plan/record should be completed fully, or if not practicable, within 5 working days of the start of the placement, with copies circulated to the child, parent(s), carers/home and other significant people/agencies.

The information to be included in the Placement Plan will include:

1. How on a day-to-day basis the child will be cared for and the child's welfare will be safeguarded and promoted by the appropriate person
2. Any arrangements for contact between the child and parents/anyone with Parental Responsibility/any other connected person, including, if appropriate, reasons why contact is not reasonably practicable or not consistent with the child's welfare; details of any Contact Order (under Section 8 or 34 of the Children Act 1989); the arrangements for notifying any changes in contact arrangements.
3. Arrangements for the child's health (physical, emotional and mental) and dental care, including the name and address of registered medical and dental practitioners; arrangements for giving/witholding consent to medical/dental examination/treatment;
4. Arrangements for the child's education and training, including the name and address of the child's school/other educational institution/proivider and designated teacher; the Local Authority maintaining any statement of Special Educational Needs.
5. The arrangements for and frequency of visits by the child's social worker; and for advice, support and assistance between visits
6. If an Independent Visitor is appointed, the arrangements for them to visit the child
7. The circumstances in which the placement may be terminated
8. The name and contact details of  the Independent Reviewing Officer, the Independent Visitor if one is appointed, the social worker who will be visiting the child, and the Personal Adviser for an  Eligible Young Person.

The Placement Plan will be recorded on the Placement Information Record on the child's electronic database.

Other Plans/Records

The social worker should additionally complete or update the following records immediately or within specified timescales:

• The child’s Chronology (or Essential Information Record).
• A Personal Education Plan (PEP)
• A Health Care Plan.

End