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Contents

1.	Planned Placements
	1.1	Consultation Before Placement
	1.2	Assessment and Checks Before Placement
	1.3	Recommending the Plan
	1.4	Approval of the Plan
	1.5	What to Include in the Written Report
	1.6	Short Term Placements
	1.7	Post Placement Arrangements
	1.8	Ending of Placement
2.	Unplanned Placements
3.	Placements During Proceedings

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 decision to place the child with the parents must not be put into effect until it has been approved by the Nominated Officer and the Placement Plan prepared.

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 (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. 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. The health authority (Consultant Paediatrician)
5. The health authority for the area in which the child is to be placed.
6. The Education Department
7. If the child has a disability, is in the process of being assessed for Special Educational Needs (SEN) or has already a Statement, the Special Needs Section in the Education Department
8. The education authority for the area in which the child is to be placed.
9. The child’s G.P.
10. The G.P. of the person whom it is proposed to place the child with (that persons consent should be obtained).
11. The child’s Health Visitor (this should done through appropriate Health Visitor Manager).
12. The Health Visitor (if there is one) of the person with whom it is proposed to place the child.
13. The child’s school
14. The Police & Youth Offending Service
15. The Probation Service, if it has contact with the family
16. The relevant Children’s Social Care Services if the child is placed in another local authority’s area.
17. Existing carers (foster parent, residential worker etc.)
18. The foster carer or manager of the children’s home currently caring for the child

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 has been completed
• The placement will safeguard and promote the child's welfare
• The Independent Reviewing Officer has been consulted.

The consultation should be formal. The persons being consulted should be written to, requesting their views on the proposed placement. It is important that those who are consulted should reply in writing; their written replies should be placed on the case file.

If appropriate a letter should also be sent to the child, as part of the consultation process with the child.

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

Before deciding to place a child with parents, the Local Authority must:

• Consider whether, in all the circumstances and taking into account the services to be provided by the Local Authority, the placement will safeguard and promote the child's welfare and meet his/her needs set out in the Care Plan, and
• Review the child's case
• Assess the suitability of the parents  to care for the child, including the suitability of the proposed accommodation and all other members of the household over 18

Take into account:

1. The parents' capacity 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.
2. The parents' state of health (physical, emotional and mental).  This is now extended to include the parents' medical history, including current or past issues of domestic violence, substance misuse or mental health problems
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. Criminal offences of which the parents have been convicted or cautioned
6. Parents' past and present employment/sources of income
7. The nature of the neighbourhood and resources available in the community to support the child  and parents.  

In relation to other members of the parents' household, the assessment must take account of the above considerations except (d), (f) and (g).

The assessment should include 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 Recommending the Plan

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.  

 However, if the child has previously suffered Significant Harm when living with the parent, the placement may only be authorised upon the recommendation of a Child Protection Review Conference.

The Service Manager should be invited to attend the Looked After Review or Child Protection Review Conference and then may authorise the placement if it seems appropriate. 

If the Service Manager is unable to attend, the written reports/plans outlined in the next paragraph should be seen and endorsed by him/her prior to the review.  The Service Manager may then authorise the placement upon the recommendation of the Looked After Review or Child Protection Review Conference.

The written reports/plans referred to above are as follows:

• A written report outlining the matters covered in Section 1.5, What to include in the Written Report
• A copy of the child’s Care Plan, if available (the Manager may authorise that this be completed up to 7 days after the placement starts
• A Placement Information Record

1.4 Approval of the Plan

If the Service Manager has attended the Looked After Review or Child Protection Review Conference (referred to above), s/he may authorise the placement at that review.

If the Service Manager has not attended the review, s/he may authorise the placement upon the recommendation of the review, having considered the minutes of that meeting.  The Service Manager should have seen the reports/plans list in Section 1.3, Recommending the Plan above prior to the review; if not, s/he should see them before authorising the placement.

In particular, the manager will require evidence that the consultation, enquiries and checks required under this procedure have been carried out. 

1.5 What to Include in the Written Report

The matters that must be covered in the written report or in the Care Plan/Placement Information Record, placed before the Looked After Review or Child Protection Review Conference, and considered by the Service Manager before authorising the placement are as follows.

• summary of child’s & family’s history
• summary of how and why the child came to be in care
• summary of plan for the child when he/she originally came into care
• details of proposed placement with parent
• outcome of the assessments, consultations and enquiries made as required by the assessments outlined above; including an assessment of the parents ability to meet the identified needs of the child
• aims and objectives of the proposed placement (there needs to be great clarity about why this placement is being proposed) and long term plan for the child
• any identified areas of risk involved in the placement
• support and services to be provided to the family and child
• details of supervision of placement
• arrangements for education
• contingency plans in case of breakdown.

1.6 Short Term Placements

Where the relevant Plan or Plans provide for a series of short term placements of a child with a parent, the requirements as to consultation, enquiries and checks can be carried out once only rather than every time a placement is made, provided that:

• All the placements take place within a twelve months period
• No single placement is for a period of more than four weeks and
• The total duration of the placements does not exceed 90 days.

If a series of short-term placements is part of a longer-term rehabilitation plan, further consultation and approval must be obtained before the rehabilitation plan is extended or the child is returned to the parent’s full-time care.

1.7 Post Placement Arrangements

Once the child is placed, the social worker should undertake the notifications and other arrangements set out in Post Placement Arrangements Procedure.

1.8 Ending of Placement

Wherever possible the decision to end a placement should be made at a Looked After Review and the ending should take place in a planned way.

In emergencies, the social worker must discuss the case with his/her manager, who will make the decision. Legal advice should always be sought, preferably by way of a Legal Planning Meeting (see Legal Planning Meetings Procedure) and the Care Order should give adequate power to enable the child to be removed by the social worker, but the use of other orders (e.g. an Emergency Protection Order or Recovery Order) might be appropriate in some circumstances.

All those notified of the placement starting should be notified, in writing, when it ends;  preferably notifications should be made prior to the ending, or as soon as practicable thereafter. 

Notification must be in writing. Standard letters may be sent to other professionals and organisations but an individually composed letter should be sent to the parents and child.

At the end of all placements, or transfer from one placement to another, the social worker should collaborate with the carer to write an end of placement report.  If the child continues to be Looked After, it will be necessary to draw up (or update) the child’s Care Plan and Placement Plan/Placement Information Record.

2. Unplanned Placements

Where the Nominated Officer considers it necessary and consistent with the child's welfare,  the child may be placed with parents before the Assessment of Parents' Suitability to Care for the Child has been completed, provided: 

• Arrangements are made for the parents to be interviewed to obtain as much of the assessment information as can be readily ascertained at that interview
• The assessment and the review of the child's case are completed within 10 working days of the child being placed
• 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 to confirm the placement, the placement is terminated.

The child's Social Worker will get the parent(s) and other people living in the parent's household to sign the SS11 "Consent to Enquiries" form (see appendix). This enables background checks to be carried out, which will help to gather information from other agencies about the suitability of the proposed placement.

Practitioners should also seek to meet with all other members of the household before placing the child. This is particularly relevant to identifying issues such as domestic violence and substance misuse which may impact on the child's safety.

3. Placements During Proceedings

The Service Manager may approve a placement during the course of care proceedings. Placement with Parents regulations to be completed within six weeks.

End