A Social Care Glossary

Adoption is a way of providing new families for children who cannot be brought up by their birth parents or within their birth family. The granting of an adoption order transfers all legal responsibility and rights to the adoptive parents. Adoption is a lifelong commitment to the child or children who become a full member of the adoptive family.

An adoption order grants complete parental responsibility  to the child's adoptive parents, and removes it from all others, including the child's birth parents and the local authority. An adoption order cannot be applied for until a child has lived with his or her adoptive parents, continuously, for at least ten weeks in England and Wales - though, in reality, most families have the order granted around nine to 12 months after the child moves in. These time limits are for children placed for adoption by agencies, rather than, for example, long-term foster carers who later decide to apply to adopt the child they are fostering.

Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Adoption is a Regional Adoption Agency for Cambridgeshire County Council and Peterborough City Council. 

The Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund

The Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund has been set up by the Government to pay for therapeutic services including therapeutic parenting training and intensive family interventions. To access the Fund, the local authority is asked do an assessment of adoption support needs. If the assessment shows that therapeutic services would be beneficial, the local authority can make an application to the Fund.

From the age of eighteen young people are no longer legally 'in care' or 'looked after'. A care leaver in the UK is an adult who has spent time in foster or residential care and is leaving at the age of 18.

Fostering arrangements and legislation relating to being children in care no longer applies. They may live in different types of homes:

Staying Put

In circumstances where a young person remains with their former foster carer/s after their eighteenth birthday, the arrangement becomes a "Staying Put" arrangement. The term 'arrangement' should be used rather than placement; the term 'placement' denotes a situation where the local authority arranged and placed the child with a foster carer. Once the child reaches the age of eighteen and legal adulthood, the local authority is no longer making a placement, but facilitating a "Staying Put" arrangement for the young person.

Supported Lodgings

Supported Lodgings look very similar to foster placements but aren't covered by regulation. A young person over the age of 16 lives with a "host" in their home, in the style of a lodger. The host will provide support for the young person, but isn't expected to provide transport, pocket money, clothing etc. The host often helps with providing food or sharing meals with the young person.

Supported Accommodation

A type of placement, often in a shared house, with staff on site either 24 hours or on a drop-in basis. The young person must be aged 16 or older. This type of provision may be regulated by the CQC (for adults with complex needs including personal care requirements), but is often unregulated.

Local Authorities continue to act as 'corporate parents' up to the age of 25. This means for young people leaving care they should continue to receive the same level of care and support that a good parent would provide.

Care Leavers Local Offer | Peterborough City Council

A child who is being 'looked after' by their local authority is known legally as a 'looked after' child and therefore this is the term used in statutory guidance. Other terms include child in care or child looked after. In Peterborough our children have told us they prefer the term Child in Care.

What is a 'looked after' child?

There are 2 two primary routes into the ‘looked after’ system:

• being accommodated under Section 20 Children Act 1989; or
• being made the subject of a Care Order under Section 31 Children Act 1989.

Under Section 20, children and young people can be 'accommodated' with the permission of those with parental responsibility. If the young person is 16 or 17 years old, the local authority does not require the consent of those with parental responsibility in order to accommodate them.

What are the other routes into the looked after system?

Other routes that could lead a child into the looked after system include:

• where a child has been removed from their home under an Emergency Protection Order
• where a child has been removed from their home under a Child Assessment Order
• where a child has been removed to suitable accommodation by the Police through their powers of protection under Section 46 Children Act 1989
• where a juvenile has been remanded in care and refused bail
• where a juvenile is subject to a Supervision Order which includes a provision that they reside in local authority accommodation
• being accommodated under Section 20 Children Act 1989
• being made the subject of a Care Order under Section 31 Children Act 1989
• being made the subject of an Interim Care Order under Section 38 Children Act 1989

Local authorities' duties in relation to a looked after child

The functions of local authorities in relation to children who are 'looked after' by them are set out in the Children Act 1989 and associated regulations and guidance. Specifically in relation to this information page, the principle regulations are the Care Planning, Placement and Case Review Regulations 2010. The guidance which underpins these regulations can be found here.

Section 22(3) Children Act 1989 establishes the general duty of the local authority who looks after a child to safeguard and promote the child's welfare. This duty underpins all local authority activity involving looked after children. This is referred to as "corporate parenting." In layman's terms, 'corporate parenting' relates to the council's, elected members', employees', and partner agencies' collective responsibility for providing the best possible care and safeguarding for the children under the council's care.

Care Planning

Care planning entails facilitating discussion between looked after children, their families, the child's carers (where applicable), and professionals in order to collectively plan and review the child's care while they are looked after. It is critical, as with all aspects of children's social care, that children's needs be assessed and decisions made about how best to meet those needs. Care planning and review serve three functions:

• to ensure that children and their families and the child’s carers are treated with openness and honesty and understand the decisions that are made;
• to provide clarity about the allocation of responsibilities and tasks, in the context of shared parenting between parents, the child’s carers and the corporate parents and ensure that actions lead to improved outcomes; and
• to demonstrate accountability in the way in which the functions of local authorities under the 1989 Act are exercised.

Creation of a Care Plan

A central aspect to the care planning process is the making of a care plan (Part 2, section 5, The Care Planning, Placement and Case Review Regulations 2010)

The responsible local authority is required to develop a care plan for each child under its care. This care plan must be agreed upon with any parent with parental responsibility, or any person the child was living with before they were accommodated, and the child, to the greatest extent possible. The care plan must be completed before the child is placed in care, or no later than 10 days after the placement begins.

The care plan must include a record of the following information:

• the long term plan for C’s upbringing (see the section on permanence (under placement) below)
• the arrangements made by the responsible authority to meet C’s needs in relation to -
  • health, (see the section on health below)
  • education and training, (see our page on Education for looked after children)
  • emotional and behavioural development,
  • identity, with particular regard to C’s religious persuasion and culture,
  • family and social relationships, (see our page on Contact with a child in care)
  • social presentation, and
  • self-care skills.
• except in a case where C is in the care of the responsible authority but is not provided with accommodation by them by any of the means specified in Section 22C, the placement plan, (see the section on the placement plan below)
• the name of the Independent Reviewing Officer, and
• details of the wishes and feelings of the child, his parents, any person who is not a parent of his but who has parental responsibility for him, and any other person whose wishes and feelings the authority consider to be relevant. (see the section on the duty to consider wishes and feelings below)

Health

Responsible authorities are required to provide good health care for the child and the arrangements to monitor the child’s health care, in accordance with the health plan (regulation 7). In order to inform the actions in the health plan, the health assessment should include:

• an assessment of the child’s state of health including his/her physical, emotional
  and mental health;
• the child’s health history including, as far as practicable, the child’s family’s
  health history;
• the effect of health and health history on the child’s development;
• existing arrangements for medical and dental care, appropriate to the child’s
  needs, including:
  • routine checks of the child’s general state of health, including dental health;
  • treatment and monitoring for identified health or dental care needs;
  • preventive measures such as inoculation;
  • screening for defects of vision or hearing;
  • advice and guidance on promoting health and effective personal care

The responsible authority is required to make arrangements for a registered medical practitioner to carry out an assessment of the child’s state of health and provide a written report of the assessment. The first assessment should take place and the written report be completed before the child is first placed by the local authority. If this is not reasonably practicable, then the assessment and a written report should certainly be complete before the first review of the child’s case.
Health assessments should take place:

• at least once every six months in the case of children aged under five; and
• at least once every 12 months in the case of children aged five and over.

What does the local authority's duty to consider wishes and feelings involve?

Section 22(4) Children Act 1989, consistent with Article 12 of the UNCRC, provides that, before making any decision with respect to a child whom the local authority are looking after or proposing to look after, the authority must, so far as reasonably practicable, ascertain the wishes and feelings of the child. It is important that children are actively engaged in the care planning process because the decisions that adults take will ultimately be effecting them. Close involvement will make it more likely that the child feels some ownership of what is happening and it may help them to understand the purpose of services or other support being provided. Looked after children are entitled to an advocate who will assist them in conveying their wishes and feelings to professionals. Please see our page on Advocacy for further information.

The local authority must ascertain the wishes and feelings of any other important people in the young person’s life, including:

• the parents;
• any person who is not a parent but has parental responsibility;
• any other person whose wishes and feelings the authority consider to be relevant.

In making such a decision, the local authority shall give due consideration to:

• the child or young person’s wishes and feelings, having regard to his or her age and understanding. The more mature the child, the more fully s/he will be able to enter into discussion about the plans and proposals and participate in the decision-making process;
• the wishes and feelings of any person mentioned above and to the child’s religious persuasion, racial origin and cultural and linguistic background;
• whether to place children with their siblings; and
• whether to place the child near the family home.

Placement

Sections 22A to 22D of the Children Act 1989 make provision for the accommodation and maintenance of a looked after child. They provide a framework within which decisions about the most appropriate way to accommodate and maintain the child must be considered:

Section 22A imposes a duty on the responsible authority when a child is in their care to provide the child with accommodation.

Section 22B sets out the duty of the responsible authority to maintain a looked after child in other respects apart from providing accommodation.

Section 22C sets out the ways in which the looked after child is to be accommodated.

Section 22D imposes a duty on the responsible authority to formally review the child's case before making alternative arrangements for accommodation.

Where is a looked after child placed?

A key principle of the Children Act 1989 is that that children are best looked after within their families, with their parents playing a full part in their lives, unless compulsory intervention in family life is necessary. As such, Section 22C(2) imposes a duty on the responsible authority to make arrangements for the child to live with a parent, a person who is not a parent but who has parental responsibility for the child, or a person who held a Residence Order in respect of the child prior to the making of the Care Order, unless this is not consistent with the child’s welfare or would not be reasonably practicable - Section 22C(4).

Where a placement with the child’s parent is not possible, the responsible authority should place the child in ‘the most appropriate placement available’, that is, the one that they consider will best promote and safeguard the child’s welfare (Section 22C(5)). The ‘placement’ means:

• placement with a relative, friend or other person connected with the child and who is also a local authority foster carer;
• placement with a local authority foster carer (who is not a relative, friend or other person connected with the child);
• long-term foster placement;
• placement in a children’s home; and
• placement ‘in accordance with other arrangements made by the local authority’ - this may include, for example, supporting young people to live independently in rented accommodation, residential employment, or in supported lodgings/hostels.

In accordance with Section 22C(7), in determining which is the most appropriate placement the local authority must ‘give preference to’ a placement with a connected person i.e. a relative, friend or other person connected with the child, reflecting the principle that children should, wherever possible be brought up in their families and communities, if they cannot remain with their parents.

In accordance with section 22C(7) to (9), the responsible authority must ensure that, as far as reasonably practicable, the placement:

• allows the child to live near his/her home;
• does not disrupt his/her education (particularly at Key Stage 4);
• enables the child and his/her sibling to live together, if the child has a sibling who is also looked after by the local authority;
• provides accommodation which is suitable to the child’s needs if the child is disabled; and
• is within the local authority’s area

In ideal circumstances, the proposed placement should meet all of the above criteria. However, this is not always possible and difficult decisions and compromises may have to be made.

Permanence

Although unavoidable in some circumstances, it is not in the best interests of a looked after child to be moving between short-term placements. The objective of planning for permanence is to ensure that children have a secure, stable and loving family to support them through childhood and beyond and to give them a sense of security, continuity, commitment, identity and belonging.

There are a number of ways that an individual child can be placed in a permanent placement. These include:

• Family and friends foster care
• Child Arrangement Orders
• Special Guardianship Orders (SGO)
• Adoption
• Long term foster care
• Return to birth family

NOTE: It is only through family and friends foster care or long term foster care that the child's status remains looked after.

Children in care | Peterborough City Council

A ‘child in need’ is a child who is thought to need extra help from children’s services if they are to achieve or maintain ‘a reasonable standard of health or development’. This is defined in law (Section 17 of the Children Act 1989) and includes all disabled children.

Children’s services have a duty to protect and promote the welfare of all children ‘in need’ in their area. They will decide whether or not a child is ‘in need’ by carrying out a child in need assessment.

If the assessment concludes that a child does need extra help, children’s services will normally draw up a child in need plan with the family. This spells out what help will be provided to the child and family, and who by. The plan should also make clear when a review will be done.

Fostering offers children a safe and caring family, usually geographically close to their home, while they are unable to live with their own, and provides an opportunity for other professionals to work with the birth family to help resolve their issues.

There are many different types of fostering that foster carers can choose to specialise in.

Emergency

Emergency foster carers will need to be prepared to take a child into their home at any time of the night or day and have them stay for a few days. This type of fostering is unplanned and used at short notice, for example, if a lone parent is taken into hospital and there is no one to care for their child. Longer-term plans must then be considered.

Short-term

This can mean anything from an overnight stay to a period of several months. Short-term foster carers provide a temporary place to stay until the child can return home to their own family or a longer-term fostering placement or adoption arrangement can be made.

Long-term

Sometimes children will not be able to go back to live with their own families for a number of years, if at all. Long-term fostering allows children and young people to stay in a family where they can feel secure, often while maintaining contact with their birth family.

Permanent

This term is used specifically in Scotland and refers to a placement of any length secured by a permanence order. A permanence order removes the child from the children’s hearing system and can last until the child reaches the age of 18. It transfers the parental right to have the child living with the parent and to control where the child lives to the local authority.

Short break

Also known as 'shared care', this covers a variety of different types of part-time care. Short break carers might have a child to stay for anything from a few hours each week to a couple of weekends each month, giving their own family or full-time foster carers a break.

Support care

There are a growing number of schemes which help to prevent children or young people coming into the care system by offering their families support before difficulties escalate to a point where the family can no longer manage. Foster carers offer part-time care to provide both the children and their families with a break. Arrangements are made to suit the needs of the family.

What is an IFA?

An Independent Fostering Agency (IFA) are used by local authorities to provide suitable families for looked after children. IFAs play a vital role in providing much-needed placements for young people. To ensure the provision of the highest quality care, foster care agencies are subject to strict regulations and Ofsted inspection.

What is an in-house foster carer?

Foster Carers employed directly with Peterborough City Council (PCC) are known as in-house. PCC’s Fostering Service is proud to be part of the Foster East network, a collaboration of 11 local councils in the East of England working together to make sure foster carers and the children they look after can thrive. 

What Independent Reviewing Officers are and what they do

Independent Reviewing Officers (IROs) make an important contribution to the goal of improving outcomes for children in care. Their primary focus is to quality assure the care planning process for each child or young person, and to ensure that his/her current wishes and feelings are given full consideration.

As part of this role, IROs chair the review meetings of children who are looked after. These reviews take place at different intervals depending how long the child has been in care but are held at least every six months.

In between reviews IROs have a responsibility to monitor the progress of the care plan, ensuring there is no drift or delay in achieving permanence.

IROs are qualified social workers with at least five years’ experience, and who have acquired the skills,. knowledge and experience to carry out this role.

Why we have IROs and which children they work with

The appointment of an Independent Reviewing Officer (IRO) is a legal requirement under the Adoption and Children Act 2002. All Local Authorities must ensure that, once a child becomes looked after (also referred to as being in care), they have their own IRO who should remain with them whilst they are in care.

The local authority has a statutory duty to appoint an IRO for every looked after child, which includes children placed, or authorised to be placed, with prospective adopters by a local authority, as well as young people remanded into care or custody by the Youth Court.

Who chairs the review meetings and how it is done

Chairing looked after reviews meetings is the responsibility of the IRO. It is important that an IRO chairs reviews in a manner that:

• keeps the best interests of the child as paramount
• ensures the voice of the child or young person is heard clearly throughout the process
• enables the parents or others with Parental Responsibility to be involved and take their views into account
• ensures critical scrutiny of the child care plan, challenging the local authority in relation to progress or quality of that care plan, if required

Statutory duties of IROs

It is the IRO’s statutory duty to:

• monitor the local authority’s performance of its functions in relation to children in care and care leavers
• ensure the wishes and feelings of the child are considered

In doing this, the IRO must:

• promote the voice of the child
• ensure there is an up-to-date, effective plan for the child(ren), based on a detailed, informed assessment
• identify any gaps in the assessment process or provision of service;  make sure the child understands that they are entitled to an advocate and how they could be helped by one
• prevent any ‘drift’ in care planning and the delivery of services
• monitor the activity of the local authority as a corporate parent, ensuring care plans have given proper consideration and weight to the child’s wishes and feelings

The IRO will arrange to meet the child and speak with them in private before their review, ensuring the child or young person knows their rights and entitlements, and know how to contact their IRO between reviews.

IROs can challenge poor practice using the quality assurance (informal) and dispute resolution (formal) processes. They also have the authority to refer serious concerns directly to the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (CAFCASS) and to obtain their own independent legal advice.

What is a Personal Advisor?

A personal advisor (PA) is someone who offers advice, support and information to make sure young people are ready to leave care and live independently. They’ll also contribute to pathway planning and make sure it’s carried out correctly.

It's their job to assess  needs, identify  goals and help care leavers to overcome any challenges they may face.

Young people can continue to get help and support from PAs until they’re 25.

What is a Pathway Plan?

A pathway plan is an important document that prepares young people for leaving care. It makes sure they get whatever entitlements they need so they feel confident living independently. This might include suitable accommodation, mental health counselling or support to help them achieve your career goals.

It must include plans for:

• Health

• Education, training and development

• Contact with family

• Financial management

The views and aspirations of individual young people are paramount in pathway planning. 

What is Reunification?

Reunification is when a Child in Care returns home to live with their birth family. 

Reunification is most successful when it is well planned, based on robust assessment of risk which includes the child and the birth family, which allows children to go home slowly over a period of time and where appropriate services are put in place to support the family for as long as they are needed.

Why is effective reunification work important?

For reunification to go well its really important that everyone involved is able to plan and work together. Our experience tells us that it is important that:

• Reunification is supported by a clear and thorough assessment of the child’s needs;
• Support from appropriate services for the child and their family is available;

Effective reunification work is important first and foremost because it is in the best interest of the child or young person that any consideration of the possibility of a return home to their birth family is structured, evidence based, well planned and involves the child, their family and key multi-agency practitioners.

A Special Guardian is usually someone with a close relationship to the child, such as a family member, former foster carer or family friend. They need to apply to the court which will consider their suitability and the child's needs, based on a report from the local authority.

Special Guardianship is a formal court order which places a child or young person with someone permanently and gives this person parental responsibility for the child. This could be a grandparent, close relative or a family friend.

Special Guardianship means that the child lives with carers who have parental responsibility for them until they are grown up. If the child was looked after before the Special Guardianship Order was granted, they will no longer be the responsibility of the local authority. The order usually lasts until the child is 18 years old.

A Special Guardianship Order has several potentially positive effects:

• it gives a child the security of a long-term placement
• the child's birth parents retain shared parental responsibility
• it gives the Special Guardian day-to-day control (jointly, if there are several Special Guardians)

Unlike adoption, a Special Guardianship Order will not remove parental responsibility from the child's birth parents. This means that the Special Guardian will have responsibility for the day-to-day decisions as well as all the important decisions about the child or young person, but will need to consult the birth parents at times where key decisions are being made such as changing their name, moving overseas or agreeing adoption.