Foster Care Handbook by

moorelp1 — 2023-03-03 12:29:55 UTC

Information, Advice and Assistance Service Team and the Children's Services Teams

Description:

The information, advice and assistance service team receive all referrals/contacts; where appropriate the referral is forwarded to one of the children's services teams unless there is a specialist provision such as children with disabilities. Referrals received on children and young people already allocated to a children’s services team are forwarded to the appropriate Children’s Services Team Managers.

In respect of new referrals, if it is assessed that ongoing services are required the case is transferred to one of the children’s services teams depending on where the family live.

Information, Advice and Assistance Service

Team Manager – Deborah White

Unit 3

Foxes Lane

Oakdale

NP12 4AB

Telephone Number: 0808 100 1727

Out of Hours Number: 0800 328 4432

Email Address: intakeduty@caerphilly.gov.uk

Children With Disability Team

Description:

The team consists of Allocated workers, Community Occupational Therapists, Children’s services Support Workers, Family Aide Worker, and Independent Living Workers, and a Team Manager.

The purpose of the team is to assess children and young people with a disability and their families. This may be for the provision of adaptations, equipment, advocacy, advice or respite services, such as the sitting service or family based overnight respite.

The Team covers the whole of the County Borough, working with children and young people from birth up to eighteen years of age when they then transfer to Adult Services. The Team works in partnership with families, foster carers, voluntary organisations and other statutory bodies.

Team Manager – Cath Doran

Unit 1 Woodfieldside Business Park

Penmaen Road

Pontllanfraith

Blackwood

NP12 2DG

Tel No. 01495 235622

Locality Teams

Description:

The Children’s Services Teams are located throughout the Caerphilly County Borough, details of the main offices are provided at the end of this section. Each locality children’s services team has a Team Manager, Senior Practitioners/Social Workers, Child Care Support Workers and Administrators.

The Children’s Services Teams receive cases and will complete an assessment and then agreed that a child or young person and their family require additional and ongoing support. It is likely that foster carers will have considerable contact with staff in children’s services teams as any child or young person pCLAed will be supported by an allocated worker from one of the children’s services team.

Caerphilly Child Care (Two separate teams)

Team Manager – Sarah Parry (West) & Sandra Engstrom (East)

Tredomen House,

Tredomen Park,

Ystrad Mynach,

Hengoed

CF82 7WF

Caerphilly East 02920 849700

Caerphilly West 02920 849721

Blackwood Child Care Team

Team Manager – Stuart Warrender

Tredomen House,

Tredomen Park,

Ystrad Mynach,

Hengoed

CF82 7WF

Telephone Number: 01495 235543

Risca Child Care Team

Team Manager – Laura Saunders Davies

Tredomen House,

Tredomen Park,

Ystrad Mynach,

Hengoed

CF82 7WF

Telephone Number: 01495 235533

Bargoed Child Care Team

Team Manager – Rhoda Hibbs

Tredomen House,

Tredomen Park,

Ystrad Mynach,

Hengoed

CF82 7WF

Telephone Number: 01443 873501

Rhymney Child Care Team

Team Manager – Margaret Thomas

Rhymney Integrated Health & Social Care Centre

Rhymney

NP22 5PW

Telephone Number: 01685 846459

Adoption Services – SEWAS (South East Wales Adoption Service)

Description:

The Adoption and Permanency Team aim to provide a range of placements for children and young people referred for adoption. The Adoption Service now operates as a Regional Service.

The team provide adoption support services as required under the Adoption and Children Act 2002. Access to Birth Records Counselling, undertake Non-Agency adoptions and provide support and assess adopters seeking to adopt from overseas.

The South East Wales Adoption Service

Mamhilad Park Estate

North Wing, 2^nd Floor, Block B

Mamhilad House

Pontypool NP4 0HZ

Telephone Number: 01495 355766

Email Address: adoption@caerphilly.gov.uk

16+ Team

Description: The team is one of several countrywide teams, committed to working in partnership with young people, their families and community. The statutory framework for the team is the Leaving Care Act, October 2001

Caerphilly Children’s Services Division has dedicated Leaving Care Team who are developing their services to become a 16 plus services. The Team work with young people to provide them with support, guidance and advice to help them to live independently in the community after leaving the care of the council. The team support young people through the transition into adulthood making sure that they have gained practical and self-care skills to achieve independence, this includes keeping in contact with them, providing accommodation support and supporting them to access education and training opportunities.

The 16Plus service works closely with their partners in the Health Board, Youth Service and Housing to deliver the best possible support to young people leaving care

Team Manager – Teri Ann Davies

Tredomen House,

Tredomen Park,

Ystrad Mynach,

Hengoed

CF82 7WF

Telephone Number: 02920 849757

Email Address: LeavingCare2@CAERPHILLY.GOV.UK

Emergency Duty Team

Telephone Number: 0800 3284432

Note: This scheme does not replace the service provided by the Emergency Duty Team (EDT). If you have an emergency you must contact the EDT in the usual way. Links between EDT and the scheme will promote better information sharing and professional practice. EDT is available from 5pm to the next working day and throughout weekends.

Finance Department

Penallta House,

Tredomen Park,

Ystrad Mynach,

CF82 7PG

Telephone Number: 01443 864538 / 01443 863427

Email Address: ssfinancechildren@caerphilly.gov.uk

Fostering Caerphilly

Description:

The Fostering Team is responsible for the recruitment, assessment and support, training and review of foster carers. The team consists of a Team Manager, Senior Practitioners, Social Workers, Child Care Support Workers and Administrators

There is an out of hours service which provides telephone support to carers during the following hours:-

· Monday to Friday 6pm – 10pm

· Saturday and Sunday (plus bank holidays) 6pm – 10pm

Staff telephone foster carers to offer support under the following circumstances:

· Where new placements have been made

· To newly approved/inexperienced cares

· To carers who have a chid or young person placed on a Friday

· To carers facing particular challenges in meeting the needs of a particular child or young person.

Team Manager – Carla Perry

Tredomen House,

Tredomen Park,

Ystrad Mynach,

Hengoed

CF82 7WF

Telephone Number: 0800 587 5664

Email Address: familyplacementteam@caerphilly.gov.uk

Out of Hours Support to Foster Carers

Telephone Number: 02920 849766

Family and Friends Team

Description: Caerphilly Family and Friends Team is a newly established team dedicated to work with children and their families, where they have been made subject to a Care Order, a Special Guardianship Order or a Supervision Order and their plan is to remain living with a family member long term. This could be their parent who they live with under the Placement of a Child in Care with a Parent Regulations, or a relative or a friend who has been subject to a connected persons assessment.

Team Manager – Rachel Silver

Tredomen House,

Tredomen Park,

Ystrad Mynach,

Hengoed

CF82 7WF

Telephone Number: 01443 863248

Email Address: familyandfriends@caerphilly.gov.uk

Complaints and Praise Officer

Description: If you are unhappy about the social services you are receiving, you have a right to complain. We aim for high standards but sometimes things do go wrong. We will only be able to help you and try to put things right if you tell us you are unhappy. Don't be afraid to complain. We welcome your comments, both positive and negative, because they may help us to improve our services for everyone.

Complaints and Praise Officer

Team Manager – Nicola Evans

Social Services

Tredomen House,

Tredomen Park,

Ystrad Mynach,

Hengoed

CF82 7WF

Wales

Telephone Number: 0800 328 4061

Email Address: SSComplaintsandInformation@CAERPHILLY.GOV.UK

Workforce Development – Learning and Development

Team Manager – Jane Haile

3 Foxes Lane,

Oakdale Business Park

Oakdale

Blackwood

NP12 4AB

Email Address: workforcedevelopment@caerphilly.gov.uk

MyST

Caerphilly MyST (My Support Team) is a multiagency partnership working to help children who are looked after, remain in/return their local communities. It works seamlessly across statutory agencies to provide an effective alternative to residential care for children who are looked after with highly complex needs. MyST is a regional service and is commissioned by the Gwent Children and Families Partnership Board. MyST provides bespoke and complex mental health interventions across the whole support network of the child, as intensively as needed with a model of intervention that aims to focus on impacting on a child’s development and resilience. MyST draw on a wide variety of psychological approaches with psychological formulation being at the centre of our practice. By providing therapeutic support to the young people and their systems, MyST aims to have a positive impact on the resilience of both the young people and the adult around them.

Team Manager – Samantha Thomas

5-6

Ty Pawb

High Street

Bargoed

CF81 8QZ

Telephone Number: 01443 811485

Residential Homes

Description: Ty Ni Community Home is a five -bedded unit with an additional semi-independent training room that provides quality care to vulnerable people of either gender aged between 13 and 17 years. We aim to provide a positive, stable environment that enables the young people to feel valued and safe. Each young person has an individual care plan designed to facilitate their return to the birth family or to prepare them for independent living. This is accessed via social services.

Ty Ni Community Home

Team Manager – Tony Arandjelovic

Ty Ni

Caledfryn Way

Caerphilly,

Telephone Number: 02920 850691

Ty Coed – Katherine Bennet

14 Coed Duon View

Blackwood

NP11 4EN

Ty Isaf – Adam Green

Caerphilly Road

Ystrad Mynach

CF82 7EP

Telephone – 01443 811491

Intensive Support Team

Description: The Immediate Response Team (IRT) is committed to providing time limited, intensive support to young people and their families or carers during their times of greatest need. There are times when parents or carers of children experience critical periods where they feel they cannot cope any longer and it is at these times that children and young people are most at risk of entering into the care of the authority and or being fully rejected by those with whom they have close attachments. The team look to intervene as immediately as possible during these critical periods to support the family or carers to respond positively to issues they are presented with, building their resilience for similar situations in the future. To successfully support families through such times, we explore their feelings and emotions relating to their situation before identifying their personal skills and strengths that we can help them build upon to resolve their own issues. Throughout the intensive intervention, support will be provided on a flexible basis to meet the needs of the family.

IST – Karen Singler

5-6 Ty Pawb

High Street

Bargoed

CF81 8QZ

Telephone Number: 01495 233255

Youth Offending Service – Blaenau Gwent & Caerphilly

The Youth Offending Service (YOS) works with 8–17 year olds at risk of, or involved in offending behaviour. Locally, the service brings together staff from a wide range of organisations including the local authority, police, probation, health, and education. By working together, sharing knowledge, skills and experience, the YOS aims to help children make the right life choices and reduce offending by children. The YOS also works in partnership to address anti-social behaviour. It recognises the adverse impact anti-social behaviour can have on everyone in a community – both adults and children – and the importance of addressing such behaviour.

Service Manager – Michaela Rogers

Unit 4, Woodfieldside Business Park

Pontllanfraith

Blackwood

NP12 2DG

Telephone Number: 01495 235623

Email Address: wwwyos@caerphilly.gov.uk

Central Support Team (CST) - Caerphilly Families First Programme

The Families First Programme provides a range of services to support families, with children aged 0 - 25 years, who live in Caerphilly County Borough. The programme is managed by the Central Support Team who are part of Children’s Services. The programme aims to support and work with families to help them overcome challenges, by doing this the Families First Programme can support families before their need reaches crisis point.

Team Manager – Rebecca Boulton

Tredomen House,

Tredomen Park,

Ystrad Mynach,

Hengoed

CF82 7WF

Telephone Number: 01443 864151

Email Address: familiesfirst@caerphilly.gov.uk

Education Safeguarding Team

Description: The team has two primary roles, firstly to provide advice, support and training to all Directorate staff in relation to the Safeguarding of children. Secondly, to co-ordinate education services to all Children Looked After and those whose names are on the Child Protection Register.

As well as the hands on approach to interacting with our Children Looked After and Young People, the Education Safeguarding Team promotes positive links with schools, and multi agency partners.

Contact: Natalie Chirstofferson

Penallta House,

Tredomen Park,

Ystrad Mynach,

CF82 7PG

Telephone Number: 01443 866686

Email Address: educationsafeguarding@caerphilly.gov.uk

CLA Nurse - Clinical Nurse Specialist for Looked After Children

Description: Aneurin Bevan Health Board are committed to the provision of a high quality service to all children and young people who are looked after and ensure that the health needs of all children and young people are met during the time they are looked after by the local authority.

The Clinical Nurse Specialists work with and provide s a health promotion service to all Children Looked After and care leavers. They work with foster carers and other professionals working with children to raise their awareness of the health needs of children looked after.

Cerys Lock

Trethomas Clinic

Trethomas

Caerphilly

CF83 8FX

Telephone Number: 02920 864676

Email Address: Sue.Morgan3@wales.nhs.uk (Admin)

NYAS (National Youth Advocate Service)

Description:The National Youth Advocacy Service (NYAS) is a unique, 'not for profit', children's charity which supplies a range of independent services to children and young people, their families and appropriately involved adults.

NYAS advocacy services provide children and young people with information about their rights and entitlements and assistance to enable them to use formal complaints procedures if that is what they want, and to have a voice and be heard when decisions are made about their lives.

NYAS

Tower House

1 Tower Road

Birkenhead

Wirral

CH41 1FF

Telephone Number: 0151 649 8700

Email Address: main@nyas.net / help@nyas.net

CAFCASS (Children and Family Court Advocacy and Support Services

Description: Cafcass champions the interests of children involved in family proceedings, advising the family courts in England on what it considers to be in the best interests of individual children.

CAFCASS

CAFCASS National Office

3^rd Floor

21 Bloomsbury Street

London

WC1B 3HF

Telephone Number: 0300 456 4000

Regional offices in Wales can be found at https://gov.wales/cafcass-cymru

CIW (Care Inspectorate Wales)

Description: CIW carries out its functions on behalf of Welsh Ministers, and although we are part of a Department within the Welsh Government there are a number of safeguards in place to ensure our independence.

Three regions (North Wales; South East Wales and South West Wales) are the focus for professional assessment and judgement about services and organisations. They inspect and review local authority social services and regulate and inspect social care and early years settings and agencies.

Our national office in Merthyr Tydfil provides professional advice to improve services and analyses social care in Wales, delivering reviews based on the analysis. It ensures all processes are simplified and citizen focussed providing ongoing communication and engagement with all of our stakeholders and those who use social care services.

CIW South East Region

Welsh Government

Rhydycar Business Park.

Merthyr Tydfil,

CF48 1UZ

Telephone Number: 0300 062 8888

Email Address: ciw.merthyr@gov.wales

Children’s Commissioner for Wales

Description: Here are some of the things that Keith and his staff do for Wales’ children and young people:

Telling everyone, including children and young people, about the Commissioner and about children’s rights
Meeting with children and young people and listening to what they have to say about issues that affect them
Talking to children and young people about the Commissioner’s work, what else they think he should do and how he should do it
Looking at the work of organisations like councils and health trusts to see if they are thinking about children’s rights
Telling people who can make a difference what children and young people think is important and how to improve things
Giving advice and information to children and adults who contact the Commissioner's team.

Llewellyn House

Harbourside Business Park

Harbourside Road

Port Talbot

SA13 1SB

01792 765600

post@childcomwales.org.uk

https://www.childcomwales.org.uk/contact-us/

IRM CYMRU

Contract Manager – Claire Sharp (previously Jenny McMillan)

Contract Administrator – Rachel Robinson (previously Fiona Probert)

Independent Review Mechanism Cymru

21 Windsor Place

Cardiff

CF10 3BY

Tel: 029 2034 2434

Email: irm@childreninwales.org.uk

rachelrobinson@childreninwales.org.uk

clairesharpirm@childreninwales.org.uk

Useful Contacts

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You the Foster Carer

moorelp1 — 2023-03-03 13:15:13 UTC

Foster carer responsibilities

Caring for Children and Young People
Providing a Safe & Caring environment
Working as Part of a Team
Own Development

moorelp1 — 2023-03-03 13:17:47 UTC

Your approval status has now been agreed and ratified by our agency decision maker within Caerphilly. This will confirm the number, gender and specific matching criteria of the child(ren) who will be placed with you. It will also include whether you are approved as respite, short-term or long-term foster carers.

Foster carer responsibilities

Within your role as a foster carer there are a number of tasks you will need to undertake. There are 4 main tasks which we group under the broader headings of:

‘Caring for Children and Young People’,

‘Providing a Safe and Caring Environment’,

‘Working as Part of a Team’ and

‘Foster Carers own Development’

· Caring for Children and Young People

We need our foster carers to provide a good standard of care to other people’s children and have an understanding of what it means and how it could affect a child to be removed from their birth parents. We expect our foster carers to promote healthy growth and development of children in their care including emotional, physical, sexual and educational. This includes working closely with professionals from health, school, social services etc. when a child is experiencing issues in placement or in school.

We see it as important for foster carers to encourage children to have a positive understanding of their origins, religion and culture so that they are given opportunities to develop their own sense of identity. We also ask our foster carers to assist and support a child to maintain positive relationships with individuals who are significant to them and work positively with a child and all involved when a child moves on from your care.

Carers are asked to continue to offer support to young people who have moved on in order to help them adapt to independent living. The carers are expected to be available during the day. If in employment, carers need to be flexible in their working hours and need to be available to return home in an emergency. They need to be able to work with different approaches to change behaviour, as they may have to work with children or young people with challenging behaviour using skills to manage and divert the behaviour. This could also include children who are experiencing problems with school including exclusions. In addition they need to be able to provide appropriate levels of care for children and young people with complex needs.

· Providing a Safe and Caring Environment

Carers need to have an ability to ensure that a child or young person is kept safe from harm or abuse. This involves helping the children to develop skills and strategies to keep themselves safe from harm and abuse and to know how to seek help if their safety is threatened.

It is important for carers to promote the secure attachment of children to adults and that where appropriate and necessary; they act as an advocate for a child to ensure their voice is heard. Carers also need to have an ability to talk with children and young people about what they think and feel and maintain a positive relationship with them.

You will need to be able to maintain a positive relationship with a child who is displaying extremely challenging behaviour and work with a child who is at risk of significant harm using ways to minimise risks. There is an expectation that they will move children on in a planned way even when the placement is on the verge of breaking down and they need to provide a high level of supervision to children and young people in their care.

· Working as part of a Team

Foster carers need to have an ability to communicate and work with a wide range of people, including the child’s family, social workers and other professionals involved. They also need to play a part in contributing to the plan for each child and attend and participate in reviews for children in their care.

It is important that any information foster carers receive about children in their care is kept confidential and that carers are familiar and up to date with Caerphilly County Borough Councils policies and procedures.

There is an expectation on carers to complete daily recording logs about the child’s routine and significant events. The information needs to reflect contact arrangements, attendance at Children Looked After (CLA) review meetings, planning meetings/case conference, hospital/dental appointments, daily events and concerns.

Additional incidents such as if the child has an accident, injury or illness and receives medication, medical treatment and/or first aid also need to be recorded and you will be provided with forms to complete. There needs to be a willingness from carers to learn about what needs to be recorded and how.There are some guidelines of how/what to record on the back of the recording sheets (see appendices for a copy of the recording sheets).

Your allocated worker will collect the recordings during home visits and will read and sign them. The original recordings will be stored on the child’s file.

You are asked to be available to attend and assist at recruitment and training events and actively promote fostering within local communities and with other foster carers.

· Own development

Becoming a foster carer will have an impact on your own family and it is important to recognise this and help them understand the needs of a looked after child.

It is also important for you as foster carers to ensure that you have the ability to sustain positive relationships through periods of stress. This is necessary as fostering can be a stressful task. Carers who have good support networks often find that they are able to remain positive and talk through issues. Caerphilly has a number of foster carer support groups that meet on a regular basis (please refer to support section).

As a foster carer there will be an expectation that you will take part fully in training opportunities to continually improve your understanding and knowledge.

You need to be willing to look after a child in an emergency with little notice. You need to attend the development groups on a regular basis and assist in the development of new foster carers by befriending and giving advice.

Foster Panel

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Foster carer Agreement
Your Review
Termination of your approval

moorelp1 — 2023-03-03 13:19:14 UTC

· Foster carer agreement

Now that your assessment has been seen at foster panel and a decision made by the agency decision maker, you will be provided with a written foster carer agreement.

This agreement lists what you can expect from Social Services and what is expected from you as a foster carer. It also states your ‘approval status’ as mentioned above. You are required to sign two copies of the foster carer agreement, one of which is for you to keep and the other, we will keep on our files. A new ‘foster carer agreement’ will be sent for you to sign when there are any changes to your ‘approval status’.

You need to ensure that you read the foster carer agreement carefully and we would recommend that you keep it together with your handbook so it can be easily located.

· Foster carer annual reviews

After you have been approved for one year, an annual review will be held within your home, which provides an opportunity to appraise the last year. The review will look at the positives and challenges that have been faced within the year, the skills that you have developed and plan for future training needs. The review also considers any changes to ‘approval status’.

As an authority, we are required to carry out an annual review of all approved foster carers at least once a year. A review may be held earlier if there has been a significant event such as a change of foster carer group, change of approval status or any other event, which is considered to be significant. The decision to hold an additional review may be made by the Fostering Team Manager. A review must be held where there has been an allegation against a foster carer.

Your review will be undertaken by your fostering worker, once their report has been written and shared with you it will be presented to foster panel. In the future your annual review report may not need to go to foster panel if there have been no changes this can be for a maximum of three panels. Your allocated worker will advise you of this. If you would like a copy of our panel procedures, please request this via your allocated worker.

You will be invited to attend foster panel, as you were for your approval but your attendance is not mandatory and your worker can attend on your behalf.

If you are unhappy with foster panel’s decision you have the right to appeal. Please refer to the ‘Independent Review Mechanism’ (IRM) in the A-Z guide for more information.

· Termination of Approval

‘Termination of approval’ is the term we use to cease a person’s approval as a foster carer.

· You will be kept fully informed by your allocated worker when the fostering agency is considering terminating your approval.

· You will be advised in writing when the decision has been made to terminate your approval.

The Fostering Service may decide to recommend termination of approval if it considers you are no longer suitable, alternatively you have a right to resign at any time. If you do make the decision to resign it is important to consider the children and young people who may still be in placement and to consider the arrangements which may need to be made for them.

Additional responsibilities

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Confidentiality
DBS
Medicals
Access to information

moorelp1 — 2023-03-03 13:21:20 UTC

· Confidentiality

As an approved foster carer you are agreeing to keep the information shared with you about children and young people in strictest confidence. The information must not be shared with neighbours, friends or relatives unless necessary and only when they are likely to be involved in the care of the child or young person.

If you are unsure what you can share, please discuss with your fostering worker or the child or young person’s worker.

All records concerning fostered children or young people are kept on behalf of the Directorate and must be kept in a secure place. A lockable storage box is provided to you for this purpose.

Once a child or young person’s placement has ended all relevant paperwork must be returned to your allocated worker.

When you cease fostering please return the storage box to the fostering team.

· Disclosure and Barring Service

DBS’s need to be completed every 3 years and are needed for your foster carer review. Please help us with this by completing the DBS forms we send you at the necessary time, these will be sent electonically.

Medicals

Medicals also need to be renewed every 3 years. There is an expectation on you as foster carers, once you receive a notification letter from the fostering team, to arrange an appointment with your GP so the medical can take place. On some occasions it may be necessary for you to have an early medical but your allocated worker will inform you of this. Medicals are also checked as part of the foster carers annual review.

· Access to your files

As you are aware, files are opened and stored securely in respect of all foster carers approved by Caerphilly County Borough Council. The authority has an access to files policy. If you wish to see your file you will need to write to the fostering Team Manager making this request. You will find it helpful if you discuss your request with your allocated worker who will provide you with support.

Your children who also foster

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We recognise that if you have your own children, they will play a part within your ‘fostering family’ and their support in this can be beneficial for both you, as carers and the looked after child in placement. As a result of this we arrange support groups for your own children. More information regarding these groups can be found in the support section of this handbook.

Foster carer Support

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Your Fostering Worker

moorelp1 — 2023-03-03 13:24:43 UTC

There are many forms of support that the Fostering Team offer to you as approved foster carers. These are:

· Role

In the first instance you will be allocated a Fostering Worker. The role of the worker is to provide support and offer advice and guidance to direct you through your time as a foster carer. This will include telephone contact, home visits and accompanying you to meetings eg LAC reviews.

· Home Visits

Your worker will visit you at home every four - six weeks as this is a statutory requirement. The purpose of these visits is to discuss what has been happening and to discuss any worries or concerns you may have. Some visits will be just with you as foster carers, other times it may be with you and the children who are placed in your care.

Your worker will also complete a formal supervision visit every three months whereby the visit is recorded on a supervision form. The supervision visit allows you and your worker the opportunity to discuss your overall performance including your family, the care of children placed and learning opportunities that are available. The supervision form will be placed on your foster carer file within the office and your worker will give you a copy for your own records.

Your Fostering worker also has to undertake at least one unannounced home visit to your home every year. This is an opportunity for your worker to visit you as you go about your daily life and to ensure the child/children you are caring for are being cared for appropriately.

· Duty

The Fostering Team provide an office duty service Monday – Thursday 8:30am – 5:00pm and Friday 8:30 – 4:30pm this means that there is always a duty worker who you can contact should your Fostering Worker not be available if you require support or advice.

The team also provide an out of hour’s telephone duty system. This is where the Fostering Workers alternate a telephone service outside of office hours, every night of the week – Sunday through to Saturday 6:00pm – 10:00pm the purpose of this service is for the Fostering Workers to contact you to offer support and advice following a placement being made or if there are difficulties within placement.

· Out of Hours Support

You can also contact out of hours should you have any queries or for instance to report an accident or emergency where a child has needed medical treatment or to report if a child has absconded.

The team are also supported by the Emergency Duty Team (EDT). EDT operates from office closure at 5:00pm through until the following morning at 8:30am when the office re-opens. EDT are qualified social workers who can be contacted for emergency support or advice that is unable to wait until the following day. You should contact EDT in emergency situations such as if a child has absconded or if a child has been harmed in anyway.

moorelp1 — 2023-03-03 13:26:10 UTC

· Induction Programme

Following your approval there is an expectation that you complete induction training within eighteen-months of approval. This is in line with the Welsh Government Induction Framework for Foster Carers. During this time you will be invited to attend the following courses:

Paediatric First Aid
Health and Well-being of Looked after Children
Education: from nursery to independence
Safeguarding Looked after Children in Need of Protection
Safer Caring
Understanding Development and Behaviour
Listening and Communication
Improving Outcomes for Looked after Children

These courses will help improve your knowledge and skills as a foster carer and understand your role in caring for children within the looked after children’s system.

The Fostering Service provides a variety of opportunities for you to develop your skills as foster carers so that you can develop knowledge and skills that are required to meet the challenges and the level of care children in the looked after system require. This includes an Induction training programme, formal training, support groups etc.

· Formal Training

As foster carers you will be expected to continue to attend training courses as part of your ongoing professional development.

Throughout the year, there are many training courses that are available. Your link worker will nominate you for training and you will receive confirmation via the training department.

Child Protection and Paediatrics First Aid have to be completed every three years to keep updated with changes in policies and procedures.

As well as offering training courses throughout the day we also hold ‘twilight courses’ that are run during evenings for those foster carers who are in employment.

We also have the opportunity for you to complete ‘on line training’. These are training courses that can be completed within your own home and in your own time. We offer a variety of modules such as, Health, Education and Safer Caring and you have approximately six weeks to complete each module. Your link worker can nominate you for this.

You will be able to locate a full list of training courses that are available on the foster carers website.

· Qualification Credit Framework (QCF)

As a foster carer you will have the opportunity to complete the QCF level 3 in Childcare. This is a recognized qualification where you will have to attend college on a monthly basis and complete various modules that are assessed by an internal verifier. You can be nominated by your link worker to complete this, however you have to make a commitment to complete the course within two years of commencing. The intake is September of each year.

· Resource Library

There is a resource library available based within the fostering office. You are able to loan items such as books, games and dvd`s for one month at a time via a booking in and out system by your link worker. You can also request an extension if needed.

The fostering website has a comprehensive list of the items that are available.

· On-Line Training

As a foster carer you will also have the opportunity to access training on-line please liaise with your Family Placement Worker to access a list of courses available, these can be undertaken in your own time. The fostering will also have a comprehensive list of these onl-line topics.

moorelp1 — 2023-03-03 13:41:21 UTC

· Coffee Morning

This is an informal support group that is run once every month during the day 10.00am -12pm. It is aimed at newly approved foster carers and the purpose is to meet other foster carers to gain advice and support as well as having information sessions from guest speakers.

· Foster Carer Forum

Caerphilly Foster Carers have their own foster carer forum on facebook. This is a closed group and is not open to the general public. You will need to request to join the forum by your link worker and sign a user agreement before joining. The forum is an opportunity to share ideas and information and gain support and advice form other foster carers, abuse of this Forum will lead to your name being removed.

· Fostering Network Membership

On approval as foster carers, you will be registered with the Fostering Network, be provided with an information booklet and have your membership renewed on an annual basis providing you remain approved as foster carers. The fostering network provides support, advice and information, as well as other benefits such as discount vouchers for family days out and home insurance.

· Foster Carer Newsletter

A newsletter is sent via e-mail once every three months. If you do not have an e-mail address this will be sent to you through the post. The newsletter provides updated information in respect of what is happening within the fostering service.

· Resource Library

The fostering website has a comprehensive list of the items that are available.

Learning and Development Opportunities

moorelp1 — 2023-03-03 13:41:48 UTC

Support & Support Groups

moorelp1 — 2023-03-03 13:42:09 UTC

Children & Young people and placements

moorelp1 — 2023-03-03 13:50:56 UTC

Reasons we become involved with families

Children’s Services Departments receive referrals regarding children and young people from a range of sources, including health visitors, GPs, schools, councillors, police, neighbours and children, young people and families themselves. Sometimes the difficulties experienced within families can be overwhelming and parents will need support. Those children and young people who are assessed as needing care and support will then have a care and support plan. Reasons for providing care and support include:

For example:

Because a child or young person has been injured or hurt by someone
Because a child or young person is not being cared for properly.

To ask for help with managing children’s behaviour.

To ask for help to meet the needs of a child or young person who has a disability or additional needs.

The Local Authority will always try and keep children and young people with their families but sometimes this is not possible. If a child or young person cannot stay with their family, we will try and reach an agreement with the parents.

When a child needs to become looked after

Legal status
‘voluntary agreement’ - In these circumstances the parents (or other person with parental responsibility) would be able to take their child or young person home at any time as they retain their parental responsibility. However if the Local Authority considers it is not in the best interests of the child or young person they may apply to the Courts for an Order.

When the local authority applies to the Court for an Order ‘Interim or Full Care Order’ the parents share parental responsibility with the Local Authority. This means that the local authority is able to make decisions that are in the best interests of the child or young person including who the child or young person should live with.

Placement process – planned and unplanned

All requests for a child or young person to become looked after are considered by the Resources Panel. The panel meets weekly and will consider what resources can be deployed to support the child or young person to remain living with their family. If support options have been exhausted or are not viable, the panel can agree for the child or young person to become looked after.

Searching for a placement – roles/ responsibilities/ matching/contact

Planned/Respite placements - When potential foster carers have been identified (matched) they will be contacted by a worker from the Family Placement Team who will share information regarding the needs of the child or young person.

Emergency - Placements made in this way are not ideal; unfortunately they cannot always be avoided. The identification (matching) of a placement is made by the placement unit; however, it is unlikely that there will be time for introductory visits. Placements made with foster carers in this way may only be for a day or two until a plan can be formulated.

Pre-placement planning meeting

It is preferable that the meeting is held prior to the child or young person becoming looked after, this provides an opportunity to arrange introductory visits and to ensure the child or young person’s needs are considered.

In respect of unplanned placements, a planning meeting should be held within 72 hours of the child being placed and fuller discussions will take place with your worker.

Placement of a Child/Young Person & Information for foster carers

moorelp1 — 2023-03-03 14:01:12 UTC

Foster Placement Agreement)
Care & Support Plans
CLA reviews
Journey Through Care

Potential Placement Proforma

moorelp1 — 2023-03-03 14:02:30 UTC

This must be completed for all placements by your worker and these are signed and agreed by the Children's social worker

Information On Placement

moorelp1 — 2023-03-03 14:04:33 UTC

When the placement is made, the child or young person’s allocated worker must provide you with a Placement Plan and Foster Placement Agreement. (You are required to sign a Foster Placement Agreement for each child or young person placed with you, which states that you agree to look after the child or young person. The agreement clarifies the arrangements for the child or young person.

If the placement is unplanned the allocated worker for the child or young person may not have completed all the documentation although some basic information regarding the child or young persons health needs and daily routine should be shared. An updated copy of the Placement Plan will be provided following the planning meeting.

At the planning meeting the Care and Support Plan (known as a Part 6 Care and Support Plan) must be formulated. The Plan will set out the personal and Local Authority outcomes that need to be achieved and will note actions to be taken by all persons involved with the child or young person. The Care and Support Plan must be completed and circulated within 10 working days of a child or young person becoming looked after.

The Care and Support Plan is reviewed regularly at a ‘Children’s Looked After’ Review Meeting to ensure that the needs of the child or young person are being met and outcomes are achieved.

· Information provided to you the carer on placement

Placement Plan
Medical Consent
Delegated Authority Form

What Should be expected from the Child's Social worker

moorelp1 — 2023-03-03 14:09:12 UTC

Support and Statutory visits to the child or young person in placement

When a child or young person becomes looked after, the child or young person’s allocated worker must adhere to certain statutory requirements. Visits, to the child or young person must take place as follows:

Within one week of the commencement of the placement.

At least six weekly in the first year of placement (more often if required).

Three monthly thereafter (more often if required).

The purpose of the visit is to:

Observe the child or young person with you and your family.

See the child or young person alone or to take them out (depending on age).

See the bedroom and other areas of the house to ensure that the child or young person’s needs are being met.

The child or young person’s allocated worker may visit more frequently to provide support if this is required.

What is a Child or Young Person’s Looked After Review?

It is a statutory requirement that the arrangements for every child or young person looked after are reviewed in accordance with Children Act Regulations.

A Looked After Child or Young Person’s Looked After Review are held at the following intervals:

Within 4 weeks of the date the child become looked after.
Within 3 months from the first review
Six monthly thereafter.

An earlier review meeting may be arranged if changes are required to the Care and Support Plan. A Care and Support Plan can only be changed at a Review.

An ‘Independent Reviewing Officer’ who has no involvement in the management of the case chairs the review and is responsible for ensuring that all the decisions made are in the best interests of the child or young person.

Who attends: -

Independent Reviewing Officer (IRO).
Child or young person’s parents/other.
Child or young person placed (depending on age/understanding).
Foster carers.
The child or young person’s allocated worker.
The allocated family placement worker.
The professionals significant in the child or young people.

A written record of the review is completed by the IRO and is circulated to those who attended the meeting.

Your input in the review is essential and you will be expected to contribute to the review discussions and complete a consultation form prior to the review.

The ‘Preparation for Independence Checklist’ is a booklet that is provided to a child or young person between 4-16 years who becomes looked after. This booklet will be given to the child or young person at their first Looked After Review’. It is hoped that this list will act as a flexible took to help children and young people to develop their independent skills prior to moving on from foster care.

This checklist is divided into tasks appropriate to different age groups. The skills identified as appropriate for children 4-7 years should be built upon as the child matures. However children and young people learn at different paces and have various levels of understanding and therefore the list should be used in a way that is appropriate to the individual child or young person’s circumstances.

Delegated Authority – issues of consent

When it has been agreed that a child/ young person needs to be looked after either by means of a court order or on a voluntary basis with consent of parents, the social worker will speak to those with parental responsibility to determine if they are willing to delegate consent for specific activities to the foster carers. You should receive the Permission to Delegate Consent to Foster Carer Proforma. This means you the foster carer will be able to give permission for the child to partake in certain activities as specified in the list below.

This should be either at the point a child is placed with foster carers or at the planning meeting, which should be held within 5 working days.

In some situations, foster carers will not hold delegated authority and the local authority should determine whether a specific activity should take place.

In situations where the local authority shares ‘parental responsibility’, the social worker on behalf of the local authority can specify the activities where delegated authority can be held by the foster carer.

The social worker must sign the proforma along with you the carer once delegated authority has been determined. As soon as all relevant parties have indicated the arrangements for delegated authority on the proforma, a copy will be provided to you the carer, the School, GP, Parent and child/ young person if they are of appropriate age and understanding. A copy will also be retained on the child’s record.

The delegated authority proforma will be considered at each CLA review. The Independent Reviewing Officer will consider the areas where permission to delegate authority has been provided and will identify if further permissions need to be sought.

Preparation for Adult Life

moorelp1 — 2023-03-03 14:11:23 UTC

Growing up doesn’t happen overnight. For some young people it can be a relatively quick and smooth transition. For others, it can be more challenging and can take many years, For young people aged 16 and above, the process is not, and certainly shouldn’t be, an abrupt event. Rather it is a process that should take into account the different aspects of the transition to adulthood.

A parent’s support for their child doesn’t follow formal structures. It reacts appropriately to a child’s mental, physical and emotional development. The majority of parents support their child emotionally through any bad experiences. A practical skill like cleaning and budgeting won’t be taught at a specific time but as a child develops. Support and advice on education and employment don’t start when a child turns fifteen. Help with the first move away from the family home won’t normally be a one-off event; the family home can remain a bolthole for many years afterwards. For a corporate parent, however, this support is provided by a myriad of different services, which tend to be formally structured and bureaucratic.

· Role of Pathway Plans

Pathway plans are the key legal document in which young people can set out their hopes, aspirations and goals for the future. Young people’s needs and views should be at the centre of the plan, as well as how the local authority intends to support them. Plans should stretch at least as far as a young person’s 21st birthday, and beyond for young people still in education or training. The local authority’s role is to identify how best each young person can be supported to help them to attain their goals.

Pathway planning should build on the preparation and planning work undertaken during the period young people is being looked after (including care plans and personal education plans) rather than being started entirely from scratch. All care leavers should have a needs assessment and pathway plan. Including details of: personal support; accommodation needs; education, training and employment; family and social relationships (and how these can be supported); practical and other skills; health needs and financial support that can be given. Contingency planning is a key part of the pathway plan too and should ensure that changes in circumstances or potential crises are averted wherever possible, or at least dealt with in a planned way.

· Foster Carers role

You have a key role in supporting and preparing young people for the challenges of adult life. Evidence shows that young people in long-term foster placements, especially where those relationships are close, are more likely to have successful educational outcomes, where carers see promoting a young person’s education as an important part of their role, young people are also more likely to be successful in education and employment.

Ways in which you can have a particular impact on a young person’s experience:

Providing continuity and stability when many other changes are going on in young people’s lives.
Being committed to a young person as an individual, supporting them in their interests and fighting their corner.
Giving young people a more ‘normal’ home environment, and dealing appropriately with things that may have made placements go wrong in the past and can often lead to the breakdown of placements.
Foster carers can deal with behaviour that threatens the placement or will impact badly on their future life without rejecting the child (liking them as individuals).
Focusing on education in a general sense, not just how young people do in exams but by paying attention to how they enjoy themselves at school and fit in and how young people are encouraged to use their education as they leave care.
Providing support for young people to deal with issues around their birth families and acting as an intermediary.
Providing young people with as much support and encouragement as and after they leave care as possible.
Appropriate ‘through care’ provision for young people in foster care should take into account the needs and best interests of the young person concerned. Just as parents want the best for their child, you often provide commitment to the young people in their care well beyond normal expectations.

There is increasing acknowledgement of the role and difference that you can make to the life chances of young people as they move through and leave the care system.

· Expectations of Foster Carers in respect of working with young people aged 16 and over

· To use the preparation to independence checklist from as early an age as possible.

· To give the child/young person more responsibility as they mature - this includes caring for themselves, and managing their finances. For example pocket money, clothing and working towards managing a small budget to purchase their own foods etc

· To ensure the young person’s wishes and feelings are communicated to the allocated 16 plus worker.

· The 16 plus team will ensure that foster carers are provided with all the necessary information to enable them to make a decision in relation to young people remaining in their care post 18. This will enable foster carers to be open and honest in their discussions with young people and the allocated 16 plus worker in respect of the young person’s continued placement under a different arrangement.

· Fostering Conversions to Supported Lodgings

For Foster Carers and young people who wish to continue living together when the young person reaches 18, this placement could convert to a supported lodgings arrangement if all parties are in agreement. There is an expectation that the young person will be engaged in education or training. The duration of this placement will agreed as part of the pathway plan.

For the foster carer this would mean:

The 16 plus Accommodation Officer would undertake a short assessment in liaison with the allocated family placement team worker and foster carer.

The assessment focuses on the differences between the role of the foster carer and the changes needed to take a ‘step back’ from providing all aspects of care to supporting and assisting the young person to make their own choices.

The completed conversion assessment is presented to Foster Panel for discussion and approval.

If approved, the 16 plus Accommodation Officer would take responsibility for providing support and supervision specifically to the supported lodgings provider(s) for the duration of the placement.

The allocated 16 plus worker will work with the young person and the provider to review arrangements and to plan for the young persons move to supported accommodation, university halls or independent living.

. Fostering Conversions to When I Am Ready

The overall outcome of When I Am Ready is that a young person leaving foster care will have the time and support to develop the necessary skills and resilience to make a successful transition to independent living. Clear aims/outcomes of the WIR arrangement should be recorded within the Pathway Plan. (When I Am Ready Good Practice Guide March 2016 supplements to the Statutory Code of Practice relating to Part 6 of the Social Services & Wellbeing (Wales) Act 2014). The statutory code sets out a Local Authority's legal responsibilities in respect of post 18 living arrangements for young people in foster care. Local Authorities are required to set up When I Am Ready schemes in line with the requirements of the Code.

When I Am Ready (WIR) eligibility

All care experienced young people who have qualified for a Leaving Care service having been placed in foster care by their Local Authority for a period of 13 weeks or more before the age of 18 are eligible to be considered for the WIR scheme. There is an expectation that the young person will be engaged in meaningful activities such as employment, education or training which can then run for any amount of time up to their 21st birthday. WIR may be made where;

The young person was Looked After immediately prior to their 18th birthday and was living with foster carers in a placement arranged by the Local Authority.

The carers were acting as approved foster carers for the young person immediately prior to their 18th birthday.

The young person and the foster carers both wish to enter into a WIR arrangement and the arrangement has been set out in the young person's Pathway Plan.

The Local Authority is satisfied that such an arrangement supports the young person's wellbeing.

Preparation for Independence checklist is developed with the young person.

Considerations under the WIR arrangement You may want to add or omit elements of this to the above….

A Living Together agreement formulates the basis of the young person as an excluded licensee with WIR provider considered a private landlord.

If there are younger children in placement, supervision remains with the family placement team.

If there are no younger children in placement, 16 Plus Team Accommodation Officer will supervise and review.

The impact of becoming a WIR provider on fostering status will be key to discussions with link worker.

Young people supported by their personal advisor will need to claim the appropriate benefit through Universal Credit (UC); Income Support if in further education or alternatively the Job Seekers Allowance element around their 18th birthday.

If in receipt of EMA this will not be affected when claiming Income Support element of UC.

Young people with the support of their personal advisor will need to claim the Accommodation Element of Universal Credit. Arrangements will be made for payments to go directly to the provider.

A proportion of the allowance paid to the WIR provider will be paid for by the Local Authority.

Young people will pay a weekly contribution to the provider towards utilities and food.

For young people in further education turning 18 within an academic year, the provider will receive the Enhanced rate to the end of the academic year (last Sunday in June). This is the fostering rate, minus UC Income Support element, minus weekly contribution from the young person.

Young people will budget for their own food from their benefits (with guidance and support from the personal advisor and WIR provider).

Young people will need to budget for all other personal items such as clothing, toiletries, phone top up and travel from their benefits.

Children Missing from Placement

moorelp1 — 2023-03-03 14:22:57 UTC

Caerphilly Social Services and Gwent Police have developed an operational protocol, which aims to provide guidance to assist foster carers, police officers and allocated workers in dealing with situations where children and young people go missing.

A child or young person may be missing if they are not where they are supposed to be without permission and they fail to tell anyone where they are going or who they are with. You should take all reasonable and practical steps to try and find out where the child or young person is and/or why they are absent.

If the situation is not resolved and concerns continue contact:

The child or young person’s allocated worker,
Your allocated worker or
The Emergency Duty Team (outside office hours) to decide if the Police are to be informed.

You can contact the ‘out of hours’ support service on 01495 233251 for advicebetween the hours of 6pm to 10pm, outside of these hours you can contact the ‘Emergency Duty Team’ (EDT) by telephoning 08003284432. The team is available outside office hours.

Most children and young people are reported to the Police as missing within hours. All children and young people missing must be reported to the Police before 12 pm midnight on the first day of absence. In cases where children frequently go missing the allocated worker should identify risks within a risk assessment.

Moving children on for Adoption

moorelp1 — 2023-03-03 14:23:33 UTC

Foster carers are an invaluable part of the moving on process and their input contributes immensely to the success of adoptive placements for the children in their care.

Once adoption is decided as a possible option for a child/ren, they will be referred to the Adoption Service. An Independent Birth Parent Counsellor will then be allocated who will counsel the birth family/extended family members.

As the child’s foster carer you will be asked to complete a report provided to you, regarding the child. This report will detail the child’s behaviour, relationships, personality and any other relevant issues. It is important that the report is as detailed as possible and gives an accurate picture of the needs of the child. If you wish, your fostering social worker can assist you in completing this report.

Before an adoptive placement can be pursued the Agency Decision Maker must recommend that adoption be in the child’s best interests.

The information that you provide will be very important in helping the adoption social workers identify which of the adoptive families they are working with may be most suitable for the child. It may be that a family cannot be identified immediately and plans have to be made about creating profiles for these children to present in adoption exchange days and adoption publicity.

Once a family has been identified arrangements will be made for you to meet the prospective adoptive parents. This may be before or after adoption panel has met to consider the match.

Once the ‘match’ has been agreed, introductions between the child and adoptive parents can be arranged. The introductory period for a child is a very demanding task and emotions are often very high on both sides. The child and the foster carers can experience feelings of grief, separation and loss, whilst the adoptive parents can often feel very guilty about “taking” the child from the foster carers. Research tells us however, that when all adults work well together, in the interests of the child, the move on will be positive for the child and this will bode well for the future.

As the foster carer for the child you will be asked to have the first part of the introductions in your home, where the child feels most safe and secure. This will involve the adoptive parents spending amounts of time in your home with the child, helping the child with routines, reading bedtime stories etc. This can feel very intrusive for foster carers, but it is an essential part of the moving on process. It is important that a child receives the “emotional permission” from their current carers that it is safe to move on.

The second part of the introductions usually involves the child spending increasing amounts of time with the prospective adopters. As the child’s carer you will be expected to spend some time with the child at the adoptive parents’ home in order to help the child feel safe and to ensure that the plan moves on.

It is important for the child you are moving on to hear that you are positive about the move and happy to see them with their ‘forever family’. This includes showing them pictures of their adoptive parents and referring to them as ‘mummy’ and ‘daddy’. Despite this being an emotional time for all, the child needs to know that you, as the foster carer, want them to be with their forever family. This is often the final part of the “emotional permission”.

Once the child has moved on the adoptive parents may, on occasion, telephone you and ask for your advice and assistance, as the person who previously ‘parented’ the child.

Children’s Rights/Advocacy-NYAS

moorelp1 — 2023-03-03 14:25:02 UTC

· Children's Rights

Specific information on the rights for looked after children can be found on www.rightsforme.co.uk – this is a good resource for children and foster carers, as it contains animated digital stories produced by looked after children.

The Local Authority has a Children’s Rights Officer, some of the duties of this officer are to:-

Ensure all professionals with whom they have contact listen to Looked After children or young people.

Advocate on behalf of children and young people, through consultation and improved participation by children and young people in planning services and monitoring outcomes.

· Advocacy

Referrals can be made by you the carer, the young person (age appropriate), or the child care social worker.

Health & Education for Child/Young Person

moorelp1 — 2023-03-03 14:28:20 UTC

Meeting Educational Needs

Education matters to all children and young people it is their entitlement. School is an important part of everyday life for all children and young people, they can develop self-confidence and skills, receive praise and encouragement, learn about and build relationships and achieve their full potential. Valuing and supporting the education of looked after children and all must see young people as a priority.

Every child or young person who becomes looked after and is of school age 4–16 years must have a ‘Personal Education Plan’ within 20 school days of becoming looked after.

The PEP is an integral part of the Care Plan it sets objectives and targets for educational achievements and behaviour in school. You will be involved in drawing up the PEP in conjunction with the ‘Designated Teacher’ at the school and the allocated worker you have an important role to play in monitoring and supporting the child or young person to achieve the targets.

The targets will be reviewed at the child or young person’s Looked After Children’s Review meeting.

Sometimes the child or young person’s allocated social worker may feel it would be in the child or young person’s interests to change school to enable them to attend a school in the area in which you live. If this is the case, they will need to discuss with you worker arrangements for registering a child or young person at a new school.

You must ensure that the child or young person attends school regularly, inform the school if the child or young person is going to be absent or is going on holiday. You can also consider the following:

Ask the child/young person’s teacher for advice.
Request a copy of the timetable (so you can help with lesson planning).
Ensure that the child or young person has the correct equipment for school, for example: books, pens, stationary, PE kit, cookery equipment.
Encourage the child/ young person to do their homework.
Provide a suitable environment to complete the homework.
Be aware of the demands of coursework and when public examinations are to take place (SATs and GCSE’s take place in May, some schools have exams twice a year).
Encourage the child or young person to take part in after school activities and clubs wherever possible.
Attend parent evenings and school events.

Meeting Health Needs

· When do children and young people have a health assessment?

It is a legal requirement that ‘children looked after’ and young people are required to have a health assessment. Within 14 days of the child or young person being placed with you, an appointment for the health assessment should be arranged. A ‘Specialist Nurses for Children Looked After’ will arrange an appointment with to see the child/young person within your home if possible.

When a child or young person is fostered the authority may have little information on their health needs. The following may apply:

Immunisations not complete.
Missed medicals.
Missed Opticians
Missed Dental appointments
Missed hospital appointments.
Missed development checks.
Poorly managed asthma, eczema, and diet.
Missed talks (advice) about growing up by school nurse, hygiene, personal care, and sexual health/education.

Research has shown that children and young people who are looked after may have more health related problems compared to other children and young people. While living with you there is an opportunity to make a difference to their health and well being by being proactive and by accessing health care.

· Health Assessments/appointments

The health assessment is not a medical examination. Children, young people and you will have the opportunity to discuss the health concerns with the nurses.

Health promotion e.g. smoking, healthy eating, safety, safe sex (depending on child or young person’s age) is also discussed.

We encourage all children and young people to have regular dental checks, annual eye tests (optician) and to register with a local GP.

The Specialists Nurse will also talk about other things in the child or young person’s life that may influence their health e.g. Hobbies, Friendships, Education, Involvement with the police.

Older children and young people have the opportunity to be seen on their own for part of the assessment. If you would like to discuss concerns about the child or young person without the child or young person being present, this can be arranged with the nurse.

· How often are health assessments carried out

Children under 5 years have 6 monthly health assessments they are seen within 28 days and then 6 monthly.

Children over 5 years have annual health assessments 28 days again in 9 months and then annually.

A child or young person’s health is important and must be a priority. Sometimes the child/young person will need to be taken out of school/college to have the assessment.

· What is the Parent Child Health Record (Red book)

The Parent Child Health Record or ‘Red Book’ records health information for all children from birth through to their teenage years. Information included in the Red Book includes family and personal health history (where available), details of immunisation and vaccinations, developmental observation including height and weight details and the health care plan.

The child or young person’s allocated worker should give you the Red Book when the child or young person is placed with you. Sometimes, it is not available at this time; therefore the nurse specialists will create new Red Book using information from the child or young person’s medical notes.

When a child or young person leaves your home, you should return the Red Book to their allocated worker so it can accompany the child or young person to their next placement if this is the plan.

Allegations made against carers

moorelp1 — 2023-03-03 14:31:47 UTC

An allegation may be made by anyone: a member of the public, a professional, a member of a child looked after’s family or by a child and may be made against you or a member of your family. An allegation involves an accusation of abuse or neglect. For example; that a carer has injured a child or someone in the family has behaved in a sexually inappropriate way towards the child looked after.

All allegations are taken seriously and are investigated. In these circumstances the All Wales Child Protection Procedures (AWCPP) are followed. The procedure under Part 4 of the All Wales Child Protection Procedures can be obtained on request. The issue of allegations is discussed at the pre-approval training and the Safeguarding Children’s Training which is undertaken by the Child Protection Coordinator. It may be helpful to have further discussion with your allocated worker during home visits.

How will the allegation be investigated?

The Gwent Safeguarding Board has produced written procedures in line with the All Wales Child Protection Procedures for investigating allegations, which must be followed. This is called “Responding to Concern or Allegations of Abuse Against Adults Who Work With Children and Young People Protocol”

As soon as Caerphilly Social Services become aware of an allegation consideration is given to the concern and additional information may be gathered to help with making the decision on what happens next i.e. has the child sustained any injuries, was there any witnesses to the alleged disclosure, what safeguards need to be considered i.e. should the child or young person making the allegation remain in placement pending further enquires or investigation, as well as any other children looked after and young people in the household.

It is acknowledged that this can be very difficult time for all involved. You will be informed that an allegation is made and support will be provided to you by your Link Worker, you can also access Legal Advice or additional support from Fostering Network. You may not necessarily be aware of the details of the allegation at the initial stage as a police investigation may need to be considered however, information will be shared with you at the right time.

Once the information is gathered a decision will be made whether to hold a Strategy discussion with Police. If this decision is agreed jointly between Social Services and Police, a Professional Strategy Meeting is arranged. This meeting is attended by the Public Protection Unit (PPU), Children’s services staff, a member of the fostering team (usually your allocated worker) and is chaired by the Child Protection Coordinator or Senior Manager.

The main functions are to share all relevant information, consider actions to protect child, consider care of duty toward individual, consider likelihood of harm to other children with whom the adult has contact with at work or in their personal lives and agree any required action and consider and evaluate the risk of harm to the alleged perpetrators own children. It will also plan any further enquires and allocate task and timescales.

On conclusion of the process, the meeting will reach an outcome as to whether concerns are Substantiated, Unsubstantiated, Unfounded, Malicious or Demonstrably False. Your link Worker will communicate with you the outcome and any actions that come from the meeting i.e. additional training, updated safeguarding training.

Support for you

Although you will want to discuss the allegation with your allocated worker, he/she will be unable to provide the level of support you have been used to, due to the worker being an employee of the authority who is responsible for investigating the allegation. The authority does have a duty to keep you informed however, but the first responsibility of the authority must be to protect the child or young person.

You can be provided with support from:

Fostering Network’s, Foster Line Wales on 0800 316 7664. This is a general line that can be accessed for practical advice about fostering, for support or simply someone to talk to.

As a member of Fostering Network you are also entitled to receive legal advice and assistance. (A solicitor with expertise in Children’s services and criminal law).

Independent support from a social work professional not employed by the authority. This needs to be requested via the Team Manager of the fostering team.

Your own family/close friends.

The primary responsibility is to ensure the safety and wellbeing of the child or young person placed. On some occasions a few professional strategy meetings may be held and you would normally be given brief feedback from these meetings pending the investigation. At the end of the whole investigation you will be informed of what is to happen to the child or young person and whether the police will take further action.

When an allegation is made a written record of the allegation and outcome is kept. The information is discussed at the Foster Carers Review meeting and is presented to the Foster Panel. It is legally required that an additional Foster Carers Review is held when there has been an allegation against a carer.

If you as a carer decide to move on in the future to apply to another fostering agency (Local Authority or Independent Agencies), the previous agency is required to provide a reference about you, as carers previously registered with them. Where there have been previous allegations, this information will be included.

Reducing the risk of an allegation being made

It is important to note that any member of the public and employees of Caerphilly County Borough Council may have an allegation made against them. Allegations do not just happen to foster carers.

You can take action to protect yourselves and your family from the likelihood of allegations by contacting:

Foster Line Wales 0800 316 7664 are available to offer general advice.
Social Services if you feel anxious and want advice.
Fostering Team/allocated worker.
Attending training sessions.
Talking with your own children and fostered children and young people about how situations will be managed.
Reading relevant information provided at training sessions and by further discussion if required.
Putting safe caring into practice.
Building up a support network (other foster carers, the health visitor, doctors).
Attending the foster care support group/talking and sharing issues.
Keeping a daily written log of significant events including who was in the house each day (see next page on recordings).
Keeping the child or young person’s allocated worker informed of events in the child or young person’s life and you and your family’s feelings. Advising the child or young person’s allocated worker with any particular worries etc.
When dealing with children and young people who are sexually aware, avoiding situations where one member of the foster family (including older children and young people) are left with the child or young person alone without other people (adult) being present.
Read Foster Care Network’s information.
Allegations against someone outside of the foster home

In the event that a child or young person makes a disclosure to you, you must immediately: -

Notify your allocated worker/duty officer in the fostering team.
Notify the child or young person’s allocated worker or team manager/duty officer.
Make a written record the information (accurately).
In the event that a significant disclosure occurs outside office hours you should first contact the out of hours fostering service for advice and guidance.

Complaints

moorelp1 — 2023-03-03 14:33:00 UTC

Complaints made against foster carers

A foster child, parent, a foster carer or anyone else with an interest in a child’s welfare, may make a complaint. A complaint is an expression of dissatisfaction and may involve a view about a carers approach to the care of a fostered child for example when a child complains they are not being fed property or a parent complains that a child’s culture or religion is being ignored.

Caerphilly have their own procedure for investigating complaints. There are 2 levels of complaint that can be made. These are defined as:

1. Those that can be resolved between your allocated worker, you and the person making the complaint.

2. Complaints may be made directly to the Compliant and Information team as part of the Directorate Corporate Complaints Procedure.

When a complaint is made, the childcare team and the fostering team often co-ordinate their processes. Complaints will eventually involve feedback to the person making the complaint, as well as a plan for making changes if the complaint is upheld. The Fostering Team Manager may make the decision to hold an additional Foster Carer Review following a complaint. If serious concern arises as a result of a complaint the fostering team will manage the matter through their own procedure. This may result in a decision to improve the carers skills through advice or further training, change the carer’s terms of approval, or in more serious circumstances, a decision to terminate a carer’s approval.

Making a complaint

If you are unhappy with any of our services or have a particular grievance, we encourage you to initially discuss the concern with your allocated worker or the Fostering Team Manager. Should you not be able to resolve matters, a complaint may be made by contacting the Directorates Complaints and Information Team. The Complaint and Information Team can be contacted on tel: 0800 328 4061 email: sscomplaintsandinformation@caerphilly.gov.uk , when you contact us a Complaints and Information Officer will explain the process to you.

Legal Framework

moorelp1 — 2023-03-03 14:34:36 UTC

Statement Of Purpose

The Statement of Purpose aims to provide clear information about Caerphilly County Borough Council’s fostering services, principles and standards of care. It has been produced in accordance with the Fostering Services (Wales) Regulations 2019.

Fostering Services in the county borough of Caerphilly are located within Caerphilly.

The Family Placement Team are committed to the development of all aspects of the fostering services in consultation with you and foster children and young people.

In brief, the aims and objectives of the current Statement of Purpose are as follows:

· to safeguard the welfare of children and young people who need to be looked after to enable them to reach their full potential and to maximise their life chances

· To provide a range of family placements to include: short term and long term foster care, respite care, permanency and placement choice for children and young people entering the care system.

· To ensure that any child or young person or young person placed with foster carers have their identified needs met and is in receipt of the best possible care.

Furthermore, the fostering service aims to:

· To ensure that when it is necessary for children and young people to leave their families, there is a range of suitable placements available to meet their needs.

· To ensure that fostering services meet the requirements of the National Minimum Standards for Fostering Services and the Fostering Services (Wales) Regulations 2019.

· To aspire to achieve best practice in fostering services as recommended by Fostering Network National Standards for Fostering.

· To actively use management information to improve and develop fostering services.

· To review the recruitment and retention strategy for foster carers.

· To ensure that foster carers receive adequate training, support and financial remuneration.

If you would like to see the full version of the current Statement of Purpose, please ask your allocated worker for a copy.

Fostering Legislation

Over recent years there have been, and continue to be significant changes in the way in which fostering services are provided.

The Welsh Government has issued The Fostering Services (Wales) Regulations 2019 and National Minimum Standards. These have a legal status, which Local Authorities and Independent foster agencies have to comply. The authority is inspected annually against the regulations. One of the purposes of the inspection is to improve fostering services provided to children and young people. You may be contacted by the CIW in the future about the annual inspection of fostering services provided by Caerphilly County Borough Council.

Inspections from CIW

Caerphilly County Borough Council Fostering Services will undergo an Inspection by the Care Inspectorate Wales (CIW).

The inspector would be asking children looked after, foster carers, and social workers what they think about the fostering service. They will look at everybody’s information to comment or recommend areas for improvement or praise.

They would also want to know if the Fostering Services are supporting you to ensure that the child/ren in your care are safe, happy in school, in their health, activities and contact with family and friends etc.

At the time of the inspection you will be sent a questionnaire, which we hope you will find time to complete and return directly to the CIW. The Inspector will also choose a number of carers to interview face to face. Anything you tell the CIW will remain confidential unless what you say leads them to be concerned about the safety or well-being of anyone.

If you would like have sight of the CIW reports you can access these on line at http://wales.gov.uk/CIWsubsite/newCIW/publications/lareviews/20112/

Finance - Including Insurance/Savings/Tax

moorelp1 — 2023-03-03 14:46:22 UTC

Allowances & Fees

As an approved foster carer you will receive a weekly minimum allowance this is the National Minimum Allowance (NMA) set out by the Welsh Assembly Government based on the Governments Family Expenditure Survey and National Equivalence Scales. In addition to this you will receive a foster carer fee which will vary dependent on the age and will be linked to the NMA age banding.

These payments will be paid to you depending on how many placements you have for example if you have one child in placement you will receive one allowance and one fee for each child. The rate of allowance varies according to the age of the child and it is used to cover the cost of caring and essential everyday items such as clothes, food, toiletries etc. There is no additional finance for school uniforms.

Foster carer’s fees will increase annually in line with the Local Authority’s percentage pay increase.

The fees from 01.04.2026 are set out below

| Age band: | National Allowance: | Single Fee: | Total:

| 0 – 4 | £229 | £148.90 £377.90

| 5 – 10 | £208 | £190.78 £398.78

| 11 – 15 | £208 | £215.20 £423.20 | 16+ | £260 | £215.20 £475.20

This allowance is intended to cover all the general costs associated with the care of the child/young person and their day to day needs. The Allowance is aimed at maintaining a good standard of care.

Equipment: - Since the introduction of the National Minimum Standards and the increase of the allowances in particular

0-4 years there is an expectation that equipment is bought from this allowance.

Food: - School meals are included in the weekly fee for food.

Household:- This element of the finances is to cover utilities, cleaning products, and general maintenance. (Damages over and above daily wear & tear will need to be claimed for via Insurance, and your insurers should be aware that you are foster carers)

Pocket Money/Savings: - It is important that children have some understanding of their responsibilities of looking after their own money from the age of five years. Prior to this, children’s pocket money should be spent under supervision of the foster carer or kept in addition as savings. Savings are taken at source £5.00 and saved into the child's JISA/Child Trust Fund.

Carers are expected to help children learn about savings as part of the preparation for Independence, carers are expected to assist the young person to budget their pocket money to enable them to top up their phone if required. It is therefore important for the carer to assist the child in opening up a savings account, such as a child or young persons Building Society account, into which the child can save an element of their pocket money if they wish. Carers can also arrange to regularly contribute savings to the child/young persons Junior ISA/Child Trust Fund process.

An element of pocket money for older children can include mobile top-up.

Photos: - Carers will be able to re-claim the costs of photos taken for the purpose of adoption paperwork.

Clothing: - It is important that children and young people are provided with sufficient shoes and clothes appropriate to their age. Children and young people should have the opportunity to be involved in their clothes shopping as they get older. It is expected that foster carers would provide a young person aged thirteen and over with money to buy some clothes for themselves from the basic allowance.

Health & Hygiene: - Young people who have reached puberty will need an allowance to buy toiletries if they wish to purchase these themselves.

Leisure Activities, Hobbies etc:- This allowance is meant to cover the cost of sporting, leisure and cultural activities. However where a child or young person has a particular talent or interest which necessitates substantial additional costs in equipment, coaching or travel, consideration can be given to a one-off payment through the discretionary budget. Such requests will need to be discussed with the child’s social worker and agreed by the family placement team manager.

Mother & Baby Placements

In addition to the general placements there remain the specialist placements of Mother and Baby. These payments will be paid at the rate of the child including the fee with an addition of a 16 + allowance for the parent.

Payments and Non Payments of Fees and Allowances

Fees and allowances are paid from the date that a child is placed with you. They are paid on a fortnightly basis, Sunday to Sunday, 12 days in arrears and 2 days in advance. A remittance slip is also issued to yourselves that is sent directly to you from our Finance department, which gives details of the payments that are being made.

Holiday Allowance without children

You are entitled to have an agreed two-week ‘break’ during the financial year which runs from April through to March. During this time you will receive one payment of the foster carer fee equivalent to the eldest child in your care at the time of the break. All other payments will cease during this time.

Carers who wish to take a ‘rest period’ over and above the two weeks will not receive a fee for the respective period. Arrangements should be discussed with your link worker prior to booking in order to organise/plan for the children to be either supported by family in the first instance or be supported with respite.

Holiday Allowance with children

In addition and to ensure children have the best experiences, we encourage you to make them part of your plans. Therefore if you take your foster child/ren with you on holidays you will receive your normal payment with an additional holiday fee for each child (this being the fee element). This allowance is a maximum of 2 weeks per year.

Payments will be made 2-4 weeks following the holiday request being accepted by the Fostering Team. Carers will be requested to provide the evidence of their holidays to support the claim at the time of their request.

For those carers who will be undertaking day trips such as legoland/theme parks then this will be discussed with your Fostering Link Worker and this will need to be evidenced. (These do not include day to day activities which you are provided with as part of your maintenance allowances).

There will be discretionary payments for children who move from one carer to another and consideration will be given to the new carer receiving additional holiday allowance if they also take the child/ren on a booked holiday. This payment will not be paid automatically and carers will have to apply for this annually.

Birthday and Christmas Allowance

You will be entitled to a Birthday allowance and Christmas allowance

£100.00 Birthday allowance in addition to your weekly allowance will be paid prior to the child/young people’s birth date automatically.

£200.00 Christmas Allowance will be paid at the end of November annually; in circumstances where a child may become looked after following this, the family placement worker will need to be submitting a request for payment.

NB: If there is a disruption in placement and you have received the above monies, the expectation will be that this payment will be re-couped or moved with the child in both instances.

Retainer Payments

If you do not have any placements but are however available you will receive a retainer fee at the highest rate of the previous child in placement.

| Age band: | Single Fee:

| 0 – 4 | £229

| 5 – 10 | £208

| 11 – 15 | £208

| 16+ | £260

The retainer payment will be paid for a maximum period of three months unless one of the circumstances detailed below applies:

You are a newly approved Foster Carer waiting for your first placement to be made.

You have requested to be put on hold and not be approached for placements. In this situation no retainer will be paid until you advise that you are available to take placements again.

Incidents where you may be the subject of investigation following allegations. Payments will be reviewed on a monthly basis, which may result in the retainer payments being extended past the 3 month limit.

All retainer payments will be reviewed on a monthly basis and consideration will be given to payments ceasing sooner in cases where you have refused to take children/ young people who are considered by the Fostering Team to be an appropriate and suitable match. This decision and the reasons for it will be conveyed to you in writing should your retainer stop on this basis.

In circumstances where you have an additional bedroom and you are approved for more than 1 placement but it is felt not to be appropriate to place alongside the other child in placement, you will be entitled to a retainer payment.

If you are unavailable due to illness eg admitted to hospital or receiving ongoing treatment due to a recent diagnosis you will only receive a retainer fee for a period of six weeks. A further six weeks retainer fee may only be supported on receipt of a medical certificate and subject to Service Manager Agreement.

Respite placements are paid separately and will not be considered when calculating the length of time you may have been vacant.

If you wish to take a break longer than the agreed two week ‘break’ then all payments will cease and you will not receive any payments until you are available once again for placements.

Initial Clothing Allowance

If a child is being placed for the first time into foster care and does not have adequate clothing you can request an initial one off clothing allowance payment. This is to purchase the basic clothing that the child will need.

The initial clothing allowance is not paid in situations such as a child moving from a short term placement to a long term placement or if a child is moving due to breakdown in placement.

0-10 years £130

11+ years £200

All other clothing needs, including school uniforms, should be met from the allowances paid fortnightly.

Your family placement worker will randomly request evidence of monies spent on clothing for children in placement on a quarterly basis.

Mileage Allowance

As a foster carer you are able to claim for additional mileage for any journeys that are over normal everyday travelling for the child and for journeys in relation to your role as a foster carer.

These are as follows:

Meetings in relation to the care planning of the child/children e.g. CLA reviews, planning meetings, PEP meetings.
Non routine hospital/doctors/dentist/optician appointments
Transport to and from education for daily attendance, parents evenings
Adoption planning meetings and introductions
Attendance at or the facilitation of training
Attendance at support groups
Participation in working groups/being part of an interview panel/providing peer mentor support

Mileage claims must be submitted to your link worker on a monthly basis. For additional expenditure such as car parking tickets, bridge fees, receipts must be attached to your receipt for re-imbursement.

If for some reason you do not submit your mileage form and you have a claim that is over three months old, this will need to be considered for approval by a Service Manager.

All mileage claims must be submitted within each financial year and by the deadline as stated on the front of the mileage form

Day Care

Day care can be provided in circumstances where support networks are unavailable for training or in situations where support is required to maintain a placement. Day care cannot be paid in circumstances where your child in placement has planned school holidays/Inset days. Such requests will need to be agreed by the Team Manager via your worker.

The rate for day care will be £10.00 per hour which will include a provision for food.

Discretionary Financial Assistance Fund

This fund is a one-off payment that can be applied for to assist with the finance of paying towards an established activity/hobby for the child you are caring for. Please ask your fostering worker for more details should you feel this is required.

Overpayment or Underpayment of Fees

There can be rare instances whereby you may receive an overpayment of fees. If this happens the Finance department will contact you to discuss the best way to retrieve the over payment and gain your agreement to process this.

As well as overpayments there may be instances whereby your fees are not accurate and you may receive an underpayment.

If any of the above occurs, the Finance department should be contacted as soon as possible so the errors can be rectified promptly.

Equipment

There is an expectation on you, as foster carers to use the NMA to cover the cost of purchasing any equipment you may need to look after children in your care.

Since the introduction of the NMA and the increase in the 0-4 years age band allowance, there is an expectation that equipment is purchased from this allowance. It is acknowledged that when you are first approved there can be significant initial expenditure. In recognition of this, you are able to submit a one off claim for essential items if needed. If you have a baby in placement you can submit a claim for equipment such as a pushchair, car seat, high chair, stair gate and/or cot/moses basket.

Once equipped with these items, it is expected that the replacements will be met from the weekly allowance.

If you decide to leave Caerphilly, any equipment purchased within the last 6 months will be required to be returned.

Other financial requirements

Incentive Payment (Recruitment)

Download the App from 1 November 2023 by clicking the link below or scanning the QR provided.

https://portal.carefriends.co.uk/invite-link?token=buP5JX2ZaOi0k2Wi&customer_id=1125

How does it work?

You can share a link to our fostering roles with anyone you think could make a great foster parent in just a few clicks. Earn rewards for every referral!

No paperwork – you’ve shared your bespoke link so anyone that applies we’ll automatically know you put them in touch with us.

We’ll send you updates and rewards for your help at EVERY stage of the process – you don’t need to find the perfect person every time to receive a reward.

Savings

Post Office/Bank Accounts

There is an expectation on all foster carers that all Children and Young People start saving from the time they are placed. Your ( NMA ) National Minimum allowances suggests age related amounts that can be saved by yourselves prior to the Junior Isa becoming available to Children and Young People. Foster Carers have suggested that half should be in the C or YP money box for them to save to buy items they want to save for. The C or YP can maintain this account into adult hood this money is theirs, when the JISA commences. Foster Carer will be deducted at source and this money cannot be accessed until the young person reaches 18 yrs.

Junior Individual Savings Account (JISA)

The Government has introduced a Junior ISA Scheme that has been introduced for all looked after children, who have been continuously looked after for one year or longer and whom did not benefit from the Child Trust Fund. The Government will make an initial payment of £200.00, which will be managed by The Share Foundation – a registered charity. The money will belong to the child and will remain in the ISA until the child reaches 18 years of age when only the child will have permission to access the money. Foster carers can make regular payments to the child/young persons Junior ISA account.

If the young person returns to their parents or family, or is adopted, then the Junior ISA will be transferred to the management of the parent, who then becomes the Registered Contact with the Junior ISA Provider. However, the account can still only be accessed by the young person when they reach 18.

For further information relating to this scheme please visit http://www.sharefound.org

5.4 Tax/Insurance/Other

Her Majesty`s Revenue and Customs (HMRC)

The finance department will send you information in relation to income tax and what as foster carers your tax relief limit is. However it is your responsibility to register with HMRC on approval as a foster carer.

For further information or assistance in relation to this please visit http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/individuals/foster-carers.htm or follow the HM Revenue and Customs link via the foster carers website.

Insurance

The Authority currently operates an insurance scheme to protect foster carers who are unfortunate enough to suffer damage or loss to their property because of the actions

of children who are in their care and who are placed by this Authority. The insurance policy is arranged via the Resources Directorate and covers foster carers for buildings and contents.

All claims are subject to a £50 excess. If the claim is considered reasonable by the

insurance company this excess will be paid to the foster carer by the Directorate.

It is your responsibility to inform both your vehicle and home insurers that you are now foster carers. This is to ensure that you have adequate cover and protection should you suffer from any damage or loss to your property. Your cover should include ‘accidental damage’.

It should be noted that the provision of this policy does not diminish the need for foster carers to take out their own home insurance and when doing so they should be

advised to declare that they accommodate children on behalf of the Authority. The Authority’s insurance cover will only come into effect if the foster carer has claimed

through their own insurance and that claim has been refused.

If it becomes apparent that a foster carer does not have their own insurance cover this will make the authority’s policy invalid.

PROCEDURE FOR MAKING A CLAIM

Where a foster carer indicates that damage has occurred, that the claim has been refused by their own insurers and they wish to make a claim they should be sent a

claim form for completion. The completed form must be returned to the Family Placement Team at Woodfieldside, Blackwood who should forward it to Financial Services at Ty Penallta, Ystrad Mynach. If a foster carer requires assistance or advice in relation to completion of the claim this should be provided by the Social Worker.

The form will be forwarded to the Insurance and Risk Manager within the Resources Directorate for processing. It is possible, depending on the amount of the claim, that

an assessor from the insurance company will want to visit the foster carer and inspect the damage. Consequently, the foster carer should be advised, wherever possible, to

retain the damaged items until they have been examined by the assessor.

In some instances, the insurance company may choose to pay for the repair / cleaning of items, as opposed to their direct replacement. As a result, foster carers should be

advised that should they choose to replace the items damaged prior to them being examined by the assessor, there is no guarantee that they will receive

reimbursement.

This policy does not cover damage to vehicles. In the event of such damage occurring the foster carer would be required to claim on their vehicle insurance policy. In

circumstances where it is considered the child in care is responsible for the damage, the Directorate would reimburse the carer any loss of no claim’s bonus.

moorelp1 — 2023-03-03 14:59:57 UTC

Journey Through Care

moorelp1 — 2023-03-03 16:12:35 UTC

Foster Carers to complete this when a child is placed. In addition a memory box must be started the Fostering worker will ensure this is being completed and check in with you. This then must be passed back to your worker if the child moves on.