Looked After Children

Policy Statement

We are committed to providing quality provision based on equality of opportunity for all children and their families. All staff in our provision are committed to doing all they can to enable ‘looked after’ children in our care to achieve and reach their full potential.

Children become ‘looked after’ if they have either been taken into care by the local authority or have been accommodated by the local authority (a voluntary care arrangement). Most looked after children will be living in foster homes, but a smaller number may be in a children’s home, living with a relative or even placed back home with their natural parent(s).

We recognise that children who are being looked after have often experienced traumatic situations; physical, emotional, or sexual abuse or neglect. However, we also recognise that not all looked after children have experienced abuse and that there are a range of reasons for children to be taken into the care of the local authority. Whatever the reason, a child’s separation from their home and family signifies a disruption in their lives that has an impact on their emotional well-being. Most local authorities do not place children under five with foster carers who work outside the home; however, there are instances when this does occur or where the child has been placed with another family member who works. It is not appropriate for a looked after child who is under two years to be placed in a day care setting in addition to a foster placement.

We place emphasis on promoting children’s right to be strong, resilient, and listened to. Our policy and practice guidelines for looked after children are based on two important concepts: attachment and resilience. The basis of this is to promote secure attachments in children’s lives, as the foundation for resilience. These aspects of well-being underpin the child’s responsiveness to learning and enable the development of positive dispositions for learning. For young children to get the most out of educational opportunities they need to be settled enough with their carer to be able to cope with further separation, a new environment and new expectations made upon them.

Identification

A 'Looked after Child' is a child in public care, who is placed with foster carers, in a residential home or with parents or other relatives.

Services provided to Looked After Children

Under two-year-olds

• Places will not normally be provided for babies and under two-year-olds who are in public care.
  
  
• We can offer services that enable a child to play/engage with other children while the carer stays.
  
  
• Where the child is already in attendance and has a secure attachment with an existing key person a continuation of the existing place will be offered.
  
  

Two-year-olds

• Places will be offered to two-year-old children who are looked after; where the placement in the setting will normally last a minimum of three months.
  
  
• Where the child is already in attendance and has a secure attachment with an existing key person a continuation of the existing place will be offered.
  
  

Three- and four-year-olds

• Places will be offered for funded three- and four-year -olds who are looked after; where the placement in the setting will normally last a minimum of six weeks.
  
  
• If a child who attends a setting is taken into care and is cared for by a local carer the place will continue to be made available to the child.

Additional Support

• The designated person and key person liaise with agencies and professionals involved with the child, and his or her family, and ensure appropriate information is gained and shared.
  
  
• A meeting of professionals involved with the child is convened by the setting at the start of a placement. A Personal Education Plan (PEP) for children over 3 years old is put in place within 10 days of the child becoming looked after.
  
  
• Following this meeting, 6.8a Care plan for looked after children form is completed. The care plan is reviewed after two weeks, six weeks, three months, and thereafter at three to six monthly intervals.
  
  
• Regular contact will be maintained with the social worker through planned meetings, which will include contribution to the PEP which is reviewed annually.

Procedures

• The designated person for looked after children is the designated child protection co-ordinator.
  
  
• Every child is allocated a key person before they start, and this is no different for a looked after child. The designated person ensures the key person has the information, support and training necessary to meet the looked after child’s needs.
  
  
• The designated person and the key person liaise with agencies, professionals and practitioners involved with the child and his or her family and ensure that appropriate information is gained and shared.
  
  
• The setting recognises the role of the local authority children’s social care department as the child’s ‘corporate parent’ and the key agency in determining what takes place with the child. Nothing changes, especially with regard to the birth parent’s or foster carer’s role in relation to the setting, without prior discussion and agreement with the child’s social worker.
  
  
• At the start of a placement there is a professional’s meeting to determine the objectives of the placement and draw up a care plan that incorporates the child’s learning needs. This plan is reviewed after two weeks, six weeks and three months. Thereafter at three to six monthly intervals.
  
  
• The care plan needs to consider issues for the child such as:
  • their emotional needs and how they are to be met.
  • how any emotional issues and problems that affect behaviour are to be managed.
  • their sense of self, culture, language(s) and identity – and how this is to be supported.
  • their need for sociability and friendship.
  • their interests and abilities and possible learning journey pathway; and
  • how any special needs will be supported.
    
    
• In addition, the care plan will also consider:
  • how information will be shared with the foster carer and local authority (as the ‘corporate parent’) as well as what information is shared with whom and how it will be recorded and stored.
    
    
  • what contact the child has with his/her birth parent(s) and what arrangements will be in place for supervised contact. If this is to be at the setting, when, where and what form the contact will take will be discussed and agreed.
    
    
  • what written reporting is required.
    
    
  • wherever possible, and where the plan is for the child to return home, the birth parent(s) should be involved in planning; and
    
    
  • with the social worker’s agreement, and as part of the plan, the birth parent(s) should be involved in the setting’s activities that include parents, such as outings and fun-days etc alongside the foster carer.

• The settling-in process for the child is agreed. It should be the same as for any other child, with the foster carer taking the place of the parent, unless otherwise agreed. It is even more important that the ‘proximity’ stage is followed until it is visible that the child has formed a sufficient relationship with his or her key person for them to act as a ‘secure base’ to allow the gradual separation from the foster carer. This process may take longer in some cases, so time needs to be allowed for it to take place without causing further distress or anxiety to the child.
  
  
• In the first two weeks after settling-in, the child’s well-being is the focus of observation, their sociability and their ability to manage their feelings with or without support.
  
  
• Further observations about communication, interests and abilities will be noted to firm a picture of the whole child in relation to the Early Years Foundation Stage prime and specific areas of learning and development.
  
  
• Concerns about the child will be noted in the child’s file and discussed with the foster carer.
  
  
• If the concerns are about the foster carer’s treatment of the child, or if abuse is suspected, these are recorded in the child’s file and reported to the child’s social worker according to the setting’s safeguarding children procedure.
  
  
• Regular contact should be maintained with the social worker through planned meetings that will include the foster carer.
  
  
• The transition to school will be handled sensitively. The designated person and/or the child’s key person will liaise with the school, passing on relevant information and documentation with the agreement of the child’s social worker as detailed in the care plan.

Further guidance

• Guidance on the Education of Children and Young People in Public Care (DfEE 2000)
• Who Does What: How Social Workers and Carers can Support the Education of Looked After Children (DfES 2005)
• Supporting Looked After Learners - A Practical Guide for School Governors (DfES 2006)

Priory View Pre-School

This policy was adopted by the Joint Management Team:

Vicky Peters - Owner

Delphine Pouncy – Deputy Manager

Christine Johnson – Deputy Manager