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Contents

1.	Principles and Standards
2.	Completing the Forms for Looked After Children
	2.1	Referral and Information Record
	2.2	Placement Plan/Placement Information Record
	2.3	Foster Carers’ Agreement
3.	Placement Planning Meetings
4.	Care Plan
5.	Assessment and Progress Records
	5.1	The Records
	5.2	Social Worker Responsibility
	5.3	Independent Reviewing Officer Responsibility
	5.4	Planning the Completion of the Records

1. Principles and Standards

Care Planning is the process by which a Looked After Child’s activities and progress are monitored and reviewed in a planned way. The Looked After Children: Good Parenting, Good Outcomes, commonly referred to as the LAC system is the framework of monitoring and review current in children’s services. Reflecting the CA 1989, it embodies the following principles:

• The overall aim of being looked after is to promote wellbeing and success, not just prevent harm;
• Positive work is possible even in less than ideal circumstances;
• The planning and review process should be directed to the everyday needs and experiences that improve a child’s prospects and should be seen in a child-centred as opposed to bureaucratic process way;
• Achievable objectives should guide the LAC process and all plans must make clear who is responsible for what, and when;
• The child is an individual with unique needs and their welfare is paramount;
• The child, consonant with age, must be consulted and listened to;
• A child with a disability is, first and foremost, a child with additional needs;
• The standards of corporate parenting should be equivalent to those of a well-informed parent with adequate resources;
• Standards should not be lowered where a child’s needs are more difficult to meet than others;
• Formal systems facilitate planning and recording;
• Social workers must act on behalf of the child to facilitate resources;
• Those with Parental Responsibility must work in partnership with all significant persons in the child’s life and ascertain their wishes and feelings;
• Contact, unless prejudicial, is to be encouraged and facilitated;
• Contact with ethnic, cultural, religious and linguistic traditions must be ensured.

The LAC system, therefore provides social workers with the resources to:

• Plan and prioritise work with the child;
• Direct attention to the everyday tasks of parenting;
• Assess progress across the spectrum of developmental dimensions;
• Facilitate improvements in the quality of parenting;
• Ensure all information is recorded in one place and updated;
• Strengthen partnerships with significant persons, including other professionals;
• Raise sensitive issues;
• Encourage reflection and provide a means of evaluating professional practice.

2. Completing the Forms for Looked After Children

2.1 Referral and Information Record

This form records all the basic personal information about the child, which is crucial for whoever is going to care for the child. This must be completed and taken with the child to the placement  – even in emergency placements.

2.2 Placement Plan/Placement Information Record

Placement Plan/Placement Information Records are designed to record how best a child’s day-to-day needs can be met in a particular placement and where responsibility for meeting the child’s needs is divided between a number of different people. It covers immediate arrangements for meeting the child’s needs, records essential names and addresses, the signed agreement of accommodation and medical treatment and the foster carers undertaking (see below for contents of agreement). It also contains detailed information about the child’s everyday routines and how her/his needs will be met, including contact arrangements. See Decision to Look After and Care Planning Procedure, Section 6.1 Placement Plan (recorded on the Placement Information Record) for the details of the contents of the Placement Plan.

It must be completed and taken with the child to the placement – even in emergency placements.

Changing or updating the form:  When necessary, a new form will need to be completed and agreements signed again.

2.3 Foster Carers’ Agreement

All approved foster parents will have signed a Foster Care Agreement after approval by the Fostering Panel.  However, where a Looked After Child is placed with a Connected Person as an emergency, the relatives must be asked to sign their agreement to the placement  - see Friends and Family Care Policy and Placement of Looked After Children with Connected Persons Procedure.

3. Placement Planning Meetings

It is important that the Placement Plan/Placement Information Record is completed through discussion between those involved at a Placement Planning Meeting.  This should take place prior to the child’s placement wherever possible or if not within 5 working days of the placement.

Please see Placements in Foster Care Procedure, Section 1.4 Placement Planning or the Placements in Residential Care Procedure for the matters to be considered at the first Placement Planning Meeting.

See also Placement Planning Meetings and Keeping the Placement Information Record Up to Date Procedure.

At the minimum it should include the allocated social worker, the foster carer/residential worker or keyworker, the parents and the child, (if they are deemed able to participate – the child’s views should be sought on this matter so long as the child is of an age to communicate). Ideally, the meeting should also include other members of the family if it is a foster placement, or other key workers or residential workers who would have day-to-day responsibility for the child, line manager/s of the keyworker/s/residential worker/s. The child should also be offered the opportunity to have a supporter or significant person present.

The meeting will address the following: any outstanding details in the documentation; ensure that the carers are aware of all the child’s needs; ensure that day-to-day arrangements such as health care, education, school transport, etc. are firmed up; and the views of the child are taken into account in considering their day-to-day activities and routine. The child should be given every opportunity to share their wishes and feelings and comment on arrangements.

In addition, it is essential that discussion takes place about any other significant events in the child’s life that need supporting:

• At the child’s school, e.g. exams to be taken, parents evenings, events at school and a decision taken about who will be contacting the school and attending these events (e.g. parent, carer, social worker or a combination of all three);
• Discussions also need to take place regarding the school’s homework policy; where the child can do homework; what resources they need etc. Also, has the home/school agreement been signed?
• Child’s health needs, e.g. who will ensure that the child sees a dentist; are there any hospital appointments that need following up – if so, who will do them;
• Are there any particular sporting or leisure activities that need to be continued, e.g. clubs and how these will be arranged.

If a child has been in placement before, a copy of the Health and Education Proforma should be passed to the new carer to ensure continuity of care.

These discussions should not be left to the first Looked After Review. It is important that there is clarity of role between all those caring for the child to ensure that there is as much continuity as possible in the child’s life and the child feels reassured that important areas in her/his life are being addressed.

4. Care Plan

The Care Plan sets out the long term objectives for looking after the child; meeting their needs and how these objectives will be achieved in any placement. This is an important form and central to the system. Work on completing the Care Plan needs to start as soon as accommodation or care is decided, completed through discussion with parents, child, etc, and normally over more than one session.

It should be:

Completed by:	The Social Worker
In conjunction with:	The child       Parent etc.       Current carers
In consultation with:	Other significant family members and friends       Child’s recent carers       Other professionals involved       Team Manager
When:	Before the child is placed if possible, otherwise as soon as possible afterwards and no later than 10 working days of the placement

The Care Planning Clerk will send copies of the Initial Care Plan to the child/carer/parent.

Following the initial Looked After Review, any amendments to the Care Plan will be sent to those who attended the Review by the person providing support to the LAC process.

Original copy:	On the child’s record.
Changing or updating the form:	The care plan should be considered at every Looked After Review and amended on a new form if necessary - see Looked After Reviews Procedure.
Court proceedings:	See Care Proceedings Procedure for information about Care Plans in Care Proceedings.

5. Assessment and Progress Records

5.1 The Records

Assessment and Action Records are the most innovative part of the Looking After Children System. There are six different coloured Records for different age groups:

Under one	Pink
One and two years	Violet
Three and four years	Yellow
Five to nine years	Green
Ten to fourteen years	Blue
Fifteen years and over	Turquoise

The final two records for children aged 10+ are worded in a way that directly addresses the young person.

The records are designed to stimulate creative work and informal discussions with children and young people and between the adults involved in their care in order to:

• Assess the quality of care a child is receiving and the child’s progress in health, education, identity, family and social relationships, social presentation, emotional and behavioural development and self-care skills;
• Plan what needs to be done and by whom so that the child makes satisfactory progress in the above areas.

A summary of all this appears at the back of each Record and this is brought to the next Looked After Review.

The process of completing these records will be an important part of the social worker and carer’s work with the child. To safeguard this and to avoid it becoming a bureaucratic, form-filling process, the Record is best completed as follows:

In a number of sessions with not too much at a time;

• Each part should be completed by the most appropriate person – this may be the carer for much of it.  It needs to be someone the child knows well and trusts and older children need to have a choice over this;
• Each section should be read through and its completion planned out in advance. Some issues are sensitive and thought will be needed as to how to raise these with the child;
• Work on the Record should be through conversation, discussion and creative play with the child in informal settings; the relevant part of the Record can then be filled out afterwards;
• The work needs to be made as interesting and creative as possible;
• It should involve the parents as much as possible;
• Particular professionals who know the child should be involved in completing the relevant part e.g., Health Visitor, Teacher etc; this should preferably be in face-to-face conversations with the child and carer or social worker.

See inside the cover of the Record for further guidelines on its completion.

The records need to be at the child’s pace, though ideally within six weeks in order to gain a snapshot of the child’s overall progress and development.

5.2 Social Worker Responsibility

The social worker has overall responsibility for:

• Planning how the records will be completed;
• Ensuring that it is properly completed and within the timescale;
• Drawing up the Summary of Work to be undertaken at the end.

5.3 Independent Reviewing Officer Responsibility

The Independent Reviewing Officer has the responsibility to decide, in broad terms, how the records will be completed.

Once a child is Looked After for six months, completion of an Assessment and Action Record becomes necessary. For respite care, it becomes necessary when a child has had a total of 120 days in respite care.

The extent to which a Record can be completed will inevitably be limited if a young person refuses to participate, despite encouragement.  Refusal by a young person aged 16+ has to be accepted. In these situations the young person’s refusal to participate must be clearly recorded on their file and who will see what before the work begins.

The records should be completed between Looked After Reviews as follows:

For children under five

• At 4 months (second Review) - Decide whether the Assessment and Action Record will be needed (i.e., whether the child is to remain looked after);
• Between 4 and 10 months - Complete the first Record;
• At 10 months (third review) - Present summary from the first completed record;
• Between 10 and 16 months - Present summary from the second record completed;
• At 16 months (fourth review) - Present summary from the second record completed.

Continue, completing a new Assessment and Action Record every six months.

For children aged five and over

• At 4 months (second Review) - Decide whether Assessment and Action Records will be needed;
• Between 4 and 10 months - Complete the first Record;
• At 10 months (third review) - Present summary from the first completed Record;
• Between 16 and 24 months - Complete the second review;
• At 22 months (fifth review) - Present summary from the second completed Record.

Continue, completing a new Assessment and Action Record every 12 months.

Though other people will be involved in completing parts of the record, the actual booklet should remain with the social worker and not be sent to other people for work on particular sections. The only exception to this will be the foster carer or residential social worker who may have the Record in their possession and record directly on to from their work with the child, in some cases.

5.4 Planning the Completion of the Records

1. Overall provisional planning will take place at the Looked After Review including important people to involve and the timescale.
2. More detailed planning will then take place between the social worker and the team manager, in supervision, and then between the social worker, carer, child and parent concerning:
   
   
   1. Who does which parts with the child;
   2. How, when and where it will be done;
   3. Involving the parent, other relatives and professionals;
   4. Timescale.

The Assessment and Action Records will form an important record of the child’s development and progress which s/he may want access to in the future. Care must be taken to complete the Records neatly and legibly and to preserve the Records in a clean and tidy state.

When completed, the Records contain much personal and confidential information about the child.  The child and parent will need assurance about confidentiality and who will see what before the work begins.

End