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Contents

1. Membership
2. Meetings
3. Purpose and Function

1. Membership

There is no fixed panel membership or maximum number of members or maximum tenure of office.

The membership must be drawn from a Central List of persons with the appropriate qualifications and/or experience, including one or more social workers who have at least three years’ relevant post-qualifying experience.

Where it is considered that someone is unsuitable to be on the Central List, they must be given one months’ notice in writing and reasons for the decision to end their inclusion on the list.

The Chair will be appointed by the Designated Manager (Fostering Panel Chair and Appointments). (As from 1st October 2011 an Independent Chair must be appointed).

The Designated Manager must also appoint up to two Vice Chairs, whose role is to chair the Panel when the Chair is unavailable.

All members of the Central List must have been the subjects of a satisfactory Criminal Records Bureau checks before taking up their appointment. These CRB checks should be kept up to date and recorded, including the date when the checks were made. Personal and work references will also be obtained in writing and must be satisfactory. 

Each member must be provided with written information on appointment of their performance objectives, including their participation in induction and other training and safeguarding the confidentiality of records and information submitted to Panel. They will be asked to sign an agreement with the Fostering Service, in relation to his or her membership, covering the service expectations (including the requirement to report any involvement in criminal proceedings), confidentiality issues and commitment to anti-discriminatory practice.

All members of the Central List will also be required to attend at least one Panel meeting as an observer before taking up their membership. They should complete induction training within 10 weeks of joining the Central List, have access to appropriate training and skills development and have the opportunity to attend joint training with fostering staff at least annually. The quorum is 5, provided that the following are present:

1. Either the Chair or one of the Vice Chairs (in the absence of the Chair). If the meeting is conducted by the Vice Chair who is not independent, there must be at least one other member of the Panel who is independent.
2. One of the social worker representatives with at least three years post qualifying experience.
3. Three (or in the case of a joint panel, four) other members.

Panel members may request any relevant information or assistance they require, including medical or legal advice, from the fostering agency and, if so requested, this must be provided by the fostering agency.

There must be a process for review of the performance of Central List members (including of the Panel Chair by the Agency Decision Maker) and for the performance management of members. Where necessary the termination of the appointment must be considered.

Where there are concerns about a Panel member’s behaviour either inside or outside the meetings, this will raised by the Chair with the Designated Manager (Fostering Panel Chair and Appointments). The Designated Manager will decide whether to someone is unsuitable to be on the Central List and therefore end the appointment and if so, will advise the member in writing giving one month’s notice and clear reasons for the decision.

2. Meetings

The Fostering Panel meets every three weeks. The Panel Administrator, with the Chair’s authority, will arrange additional special meetings as necessary.

The Panel Administrator must arrange for the Medical Adviser and/or legal adviser to attend the Panel if required by the Chair or by the worker presenting a report. 

All Panel meetings will be attended by the Panel Adviser, who will advise the Panel on regulations, policy and procedures, and take feedback about practice issues to social workers and their managers.

The Panel Administrator may also arrange for observers to attend meetings, in consultation with the Chair, but no more than 2 observers may attend at any one time.

The Panel Administrator in consultation with the Chair and the Panel Adviser prepares the agenda for each meeting and sends out the agenda to Panel members at least 5 working days before the meeting.

Those presenting reports to the Panel must send 13 copies of the reports to the Panel Administrator 10 working days before the date of the Panel meeting. The Panel Administrator will arrange for the documentation to be distributed to Panel members with the agenda.

At each meeting, Panel members must declare where they know a person under consideration in a personal or professional capacity, in which case they should not participate in consideration of the relevant agenda item.

The Chair’s role is to ensure that all members participate fully in the meetings (unless an interest has been declared), that sensitive regard is paid to foster carers while keeping the child’s welfare paramount, that consensus is achieved wherever possible and that the Panel has clear reasons for its recommendations.

At the end of meetings, the Panel Administrator will collect all reports and agenda from members.

The Panel Administrator will prepare the minutes in which reasons for recommendations and any disagreements or dissent will be fully recorded.

S/he will send the minutes to the Chair for approval of their accuracy, and then submit them to the Designated Manager (Foster Carer Approval/Termination of Approval) for approval of the recommendations made. 

The Panel Administrator will also ensure that applicants, foster carers and social workers are notified in writing of Panel recommendations within one working day and provide social workers with a copy of the relevant minutes.

3. Purpose and Function

The Fostering Panel monitors the range and type of foster carers available to the local authority in comparison with the needs of children, and plays a key role in the improvement of standards within the Fostering Service. 

As part of this function, the Panel oversees the conduct of assessments, advises on any relevant matters in relation to the Fostering Service and makes recommendations to Children’s Services about quality issues and performance standards.

In particular, the Panel makes recommendations as to the following:

1. Approvals of foster carers and their category (including carers who are Connected Persons
2. Exemptions from the limit to the number of children placed with foster carers
3. First Annual Review of foster carers, and thereafter Annual Reviews every 3 years and any other Review where significant changes or termination of approval is recommended
4. Any other special mattes relevant to a foster carer which the Chair of the Panel considers appropriate to be referred
5. Whether long-term fostering is in the interests of a child of 12 and over
6. Whether particular foster carers are suitably matched as long-term carers for a particular child of 12 and over.
7. Referrals to the Independent Review Mechanism - see Assessment and Approval of Foster Carers Procedure: Section 10, Representations/ Independent Reviews
   
   The Panel will receive annually the Manager of the Fostering Service’s annual report on the Panel’s business, including statistical information about approvals, reviews, termination of approvals, the number of children in placement and complaints received about foster carers during the preceding year.

The Chair will communicate any issues of concern to the Designated Manager (Fostering Panel Chair and Appointments) and take part in quarterly meetings with the Designated Manager, Deputy Chair and the Panel Adviser to review the Panel’s functioning. 

At the quarterly meetings, the Panel Administrator will provide statistical information in relation to the Panel business, together with information on the numbers of foster carers used by Enfield and the number of Looked After Children in Enfield. 

This will enable an appraisal of the extent to which the Fostering Service is meeting the demand for placements.

End