This statement of purpose sets out how the duties and functions in relation to private fostering are carried out in Brighton & Hove.
It is a requirement of the national Minimum Standards (NMS) for Private Fostering, Standard 1 issued in 2005, which states that there is a clear description and guide to the service for the public, professionals, council members and external organisations.
The Front Door for Families will act as the front door for enquiries and notifications about private fostering.
To contact Front Door for Families:
The appointed Monitoring Officer in relation to private fostering services is:
Tina James
Quality Assurance Manager
Performance and Safeguarding
Families, Children & Wellbeing
Brighton & Hove City Council
To contact Tina James, send an email to tina.james@brighton-hove.gov.uk.
For Children’s Social Work, this statement should be read in conjunction with the Brighton & Hove Children's Services Manual Section 3.1.8.
A private fostering arrangement is essentially one that is made privately (that is to say, without the involvement of a local authority) for the care of a child under the age of 16 (under 18, if disabled) by someone other than a parent or close relative with the intention that it should last for 28 days or more.
A person who is a relative under the Children Act 1989, including a parent, a grandparent, brother, sister, uncle or aunt or step-parent, will not be a private foster carer.
A private foster carer may be a friend of the family, the parent of a friend of the child, or someone previously unknown to the child’s family who is willing to privately foster a child.
Private foster carers may be from the extended family, such as a cousin or great aunt.
Examples of where a child might be privately fostered are as follows (this list is not exclusive):
The local authority has a duty to be notified about private fostering arrangements in its geographical area, and to satisfy themselves that the welfare of children who are being privately fostered in their area is safeguarded and promoted, and to ensure that such advice is given to those caring for them as appears to the authority to be needed (The Children Act 1989 Section 67 (1)).
Detailed procedures set out how Brighton and Hove will carry out its duties and functions. Brighton & Hove Children's Services Manual Section 3.1.8 explains the statutory requirements and advises social workers of the scheme of delegation and appropriate actions to take to safeguard and promote the welfare of all privately fostered children in their area.
The authority has agreed protocols and proformas for receiving and dealing with notifications from the public and other agencies, and for acknowledging these with the referrer.
It has agreed on the allocation of private fostering work and the recording and data collection of private fostering cases as required. All private fostering cases known to the authority will be allocated.
The Front Door for Families will act as the front door for enquiries and notifications about private fostering.
To contact Front Door for Families:
On receipt of a referral or notification to Front Door for Families (FDFF), initial screening will be undertaken.
The FDFF Practice Managers will oversee the initial screening event; decide whether checks are required, and agree on the outcome before the case is allocated to the Private Fostering (PF) Social Worker (located at FDFF).
The social worker will undertake a Strengthening Families Assessment and begin the process of completing appropriate checks on the carer (and members of the household).
Once the case has been identified as a private fostering arrangement and the appropriate assessments and checks have been completed, the PF social worker will carry out statutory visits and provide support to the child, parent and private foster carer.
Where a child is already known to Children’s Services and is allocated to a Social Worker, the case will remain with that worker, and they will undertake the assessment and private fostering duties.
Brighton & Hove Families, Children and Learning Services will ensure that all newly qualified social workers have a clear and defined understanding of private fostering.
The Brighton & Hove Safeguarding Children Partnership (BHSCP) will promote the Private Fostering Awareness eLearning Programme with voluntary and statutory agencies working with children and young people.
The Monitoring Officer will review and update the practice guidance and undertake briefing sessions with staff, and maintain awareness of Private Fostering.
The local authority has a duty to promote awareness of the requirement to notify private fostering arrangements with other agencies and within the wider local community.
A range of initiatives will be used to highlight the notification arrangements to staff within Brighton & Hove City Council, their partners and the public.
This will include:
Brighton & Hove Children's Services Manual Section 3.1.8 details the response that will be required when notifications are received.
On receipt of a referral or notification to the Front Door for Families, initial screening will be undertaken.
A visit to the child, the proposed carer and the accommodation will be made within 7 working days of the notification or 6 weeks (and not more than 13 weeks) if notification is given in advance.
If the parent is contactable, efforts will be made to meet them within this timescale. In all cases, the local authority will consider whether the direct provision of services or a referral to another agency would remove the necessity for the parent to have the child privately fostered.
Where feasible, with the parents’ consent and providing it is in the child’s best interest, social care will make such a referral or enquiry.
Where the child is to remain in private foster care or move to such an arrangement, the social worker will undertake the Strengthening Families Assessment as prescribed under the Framework for the Assessment of Children in Need and their Families (‘the framework’).
This assessment will begin the process of undertaking appropriate checks on the carer(s) and will include:
The assessment will also gather as much information as possible as required under the regulations, including the duration of the private fostering arrangement and the arrangements in place to safeguard the child.
Where possible, the child will be seen alone, and their wishes and feelings ascertained.
The assessment will include a brief assessment of the child’s needs and the carer’s ability to provide care, under the 3 dimensions of the framework (see below).
Once the arrangement has been identified as private fostering, it will remain with the social worker who will complete a Private Fostering Arrangement Record and any outstanding checks.
The suitability of all aspects of the private fostering arrangement will be evaluated under the 3 dimensions of the framework. Specifically, the suitability of the carer will be assessed within the ‘parenting capacity’ dimension and will include additional checks relevant to the arrangement taken from the BAAF form F2 (see below).
The suitability of the accommodation and other members of the household will be assessed under the ‘family and environmental factors’ dimension and include consideration of whether there are any members of the household whose behaviour or other difficulties would prejudice the welfare of the child in question.
The child’s needs will be addressed under the ‘child’s developmental needs’ dimension and will include an assessment under Section 17 of the Children Act 1989.
A decision on the suitability of the arrangement will be made within 42 working days of the notification or as soon as the outcome from the DBS check is known, whichever is the sooner.
Separate records will be maintained on the private foster carer and the child, although the two will be partied on the electronic system so that links can be affected if general enquiries are made.
Children in the same arrangement will not be partied together, and to avoid any breach of confidentiality, records on one child’s file will not be copied into another.
In assessing the suitability of the private foster carer, reference will be made to the standards of care required of mainstream foster carers (as identified in BAAF Form F) and the care standards required of child minders and day care providers.
However, it is recognised that due to the nature of the arrangement, not all private foster carers will meet these standards, although the child is assessed as ‘safe’ and well placed.
In these cases, every effort will be made by Children’s Services to encourage the carer to improve the conditions within the arrangement and to promote the developmental and other needs of the child. This will include addressing such areas as hygiene, lifestyle and discipline.
Additional training will be considered for the carer if this is appropriate. If the child is in need, assistance under Section 17 of the Children Act 1989 will be considered.
In cases of doubt or uncertainty about the standards of care, this will be referred to the Service Manager with responsibility for private fostering and subsequently to the Head of Service.
In cases where the suitability of the carer, members of the household or the accommodation is unsatisfactory, the authority will consider returning the child to the parents or a suitable relative so long as it is in the interests of the child to do so; or the authority will consider exercising any other functions under the Children Act 1989 as required. This may include an assessment and provision of support under S.17 or removal to alternative accommodation under S.20 of the Children Act 1989.
The authority is also aware of the provisions under the acts to impose requirements or prohibitions as necessary.
In accordance with the regulations, the authority will undertake statutory visits as required and continue to assess the needs of the child in relation to their care.
The duties and functions as described above will be adhered to, and the outcome of each visit, recorded on Eclipse.
Where the authority is made aware of a private arrangement, but the relevant notifications have not been received, it will make every effort to encourage the respective carer and parent(s) or those with parental responsibility to inform the authority as required and seek to work in partnership with all parties.
In cases where the officer of the authority is obstructed in their duties, consideration will be made as to whether an offence has been committed and whether to apply for a warrant to inspect the premises and see the child. The authority may also wish to consider prosecution of the carer within 6 months if they continue to fail to notify Children’s Services, and, in these cases, legal advice will be sought.
Ideally, if notification is received in advance, the social worker will visit the prospective carer, child and parents before a private arrangement is made. In these cases, advice and support will be given to ensure the prospective arrangement is appropriate or whether any support or referral to another agency would reduce the necessity for the child to be privately fostered.
In all cases, consideration will be given to ensure that the arrangement is in the child’s best interests.
The social worker will, on each visit thereafter, ensure that the child’s needs are being met and that the arrangement is and continues to be satisfactory. This will include giving advice, guidance and support as necessary - to all parties - and which will be provided in different languages and formats as appropriate.
If the arrangement proves unsatisfactory, the parents will be advised and supported to make alternative arrangements.
Private foster carers and prospective private foster carers will be advised of their entitlement to child and other financial benefits.
The social worker will seek to ensure that the carer is adequately recompensed for the care of the child and negotiate with the parent or persons with parental responsibility to secure an arrangement whereby the child maintains an appropriate lifestyle according to their needs.
The social worker will ensure that the child and carer have access to support from the education services, whether this be nursery/school or college, the health service (including the Health Visitor and GP), housing, youth services and any other appropriate organisation connected to the child.
Written agreements will be encouraged so that the sharing of responsibilities is clear, particularly in relation to the child’s health and educational needs.
Consideration will be given to the child's identity (age, disability, race, ethnicity, culture, faith/belief, gender, gender identity, language, and sexual orientation) and the impact of this addressed in the work with the child.
Advice to enable the carer to promote the child’s heritage and contact with the birth family and other significant friends and family will be offered, and links made, where appropriate, to keep the child in touch with organisations and groups within the community which promote their culture and religious persuasion.
The carer will be encouraged to meet the child’s needs in accordance with the child’s age, sex, disability, medical condition, any learning disabilities and general development. Where appropriate, the carer will be offered training and support to address these issues.
The carer and the parents will be given the contact details of the designated social worker and information about who to contact in an emergency.
In turn, the social worker will seek to ensure that all agencies connected to the child are aware of the child’s legal status on a need-to-know basis and with the consent of the child and their parent(s).
Children cared for by private foster carers will be visited frequently to ensure that they are safe and appropriately cared for.
The child will be seen alone on each visit unless this is not appropriate, having regard to the young age of the child or if the child does not wish to see the worker alone.
Young people with a disability who are approaching 18 years and moving towards independence and adulthood will be offered services and in line with the transition planning (for disabled) young people, and in accordance with Section 24(2)(e) of the Children Act 1989, respectively.
Where required, access to the Brighton & Hove Youth Advocacy Project (YAP) will be made available.
Training for private foster carers, including prospective private foster carers, will be provided on a case-by-case basis and will depend on the needs of the foster carers or prospective foster carers.
For those already caring, this will include the needs that arise from the assessment and social worker visits.
All private foster carers, prospective private foster carers, parents and others with parental responsibility will be provided with the opportunity to attend parenting programmes.
Other agencies have a clear role in assisting the local authority to carry out its duty under section 67 (1) of the Children Act 1989, through notifying the authority of an arrangement where they are not satisfied that the local authority have been, or will be, notified of that arrangement.
All partners have access to the Private Fostering Awareness eLearning Programme and are provided with information about private fostering and the notification requirements.
In all cases where a child moves to another local authority or the carer moves with a child known to be privately fostered, the authority will send written notification of that move to the appropriate authority.
Where the private foster carer has moved between authorities and this is known, the authority will undertake checks to ensure the carer is not disqualified or prohibited from caring for children or that there are any outstanding requirements on their records.
The Monitoring Officer will report annually on activities undertaken to raise awareness of Notification requirements to the BHSCP and Executive Director of Families, Children and Learning Services through the preparation and presentation of the Private Fostering Annual report.