Children's Minister warns councils over excessive restrictions on foster carers
The Children’s Minister has written to all local authorities to remind them of their duties to make sure clear placement plans are agreed at the start of a foster placement so that parents, social workers and foster carers are aware of their roles and responsibilities.
Tim Loughton’s letter was prompted by concern at accounts of excessive restrictions on foster carers imposed by some councils. Arrangements on issues like haircuts, sleepovers and family holidays should – where possible – be agreed in advance to avoid children and foster carers facing delays, he said.
The minister acknowledged that local authorities have a difficult job balancing the rights of birth parents, who have full parental responsibility or share it with the authority, and the responsibilities of foster carers.
Loughton said: “I have written to all local authorities to ask them to do all they can to support foster carers to make these decisions. The default position should be that foster children should be treated to as regular a home life as possible, as if they were children with their own birth parents.
“Most local authorities are doing an excellent job in difficult circumstances, but in some areas there is room for improvement.”
The minister said persistent myths – such as CRB checks being needed before children can go on a sleepover – must be tackled, and called on councils to re-examine their processes and “employ common sense”.
The letter to local authorities came as the Department for Education launched a consultation on proposed changes to children’s homes and fostering guidance and regulations.
The overarching aims and proposals for changes to the regulations are:
- To streamline and remove any unnecessary bureaucracy
- To bring them in line with care planning regulations and guidance
- To bring them in line with other guidance such as Missing from home and care
- To make amendments to modify certain regulations in relation to short break care
- To clarify where restraint may be used
- To seek views on who must have access to reports made by the registered person which cover improving the quality of care provided to children and monitoring matters such as complaints, recruitment records, illness, minutes of meetings
- To make other minor technical amendments.
The consultation paper can be viewed here.
The government also said it will support the development of a new toolkit from the Fostering Network that is designed to help local authorities improve the way they delegate decision making to foster carers.
