3.2.2 Placement Plans

The Placement Plan will ensure the carer receives essential information about the child. It should contain the parental agreement to:

• The child's placement in the Children in Care Service;
• Specific Medical Treatments;
• The delegation of a number of responsibilities (listed within the Child and Young Persons Placement Plan Form) by parents/anyone with Parental Responsibility to the Local Authority including consent to overnight stays;
• Any delegation of responsibilities to the Foster Carer;
• Any matters on which the Local Authority/parents/persons with Parental Responsibility consider that the child may make a decision;
• Contact Arrangements.

There should be clarity and specificity in the placement plan in relation to decision making on behalf of the child. This may be the responsibility of different people such as the Foster Carer, Registered Manager, or the Social Worker.

3.1

Following authorisation of the assessment by the Team Manager and Head of Regulated Services, the child's social worker will:

• Notify the 'Fostering duty desk' to request a placement;
• Confirm any additional information that is recorded on the child's record that is relevant to the request, but not fully contained within the most recent assessment, for example a psychologist report;
• Provide a Safety Plan to enable the duty desk to match a child with a carer.

3.2

On receipt of the notification the fostering service duty desk will contact the child's social worker by telephone to discuss the case and the duty desk will require the following information:

• The child's history;
• Any relevant assessments that have been created;
• The child's core person details;
• The child's plan;
• Any other relevant information as advised by the practitioner making the request.

The fostering service duty desk will identify the appropriate carer/placement and:

• Record evidence of the matching within case notes in the child's record using a heading 'placement matching';
• Complete the placement record with the start date of the placement and fax/email to finance;
• Provide any electronic profile of the Foster Carers in advance of the Placement;
• Will notify Health and LACES upon the making of a placement;
• For all children send a copy of the Blue Medical book to the carers.

The Supervising Social Worker will:

• Read the child's record (The chronology, the most recent assessment that identified the need to accommodate, the child's core person details, the child's plan and any other relevant information as directed by the fostering service duty person);
• Record the reading of the child's record in case notes in the child's record;
• If necessary contact the Lead Social Worker of the child to discuss the circumstances and record the discussion within case notes on the child's record within two working days of the discussion;
• Complete the health and safety checklist and put copy on the child's record and carer's record. Record that it has been completed and any action within the case notes of the child's record within two working days of the completion of the checklist;
• Assist the child's Social Worker in completing the safety plan for a child looked after in foster care and put a copy on the child's record and carer's record within two working days of the change in legal status of the child. Record that it has been completed and any action within the case notes of the child's record within two working days of the completion of the assessment.

If a placement with an external provider has been authorised by the Head of Regulated Services, the Fostering Duty Officer will consult appropriate providers, identify possible placements and liaise with the Social Worker about their suitability and they should arrange for a copy of any brochure or written material that is available for the proposed placement, including Form F to be sent to the Social Worker. At the earliest opportunity the Fostering Duty Desk shall begin to complete the "Budget Approval Form" which comprises three sections. Section A must be completed by the Social Worker for the C/YP and includes details about the Young Person, such as name, age, MOSAIC Number, placement duration and start date and confirmation of Head of Service agreement to place externally. Section B shall be completed by the Duty Desk, identifying which Providers have been contacted and Section C, completed by the Social Worker, outlines details about the placement.

It is important that the service area notifies the Children's Commissioning Team of their intention to place a child or young person in an independent sector placement, so that Children's Commissioning can ensure contractual arrangements are put in place, contribute through negotiation and market knowledge an assurance of value for money and seek appropriate quality measures from new Providers.

At this stage initial discussions will be held with the providers as to the appropriateness of the referral, time-scales for vacancies and the basic costs of the placement.

In line with the Council's Contracting & Procurement Procedure Rules to ensure fair and open competition it is essential that at least three potential providers are contacted, unless there are very specific circumstances under which the C/YP's placement must be made, and these shall be raised on a case by case basis with the Commissioning Team Manager. There is no preferred Provider list.

Where the proposed placement is out of area, see Notification to Other Authorities of Children Placed Out of County.

The social worker may then arrange visits to the proposed placement, with the child (if old enough) and parents (if appropriate).

The Children's Commissioning Team will establish whether the selected Provider currently has a contract in place with LCC. Where no contract is in place the Children's Commissioning Team will complete the necessary quality assurance checks to confirm the providers' suitability and send out a contract for signature.

Refer to the Protocol for The Management of Independent Sector Residential and Foster Care Placement Contracts for Children in Care for further information.

As long as no concerns have been raised in relation to a proposed external placement, the social worker may then arrange visits to the proposed placement, with the child (if old enough) and parents (if appropriate) and undertake the following:

• The Social Worker will complete the Out of County Paper-work;
• Complete Notification of Placement to relevant authorities;
• The provider's admissions procedure will then be followed.

4.1

For planned placements, the Placement Planning meeting will be held prior to the placement and any additional fields within the placement plan completed by the Lead Social Worker.

4.2

All Placement Planning Meetings will be chaired by a Practice Supervisor or Advanced Practitioner.

• The format of the meeting will follow the 'Child and Young Persons Placement Plan' (located under Children's Services Core Forms, on George);
• The meeting will provide full information of any outstanding fields within the Placement Plan and build upon the key information submitted at the point of placement.

4.3

The following will be invited to attend, for specific cases all may not be invited:

• Supervising Social Worker for the foster carer;
• Foster carer(s);
• Child's social worker;
• Child/young person;
• Parent(s)/carer(s) of the child/young person;
• Other involved professionals.

4.4

The Supervising Social Worker and Social Worker will jointly set up the meeting as requested by the Lead Social Worker. They will jointly agree who will complete each task. This will include:

• Confirming with the child's social worker what arrangements need to be made and within what timescales;
• Contacting the foster carers to confirm the date/time and venue;
• Booking the venue if necessary;
• Sending out invites;
• Distribute notification letter that the child is looked after to those involved (school, GP, health visitor etc.) and record in case notes that the notification letters have been distributed.

4.6

The Supervising Social Worker and the Social Worker for the child will jointly complete the safety plan for a child looked after in foster care and this can be completed at this meeting.

4.9

The child's social worker:

• Will enter the information into the child's record within one working day of the meeting. Make any changes to the child's plan. The needs of the corporate parent should be added to the Care Plan once it has been created;
• Distribute the child's plan.

The child's social worker will:

• Send the request for a Health Assessment to the Designated Nurse for LAC who will administer the process;
• Confirm with the parent/carer of the child the date of when this is to take place;
• Record any needs, service provision as identified in the health assessment within the child's plan within two working days of the receipt of the health assessment.

The child's social worker will:

• Ensure that a social care practitioner attends the meeting with the teacher and child;
• Record the needs that are identified in the PEP into the child's care plan prior to the first review being held, or if the review is held within the 20 days record the needs within 10 days following the date of the first review;
• Enter relevant data onto the completed and review date of the PEP onto the child's record.

The social care worker will arrange the PEP meeting, the social care worker will:

• Set up the meeting within at least three working days of the placement commencing;
• Check the child's core person's details for the relevant education information;
• Contact the school to set up a date/time when the meeting is to be held;
• Enter the date and time of the meeting into the social care worker's e-diary.

A Looked After Review should be convened where:

• The child is, or has been, persistently absent from the placement;
• The placement provider, parents or area authority are concerned that the child is at risk of harm; or
• The child so requests, unless the Independent Reviewing Officer considers that the review is not justified.

See also The Review of the Child's Plan for Children in Care.