Fostering

Gardens and other outside areas

The absence of a garden is not a reason for rejecting an application. Attention nevertheless needs to be given to two specific issues. Firstly, health and safety, and secondly, the availability of appropriate space for children to play and explore as part of their healthy development.
When assessing applications where there is no available garden, social workers will consider the proximity of appropriate parks or other play areas as well as the applicant’s willingness to make these accessible to children, especially younger children, on a regular basis.
This will also be an issue to consider at the matching stage if the child has pets that need to be accommodated outside.

Guardian
Children’s Guardians are qualified and experienced in Social Work. They are appointed by the Court to represent the rights and interests of children in cases that involve Social Services. They are independent of Social Services, courts and everyone else involved in the case. Children’s Guardians are there to help achieve the best possible outcomes for the children they represent. In particular, they may not recommend what Social Services or the child wants to happen.
Children’s Guardians:
• appoint a solicitor for the children who specialises in working with children and families
• advise the court about what work needs to be done before the court makes its decision.
• write a report for the court saying what they think would be best for the children. The report must tell the court about the wishes and feelings of the children.
Children’s Guardians:
• meet members of their family. They talk to other people who know the family, such as relatives, teachers, social workers and health visitors
• attend meetings on behalf of the children, check records and read reports and statements
• they may recommend to the court that other professionals are asked to help, such as a Paediatrician or a Psychologist.
The court takes careful notice of what the Children’s Guardian says. If a court disagrees with what a Children’s Guardian has recommended it will explain why.

Health and Safety
All Fostering services are required by the Fostering Services Regulations 2002 to obtain certain information before considering whether the applicant is suitable to act as a foster carer and that their household is suitable for any child in respect of which approval may be given. This includes details of the applicant’s accommodation.
The National Minimum Standards for Fostering Services require that the home and immediate environment are free of avoidable hazards that might expose a child to risk of injury or harm and contain safety barriers and equipment appropriate to the child’s age, development and level of ability.
Foster homes are required to be inspected annually to make sure that they meet the needs of foster children. Standards require that fostering services have a comprehensive health and safety policy in place.

Holidays
There is an expectation that foster carer’s caring for children on a short-term basis will take foster children on a family holiday with them if the placement coincides with the holiday.
In situations where this is not possible, Fostering Agencies provide various forms of respite foster care.
Foster carers who care for long-term children should include the children in all family holidays as they are seen as permanent members of the family.
Second homes/holidays
Most of the elements of a fostering household’s safe care policy will be about behaviour in the foster carer’s family home. Foster carers will need to take account of the potential behaviours and risk factors within other environments they might stay in from time to time. This will include where the foster carer and child are going on holiday, where the foster carer has a second home or use of a caravan.

Holidays Abroad
If foster carers are thinking of taking a holiday abroad with a foster child, the Foster carer must give the child’s social worker plenty of notice of their plans. The particular legal status of the child or young person can have an effect on whether it is possible for them to leave the country. There may also be other reasons why a holiday abroad might not be in the best interest of the child or young person. If it is possible for the young person to leave the country, obtaining a passport can be a lengthy process, as can obtaining the required permissions.

Human Rights
Children's human rights
All children and young people up to the age of 18 years have all the rights in the Convention. Some groups of children and young people - for example those living away from home, and young disabled people - have additional rights to make sure they are treated fairly and their needs are met.
The UK ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) on 16 December 1991. That means the UK government now has to make sure that every child has all the rights outlined in the treaty except in those areas where the government has entered a specific reservation.
Every child in the UK is entitled to over 40 specific rights. These include:
• the right to life, survival and development
• the right to have their views respected, and to have their best interests considered at all times
• the right to a name and nationality, freedom of expression, and access to information concerning them
• the right to live in a family environment or alternative care, and to have contact with both parents wherever possible
• health and welfare rights, including rights for disabled children, the right to health and health care, and social security
• the right to education, leisure, culture and the arts
• special protection for refugee children, children in the juvenile justice system, children deprived of their liberty and children suffering economic, sexual or other forms of exploitation
The rights included in the convention apply to all children and young people, with no exceptions

Insurance
All Fostering Agencies provide foster carer insurance cover through the scheme negotiated by the Fostering Network.

Intimate care
All children are vulnerable, particularly children with disabilities. Foster carers involved with their intimate care need to be sensitive to the child’s needs and also aware that some care tasks could be open to possible misinterpretation.
All children foster carers look after have a right to be safe and to be treated with dignity and respect.
Fostering Agencies should have basic guidelines on intimate care designed to help safeguard both children and foster carers. Guidelines are provided to ensure that everyone is clear about the issues that need to be considered before approaching intimate care tasks.