Fostering

Ofsted

The new Ofsted, the Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills came into being on 1 April 2007. It brings together the wide experience of four formerly separate inspectorates. It will inspect and regulate care for children and young people, and inspect education and training for learners of all ages.

Overnight stays with friends
A foster child may ask to visit or sleep - over at a friend’s house. While this may be possible it is the responsibility of Social Services and foster carers to ensure that the children in their care are safe at all times. For this reason foster carers must refer any request to the child’s social worker. It is the social worker’s responsibility to find out all they can about the people the child wishes to visit. Parental permission may be necessary and a police check may also have to be made.

Parental Responsibility
Parental responsibility means all the rights, duties, powers, responsibilities and authority which by law a parent has in relation to a child and his or her property.
Mothers automatically have parental responsibility and will not lose it if divorced. Married fathers automatically have parental responsibility and will not lose it if divorced.
Unmarried fathers do not automatically have parental responsibility.
An unmarried father can obtain parental responsibility by:
• marrying the mother;
• having his name registered or re-registered on the birth certificate if his name is not already on there;
• making a parental responsibility agreement with the mother;
• obtaining a parental responsibility order from the court;
• obtaining a residence order from the court;
• becoming the child's guardian on the mother's death.
Foster carers never have Parental Responsibility for the foster children they look after. However, the Children Act states that although a person with parental responsibility for a child may not surrender or transfer any part of that responsibility to another person, he or she can arrange for some or all of the parental responsibility to be met by another person acting on his/her behalf.
The Placement Agreement meeting held when a child is placed with foster carers decides which aspects of parental responsibility will be discharged to the carers.
 
Of particular importance are:
• Health issues (including medical consent)
• Overnight stays away from the foster carer
• Diet
• Discipline
• Social contacts
• Routine (e.g. bedtime, coming-in time)
• Religious observance
• Education (e.g. school trips permission, attendance at parent’s evenings)
• Haircuts
• Leisure activities (permission for swimming, etc)
• Culture/language
• Pocket money and what it should be used for

Pets
Foster carers are expected to care for their pets properly. This means:
• paying attention to health and hygiene matters around the house and the garden
• considering safety issues for the animal, children, visitors and especially any foster children

Play
Some children, who are placed in foster care, may not have experienced any positive stimulation or encouragement. Such children may have little incentive to explore or to play, they do not see their world as an interesting place where fun is enjoyed and skills can develop.
However research has shown that by giving disadvantaged pre-school children a one-to-one relationship for play, affection and conversation, even for short periods every day, can make all the difference to their future performance at school.
Foster carers have an important opportunity to help children in their care by encouraging conversation and play.