Fostering

Safe Care Policy

The purpose of a safe care family policy is to ensure that everyone who lives in the fostering household and those who visit knows what the family rules are. The aim is to offer protection to foster carers, their children, any child placed and any other adults in the household.

Safety First
Children are naturally inquisitive and foster carers have to strike a balance between encouraging a child’s need to explore, and preventing them from hurting themselves. Foster carers should check the width between railings, banisters and balconies, fit window locks or safety catches that stop windows opening more than four inches.
In the event of a fire in the home, just a few seconds warning can make all the difference. Foster carers are generally required to fit smoke alarms on each floor in their homes. The alarms should be checked on a weekly basis. Carers should be prepared and have a fire escape plan should the worst ever happen.
Garden ponds and paddling pools can also be a hazard for children, foster carers are advised to empty out paddling pools when not in use and ponds should be covered or fenced off. Foster carers must keep household and garden chemicals, medicines, alcohol and even cosmetics in a place where children cannot reach them, ideally in a locked cupboard.
Low glass doors and windows should be fitted with safety glass or replaced with hardboard. Keep tools and knives out of reach, prevent fingers being trapped by using door guards, and use protectors on the corners of sharp furniture.
When travelling by car the correct child seat should be used. Never use a rear facing seat in the front passenger seat if an air bag is fitted. Help children in and out of a car on to the pavement.
 
Self harm
Deliberate self-harm is a term used when someone injures or harms themselves on purpose. Common examples include `overdosing' (self-poisoning), hitting, cutting or burning, pulling hair or picking skin, or self-strangulation. It can also include taking illegal drugs and excessive amounts of alcohol. Self-harm is always a sign of something being seriously wrong.
Why do young people harm themselves?
Self-injury is a way of dealing with very difficult feelings that build up inside. People say different things about why they do it:
• Some say that they have been feeling desperate about a problem and don't know where to turn for help. They feel trapped and helpless and self-injury helps them to feel more in control.
• Some people talk of feelings of anger or tension that get bottled up inside, until they feel like exploding. Self-injury helps to relieve the tension that they feel.
• Feelings of guilt or shame may also become unbearable. Self-harm is a form of punishment.
Some people try to cope with very upsetting experiences, such as trauma or abuse, they say that they feel detached from the world and their bodies, and that self-injury is a way of feeling more connected and alive.

Sexuality
If a young person a foster carer is caring for thinks they are lesbian/gay, or they are not sure of their sexuality, then they need to talk to somebody who understands, without feeling pressurised.
Most importantly they need to have the support, acceptance and understanding of the foster carers who are caring for them.

Smoking
Fostering social workers will advise foster carers and new applicants of the dangers of smoking and more particularly on the specific dangers of passive smoking to babies and children. Although smoking may not prevent applicants being approved, they may be considered unsafe to look after children under 5 years.

Social Worker Visits 
When a child is placed with foster carers, the child’s social worker should discuss the frequency and timing of future visits. These should be convenient for the foster carer and their family, and which will enable the social worker to see the child both alone and with the rest of the foster family. Foster care Regulations require that on each visit, so far as is reasonably practicable, the child should be seen alone.

The child’s social worker should visit the child within the first week of the placement, then at intervals of not more than six weeks during the first year and then at intervals of three months. However, any foster carer or child should feel able to request a visit from the social worker whenever they feel it is needed.
Foster carers should keep the social worker informed about the child’s day-to-day progress. If there are any changes in a child’s placement being considered they should be discussed with the foster carers.

Space in the home
There is no specific legislation regarding the minimum space required in foster homes. Fostering Services Regulations 2002 require that 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 requires that the foster home can comfortably accommodate all who live there and that foster carers provide an environment in which education and learning are valued.

Special guardianship
Special guardianship is a legal option intended to provide permanence for children for whom adoption is not appropriate.
A special guardianship order (SGO) gives the special guardian parental responsibility for the child. Unlike adoption, under a SGO the parents remain the child's parents and retain parental responsibility, though their ability to exercise their parental responsibility is extremely limited.
A special guardianship order will:
• Give the carer clear responsibility for all aspects of caring for the child or young person, and for taking decisions to do with their upbringing
• Provide a firm foundation on which to build a lifelong permanent relationship between the carer and the child or young person
• Preserve the basic legal link between the child or young person and their birth family
• Be accompanied by proper access to a full range of support services including, where appropriate, financial support

Supervision
Supervision for Foster Carers is a formal arrangement for meetings between foster carers and their allocated Social Worker from the fostering service. It is part of Fostering Agency’s commitment to meet the Government National Standards in Foster Care.
Supervision should be seen as a supportive and two way process to:
• help foster carers cope with the stresses their work may involve;
• support foster carers and their families by providing advice and consultation from Supervisors and other specialist sources;
• ensure foster carers understand how they contribute to the Fostering Agency’s services to children;
• provide foster carers the right monitoring and feedback on their work;
• ensure foster carers have opportunities to develop through appropriate training;
• monitor foster carer’s work in line with the Fostering Agency’s policies and procedures.

Support Groups 
All Fostering Agencies have regular foster care support groups that foster carers can attend. The support groups give an opportunity for the foster carers to get together informally with other foster carers and Agency Fostering staff. Some support groups invite guest speakers to discuss childcare issue and other topics related to fostering.