Care and Placement Plans Guidance
Scope of this chapter
This Chapter gives guidance on the use of Care Plans and Placement Plans for Individual Children and Young People.
Relevant Regulations
| ENGLAND | WALES |
|---|---|
|
Regulation 5 – Engaging with the Wider System to Ensure Each Child’s Needs are Met The Care Planning Standard Regulation 17 – Placement plan for Looked after child Regulation 18 - Placement plan for child who is not looked after |
The Regulated Services (Service Providers and Responsible Individuals) Regulations 2017 Regulations 14, 15, 16, 17, 18 and 21 |
Related guidance
Every Looked After Child must have a Care Plan/Care and Support Plan completed and updated by the Placing Authority/Social Worker.
The Care Plan/Care and Support Plan must be prepared prior to a child’s placement, or, if it is not practicable to do so, within 10 working days of the child being placed.
The Care Plan/Care and Support Plan must be regularly reviewed at Looked After Reviews; it must then be redrafted/updated and circulated within 10 working days of the Review.
The overall purpose of the plan is to safeguard and promote the interests of the child, prevent drift and focus work with the child and the family.
The Care Plan/Care and Support Plan sets out its overall objectives and timescales (including, by the time of the second Looked After Review, how permanence will be achieved for the child), it summarises the needs of the child, identifies the services required to meet those needs and describes the management and support of the plan by the local authority. Care Plans/Care and Support Plans contain descriptions of children's needs and how these needs will be met while they are living away from home. The Care Plan/Care and Support Plan must include the name and contact details of the child’s Independent Reviewing Officer. It should also contain the level of family involvement and contact.
The homes seek closer working relationship with those involved in protection of the child/young person. It is also the homes responsibility to seek to work with those in the wider system to ensure that each child's needs are met.
Before a Court grants a Care Order it must be satisfied that a suitable Care Plan/Care and Support Plan has been drawn up.
All Looked After children are required to have a Placement/Personal Plan, which forms part of their overarching Care Plan/Care and Support Plan, and sets out why the placement was chosen and how the placement will contribute to meeting the child's needs. It sets out how on a day-to-day basis the child will be cared for and his/her welfare safeguarded and promoted, and the arrangements for matters such as contact, medical care, education/training, as well as details of the Social Worker, Independent Reviewing Officer and Independent Visitor if one is appointed and detail of who (in the home) has the authority to take particular decisions about the child regarding:
- Medical and dental treatment;
- Education;
- Leisure and home life;
- Faith and religious observance;
- Use of social media;
- Any other matters which the delegated persons as identified in the Placement/Personal Plan consider appropriate.
It should also record in the Placement/Personal Plan any reasons where any day-to-day decision is not delegated to the allocated person within the home.
Where there are child protection concerns relating to a child and/or where the child has gone missing from the placement or from any previous placement, the Placement/Personal Plan must include information agreed between the local authority and the placement provider about the day-to-day arrangements put in place to keep the child safe.
The Placement/Personal Plan must also identify any matters about which the local authority/persons with parental responsibility consider that the child may make a decision.
The Placement/Personal Plan may incorporate a detailed Behaviour Management Plan for some children.
The responsibility for completing and updating the Placement/Personal Plan rests with the manager of the home or the Keyworker, see Keyworker and Link Worker Guidance.
The Placement/Personal Plan should be reviewed in the light of a Looked After Review or any change to the Child's Care Plan.
For more detailed procedures and Guidance, see Education Procedure.
An Individual Education Plan (IEP) should be drawn up for all Looked After Children, by the school, it sets out the day to day arrangements for educating the Child e.g. short term targets, strategies to be used, outcomes.
Personal Education Plans (PEPs) must be drawn up, by the child’s social worker, before the child is placed (or within 10 working days in the case of an emergency placement), and be available for the first Looked After Review.
As an element of good care planning, education is crucial to creating opportunities for children in their future lives.
In partnership with the Placing Authority and social worker, Registered Managers should ensure each child has a Personal Education Plan (PEP), which will identify the educational needs of the child and how they should be provided for.
For Children who are subject to Education, Health and Care Plans for 0-25 years, their IEP and/or PEP should cover their needs but there may be a separate Plan.
All children who are Looked After should have a Health Care Plan which incorporates a statement of the child's health care needs and how those needs will be addressed. Some placing authorities incorporate Health care Plans into Care Plans/Care and Support Plans, some have separate Health Care Plans.
For more information, see: Health Care Assessments and Plans Procedure.
All Children who are preparing to leave care should have a Pathway Plan setting out the route to the future for young people leaving the Looked After service and will state how their needs will be met in their path to independence. The plan will continue to be implemented and reviewed after they leave the looked after service at least until they are 21; and up to 24 if in education.
Some placing authorities incorporate Pathway Plans into Care Plans/Care and Support Plans, some have separate Pathway Plans; authorities will also have their own policies for when Pathway Plans should be drawn up but most authorities start to draw them up after toward Children’s 16th birthdays.
This summarises the other key records that Children ought to have, it does not address specialist records or plans:
Core Assessment Record: A core assessment provides a structured, in-depth assessment of the child's needs where their circumstances are complex. The Core Assessment Record provides a structured framework for social workers to record information gathered from a variety of sources to provide evidence for their professional judgements, and facilitate analysis, decision making and planning. A core assessment should be completed within 35 working days of its commencement. A completed Core Assessment Record is then used to develop the Child's Plan.
Chronology (or Essential Information Record Part 2): The Chronology is started as part of the process of Core Assessment. It records all significant events and changes in the life of a child or young person. The Chronology is an analytical tool designed to help social workers understand the impact, both immediate and cumulative, of events and changes on the child or young person. The Chronology replaces Essential Information Record Part Two for Looked After Children.
Assessment and Action Record (or Assessment and Progress Record): An Assessment and Progress Record (APR) should be updated by the social worker prior to each Looked After Review. Prior to the review the child, where appropriate, carer, parent(s) and social worker should meet to prepare for the review. A decision will need to be made about whether the APR reflects the child/young person's current progress and the APR should be updated as appropriate.
Looked After Review Report: After each Looked After Review, the Chair (Independent Reviewing Officer) should produce and circulate a report within 20 working days of the Review.
Last Updated: July 9, 2024
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