Amendments

This chapter has been updated to add information in relation to consent in the context of the use of medication to suppress puberty.

This chapter has been refereshe and should be reread in its entirety.

This chapter has been amended to reflect the Children’s Statutory Complaint Process: Guide for Practitioners (Local Government & Social Care Ombudsman, 2021). (See Futher Information).

Part 1 of this chapter has been updated in line with case-law. Information was also added on recording by employees in a professional capacity.

The link has been updated to the SWET (updated April 2021). Section 2, Pre-Proceedings has been updated to include information in relation to pre-birth assessments and planning where the mother has learning disabilities.

This chapter has been updated to reflect Keeping Children Safe in Education 2019 which replaces the 2018 version. Section 8, Safeguarding the Looked-After Child at School has been amended to include reference to Upskirting (which is now a criminal offence) and serious violence.

This chapter has been updated throughout to reflect Working Together to Safeguard Children (2018) and the process for reporting a serious incident to the Panel via the Child Safeguarding Incident Notification System.

This chapter has been amended. It confirms in After the Section 14, Private Fostering Arrangement Ends that any request for support by the young person should be made to the local authority in which they are resident or where the education and training is being provided.

This chapter has been updated o note that this procedure does not apply to children subject to Interim Care Orders where the placement is required by the court under Section 38(6) Children Act 1989 for the purposes of assessment, (see Scope Box).

This chapter has been updated in line with the Children and Social Work Act 2017 and revised statutory guidance which require schools, through the Designated Teacher for Looked After Children, to offer support to previously looked after children.

This chapter has been updated in line with the Children and Social Work Act 2017 and revised statutory guidance which require schools, through the designated teacher to provide support to previously Looked After Children.

A previously Looked After Child is one who is no longer looked after in England and Wales because they are the subject of an Adoption, Special Guardianship or Child Arrangements Order which includes arrangements relating to with whom the child is to live, or when the child is to live with any person, or has been adopted from ‘state care’ outside England and Wales.

Working Together to Safeguard Children states clearly that one of the key principles underpinning safeguarding should be: "a child-centred approach: for services to be effective they should be based on a clear understanding of the needs and views of children."

The term 'relinquished child' is used to describe a child, usually a baby or at pre-birth stage, whose parents are making the choice of adoption for the child.

• Private Fostering Panel Procedures;
• Islington Private Fostering – Annual Report 2014-2015.

This chapter reflects the statutory guidance ‘Ceasing to look after a child’ in ‘Care Planning, Placement and Case Review Regulations (2015)’ as amended by the ‘Care Planning and Fostering (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2015’ together with Working Together to Safeguard Children.

• Child Trust Funds and Junior Individual Savings Accounts for Looked After Children.

• Scrutiny Panel Procedures;
• Referrals to Scrutiny Panel.

This policy is being adopted by The London Borough of Islington as a guide to practitioners and is sourced from (LB Haringey) as part of the Cross Borough initiative and is a common policy.

There will therefore be matters, which are distinct to Islington, which are to be borne in mind when reading the policy.

This chapter has been updated in line with the Children and Families Act 2014, and the overall aim of speeding up the adoption process. The chapter has been updated throughout and should be re-read. The main changes are in relation to:

• The duty to consider Fostering for Adoption placements;
• The removal of the requirement to give due consideration to a child’s religious persuasion, racial origin and cultural and linguistic background when matching a child and prospective adopters;
• Post-adoption contact;
• Placing of siblings.