In June 2010 the Children in Care Council asked what Social Services do to make sure that children are placed with carers who meet their needs.
Here's how it's done!
When a foster placement is needed for a child, the first thing that happens is the child's social worker writes what's called a 'referral' describing the child, their needs, likes and dislikes, what's important to them, where they go to school, their age, culture, ethnicity and faith. They also describe the type of family the child needs. This will be based on the social worker's knowledge of the child and what the child, their parents, carers, school, and other important people in the child's life have told them about what they need and what they would like.
This information is used to look for the right foster placement that matches with what's being asked for by the social worker. The team that do this are called the Placement Finding and Commissioning Team and they work hard with the Family Placement Teams to find the right foster carers for every child. They ask questions like, is the placement close enough for the child to stay at the same school and continue to see their friends and family? Does the foster family have the same heritage, culture, or faith as the child? Are there lots of other children living there or is it a quiet household? Do the carers have the skills and experience needed to look after the child?
When the Placement Finding and Commissioning Team identify more than one foster family that would be suitable, the child's social worker is informed and is able to look, sometimes with the child, at both placements and to decide which carers offer the best placement match.
That sounds fantastic, doesn't it? When it it works like this, we know that placements have the best chance of succeeding – that's why social workers and placement finders work very hard to find the right family. The reality is that sometimes children need a placement very quickly and the information we have about a child is limited, or it is very difficult to find a foster family that's able to offer everything that's being looked for. In these cases, the placement finders and social worker, keeping the child in mind, look for the closest match and find ways to maintain all the important links with family, friends and school.
There's also a shortage of foster carers, not just in Bristol, but across the country. The Fostering Network, a national charity working to support fostering say that 10,000 more foster carers are needed across the UK. In Bristol, we don't just accept that we have a shortage of placements, the fostering team are constantly on the look out for new carers who will be assessed and trained before they can look after a child, perhaps you have seen advertisments for carers as you travel around Bristol or listen to the radio? Bristol's Commissioning Team and Children In Care Council have also worked together to identify a top 10 list of fostering agencies who demonstrated that they can offer us more placement choice and meet the quality placement standards that we demand in order to be better able to find the right placement for all the children who need one.
Finally, for any child who believes they are in a placement that doesn't meet their needs, or are unhappy about any aspect of their care, it's important that they talk to someone who can help to sort out any difficulties, whether that's a social worker, teacher, advocate, reviewing Officer or someone else. The important thing is that all the adults work together to help identify and support foster placements to meet children's needs.
