Sussex Child Protection and Safeguarding Procedures
Sussex Child Protection and Safeguarding Procedures Sussex Child Protection and Safeguarding Procedures

3.1.12 Management of Support by family Support Teams intending to seek Residence Orders or Special Guardianship

  1. This is intended to guide the increasingly frequent child at risk casework scenario where care proceedings have not been pursued or finalised because wider families have agreed to care for children, indicating a willingness to apply for a Residence Order or Special Guardianship – and the intention is that the case passes to a Family Support Team.
  2. To ensure clarity of purpose, expectations and timescales, the holding Fieldwork Team should start the planning process by meeting with the receiving Family Support unit. One key issue this meeting will need to address is what would be the plan if the family did not apply for such an order within a specified time.
  3. The subsequent transfer of the case should take the form of a handover meeting involving the family and both teams, the objective of which should be to agree a preliminary working agreement.

End