6.1.8 Parent and Baby Placements

RELEVANT LINKS

See the Brighton and Hove Fostering and Adoption website.

Background
Referral and Decision Making Process
Initial Set up Meetings for Parent and Baby Placements

1. Background

There has been a significant increase in the demand for parent and baby foster placements with this resource now often being considered as the Care Plan for most newborn babies where Care Proceedings are being issued at birth. Babies are being placed with concurrent carers at a later stage in the proceedings and are therefore potentially subject to a number of moves, delay in achieving permanence and disrupted opportunity to attach to a consistent primary care giver.

The use of parent and baby foster placements avoids the need to separate the mother from her newborn but may not always provide the best opportunity to undertake assessment work and therefore progress the permanence planning for the baby i.e. key issues of concern may not be about the mother’s parenting skills but about their dangerous network. There is also clear evidence that substance misusing mothers cannot be expected to address their own addiction problems whilst providing a high level of consistent care for a withdrawing baby.

Parent and baby foster placements do, however, have a key role to play in our care planning for babies and infants particularly when the key issues of concern relate to the need for a parent to be provided with the opportunity for intensive support and parenting skills work from an experienced foster carer and there are no opportunities for this to be achieved within a Connected Person placement. These can often be young parents or parents with a learning disability.

The provision of a parent and baby foster placement is a specialist task and the pool of in-house parent and baby Carers has increased and specialist training and support continues to be developed for these carers. The matching process needs to be undertaken carefully to consider how this fostering task fits with the needs of the carers own children or other children in placement. Independent fostering agencies on the preferred provider list are also aware of the growing need to recruit carers for this task. Many placements, if progressing successfully do continue for many months and carers can offer support to the parent in developing their network in the local community and moving on into independent living.

2. Referral and Decision Making Process

Pre- birth referrals and assessment

Most referrals in relation to unborn babies are received by the team at RACH or possibly other fieldwork teams if workers are already involved with the family;
It is essential that full use is made of the pre-birth period to undertake assessment work with birth parents and extended family to inform the care planning for the baby. Family Group Conferences should always be considered at an early stage in the referral and assessment process;
There is a need for close liaison between the PM for RACH or other fieldwork team involved and PM for Concurrency team in relation to these pre-birth referrals;
In situations where the issues of concern would indicate the potential for concurrency to be the Care Plan and there were not any matching issues that could preclude an eventual plan for concurrency i.e. ethnicity of the child or clear potential for placement of child with adopters of siblings the plan for pre-birth assessment work would need to be discussed and an agreement reached with the PM Concurrency Team about the responsibilities the Concurrency Team would take on in respect of this pre birth work;
The pre-birth assessment work is likely to involve work to review the historic files or gather other background information, work to consider any potential carers within the wider family and friends network either as initial or potential permanent carers and direct assessment work with the birth parents undertaking the Core Assessment and other assessment work to inform the care planning. The progress of the pre-birth work will be kept under review and there is a need for close liaison between the 2 teams and respective PM's to ensure effective use of social work resources and timely decision making. Key work responsibility throughout this pre-birth period does remain with the fieldwork team concerned;
The Concurrency Team should be invited to all Legal Planning Meetings on unborn babies or children under 2 years. The potential for concurrency as the Care Plan needs to be considered along with all other care planning options at these meetings. When the Care Plan is for a parent and baby placement concurrency should always be highlighted within the Care Plan as a contingency plan. Whatever the Care Plan decided at the Legal Planning Meeting once it has been decided to initiate proceedings the CAFCASS Manager will need to be alerted to the fact that the local authority is initiating proceedings in relation to a baby and that there should be no delay in appointing a guardian in time for the initial hearing. (Click on the CAFCASS Manager for the appropriate area to view contact details: CAFCASS Manager (East), CAFCASS Manager (West).

Concurrency Care Plans

If the plan is for a concurrent Care Plan an appropriate match needs to be identified by the concurrency team and the plan for the child and match will need to be endorsed by Panel and Agency Decision Maker (Fostering) before the Court hearing in relation to the Care Plan. It is acknowledged that there is a very short space of time when the plan is for concurrency to complete all the paperwork for Court and Panel and this is a joint responsibility between the two teams with key work responsibility transferring to the worker for the child within the Concurrency team once the Care Plan has been agreed in Court;
If the Care Plan for concurrency does not get agreement at Court and the Court direct that a parent and baby foster placement needs to be found then concurrency should remain as the contingency plan. If appropriate, and agreed by all parties the concurrency team could continue to undertake assessment work with the birth family whilst concurrency remains an active contingency plan. There is only a limited time that concurrent carers could remain actively linked to a child that they have been matched with that has then been placed in a parent and baby or other fostering resource if the Court does not endorse the concurrent Care Plan. This should be kept under review at the Core Group meetings in relation to the placement and it is unlikely that carers would remain linked to a baby for more than a period of 3 months from placement.

Parent and Baby Foster Care Plans

If following the Legal Planning Meeting the proposed Care Plan is for a Parent and baby placement agreement for such a plan needs to sought from the fieldwork Head of Service;
Once agreement has been gained from Head of Service a referral needs to be made to Fostering and Adoption Accommodation Services. The Fostering duty team will always try and match the parent and baby with an appropriate in-house resource. If that is not possible agreement will have to be sought from Head of Service, Fostering & Adoption to approach independent fostering agencies on the preferred provider list;
Early referral to the Fostering Duty team is important to enable the Fostering service to consider all the matching and placement issues including any risk factors, the expectations of the placement and whether there is a need for any specialist input i.e. if a parent has a learning disability;
With all parent and baby foster placements whether as a result of Care Proceedings or whether under Section 20 it is important, if at all possible, to build in an opportunity for the parent to meet the carers before the start of the placement. If the plan is made in agreement with the parents then clearly this allows for a good introduction process. However, even in situations where a parent and baby foster placement has not been the local authority Care Plan but this has subsequently been decided at Court every effort should be made to allow the parents and carers to meet with their respective Social Workers before the start of the placement so an initial placement agreement can be discussed and drawn up;
If a parent and baby foster placement is the plan determined in Court then it is essential that there is a set up meeting involving all parties that takes place as soon as possible but certainly within 5 working days of the start of the placement;
Regular Core Group meetings need to take place in relation to the parent and baby placement that are separate from the Looked After Review in relation to the child. These should take place at least 6 weekly. If concurrency is a contingency to the Care Plan the team should be invited to attend if they are still actively involved in the assessment work or sent minutes of the meeting if not.

3. Initial Set up Meetings for Parent and Baby Placements

These meetings should be chaired by the relevant fieldwork Service Manager and held in a neutral venue i.e. not in the foster Home. Minutes need to be taken and an agreement drawn up that is signed by the social worker, parent and carer. The meeting needs to include the parents, foster Carers, social worker for the child and the supervising social worker for the carer, the Guardian and all 3 legal representatives.

Outline Agenda for Meeting

Objectives of the placement including a statement that the safety and welfare of the child is the paramount consideration;
Expectations of the foster carer including the teaching/assessment and level of supervision required. Expectations of the foster carer in terms of recording and how this will be shared with the parent;
Expectations of the parents including specific responsibilities for the baby including all aspects of the babies care and care during the night;
Agreement in relation to any time off that the parent can have from the responsibilities of caring for the baby, or to attend other assessment appointments or unsupervised time with the baby outside of the home;
Health issues in relation to the parent and baby including attendance at appointments and liaison with key professionals and how this will take place;
Contact arrangements both for others with the baby and contact that the parent can have with others without the baby;
How work within the foster placement will fit with other assessment work that is planned or underway and timescales for the assessment work with any key Court dates;
Rehabilitation plans if the placement and assessment work is successful and any work that needs to be undertaken at an early stage in relation to housing needs of the parents or need to identify appropriate community resources and who will have responsibility for this;
What should happen if the parent has any concerns or issues about the placement;
What will happen if the carer has concerns about any aspect of the parent’s behaviour or their care of the child;
Under what circumstances would the placement be terminated or would the contingency plan be activated and what care arrangements would be made for the child if the parent left the placement including the possibility of the baby then moving to a baby only foster placement;
Plans for establishment of a Core Group and Core Group meetings at least at 6 weekly intervals. Role of Core Group meetings alongside Looked After Reviews.

If appropriate, the meeting could then continue with just the foster Carer, Parent and respective Social Workers to complete the Placement Plan (recorded on the Placement Information Record) document and consider any outstanding detail in relation to the day to day arrangements within the foster home. This could include any outstanding issues from the initial placement agreement in relation to house rules, provision of meals by the carer, financial arrangements, transport arrangements, expectations in relation to privacy etc.

End