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Contents

1. Membership
2. Meetings
3. Purpose and Function

1. Membership

The Fostering Panel has a maximum of 10 members. The membership must include two social workers, one of whom has child care expertise and the other with experience in the fostering service, at least one elected member of the Council and at least four independent members one of whom is or has been within the two previous years an approved foster carer for a different fostering agency. 

So far as possible, Panel membership should be gender balanced and reflect the diversity of the local community.

The Chair will be appointed by the Service Manager - Fostering and Adoption and the Designated Manager (Fostering Approval Panel).

The Designated Manager (Fostering Approval Panel) and the Chair of the Panel must also appoint a Vice Chair, whose role is to chair the Panel when the Chair is unavailable.

All Panel members must have been the subjects of a satisfactory Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) checks before taking up their appointment. Personal and work references will also be obtained in writing and must be satisfactory. 

Each member will be asked to meet the Service Manager (Adoption and Fostering) (or Panel Advisor) and Chair, for an interview prior to signing an agreement with the Fostering Service, in relation to his or her membership, covering the service expectations (including the requirement to report any involvement in criminal proceedings), confidentiality issues and commitment to anti-discriminatory practice.

All Panel members will also be required to attend at least one Panel meeting as an observer before taking up their membership and to attend an annual training day.

The quorum is 5, one of whom must be the Chair or Vice Chair, one of the social worker representatives and at least 2 other independent members. 

Members hold office for terms of a maximum of three years, must attend at least 75% of meetings and may not hold office for more than three terms. Where there has been a gap of three years since the maximum period of office was served, the maximum period of office that can be served starts to be counted again.

Panel members may request any relevant information or assistance they require, including medical or legal advice, from the fostering agency and, if so requested, this must be provided by the fostering agency.

Where there are concerns about a Panel members behaviour either inside or outside the meetings, this will raised by the Chair with the Service Manager (Adoption and Fostering) who will inform the  Designated Manager (Fostering Approval Panel). The Designated Manager will decide whether to end the appointment and if so, will advise the member in writing giving clear reasons for the decision.

2. Meetings

The Fostering Panel meets twice each month on Thursdays at the Fostering and Adoption Unit, Aire Buildings, Bradford.

The Panel Administrator, with the Chair’s authority, will arrange additional special meetings as necessary.

The Panel Administrator will ensure that the Chair of the panel has the written comments of the medical advisor.

All Panel meetings will be attended by a Panel Adviser, who will advise the Panel on regulations, policy and procedures, and take feedback about practice issues to social workers and their managers. The Panel Adviser will arrange for legal advice to be available to the Panel Chair and to the worker presenting the report.

The Panel Administrator may also arrange for observers to attend meetings, in consultation with the Chair, but no more than 2 observers may attend at any one time.

The Panel Administrator in consultation with the Chair and the Panel Adviser prepares the agenda for each meeting and sends out the agenda to Panel members 10 working days before the meeting.

Those presenting reports to the Panel must send the reports to the Panel Administrator 10 working days before the date of the Panel meeting.  The Panel Administrator will arrange for the documentation to be distributed to Panel members and send the leaflet on Panel to applicants.

Prospective applicants are invited to attend Panel meetings and to participate when the assessment of their application is presented. Social Workers will prepare applicants for the meetings and they should be encouraged to attend and comment on their experience of the process of assessment.

Similarly, approved foster carers will be invited to attend a Panel meeting when any review of their approval, proposed change to the terms of their approval or recommendation to terminate their approval is being considered.

The Assessor social worker, or supervising social worker for approved carers , would also attend and may be accompanied by their manager if there are contentious issues.

The applicants or approved foster carers may invite a support person, this may be a friend , member of BAFA or a solicitor. The support person may not speak or advocate on their behalf but may help them prepare for the panel.

Questions for applicants should be prepared in advance and shared with them and their assessor. Whilst the applicants can attend this part of the meeting, they will be asked to leave with their assessor during the panel’s deliberations. They will be informed verbally of the panel’s recommendations and these will be sent in writing to the Designated Manager (Fostering Approval Panel) for consideration.

Panel members must declare whether they know a person under consideration in a personal or professional capacity, in which case they should not participate in consideration of the relevant agenda item.

The Chair’s role is to ensure that all members participate fully in the meetings (unless an interest has been declared), that sensitive regard is paid to foster carers while keeping the child’s welfare paramount, that consensus is achieved wherever possible and that the Panel has clear reasons for its recommendations.

At the end of meetings, the Panel Administrator will collect all reports and agenda from members.

The Chair and the Adviser to the Panel will seek feedback from all those involved both in the Panel and the process of the assessment and review, so that the performance of the Agency can be monitored and where necessary, improved.

The Panel Administrator will prepare the minutes in which reasons for recommendations and any disagreements or dissent will be fully recorded.

S/he will send the minutes to the Chair for approval of their accuracy, and then submit them to the Designated Manager (Fostering Approval Panel)  for approval of the recommendations. 

The Designated Manager (Fostering Approval Panel) will consider all the reports and recommendation and inform the applicant in writing of his/ her subsequent decision and the reasons.

Where the application is approved, the category and any terms of the approval must be also specified in writing.

If a decision is made to approve a foster carer, written notice of the decision and the terms of the approval, signed by the Designated Manager (Fostering Approval Panel) will be sent to the foster carer by the panel administrator within 7 working days of receiving the decision  who will also send them two copies of the Foster Care Agreement

When recommendation is not to approve or the Designated Manager (Fostering Approval Panel) considers that the applicant is not suitable, S/he must inform the applicant/s in writing, explaining the reasons. The applicant/s should be invited to make written representations within 28 days. If the applicant does not respond in writing within 28 days, the Designated Manager (Fostering Approval Panel) may proceed to make his/her decision and write to the applicants to inform them of the decision.

If representations are made, the application can be reconsidered by the Panel which may uphold the original recommendations or it may make changes. The applicants would normally attend this meeting as would the Assessor and their manager. The applicants may invite a friend, or solicitor to support them.

The Designated Manager (Fostering Approval Panel) will consider all the reports and recommendation and inform the applicant in writing of his/ her subsequent decision and the reasons.

There is no further appeal process but applicants should be made aware of their right to make a complaint.

3. Purpose and Function

The Fostering Panels primary legal function is to make recommendations about the approvals of foster carers The Panels primary responsibility is to act in the best interests of children and young people placed in foster care .

The panel will conduct its meetings in a manner that makes them as accessible to the applicants as possible .

As part of this function, the Panel oversees the conduct of assessments, advises on any relevant matters in relation to the Fostering Service and makes recommendations to the Children, Schools and Families Department about quality issues and performance standards.

In particular, the Panel makes recommendations as to the following:

1. Approvals of foster carers and their category (including Family and Friends Foster Carers)
2. Exemptions from the limit to the number of children placed with foster carers and extensions of approved categories
3. First and fifth Annual Review of foster carers, and thereafter any other Review where significant changes (including to the category of approval) or termination of approval is recommended
4. Any other special matters relevant to a foster carer that the Fostering Team manager, in consultation with the Chair of the Panel, considers appropriate to be referred including information regarding allegations and complaints.

It also monitors the range and type of foster carers available to the local authority in comparison with the needs of children, and plays a key role in the improvement of standards within the Fostering Service.

The Panel will receive annually the Manager of the Fostering Service’s annual report on the Panel’s business, including statistical information about approvals, reviews, termination of approvals, the number of children in placement and complaints received about foster carers during the preceding year.

The Chair will communicate any issues of concern to the Designated Manager (Fostering Approval Panel) and take part in quarterly meetings with the Service Manager Adoption and Fostering, Fostering Manager, Vice Chairs and Panel Advisors to review the Panel’s functioning.

At the quarterly meetings, the Panel Administrator will provide statistical information in relation to the Panel business and the number of approved foster carers and this will be considered alongside other statistical information on the number of Looked After Children. This will enable an appraisal of the extent to which the Fostering Service is meeting the demand for placements.

All those who attend panel are asked to complete Feedback forms and the information from these is collated by the Service Promotions Officer. This summary is considered along with a summary of issues from the feedback sheets prepared by panel on each item at the quarterly meetings so that the performance of the Agency can be monitored and where necessary, improved.

End