Disruption Meeting for Children Looked After

SCOPE OF THIS CHAPTER

A disruption meeting should take place for any placement that has ended in an unplanned way. The purpose is to consider any lessons which can be learned to help with placement stability in the future for the child(ren) in question but also wider learning. The learning can be individual but also systemic.

1. Timing

The disruption meeting should take place around 4 weeks after the placement has ended. This enables the meeting to be as conducive to the learning as possible and often reduces some of the immediate emotion from those involved.

To enable a full discussion the meeting should be between 2 and 3 hours depending on the number of participants, whether there is more than one child to be discussed and any other area of complexity.

2. Preparation

In order to make the meeting as productive as possible it is important that each agency prepares for the meeting. The child's social worker should complete a brief chronology in advance of the meeting including details of the child's entry to care and key dates including placement moves and names of all carers. All other agencies in attendance should also review their records in advance of the meeting.

The meeting should be chaired by a Head of Service or a Team Manager who did not have case responsibly for care planning and decision making for the child. In addition, the following people should be invited:

  • Child's social worker;
  • Social Workers line manager;
  • Foster carer;
  • Supervising Social Worker;
  • FPT Manager;
  • IRO;
  • Any other relevant person.

A minute taker should be identified and there is a step on Mosaic for a disruption meeting to be recorded onto mosaic.

3. Ground Rules

The focus of the meeting should remain the child at all times. It is important to set the rules and purpose of the meeting. It should be made clear that the purpose of the meeting is not to assign blame but to consider the wider learning.

4. Agenda

  • Introductions (Chair);
  • Apologies (Chair);
  • Rules and Purpose of the meeting (Chair);
  • The reasons why the child came into care i.e. details of the child's early life experiences and the circumstances why the child came into care (Child's Social Worker);
  • Child's history since being in care (Child's Social Worker);
  • Selection process (Child's Social Worker & Family Placement Team);
  • Child and carer introduction process (Family Placement Team, Child's Social Worker and Foster Carer);
  • Child's placement experience (Family Placement Team, Child's Social Worker and Foster Carer);
  • The plan for the child's future (Child's Social Worker);
  • Vetting and Barring (Chair);
  • Learning points, recommendations and follow up actions (Chair).