Section 8, Court Hearings has been updated in line with A View From the President’s Chambers: Relaunching the PLO (November 2022) and that section should be re-read.

• Young Persons Protocol.

This chapter has been significantly amended to reflect the 'Review of Sexual Abuse in Schools and Colleges (Ofsted, June 2021)'; updated 'Keeping Children Safe in Education' (see Scope Box) and Sexual Harassment in Education – Briefing (House Of Parliament Library, June 2021). (See Section 8.2, Protecting looked after children from sexual harassment and child on child abuse).

The chapter has also been amended to reflect Promoting the Education of Children with a Social Worker: Virtual School Head Role Extension, June 2021.

• Allocation of Work and Transfer between Teams.

Attending IRM Panel – Information Sheets:

Attending IRM Panel – Information Sheets:

• Family Support Supervision;
• Common Assessment Framework.

The use of social media in a social care and safeguarding environment is a developing area. Cases and reviews have discussed the use of social media in social work practice. There is, however, currently no specific government guidance on the issue. This chapter is designed to highlight some of the issues to be considered, with links to additional information. It is not intended to provide any legal advice, and legal advice must be sought as appropriate. Local Authorities and Courts may have local protocols in place on the use of social media/service of documents.

This chapter provides guidance on the storage of personal data (including photographs) on mobile devices. 'Personal data' is any information about an identifiable living individual.

A link has been added to Information about the Independent Review Mechanism (IRM).

This chapter has been amended to reflect changes from 'Practice Direction 27a - Family Proceedings: Court Bundles (Universal Practice to be applied in the High Court and Family Court)' in relation to the required maximum length of certain court documents (unless otherwise specifically directed by the court). In addition, further detail has been added with respect to the Final Care Plan.

This chapter has been substantially updated to reflect amendments made by the Children and Social Work Act 2017.

These changes relate to the status of 'previously looked after children' i.e. a previously looked after child is one who is no longer looked after in England and Wales because s/he is the subject of an adoption, special guardianship or child arrangements order which includes arrangements relating to with whom the child is to live, or when the child is to live with any person, or has been adopted from 'state care' outside England and Wales. The chapter includes a new Section 15, Mental Health and a new Section 8, Safeguarding the Looked After Child at School.

This chapter has been updated and revised throughout to reflect the provisions of the C&SW Act 2017 and 3 new statutory guidance documents which require local authorities to offer Personal Adviser support to all care leavers up to the age of 25. Also, to publish their Local Offer for care leavers; and to have regard to seven 'corporate parenting principles'.

It has also been updated to add clarification in relation to the definition of Qualifying Young People.

AND

The chapter has been updated in Section 5, Assessing and Planning for Permanence to reflect the additional 'permanence provisions' of the Care Plan which a court is required to consider when deciding whether to make a Court Order, added by S8 Children and Social Work Act 2017. (amends section 31(3B) Children Act 1989).

This chapter has been updated to reflect the additional consideration of the relationship which the child has with relatives, with any person who is a prospective adopter with whom the child is placed and with any other person in relation to whom the court or agency considers the relationship to be relevant.

This chapter has been amended, a link to FRG Initial Family and Friends Care has been added.

Section 3, Approval of Immediate Placements of Looked After Children with Connected Persons, has been updated to include matters that should be considered when placing a child with a Connected Person should include an initial risk assessment of any pets, together with the environment in which the pet is kept.

• Local Contacts.

This chapter deals with recording of meetings/conversations by individual service-users, in their capacity as private individuals. Note that the employees of the local authority, acting in their professional capacity, are subject to different legislative requirements, e.g. under the Data Protection Act 2018.

The term 'relinquished child' is used to describe a child, usually a baby or at pre-birth stage, whose parents are making the choice of adoption for the child.

As requested by the chair of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse destruction of case management and policy records relating to the following subject areas must not be implemented until the said inquiry has been completed:

• Adoption and fostering;
• Child protection;
• Educational support;
• Looked After Children;
• Residential care;
• Schools and schooling;
• Services to children and families;
• Special educational needs;
• Youth centres;
• Youth offending.

The Regulations that currently relate to young carers are contained within the Young Carers (Needs Assessments) Regulations 2015 and came into force on 1st April 2015.

Under the Children and Families Act 2014 the definition of young carer is a person under 18 who provides or intends to provide care for another person. The concept of care includes practical or emotional support, and 'another person' means anyone within the same family, be they adult or child.

This definition allows more children than under previous legislation to qualify as young carers and be entitled to a needs assessment.

This chapter has been substantially rewritten. The Key changes are:

• Permanence has been redefined in Section 1;
• Section 3.6 sets out the requirements for Child Arrangement Orders;
• Section 3.7 is a new Long Term Fostering Section;
• A link to The Children Act 1989 guidance and regulations Volume 2: care planning, placement and case review has been added.

This chapter has been reviewed and updated in May 2015. The key changes are in section 7 and relate to the frequency of supervision.

• For child protection cases a detailed discussion should take place every month and a full record of the discussion made;
• For child in need and children looked after cases it is possible for a brief monthly discussion to result in agreement for a detailed discussion at a future supervision session – a record of all discussions, even brief, must be made.

The judgement: Re DE (A Child) [2014] has been added in Section 1.7, The High Court stated that not less than fourteen days notice of a removal of the child should be given to the parents, save in an emergency.

This chapter has been updated in line with the Children and Families Act 2014 and the overall aim of speeding up the adoption process. The chapter has been updated throughout and should be re-read. Information has been added in relation to:

• Fostering for Adoption (sections 1 and 5.4);
• Adoption Register (section 9);
• Duty to provide information on adoption support; services (sections 1 and 2);
• Ethnicity (section 15.3).

This chapter has been updated in line with the Children and Families Act 2014, and the overall aim of speeding up the adoption process. The chapter has been updated throughout and should be re-read. The main changes are in relation to:

• The duty to consider Fostering for Adoption placements;
• The removal of the requirement to give due consideration to a child's religious persuasion, racial origin and cultural and linguistic background when matching a child and prospective adopters;
• Post-adoption contact;
• Placing of siblings.

The Whistleblowing Policy and Procedure describes the Council's commitment to supporting and protecting whistleblowers, the steps that you should take if you wish to blow the whistle on serious wrong-doing in the workplace (known as making a "protected disclosure") and how the Council will respond. It is also important for potential whistleblowers to understand that their employment will be protected by the Council on the strict assumption that any disclosures or allegations are not malicious in nature.

Under the Public Law Outline (2014) and the Children and Families Act 2014, there is a 26-week time limit for the completion of care and supervision proceedings. This places an increased emphasis on pre-proceedings work and the quality of Assessments.

Where adoption is the permanence plan for the child and no Care Order has been made, combined care and Placement Order applications should be made, so that decisions can be made swiftly. Where there are on-going Care Proceedings, the Placement Order application should be submitted as soon as the Agency Decision Maker decision has been made. The court may make both orders, which would ensure that the child remains protected should the Placement Order be revoked (as the Care Order would automatically be reactivated).

• Court Proceedings;
• Public Law Outline.