Working with Families and other Professionals
Standards and Regulations
Training, Support and Development Standards for Foster Care
- Standard 1 - Understand the principles and values essential for fostering children and young people.
- Standard 2 - Understand your role as a foster carer.
- Standard 4 - Know how to communicate effectively.
As a professional you have an important part to play in the lives of children and families that you may work with.
Some children who are Looked After will go home, so it's important for them to keep their relationships with parents and other family members.
Parents or other relatives may visit a child in your home, or the child's social worker may feel these meetings should take place somewhere else. Contact will be set out in the child's Placement Plan and Care Plan. It is important that you develop an open and honest relationship with the parents and at all times they know that the child is the most important person and their well-being is being looked after by you.
See: Contact Between the Child and their Family.
This will be difficult for parents so you need to ensure you work sensitively with them. Sometimes no matter what they have done, a child will continue to love their parents; you should never speak about parents in a negative way.
During your time as a foster carer you will also work alongside many other professionals including your supervising social worker as part of a team around the child/young person that makes sure the child's needs are met and developed and they are safe from harm.
Professionals can include:
Each child/young person placed in foster care will have an allocated social worker.
Their role is to:
- Assess the needs of a child;
- Develop a relationship with the child;
- Plan for the child and regularly review that plan;
- Work with the child, their child's family and you;
- Share information with you;
- Identify and obtain resources so that the child's needs are met;
- Visit the child at your house within 1 week of placement, and then at least every 6 weeks for the first year or visit in line with the care plan. Thereafter, i) where the placement is intended to last until the child is aged 18, at intervals of not more than 3 months, and in any other case, at intervals of not more than 6 weeks. On each visit, the social worker must speak to the child in private unless they are unable to do so, or it is inappropriate or the child refuses to based on their age and understanding.
The Designated Teacher
Each nursery, school and college will have a designated teacher for Looked After Children and Previously Looked After Children. You will work with the educational settings to make sure the child is achieving what they should and that they have aspirations for their future.
The Virtual School
Rotherham has a ‘Virtual School’ which provides guidance and support to Looked After Children and their carers in relation to education. This team recognises that education is life-long learning, and thus provides training for you on Personal Education Plans (PEP) and the education of Looked After Children, including pre-school, primary, secondary education, and beyond. From the age of two children will have a PEP meeting once per year until they start full time school after which they will have a PEP meeting once per term. Children are allocated a named virtual school advocate whose responsibility it is to co-ordinated their PEP and support the team around the child to ensure that the child’s educational needs are being met. The PEP meeting is chaired by the virtual school advocate and attended by you, the school’s designated teacher and the child’s social worker. Your supervising social worker may also attend if required.
For more information please see the Rotherham Virtual School website.
You will work with health professionals to meet the needs of the child such as dentists, opticians, doctors and health visitors.
The Child and Adolescent Health Service takes referrals for Looked After Children. Due to their adverse life experiences, some Looked After Children may experience behavioural, emotional and mental health problems. Your role will be to highlight any issues of concern about a child/young person that may result in the need to refer to this service. The referral will be made by the child's social worker. If the service is needed, you should make sure appointments are kept and work with professionals from the service.
This team provides direct input into your training and can offer advice through therapeutic consultations and network meetings to enable you to better meet the needs of the child placed with you. If a child placed with you needs direct therapeutic support the child’s social worker can make a referral for this and the team can offer a range of therapies which will be determined according to the needs of the child.
You will work alongside the Looked After Children Health Team and other health professionals to make sure the health needs of Looked After Children are met.
The OOH service is open at night and at weekends. They operate a call service and will respond to you as soon as possible. If no one is available when you ring, leave a message. The OOH telephone number is 01709 336080. You must contact the police first if you feel you, your family or foster child are in any danger and don't wait for OOH.
The Adoption Team is responsible for finding adoptive families for children who cannot remain with their birth families. They will look at the child's background, health and any special needs and find the right adoptive family. When the adoptive family is linked with a child, they have a period of introductions before the child goes to live with them. You play an important role in supporting the child through this time and introductions. It is important that the child sees you working alongside the adoptive parents. You can also give valuable advice and support to the adoptive parents who will be feeling anxious about getting it right. Your supervising social worker will guide you through this and should be contacted if you have any concerns.
Last Updated: August 23, 2024
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