Decision making for foster carers
Being clear about who can make what decisions, and how those decisions can be made in a timely way, is very important for children and young people in foster care, ensuring that they can have as ‘normal’ a childhood as possible. The Fostering Network’s view is that all foster carers must be given the authority to make everyday decisions on behalf of children in their care without unnecessary delays and restrictions.
Despite improvements in each of the four countries of the UK to the mechanisms and guidance around day-to-day decision making (often called delegated authority), guidance is not consistently being applied in practice across the UK and foster carers are still not always being trusted to make decisions. Ultimately this can negatively impact the child and potentially hinder their ability to participate in normal family, school, or social activities.
Day-to-day decision-making principles
- Children and young people living in foster care should, as far as possible, be able to take part in everyday and acceptable age-appropriate activities as would reasonably be agreed by the parents of their peers.
- Foster carers should be empowered to take all day-to-day decisions about the child in their care unless stated otherwise.
- Foster carers should be provided with sufficient training and support from supervising and children’s social workers to understand the principles of delegated authority so that they can use it as appropriate.
- A shared understanding of the wide range of decisions, whether relating to day-to-day matters or specific one-off issues made in a child’s life, is crucial, so that all parties involved can establish and agree the extent to which authority to make decisions is delegated to foster carers.
- Any decision about delegation of authority must consider the views of the child and, where appropriate, a child of sufficient age and understanding should be supported to make decisions themselves.
- Each fostering service should decide on its policy and practice based on the needs of the children and young people in its care and its foster care population.