PST

How of much of the foster care allowance should be used as pocket money? 

It can be extremely worrying if a child or young person goes missing, or is not where they are expected to be. It can cause anxiety for foster carers and other supports until children and young people are found safe and well, and everyone will want to make sure they are found as quickly as possible.

Savings 

The long-term wellbeing of children is paramount and supporting a child’s transition to adult life is a key part of promoting their long-term wellbeing. To support this transition as part of good corporate parenting practice, and to promote consistency and fairness, local authorities and fostering services should ensure that children in care have savings made on their behalf. 

Why should foster carers be involved in decisions about a child’s care?

In many cases, foster carers know the child they are looking after better than any other professional. As they are responsible for their day-to-day care, foster carers are likely to have a unique understanding of the child’s needs and preferences (likes and dislikes) and the most up-to-date information about them and their lives.

In the fostering context, personal references are a statutory requirement in the process of assessing an applicant’s suitability to foster. The legislation across the UK provides the legal basis for the duty of fostering service providers to: 

Each of the four UK nations has a process for holding Case Reviews where a child dies or is seriously harmed. Each nation has its own guidance and criteria around the process for conducting Case Reviews and around the dissemination of learning. The purpose of Case Reviews is to seek ways to reduce the risk of recurrence of similar incidents by identifying and sharing key lessons and themes, locally as well as nationally.

Common Principles across the four nations:

About fostering panels

Fostering panels have core functions to deliver which are:

What is county lines?

County lines is a term used when drug gangs and organised crime networks from big cities expand their operations to smaller towns, exploiting children to sell and transport the drugs on their behalf. Often these children are made to travel across counties, and they use dedicated mobile phone ‘lines’ to supply drugs.