7.15 Overnight Stays and Social Visits |
This chapter was added to the manual in July 2023.
Contents
1. Introduction
Foster Carers and Social Workers have an important role to play in supporting and encouraging the child or young person to take part in social and leisure activities. Involvement in activities such as sport or music helps children and young people develop their interests and talents as well as improve their self-esteem and confidence. It is also important in helping them develop their social skills and in building up support networks.
Activities, while helping to build confidence and new skills, can also support placement stability by giving Foster Carers the opportunity to encourage, praise, success and build relationships with those they care for. If the child or young person has moved to a new area when they entered the foster placement, it can also lead to greater socialisation by giving opportunities to mix with and form new friendships. One of the biggest influences on developing positive self-worth is peer-to-peer relationships and therefore promoting positive role-models and social groups in local clubs/activities is invaluable to develop great team-work, coordination and communication skills.
This procedure provides general advice on the planning and organisation of outdoor activities, such as educational visits, contact and overnight stays with relatives or friends, holidays or trips out. The generic term 'activity' is used to cover all these situations.
2. Policy
Manx Care will ensure that each child or young person in foster care is encouraged to maintain and develop family contact and friendships, as set out in his/hers Care Plan or Placement Agreement with Delegated Authority.
3. Purpose
This policy is being written in conjunction with the Isle of Man Fostering Minimum Standards June 2007 (amended October 2013), Standard 10; Promoting Contact.
This policy should also be read in conjunction with the Isle of Man Child Care procedures, Chapter 11, Contact with Parents and Siblings (11.1) and Social visits and Overnight Stays with Friends (11.2).
4. Expectations of the Foster Carer(s)
It is acknowledged that there is a wide variation in the type of activities undertaken with children. It is not always necessary to fulfil all of the arrangements listed below for every activity with a child, as it may not be appropriate or necessary, for example, for short trips to the shops.
It will depend on the type of activity and the age, needs and number of the children involved. If in doubt, the child’s Social Worker and the Supervising Social Worker must be consulted.
A Foster Carer should expected and supported in order to promote the child’s physical, intellectual, emotional, social and behavioural development using some of the following means:
- Appropriate and sufficient diet;
- Exercise and play;
- Intellectual stimulation;
- Identification of disabilities;
- Help (where necessary) with the development of language, identity, self-esteem, and relationships;
- The development of social skills and behaviour;
- Ensuring that his or her needs are appropriately assessed and satisfactorily met and his or her views heard.
The child’s Social Worker or the Supervising Social Worker can give advice on appropriate play, nursery school or playgroup experience, leisure activities and experiences.
If the child has special needs, or is “in need” within the definition of the Act, he or she should receive the appropriate services. Please see CYPA 2001 s.23(5) and Children in Need.
Foster Carers need to be aware of the factors which promote emotional well-being, such as:
- The quality and permanence of previous care and relationships;
- How separation and loss are handled (parents and private Foster Carers may both need advice);
- The amount of continuity in the child's life, i.e. whether only part of his or her life has changed or his or her total environment;
- His or her sense of self-worth, which comes from being loved, respected and accepted as an individual in one's own right, a sense of belonging to his or her new family and social setting, and not being discriminated against;
- His or her self-image and sense of identity, including ethnicity; knowing who his or her parents are and having a consistent name.
The Placement Agreement with Delegated Authority should include the planned contact (including overnight stays) for the child with relatives and friends both at and away from the home.
Any such contact arrangements set out in the Placement Agreement with Delegated Authority must be consistent with the child’s Care Plan. The arrangements must also be consistent with any Contact Orders in force in favour of relatives and/or friends.
Decisions to allow contact with relatives or friends should be made having regard to an assessment of any risks which the contact may pose to the child. This assessment should take in all of the relevant factors, including any supervision of contact.
Although checks should not normally be required as a precondition of a child staying overnight with friends. However, in some circumstances, it may be considered necessary as a result of specific risks identified in the risk assessment. If the child is to stay with adults regularly or frequently or for a prolonged period, checks on members of the relevant household should be made by the child’s Social Worker with appropriate agencies.
The Placement Agreement with Delegated Authority should include the parameters within which visits or stays away from the home with friends may be agreed by the Foster Carer without prior consultation with the child’s Social Worker.
The guiding principle is that looked after children should as far as possible be given the same permission to take part in normal and acceptable age appropriate activities, such as staying with friends, as would reasonably be granted by parents of their peers. Judgment should depend on the assessed risks to and needs of the child.
Where there are reasons that require Foster Carers to seek the permission of the child’s Social Worker or their Manager, or place specific restrictions on permitting a child to stay overnight with friends, this should be because of reasons necessary to safeguard the child’s welfare. The child’s wishes should be taken into account in reaching any such decision.
5. Social Visits
The child or young person may wish to have time away from the foster home. For example:
- Sleepovers with friends;
- Invitations to go out for the day with a friend’s family where the family are unlikely to be back until late;
- Invitations to join a friend’s family who are going away for a weekend;
- The Foster Carer’s own children going to a relative or friend for up to 4 days and the child wishing to go as well;
- A relative or friend of the foster family occasionally acting as baby-sitter where the usual arrangements have broken down or are not available;
- School trips of up to 4 days away;
- A child’s authorised day visit with a friend or family being extended if the child cannot return due to bad weather or a car breaking down where there are no known restrictions to an overnight stay taking place.
In order to facilitate such arrangements, it is important that the Social Worker and, preferably the child’s parents, reach agreement at the time of the child’s placement as to the circumstances in which Foster Carers can authorise short stays; and that this is set out in the Placement Agreement with Delegated Authority. The child’s Social Worker must always seek parental consent.
The more usual arrangement will be that the Foster Carer can arrange overnight and short stays without consulting the Social Worker or parent on each individual occasion, as agreed upon placement, at the Placement Planning meeting with Delegated Authority.
Foster Carers considering a request from a child to stay overnight with a friend should base their decision on the following factors:
- Are there any relevant restrictions in the child’s Placement Agreement with Delegated Authority?
- Are there any factors in the child’s past experiences or behaviour to preclude overnight stays?
- Are there any grounds for concern that the child may be at significant risk in the household concerned or from the activities proposed?
- Is the child staying with another child or children, rather than staying solely with an adult?
- The age and level of understanding of the child;
- What is the purpose and length of the overnight stay?
- Whose idea was the overnight stay?
- How well is the friend or family known to the child?
Where the Foster Carer proposes to agree to the child’s stays away from the foster home, certain enquiries must be made by the Foster Carer; for example the name of the adult who will be responsible for the child, the address, the means of contacting the adult and the child during the visit/stay and the arrangements for the child’s return. There should be clarity about the sleeping arrangements, and, what the arrangements are.
Prior to the child’s stay away, the Foster Carer should arrange to meet the adult who will have responsibility for the child unless he or she is already known in which case the arrangements can be made over the telephone.
The arrangements for supervising or caring for the child must not compromise the safety of the child or of anyone else; and the following considerations should apply:
• Have the arrangements been confirmed with the parent of the friend or the adult who will have responsibility during the visit?
- What are the arrangements for the child returning to the home?
- Is there a contact number for the household in which the child will stay?
- Is the child aware of what to do if he or she wants to return to the home earlier than planned?
- Does the child have a contact number for the Foster Carers where they can be reached at any time?
- Does the child have access to a mobile phone?
In all cases, discussions should be held with the child, dependent on his or her age, as to what, if any, information should be shared with other adults to enable them to look after the child appropriately.
This might include:
- Any specific health care needs of the child;
- Any established routines for the child;
- Any behaviour management problems which, if the adult is unaware of, could lead to difficulties during the visit, for example the child may be over familiar with adults or over assertive with younger children.
Any decision to share information should be on a ‘need to know’ basis and recorded.
If the child refuses to allow appropriate information to be shared, then he or she needs to be made aware that this could affect the decision to allow them to stay away from home.
If satisfied that it is appropriate to allow the child’s stay away, a decision to allow this to proceed may be made.
The decision and the arrangements agreed should be recorded in full in the child’s Daily Record.
Even if it has been agreed that the Social Worker does not have to be consulted in making these arrangements, s/he must still be informed as soon as practicable afterwards (within 1 working day) and the Social Worker should inform the parents as appropriate.
With older teenagers, there is greater risk to their safety and wellbeing as they explore and test greater levels of independence. This applies to young people living at home as well as to those who are looked after by Manx Care and it is inevitable that in some cases, despite the care taken, things may not go to plan.
It is the intention of this procedure to protect children and young people and to carry out our duty as reasonable and responsible parents. It is also intended to enable Foster Carers and Social Workers to demonstrate that if something does not go to plan, they have taken all reasonable precautions to protect the child and young person.
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