looked after children

Managing allegations against foster carers and approved kinship carers: how agencies should respond

Guidance on responding to allegations against foster or kinship carers that reflects the National Guidance and covers situations where the concerns relate to situations where significant harm means that a child protection response is required, as well as situations where the concerns are about the general well being of the child but where no significant harm has been identified.

A report into the deaths of looked after children in Scotland 2009-2011

Report that aims to:

  • identify characteristics of those children who have died and the reasons for each of their deaths
  • consider the circumstances of their deaths and comment on the reports local authorities provide
  • identify any possible implications for the future care of children and young people, always with an eye to whether there are lessons to be learned.

    Returning children home from public care

    The briefing aims to give people who provide and use social care services an overview of research evidence by describing what it tells us about:

    • how social workers make decisions about whether or not to return looked-after children to their birth parent/s
    • effective approaches to deciding which children are likely to benefit from return home, and to helping parents and children when they do
    • predictors of stability and positive wellbeing following return home.

    Social work practices: report of the National Evaluation

    Evaluation of five social work practice (SWP) pilots started up in England between December 2009 and May 2010. These independent organisations were commissioned by local authorities to provide services for looked after children and care leavers.

    The pilots were introduced to discover whether smaller social work-led organisations independent of local authorities could improve the morale and retention of social workers and bring decision making closer to front-line practice.

    Child protection

    Paper that gives a brief outline of the principles which govern the care and protection of children by public authorities, the main legislation and guidance in the area of children‟s hearings and local authority child protection systems together with some key statistics.

    Looked-after children and young people - the health and wellbeing of looked-after children

    In 2011, the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) was asked by the Department for Education and the Department of Health to pilot the development of two quality standards for social care. This builds on earlier work in 2009 to establish a quality standards programme for healthcare. This is one of the two standards on the subject of looked-after children.