Cared for Children Reviews and Disruption Meetings

A Cared for Children Review must take place before any significant change is made to the child's Care Plan, unless that is not reasonably practicable, including a decision to cease looking after a child.

The purpose of the Cared for Children Review is to:

• Ensure that appropriate plans are in place to safeguard and promote the overall welfare of the Cared for Children in the most effective way and to achieve permanence within a timescale that meets their needs;
• To monitor the progress of these plans and ensure they are being progressed effectively;
• To make decisions, as necessary, for amendments to these plans to reflect any change in knowledge and/or circumstances;
• To ensure the needs of Cared for Children as a result of a secure remand are met;
• To ensure that an Eligible Young Person moving into semi-independent accommodation is ready and prepared to move.

Cared for Children Reviews will be chaired by an Independent Reviewing Officer.

It is important that decisions taken at Cared for Children Reviews are implemented, to ensure this responsibility for actions following the review should be clearly defined.

The key plans that should be considered at a Cared for Children Review are:

• Care Plan or Pathway Plan (where appropriate);
• Permanence Plan;
• Education Health Care Plan (EHCP);
• Personal Education Plan (PEP).

The review should also take account of the child's Placement Plan and any other plans or strategies (e.g. behaviour management strategy), ensuring that they are up to date, or that arrangements are in place to update them.

If children are not settling into the Home, leaders and managers should ensure that children’s plans are reviewed promptly with the placing authority and the family (where this is appropriate). They should consider the best steps to take next, including, for example, whether any additional support might be necessary to keep children safe. Leaders and managers must challenge effectively and take action when they are concerned that placing authorities are making decisions that are not in children’s best interests or when the statutory requirements for looked-after children are not met.

See also: Care and Placement Planning.

Usually, Cared for Children Reviews should be convened at the following intervals

• An initial Cared for Children Review should be conducted within 20 working days of the child becoming Cared for;
• The second Cared for Children Review should be conducted within 3 months of an Initial Cared for Children Review.

Subsequent Cared for Children Reviews should be conducted not more than 6 months after any previous Review.

These are maximum timescales, Cared for Children Reviews can be convened sooner if consideration is being given to ending or changing the child's placement, or the urgency of the case determines a Review is needed e.g. the child's social worker assesses that the child's welfare is not being adequately safeguarded and promoted.

Cared for Children Reviews should be brought forward by the Independent Reviewing Officer if they are notified by the child's social worker or residential worker of any significant change or event in the child's life. This could include:

• A proposed change of Care Plan for example arising at short notice in the course of proceedings following directions from the court;
• Where agreed decisions from the review are not carried out within the specified timescale;
• Major change to the contact arrangements;
• Changes of allocated social worker;
• Any safeguarding concerns involving the child, which may lead to enquiries being made under section 47 of the 1989 Act ('child protection enquiries') and outcomes of child protection conferences, or other meetings that are not attended by the IRO;
• Complaints from or on behalf of the child, parent or carer;
• Unexpected changes in the child's placement provision which may significantly impact on placement stability or safeguarding arrangements;
• Significant changes in birth family circumstances for example births, marriages or deaths which may have a particular impact on the child;
• If the child is charged with any offence leading to referral to youth offending services, pending criminal proceedings and any convictions or sentences as a result of such proceedings;
• If the child is excluded from school;
• If the child has run away or is missing from an approved placement;
• Significant health, medical events, diagnoses, illnesses, hospitalisations, or serious accidents; and panel decisions in relation to permanency.

Except in urgent circumstances, any change of placement, should only take place following a statutory review of their Care Plan chaired by their Independent Reviewing Officer (IRO).

This is not an exhaustive list and the IRO may judge that other events are significant and require an earlier review. The parents and child should also be consulted about the need for an additional review.

Residential staff should ensure the social worker for the child is fully informed and aware of any of the above issues, or any other matter that reflects a significant change or impact upon the child, so that the IRO can review and consider whether an earlier review should be convened.

Staff should make available in the Home, information in an appropriate form which enables children to contact their placing authority to call for a review of their Care Plan if they have concerns about their safety or welfare.

The Review will consider the extent to which the aims and objectives of the Care Plan and associated Personal Education Plan (PEP) and, if relevant, Pathway Plan have been achieved. At the second and subsequent Reviews, the review must consider whether there is a suitable Permanence Plan in place. The child's Placement Plan to be reviewed to ensure it continues to meet the needs of the Care and associated plans.

In time for the review, or beforehand if required, the Home should arrange for an up to date Placement Plan to be available demonstrating what arrangements exist to meet the child's needs. The Home should also produce a report of the work undertaken since the child's placement or the last Cared for Children Review, and evidence what has been done to achieve engagement, including any actions to taken to escalate concerns.

The agenda will be agreed at the beginning of the meeting, and each participant will be invited to contribute their own items to the agenda and have the opportunity to contribute to the discussion.

The IRO will decide on what actions in principle are necessary to meet the child's needs and make recommendations as to how these should be achieved.

The IRO will ensure that decisions are clear, and establish who is responsible for action and the timescales agreed for completion.

The representative of the Home who attends the review should take notes of the meeting and ensure the action points are recorded to prevent delay in supporting the child/young person.

After the Review the social worker is responsible for updating and circulating the Care Plan, Personal Education Plan (PEP) and, if appropriate, the Pathway Plan. The Manager of the Home is responsible for updating and circulating the child's Placement Plan.

The Independent Reviewing Officer (IRO) normally prepares and circulates a record of decisions and recommendations within 5 working days. A full record of the meeting will competed within 15 working days and sent to all relevant parties within 20 working days of the Review.

Within 10 working days, the social worker must update the Care Plan and re-circulate it.

The Home's manager has an important role in making sure that recommendations are implemented, by the Home and other agencies. If there are concerns that recommendations are not being implemented, the Home's manager should discuss the concerns with the Independent Reviewing Officer and/or their line manager.

The IRO is also responsible for monitoring the child's case in between Cared for Children Reviews.

For example:

• Children should be told who their IRO is and how to make contact with them;
• The IRO must be consulted before a child is placed outside the area where the child normally lives;
• The IRO should be notified and consulted if a child has been missing from the Home;
• Children have a right to contact their IRO if they are concerned about their placement or Care Plan.

If the IRO has concerns about the child's case e.g. that the Care Plan is not being properly progressed, they have a duty to report this to CAFCASS

The Home's manager should ensure that children are informed of their right to contact their IRO. Furthermore the Home's manager should also consult the IRO if they have any concerns about the child's placement.

Disruption Meetings should be convened in relation to children whose placement has ended abruptly or on an unplanned basis.

When endings are unplanned, the welfare and well-being of children remain paramount and staff must always act with this in mind. The needs and feelings of other children living in the Home must also be taken into account.

An emergency placement planning meeting should always be held where there are fears that a placement is at risk of disruption.

Where a placement breaks down or ends on an unplanned basis, the manager of the Home must convene a Disruption Meeting within 5 working days.

An ‘off line’ manager will usually chair the meeting. In complex cases, however, consideration will be given to appointing an independent person as chair. Those invited, or asked to contribute, should be:

1. The child;
2. The parents;
3. The child's social worker and manager;
4. The link worker/keyworker and Home manager;
5. The child's Independent Reviewing Officer;
6. Other relevant staff/professionals.

The meeting will ensure the child (depending on their age and level of understanding) is given the opportunity to understand the reasons for and be supported with managing the transition.

The precise agenda will depend on the child/circumstances, but the manager/chair should ensure the circumstances leading to the disruption are properly reviewed, and that all concerned are provided with opportunities to express their views freely with a view to establishing:

• How and why the emergency / disruption occurred;
• To learn from what happened and avoid the same thing happening again - for the child or others in the Home;
• To contribute to the future planning for the child;
• To identify work to be done and to ensure it is completed;
• To ensure that appropriate notifications and other post placement arrangements have been undertaken.

The manager should keep minutes, which must be circulated to all concerned

The Home’s registered manager will ensure they follow the care planning standard.

1. The care planning standard is that children:
   1. Receive effectively planned care in or through the children’s home; and
   2. Have a positive experience of arriving at or moving on from the home.
2. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure:
   1. That children are admitted to the home only if their needs are within the range of needs of children for whom it is intended that the home is to provide care and accommodation, as set out in the home’s statement of purpose;
   2. That arrangements are in place to:
      1. Ensure the effective induction of each child into the home;
      2. Manage and review the placement of each child in the home; and
      3. Plan for, and help, each child to prepare to leave the home or to move into adult care in a way that is consistent with arrangements agreed with the child’s placing authority.
   3. That each child’s relevant plans are followed;
   4. That, subject to regulation 22 (contact and access to communications), contact between each child and the child’s parents, relatives and friends, is promoted in accordance with the child’s relevant plans;
   5. That the child’s placing authority is contacted, and a review of that child’s relevant plans is requested, if:
      1. The registered person considers that the child is at risk of harm or has concerns that the care provided for the child is inadequate to meet the child’s needs;
      2. The child is, or has been, persistently absent from the home without permission; or
      3. The child requests a review of the child’s relevant plans; and
   6. That staff help each child to access and contribute to the records kept by the registered person in relation to the child.