Time to scrap the requirement of foster carers to keep diaries

For children in care, they are measured, monitored and recorded to an unfathomable degree. Once something is recorded, there is a danger that the children are stuck with it for the rest of their lives. I didn’t grow up in care and am relieved that some of the dumb stuff I did as a child wasn’t written down!

I have a deep unease with the regular recording of children who are in foster care, by foster parents in the form of daily or weekly diaries. I would describe it as a form of voyeurism and often completely unnecessary.

Mundane commentary

I’ve also seen stories of adults with care experience requesting their files when they leave care and being presented with wheelbarrows full of papers to sift through with no support nor explanation. At best, they are presented with piles of mundane commentary and at worst, there is the potential for causing long-term hurt to the person with care experience when reading a diary entry which has been written insensitively and without regard for who will read it in the future.

I don’t understand why we have got to the point where it is almost universally accepted and universally practiced.

I’ve read the Fostering Services: National Minimum Standards and can’t find anywhere that specifically talks about the need to keep diaries. I’ve read about recording significant events (Standard 29) and medication (Standard 6.11), all of which seem reasonable to me, but nothing on daily recordings. Standard 26 says we should keep records to help them better understand their lives, but I’m not persuaded that these diaries really cut the mustard.

It does say, however, that we should “respect the child’s privacy and confidentiality, in a manner that is consistent with good parenting” (Standard 3.5). Article 16 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child says that “the law should protect the child’s private, family and home life, including protecting children from unlawful attacks that harm their reputation”. That covers every child, including those with care experience.

I often hear that “diaries” are necessary for specific circumstances such as gathering information for court. Fine, but most children who are in care are not currently going through the courts. If there are specific circumstances which require recording, then make those specific arrangements – surely this is the purpose of care planning – it should not be universal.

Change of mindset

If we do write diaries or reports that relate to our foster children, I would strongly suggest that we change our mindset and write them as if they were written to our foster children and not to other professionals. Making this change had a profound impact upon what and how I write. I’ve even heard of one foster parent who writes them with their foster children which I think is excellent practice.

However, I would go one step further and abolish diaries from our standard practice altogether. I’ve no idea why it became common practice in the first place. There’s no regulation that specifically mandates it.

It feels like a hangover from institutionalised thinking – not family thinking, which I thought was the whole point of fostering.

I’m also aware of one independent fostering provider rated “outstanding” by Ofsted which doesn’t require foster parents to record diaries. They take the view that anything of significance should be reported to the family’s supervising social worker. This poses a rather awkward question: if they don’t see the need, what is the need?

A good starting point is to ask: who benefits from this practice? If it doesn’t benefit children with care experience, I see little point in doing it. If it has the potential for harm, we should most definitely scrap it.

• Keith Bishop is senior lecturer in social policy at Birmingham Newman University and a foster parent