Viv Kind, a foster carer from York, has looked after more than 100 children over 33 years. While performing such a rewarding role, she has been no stranger to the bureaucracy that has come with the territory, where even the simplest tasks can be extremely difficult to enact.
"We were caring for one young person who needed a bus pass to go to school on the other side of York," she recalls. "I called and asked for one, but was told that a social worker had to apply for it. I relayed the message to social services but nothing happened." In the end, after much persistence, she was allowed to apply for the bus pass herself, but not before "wasting money" on stacks of £2 fares for her foster child.
Kind knows of other foster parents being nervous about granting consent for school trips. The resulting scenario is a young person waiting outside a school until a consent form is signed by a social worker before they can board a bus. "It's embarrassing and leads to delays; it makes young people feel different and excluded," says Kind.
Placement plans
In a bid to reduce unnecessary red tape, junior children's minister Tim Loughton wrote to local authorities at the end of August, urging them to make it easier for foster carers to make decisions affecting children in their care.
He called for clear and agreed placement plans to set the ground rules on the respective roles of the carer and local authority, and the continuing responsibility of birth parents. "Small but essential matters, such as whether the foster carer can take the child for a haircut, should be agreed at the outset so they don't have to keep seeking permissions from several layers of bureaucracy," said Loughton.
He also said myths around "CRB checks for sleepovers" needed to be challenged, as does the excessive administration that may have risen around the "day-to-day parenting decisions" of foster carers. His comments coincided with the launch of a consultation on proposed changes to children's homes and fostering guidance and regulations.
But Jacky Slade, the Fostering Network's regional consultant in the South West, warns against a prescriptive approach to cutting bureaucracy. "Every child's situation is different, they are different ages and have different legal status. It's impossible to say 'everyone should have this or everyone should have that'," she says. "But at the beginning of a placement, more attention should be paid to how responsibilities are shared and this should be revisited regularly."
Slade calls for more government guidance on how local authorities ensure that social workers and foster carers' responsibilities are clearly defined at the outset of a placement: "There has to be some leadership from government level on this. Tim Loughton's letter is the reassurance [local authorities] need, but they need help with how to do it."
Delegating decisions
To this end, the Fostering Network is developing a toolkit designed to help councils improve the way they delegate decision-making to foster carers. Devised to be of use to both foster carers and social workers, it is likely to consist of a handbook - with guidance on delegated authority to foster carers - and a planner that breaks down tasks that may need to be delegated, such as those relating to education and health. "If foster carers know which questions to ask, they will be better prepared," says Slade.
Kind says removing the requirement for social workers to grant permission for everyday activities will better enable foster carers to create a family environment for the children in their care. "It's about relationship building between the foster carer and the young person; it's about being like a parent and saying 'we can do that'," she says.
Kind adds that seeking permission regularly from social workers for run-of-the-mill activities is "undermining and insulting" for foster carers. "Foster carers are professional people - they wouldn't do anything that puts kids at risk," she says.
CONSULTATION
The Department for Education has launched a consultation on regulations governing fostering services and statutory guidance on fostering services. The deadline for responses is 19 November. Questions include:
- What decisions can be taken by the foster carer, and where parental or local authority permission must be sought, needs to be understood by all as part of care planning - is there more we can do in guidance or regulations to further clarify this position?
- Should local authority foster carers be exempt from being required to register with Ofsted on the general childcare register (in addition to being registered as a foster carer) in order to provide childcare on a short-term basis for a looked after child aged six or seven who is placed with another foster carer?
- Should local authority foster carers be exempt from being required to register with Ofsted on the early years register and deliver the Early Years Foundation Stage (in addition to being registered as a foster carer), in order to provide childcare on a short-term basis for a looked after child aged five or under who is placed with another foster carer?
