Opinion - Safeguarding needs to be at the heart of any further changes to fostering regulations
Steve Stockley
Wednesday, September 9, 2020
Steve Stockley is managing director at FosterTalk and a foster carer.
For the fostering community, the coronavirus pandemic has been one of the greatest challenges of our lifetime. As foster carers, we have experienced situations and restrictions to our role that could never have been predicted.
One of the biggest concerns to arise from the pandemic has been the safeguarding of children and young people. Most notably, following the government’s amendments to the Adoption and Children (Coronavirus) (Amendment) Regulations 2020, which saw changes made to various safeguarding procedures such as social work visits, reviews, assessments, and adoption and fostering panels.
While the government has announced that most of the amendments are no longer required, the legal provisions will remain in place until 25 September and possibly beyond. And although we welcome the news that Article 39 is awaiting the results of an appeal following an unsuccessful judicial review of the regulations, there is no doubt that the changes made could have major ramifications for safeguarding our country’s most vulnerable children.
This is a concern echoed by our members, who we surveyed to explore the impact of the amendments and understand the ways they have been used. The presumption by many was that fostering services had called for the amendments to be implemented but our survey revealed that only 45 per cent of services made use of the provisions outlined in the amendments. When asked why they chose not to, some services said they didn’t want to compromise on standards, others felt there were too many shortcuts for applicants, and many worried that the amendments could have a negative impact on children placed later down the line.
The report also revealed that 59 per cent of foster carers weren’t sure if their service had made use of the provisions. The responses we gathered seem to indicate confusion around the amendments and calls to our helpline suggest that many foster carers are concerned about some of the situations they’ve faced throughout the pandemic.
We understand that the government’s intention was that the amendments were to be used in exceptional circumstances. However, we believe that with proper planning, the majority of the amendments would not have needed to be implemented. For example, the existing legislation already allowed for panels to be conducted virtually with a full complement of members, but the amendment allows for a reduction to three panel members and, if deemed necessary, removal of the need to hold a panel altogether. This reduction in panel numbers means that assessments for carers and adopters can be approved with reduced rigour.
Going forward, we must ensure better consultation and communication with those ‘on the ground’ and organisations like ourselves who are talking to fostering services and carers on a daily basis. We also need to ensure that any planning is capable of flexing to allow for potential of local lockdowns, further reduction of social distancing, and any onset of a second wave. Most importantly, we have to ensure that the safeguarding of children and young people is placed at the heart of every decision we make.
