The government has published a foster carers’ charter designed to “put an end to the persistent myths and red tape” around fostering.
Ministers said foster carers had been undermined for too long and the status and experience of fostering needed to improve as the number of children coming into care rises. Obstacles faced by carers and children in care when it comes to day-to-day activities also need to be tackled, the government added.
The charter is intended to:
- “Make it clear that a foster child should be treated as part of the family and their views should be listened to and taken on board
- Help tackle myths that foster carers cannot let their foster children do everyday activities like sleepovers and holidays without facing excessive restrictions and barriers
- Set out how foster carers should be supported in their role, so they know what to expect from their fostering service and local authority – this includes being provided with full information about the child they are fostering
- Help local authorities recruit and retain foster carers and can be used as a tool and guide for what foster carers can expect.”
Children’s Minister Tim Loughton urged all local authorities to sign up to the charter.
He said: “Too often I hear stories about foster parents feeling isolated, unsupported, and facing endless red tape when all they are trying to do is enjoy everyday activities with their foster child – like taking them on holiday or even for a haircut.
“The new Charter will help to change that. It underlines the huge value we place on foster carers. Not only as role models to the children who look up to them, but also as pushy parents who put those children first. The Charter sets out clear principles of what support should be available and what foster carers can expect.”
The charter – produced jointly by the government, fostering organisations, charities and young people – follows streamlined fostering regulations which were published earlier this month and are designed to remove unnecessary burdens on councils.
The guidance published earlier this month:
- clarifies delegation of authority to foster carers – “so the default position should be that foster carers can take children for haircuts etc, unless it does not fit with the child’s care/placement plan”
- states that CRB checks should never normally be undertaken as a prerequisite for a child to stay over at a friend’s house “and that the default should be foster carers can make such decisions as any good parent would for there own child (taking into account any restrictions in the child’s care plan)”
- addresses confusion about who needs to be approved as a foster carer – “for example, currently many providers wrongly believe that other people the child may spend time with (e.g. foster carer’s grandparent for a holiday for a couple of weeks) need to be approved as foster carers before the child can stay with them”
- exempts foster carers from requirements to register as a childminder if they are caring for another foster carer’s foster child
- removes prescriptions on the use of foster carers by fostering services.
The government has also called on local authorities to bid for funding to provide intensive support to looked after children with complex needs – including those on the edge of care.
Councils can bid for between £50,000 and £200,000 to run the following programmes: Multi-dimensional Treatment Foster Care (MTFC), Keeping Foster and Kinship Carers Safe and Supported (KEEP) for looked after children, Multi Systemic Therapy (MST) for children on the edge of care or custody and Functional Family Therapy (FFT) for young people with conduct and offending behaviour.
The Department for Education has also launched a web tool, Tell Tim, where young people in care, those who have left care or those working in the care system, can send their thoughts, ideas and experiences direct to the minister.
Andrew Christie, from the Association of Directors of Children’s Services, said: “The Foster Carers' Charter reminds us that carers are at the heart of any plan for the child in their care, that they should be involved in decision making and be clear about the support available to them. The Charter provides a clear and easily understandable set of principles to guide the relationship between foster carers and the local authority in providing for the needs of some of the most vulnerable children.”
The Foster Carers’ Charter can be downloaded here.
The revised fostering regulations and guidance are available here.