This is a legal arrangement when a relative, family-friend, or other person with a connection, cares for a child who is unable to live with their parents.
This can happen if there is a risk a child will come into care or if they are already in the care of the local authority.
If we decide this type of care is a suitable option, there are steps we must follow. This is because as a family and friends foster carer you will be looking after the child on our behalf.
We will arrange:
Your assessment will usually start with ‘viability assessment’ carried out by the child’s social worker and a kinship social worker.
It will include:
If the child is placed with you in an emergency, you are considered to be a family and friends foster carer from that date. Your assessment must be completed within 16 weeks of the child being placed with you.
The next step will be to invite you to attend a fostering panel meeting. This can sound a little scary but the panel members and your allocated social worker will make this step as welcoming and comfortable as possible.
The panel will consider the report from your assessment before making their recommendation.
Your social worker will be at your side throughout the fostering panel meeting to support you.
The panel’s recommendation is then sent to the Agency Decision Maker. This is a senior manager in our Children and Young People’s Department and is independent of the panel.
They will make the final decision on your suitability as a foster carer.
As a family and friends foster carer you will receive training, benefits and support through your allocated placement social worker.
This will include:
Arrangements can last a few weeks, a few years, or even longer depending on the parent’s situation and the child’s needs.
If the child is being cared for long-term, our fostering team can advise you about legal orders to make arrangements more secure or permanent.
These include a special guardianship order, residence order or adoption order. You can also be assessed as a long-term foster carer for the child.
In most cases it is important for the child to retain contact with their parents and their network of friends and family. We will support you with this through the local authority contact service in Brent. This service provides supervised contact.
This usually happens at the Freeman Family Centre in Harlesden, in the community or at the Brent Civic Centre.
The service provides contact workers who supervise sessions between children and their birth families. They take detailed contact notes which are passed on to social workers to help with their assessments.
The child’s birth parents retain parental responsibility. If the local authority is issued with a care order, the local authority and birth parents share responsibility.
As a family and friends foster carer you will be asked to sign an agreement called a Placement Agreement Plan. This sets out how day-to-day responsibilities are carried out such as dental and medical appointments and who will attend school meetings.
You will be expected to work with our social services team to make sure the child’s needs are met.