Children in Care Review (S) - Review documentation

The looked-after or child-in-care review forms part of a continuous planning process - reviewing decisions to date and planning future work.

The purpose of the review is to ensure that the child's welfare is safeguarded and promoted in the most effective way throughout the period he or she is looked after or accommodated. Progress in safeguarding and providing for the child's welfare should be examined and monitored at every review and the plan for the child amended as necessary to reflect any significant change.

Care Matters signals a change in terminology from “looked-after child” to “child-in-care”. The latter is the favoured term in Bristol but, until ICS terminology is updated and the social care procedure manual can be amended in its entirety, the term “looked-after child” or LAC must prevail. For now, the terms may be used interchangeably.

The policy for looked-after children is laid down by the Children Act 1989, The Children Act 1989 Guidance and Regulations Volume 3, Chapter 8 and the Integrated Children's System Guidance.

Approved 3 October 2008

Policy

The policy for looked-after children is laid down by the Children Act 1989, The Children Act 1989 Guidance and Regulations Volume 3, Chapter 8, the Reviews of Children's Cases Regulations 1991 and the Integrated Children's System Guidance, 2002.

The Looked After Child Review (LAC Review) is required:

for the child who is looked after and has a Child's Care Plan ; and
for the young person who is looked after and has a Pathway Plan .

The time-scale for the LAC Review

LAC Review	From first day of being looked after	From the date of previous LAC Review
First	28 Days	-
Second	4 Months	3 Months
Third	10 Months	6 Months
Fourth	16 Months	6 Months
Thereafter	-	6 Months

The LAC Review is the formal means of:

monitoring and recording a looked after child's developmental progress over time;
identifying where needs are being met, partially met or are unmet; and
identifying and recommending any changes to the Child's Care Plan, or a young person's Pathway Plan.

The ICS LAC Review form is in two parts:

Part One is a review of the impact of actions and services provided to a child or young person and family, and records key changes. It should completed by the social worker with responsibility for the child or young person's case.

Part Two sets out a summary of the discussion and decisions for the child/young person's record. It should be completed by the reviewing manager at the end of the review process for the child or young person.

Basic expectations of the three key parties to the review of a child in care

*Role*	*Expectations*	*Timing*
S o c i a l w o r k e r	Completes Placement Information Record	At the time of placement
	Completes Child's Care Plan Part One	At the time of placement
	Completes/updates Child's Care Plan Part Two	In time for the review
	Completes LAC Review Part One (report to review meeting) including the full list of invitees	In time to notify reviewing manager three days prior to r/v
	Updates the child's chronology and attaches to LAC Review Part One in Document Details	In time to notify reviewing manager three days prior to r/v
	Notifies the reviewing manager, linking to LAC Review Report and Child's Care Plan	Three working days prior to the review meeting
T e a m m a n a g e r	Ensures that the child has an up-to-date Child's Care Plan on PARIS	By the first review, 28 days from first placement
	Approves the social worker's report, LAC Review Part One - indicated by “Form Completion” in PARIS	Three working days prior to the date of the review
	Ensures that the social worker's report is good enough	Three working days prior to the date of the review
	Ensures that a core assessment has been commenced and completed as appropriate	Within 35 days of commencement.
R e v i e w i n g m a n a g e r	Ensures that the review goes ahead as planned	Within mandatory time scales
	Notifies the team manager of the necessity of the Child's Care Plan for the next review	If it has not been provided for the latest review
	Completes LAC Review Part Two for distribution	Within ten working days of the review

Procedure

Abbreviations

ARP = Access to Resources Panel
ASAP = as soon as possible
DCSF = Department for Children, Schools and Families
ICPC = initial child protection conference
ICS = Integrated Children's System
LAd = LAC administration
LAC = Looked-after child/ren
PIR = Placement Information Record
RM = reviewing manager
RS = reviewing service
SRM = senior reviewing manager
SW = social worker
TM = team manager

	*Agent*	*Action*	*Timing*
1	TM	Determines that gate-keeping eligibility criteria are met – see Gate-keeping Policy	Prior to referral to ARP
1a	TM	Receives approval of the Access to Resources Panel to accommodate the child
2	SW	Receives nominated placement for child
3	SW	Completes Placement Information Record	Immediately prior to placement
3a	TM	Conducts Reunification Planning Meeting, if the child was placed in emergency – see Gate-keeping Policy	Within 5 working days of placement
4	SW	Completes Child's Care Plan Parts One and Two	14 days of placement
5	SW	Commences Core Assessment, if one has not been completed in the past twelve months	To be completed within 35 days
6	SW	Makes PARIS referral to Reviewing Service for appointment of RM	Upon placement
7	SRM	Appoints RM - within one working day of referral	Within one day
8	RM	Contacts SW to arrange date of review	Within one day
9	SW	Makes arrangements for the review meeting	asap
9a	SW	Consults TM and completes LAC Review Part One, referring to recent assessments and plans	During the month prior to the review
10	SW	Consults RM, if there's a need for a series of meetings for the review or to exclude people from the process
10a	SW	Discusses LAC Review Part One with the parents and carers
10b	SW	Discusses LAC Review Part One with the child, according to their age and understanding
10c	SW	Discusses LAC Review Part One with all interested parties, including RM and TM, as appropriate
10d	SW	Provides consultation papers to relevant parties, including the child, upon which they may contribute in writing to the review	Not less that ten working days prior to the review meeting
10e	SW	Considers variety of ways to elicit the child's views	Not less that ten working days prior to the review meeting
11	SW	Completes LAC Review Part One in PARIS, including arranging to enter review invitees list in full on PARIS
12	SW	Creates/updates the child's chronology and attaches to LAC Review Part One in Document Details. [see Guidance]
12a	TM	Approves SW report to LAC Review (Form Completion)
13	SW	Notifies RM LAC Review Part One is available in PARIS	Three working days prior to the review
14	SW	Notifies RM that Child's Care Plan is available in PARIS
15	SW	Notifies RM that child's chronology is ready (Not necessary, if attached to LAC Review.)
16		Day of review Deadline for SW to notify RM the LAC Review Part One is ready Monday Wednesday, the week before Tuesday Thursday, the week before Wednesday Friday, the week before Thursday Monday of this week Friday Tuesday of this week
17	SW	Discusses controversial matters with relevant parties, as appropriate, including child, birth parents and carers	Prior to the review meeting
18	SW	Brings copies of LAC Review Part One for participants	Review meeting
18a	SW	Brings copy for RM of Personal Education Plan, Health Action Plan and Adoption Support Plan, as appropriate
18b	RM	Brings own copy of LAC Review, Child's Care Plan and Chronology
19	SW	Brings or receives consultation papers by participants	Review meeting
20	RM	Reviews the child's care plan and progress and sets tasks, including a decision on the method of providing the child and parents with a copy each of the notes	Review meeting
21	RM	Completes “instant result” record of review	Immediately
22	RM	Passes “instant result” and consultation papers to LAd	The day after
23	LAd	Completes LAC Review Part Two in PARIS, scans and attaches consultation papers
24	LAd	Notifies RM LAC Review on PARIS
25	LAd	Sends original consultation papers to SW
26	RM	Proofs and authorises LAC Review in PARIS
27	RM	Notifies LAC Admin that LAC Review is ready
28	LAd	Notifies relevant PARIS-users LAC Review is available
29	LAd	Copies and distributes LAC Review to people without access to PARIS, including a copy to SW for parents, unless decided otherwise by the RM
29a	LAd	Gets RM to sign paper versions for distribution
30	LAd	Sets bring-forward for two weeks prior to the next review
31	LAd	Sends reminder to SW (cc TM) of forthcoming review	Ten working days to review
32	SW	Contacts RM about change to arrangements, in consultation with TM, as only RM may postpone or cancel and decide who to exclude from the review meeting, if this is necessary.	Five working days prior to review
33		Start again at row 11 above

Approved 03 October 2008

Guidance

Gate-keeping policy

You must refer to the current policy for prevailing eligibility criteria to accommodate a child.

Chronology

For now, you must continue to provide the chronology in the free-text (Star Office) document, attaching the file to the relevant LAC Review report in PARIS in Document Details. The new, improved, ICS-PARIS Chronology will be with us soon, for which you'll be provided with training on its use, in due course.

Protracted LAC review process

The procedure assumes that the LAC review procedure is carried out by the reviewing manager as a one-off event, in a single meeting. However, there are circumstances where the reviewing manager may require a series of sessions involving different people. For the purpose of administration, the date of the review will be determined by the date of the first of the series.

ICS LAC Review Record Part One

The social worker is required to include details of:

the social work interventions (including visits and meetings) since the completion of the Core Assessment or becoming a looked after child or since the last LAC Review.
the actions and services provided, both planned and unplanned, to address the child's needs regarding their health, education, emotional and behavioural development, identity, family and social relationships, social presentation, and self care skills.
the actions and services provided, both planned and unplanned within the birth family to address the parental capacity to provide basic care, safety, emotional warmth, stimulation, guidance and boundaries and stability to the child looked after.
the dates and nature of all changes in the child/young person’s circumstances including: changes in the child/young person’s birth household composition (including the birth of younger siblings); beginning or end of period of child protection registration; beginning or end of care episode; and /or bereavement since the last assessment or review:

ICS LAC Review Record Part Two

The social worker is required to give a concise summary in each subsection addressing these questions:

How far have planned outcomes been achieved or partially achieved?
What actions or services were the most effective?

Are there continuing or newly identified needs?

The independent reviewing officer should:

evaluate the extent to which the plan is meeting the needs of the child or young person; and
identify any changes that are required in the light of information presented at the Review. It is essential to record the reasons for changes to the plan(s) for the child/young person), for instance any changes required in the contact arrangements for the child;
consider whether the appropriate plans require updating following the review (viz. Child's Plan, Child's Care Plan, Child Protection Plan, Personal Education Plan, Health Plan, Placement Information, Pathway Plan, or Adoption Plan;
record the child’s participation in the review process;
give a summary of the review discussions;
agree with participants and record the date of the next review;
record all agreements and give details if any participant in the review process who disagrees with the any of the decisions/recommendations;
provide a copy of Part Two of the Looked After Child Review form to all participants.

The Looked After Child Review will provide an opportunity for all participants to have their views about the Child's Care Plan recorded, independently of the allocated social worker and their team manager.

The Looked After Child Review will update or renew the Child's Care Plan and give a clear record of the long-term arrangements for a child’s future, including, the details of what services and actions are required in order to meet the child’s identified developmental needs during the period they are looked after.

Approved 03 October 2008

Children & Young People's Services

3. Children in Care Review (S)