Family Based Care Service - Continuing Care and Adult Placement Service

1. To keep children and young people safe the service should ensure that there are robust risk assessment practices and that risk assessments are in place for all children and young people which are regularly reviewed when circumstances change. The service should also ensure that bedroom sharing risk assessments form part of this assessment where required. This is to ensure that care and support is consistent with the Health and Social Care Standards (HSCS) which state that: ‘My care and support meets my needs and is right for me’ (HSCS 1.19).2. To support children and young people to experience their care in a safe and planned way, with full consideration of needs and strengths within a caring household, the service should ensure they develop clear policy and procedure which details clear timescales for review and return to panel for situations where children and young people are living with caregivers out with their approval. This is to ensure that care and support is consistent with the Health and Social care Standards (HSCS) which state that “My care and support is consistent and stable because people work well together” (HSCS 3.19) and “I benefit from a culture of continuous improvement, with the organisation having robust and transparent quality assurance processes” (HSCS 4.19).

1. To ensure panel members feel confident in their role, and that those attending panel have confidence that panel members are competent in their role the service should, at a minimum, have clear training expectations, and provide an annual appraisal of panel members and the panel chair.

This is to ensure that care and support is consistent with the Health and Social Care Standards (HSCS) which state that: ‘I have confidence in people because they are trained, competent and skilled, are able to reflect on their practice and follow professional and organisational codes’ (HSCS 3.14).

2. Children, young people and caregivers get the service which is right for them through achieving clarity and good practice in respect of caregiver approval. To do this, the provider must as a minimum, undertake an immediate review of all caregiver approvals and ensure these reflect national descriptors and is in line with guidance and regulations. This is to ensure that care and support is consistent with the Health and Social Care Standards (HSCS) which state that: ‘I am in the right place to experience the care and support I need and want” (HSCS 1.20) and; ‘I experience high quality care and support based on relevant evidence, guidance and best practice” (HSCS 4.11).

3. To ensure the service can take learning from unplanned endings for children and young people with caregivers, the service should improve how these situations are reviewed. This should include but is not limited to: a) Identifying clear learning points from unplanned ending meetings. b) Considering learning that can be taken from unplanned endings within interim care arrangements. This is to ensure that care and support is consistent with the Health and Social Care Standards (HSCS) which state that: “I benefit from a culture of continuous improvement, with the organisation having robust and transparent quality assurance processes”. (HSCS 4.19)