Policy for the Movement of Registered Foster Carers Between Agencies

• To ensure continuity of care for City of York children in placement during any transfer of foster carers between fostering services;
• To minimise the length of time taken in the transfer process;
• To provide a framework for the negotiation of the financial implications of the transfer between services;
• To ensure that foster carers are not pressurised into changing their fostering service.

The recruitment of the foster carer's must be confirmed to be within the guidance of the Fostering Network - Transfer of Foster Carers Protocol. City of York respect that:

• Foster carers must not be approached to explore the possibility of their application for a legal order in respect of a child which would mean that they no longer foster that child (e.g. Child Arrangements Order, Special Guardianship, Adoption) without the knowledge of the carers fostering service;
• Foster carers must not be required to change fostering service in order to secure agreement to a plan for a child.

Where there is a child/ren in placement, foster carers must give written notice of their intention to consider moving to another agency both to the current service and to City of York Placement Service and any other placing authority where different.

Upon receipt of the written notice the placement service must inform the child's IRO of the intended change in placement provision.

Within 28 days of the written notice, the placement service should convene a meeting chaired by a placement service manager to include:

• The child/children's social worker(s);
• The current fostering service (manager and/or supervising social worker);
• The recruiting fostering service (manager and/or supervising social worker);
• The foster carer/s;
• Contract officer;
• Any other local authority representatives relating to other children placed;
• Any other key professional deemed appropriate to the meeting and agreed by the chair.

Should City of York not convene the meeting for a child placed, the child's social worker, contract officer and commissioning manager must attend the other local authorities meeting.

The meeting will consider the following:

• Transfer of Carers: Meeting Minutes form;
• Any decisions made during the child's latest case review, particularly in respect of whether it is in their best interests to continue in their current placement and how their Care Plan will continue to be followed;
• How the move of the foster carer to another fostering agency may affect each child in placement;
• The particular support needs of the child and the foster carer and how they will be provided by the new fostering agency;
• The circumstances in which the recruiting agency may use any other placement vacancy once the transfer has been completed;
• The arrangements for approval by the recruiting agency and termination of the foster carer's approval by the current agency. The arrangements should be coordinated to ensure continuity of approval, and that transfer is made on a mutually agreed date;
• Parallel arrangements for timing a transfer of responsibility for the payment of fees and allowances to the foster carer (Section 5, Payments involving Transfers between Independent Fostering Services);
• The views of the child, parent and any other interested parties. (These views should be sought and represented by the child/children's social worker).

Where the placement is not to continue, the arrangements to move the child/children to an alternative placement, including a time frame for such a move. The move should be completed within 3 months unless there are exceptional circumstances why this cannot be achieved. In these circumstances all parties should agree a revised timetable.

A timetable for the approval of the foster carer by the recruiting service. The expectations are that assessment and training will take place and that they will be completed within 2 to 4 months of the meeting taking place and not more than 8 months of receipt of their application by the recruiting agency. NMS 14.4 (England only).

When a foster carer seeks to move to a new provider, the new provider seeks information from the previous provider about the prospective foster carer, and the previous provider complies with such a request within 1 month of receipt of the written request. (NMS 26.9).

In the interest of safeguarding the welfare of children in placement, the onus will be on the current service to prepare a comprehensive, accurate reference and on the recruiting service to undertake a comprehensive re-assessment.

The recruiting service must request a reference from the current service. On receipt of that request, the current service will provide the recruiting service with a comprehensive written reference within 28 days. The foster carer must be given a copy of this reference by the current service, unless there are reasons relating to the safeguarding of children which prevent this.

The reference should include the areas in the guidance within the Fostering Network - Transfer of Foster Carers Protocol.

The current service should keep the recruiting service updated, in writing, of any significant developments between the issue of the reference and the foster carer's approval by the recruiting service.

An assessment by the recruiting service should be postponed if the foster carer is subject to a current investigation of allegations, or if there is an investigation relating to significant concerns about their practice, until the outcome of the process is known.