Children's Services Policies, Values and Principles

1. Introduction

This policy sets out the framework within which Children's Services work with children, young people and their families. It is underpinned by a range of legislation including, but not limited to:

• Children Acts 1989 and 2004;
• Children (Leaving Care) Act 2000;
• Care Standards Act 2000;
• United Nations Convention on the Rights of The Child;
• Human Rights Act 1998;
• Adoption and Children Act 2002;
• Data Protection Legislation;
• Children and Families Act 2014;
• Children and Social Work Act 2017;
• Working Together to Safeguard Children 2023;
• Children's Social Care National Framework 2023.

It is largely directed towards the work that Children's Services undertakes with Children in Need and Looked After Children; which is carried out in partnership with all sectors of the Local Authority and with other statutory, independent and voluntary sector services.

2. A Shared Responsibility

Working Together to Safeguard Children emphasises the importance of multi-agency working ensuring a child-centred approach while also considering the family context. The guidance recognises the need to build positive, trusting and co-operative relationships with parents and carers to deliver support which is individually tailored to the needs of the family.

There are fundamental expectations to endeavour to work cooperatively which apply to all individuals, agencies and organisations working with children and families.

The Childrens Social Care National Framework contains national standards for how these services should be delivered.

This is statutory guidance and must be adhered to unless there is a valid reason not to do so.

3. Corporate Parenting

3.1 Corporate Parenting Responsibilities

The role that councils play in looking after children is one of the most important things they do. Local authorities have a unique responsibility to the children they look after and their care leavers.

The term 'corporate parent' is broadly understood by Directors of Children's Services and Lead Members for Children, as well as those working directly in Children's Services, in relation to how local authorities should approach their responsibilities for looked after children and care leavers. A strong ethos of corporate parenting means that sense of vision and responsibility towards the children they look after and their care leavers is a priority for everyone. Corporate Parenting is an important part of the Ofsted inspection framework and the Corporate Parenting Principles are referenced in Ofsted's Inspecting Local Authority Children's Services.

The Corporate Parenting Principles are intended to facilitate as far as possible secure, nurturing, and positive experiences for looked after children and young people and enable positive outcomes for them.

The experiences of looked-after children and care leavers, particularly in regards to whether they feel cared for and listened to, will therefore be an important measure of how successfully local authorities embed these principles.

3.2 Corporate Parenting Principles

The Corporate Parenting Principles set out seven principles that local authorities will have regard to when exercising their functions in relation to looked after children and young people, as follows:

• To act in the best interests, and promote the physical and mental health and wellbeing, of those children and young people;
• To encourage those children and young people to express their views, wishes and feelings;
• To take into account the views, wishes and feelings of those children and young people;
• To help those children and young people gain access to, and make the best use of, services provided by the local authority and its relevant partners;
• To promote high aspirations, and seek to secure the best outcomes, for those children and young people;
• For those children and young people to be safe, and for stability in their home lives, relationships and education or work; and
• To prepare those children and young people for adulthood and independent living.

The Corporate Parenting Principles do not replace or change existing legal duties, the principles are intended to encourage local authorities to be ambitious and aspirational for their looked-after children and care leavers.

In addition, Section 10 of the Children Act 2004 sets out the responsibility to make arrangements to promote co-operation between 'relevant partners' with a view to improving the well-being of children in their area. This should include arrangements in relation to looked-after children and care leavers. Section 10(5) of the 2004 Act places a duty on relevant partners to co-operate with the local authority in the making of these arrangements, therefore promoting and ensuring a joined-up approach to improving the well-being of children in their area.

4. Key Outcomes

The 5 key outcomes for all children identified in the Children Act 2004 remain relevant and enable the local authority, the People's Services Department and its practitioners to focus on the key aspects for all children. The performance indicators local authorities and partners use are structured around these outcomes.

Being healthy

All children and young people have the right to have their physical, emotional and mental health safeguarded and promoted. This includes reducing the childhood obesity level, lowering the rates of teen pregnancy in the UK and minimising the impact of suicide on young people. Where appropriate, they should be supported to develop a sense of well-being through:

• Build resilience;
• Develop their self image and confidence;
• Experience positive affirmation and encouragement.

All young people should be given the encouragement and opportunity to live a healthy lifestyle.

Staying Safe

All children and young people have the right to be safe and secure, protected from harm and neglect, and to live in an environment that enables them to develop to their full physical, mental, spiritual, moral and social potential. This includes being safe from a range of concerns. When they need help to achieve these outcomes it should be available in a timely way and delivered through effective interventions.

All children and young people have the right to family life wherever possible and to be supported to take part in community life. They have the right to a continuity of care wherever possible and to develop and preserve their own identities.

All children have a right to a loving and secure home and, where this cannot be provided by their birth parents and wider families, children should have the opportunity to experience this through adoption, special guardianship, child arrangement orders or long term fostering.

Enjoying and achieving

All children and young people have the right to good education and training which meets their identified needs and equips them to live full adult lives. Looked after children should have the opportunity to attend good schools, higher education/training establishments where they make the expected or greater than expected progress and effective use is made of the additional resources available for them through the pupil premium. All children (not forgetting young carers) have the right to time and support to pursue appropriate leisure interests.

Making a positive contribution

All children should be encouraged and supported to make an age-appropriate positive contribution wherever they are living or call 'home'. They will be able to do this best where they have a continuity of care, an understanding about their identity and information which they can use to make informed decisions about themselves. Therefore, contributing to their own lives.

Children, young people and care leavers should also be encouraged to take an interest in their communities, through school, higher education/training or local clubs, and to take part in activities which contribute to these and /or support others.

Economic well-being

All children have the right to be supported in their studies, to be prepared for adult life and work, and to be equipped with the skills and knowledge that will help them overcome any social disadvantage, become self-sufficient and able to make positive choices for themselves.

5. Key Principles

Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children will always be at the centre of the work Local Authorities and their partners undertake with children and their families. The child's needs are paramount, and the needs and wishes of each child, be they a baby or infant, or an older child, should be put first, so that every child receives the support they need before a problem escalates.

Children's Services, together with their local authority colleagues as corporate parents, will work to secure the above outcomes by working to enable a child's own family including their wider family to meet their needs. They will facilitate services, including early help services, to support children and families consistent with the child's safety and well-being.

Where a child cannot be cared for within his or her immediate family, strenuous efforts will be made to identify potential carers within the wider kinship network of the child who are able and willing to meet the needs and best interests of the child. If continuing care within his/her family is not possible, every effort will be made to identify suitable alternative carers through adoption or other forms of permanence. Efforts to secure the child's future must be timely and avoid delay. Children's Services will ensure that permanence plans are made for all looked after children within 4 months of their becoming looked after.

Children's Services will ensure that children who are looked after are placed in properly approved placements, suitable to meet their needs and that, wherever possible, siblings are placed together. They will be placed in a family placement unless there are assessed reasons why residential care or an alternative type of placement is the better option. Contact with their birth family should be promoted, and where required, supported, except where this may be contrary to the child's best interests.

If a young person remains in care until adulthood Children's Services will ensure that they are supported when they leave care, including through remaining in their foster placement (Staying Put), at least until they are 25 if in full time education, to give them a positive start to independent living. This support will include personal assistance with living independently and with accessing and making the most of education and employment opportunities.

Children, their parents and other significant adults will be consulted about plans for their care and these plans will be subject to regular independent review. Children and their families will be encouraged to take part in their reviews and can expect that their views will be listened to and will help shape the child's Plan.

Children's Services will ensure that children have access to advocacy services that will assist them in being heard, where this is appropriate.

6. Our Model of Practice

Buckinghamshire County Council Children's Services has adopted the Strengthening Families Framework as the practice approach for social work practitioners and managers to use when working with children and families. The Strengthening Families Framework provides a purposeful approach that is:

• Collaborative;
• Strengths-based; and
• Relationship-focused.

Strengthening Families is a way of working with families to prevent child abuse and neglect by building on family strengths, rather than focusing on their deficits. It offers a framework of five research-based protective factors to help parents and carers look after their children effectively, even when they are under stress.

• Developing parental resilience;
• Strengthening social connections for families;
• Increasing knowledge of parenting and development;
• Providing concrete support in times of need;
• Promoting healthy social and emotional development for children.

The Strengthening Families approach uses the following assessment and planning framework as a systematic way to analyse information, assess risk and develop a plan to protect children and young people.

Scaling Tool:

On a scale of 0 to 10, where 10 means that the parenting is 'good enough' and there is sufficient safety to indicate that social work intervention is no longer required, and 0 means that things are so serious the child/young person needs to be removed from the parent/carer immediately, use all the available information to rate how worried people are about the child/young person's situation. Ideally the scaling should take into account the perspectives of the parents/carers, other professionals and the allocated social worker and line manager.

The scaling tool can be re-visited over time and is a helpful way to assess any changing perceptions regarding the child's safety and well-being. It is also a helpful way to explore the underlying reasons for any significant differences that may occur in terms of different people's perceptions about the risk of significant harm for the child.

7. Children's Social Care National Framework

The Children's Social Care National Framework is a statutory guidance document that outlines the principles and objectives of children's social care in England.

The purpose of the National Framework is to bring together essential information for those working in local authority children's social care. It clarifies the purpose of children's social care, factors enabling good practice, and the desired outcomes for children and young people.

It provides guidance on what practitioners must do to comply with the law. It serves as a reference unless there is a valid reason not to follow it.

The National Framework is relevant not only to local authority staff but also to safeguarding partners and agencies collaborating with children's social care.

Practitioners can access supplementary resources, including:

Illustrated Guide: Designed for children and young people, this guide explains what they should expect from the help and care they receive.

Animated Guide: Available on YouTube, this animated guide provides an engaging overview of the framework.

A British Sign Language captioned and audio summary version.

An easy-read version for enhanced accessibility