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The Children’s Views, Wishes and Feelings Standard
Regulation 7
This chapter covers arrangements for children placed in residential care to have contact with their parents, anyone with Parental Responsibility who is not a parent, siblings, any relative, friend or other person connected with the child.
Social Visits (Including Overnight Stays) Procedure
Please also see Surrey Children’s Services Procedures Manual.
The Children Act 1989 Guidance and Regulations - Volume 2: Care Planning, Placement and Case Review
Section 4, Supervised Contact was updated in January 2023 to reflect a finding by the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman that the supervisor's observations of the contact must be clearly recorded in the child's record and shared with the parents within 3 months of the visit.
Also see: Section 5, Cancellation, Suspension or Termination of Contact.
Subject to any requirements imposed by a court in relation to contact, children living in the Home will have appropriate, carefully assessed, supported contact (direct and/or indirect) with their family, friends and other people who are important to them, such as previous carers, with no unnecessary restrictions in place. Staff will work proactively and positively with parents and former carers to promote meaningful and safe contact and continuity of care where appropriate.
As part of the placement planning process, the social worker should consult the home’s manager to ensure that proper arrangements are in place for the child to have contact with their family and significant others; particularly when the child is placed at a distance away from their family home. No contact may be permitted between children and their parents, friends or relatives (which include grandparents and half siblings) without the approval of the social worker, and must be consistent with arrangements outlined in the child's Care Plan. All staff must be familiar with the level of contact that has been recorded as appropriate in respect of each child.
Both the arrangements for contact and any contact details (telephone numbers etc.) must be included in the Placement Plan agreed between the registered person and the child’s placing authority and updated regularly.
For many children, relationships with members of their family, previous carers, friends and others are incredibly important. Contact can help children and young people develop their sense of identity and better understand their lives, as well as helping to support successful placements.
One of the key principles of the Children Act 1989 is the presumption that there should be continued contact between the child and their family while the child is in the care of the local authority (unless it is not reasonably practicable or consistent with the child’s welfare). The responsible authority has a duty to endeavour to promote contact between the child and:
Contact arrangements should be focused on, and shaped around, the child’s needs. The social worker should, as part of the assessment process, identify those people who the child wants to maintain contact with.
Arrangements for contact will be set out in the child's Care Plan, and the home’s placement plan and must take account of any Child Protection Plan or Contact Order that may be in force.
So far as it is reasonably practicable, the wishes and feelings of the parents must be ascertained before a decision about contact arrangements is made.
The purpose of the contact and how it will be evaluated must be made clear in the plan. Contact arrangements should be focused on, and shaped around, the child’s needs. The child’s welfare is the paramount consideration at all times and each child’s wishes and needs for contact should be individually considered and regularly assessed and reviewed. The wishes and feelings of the child should be ascertained, wherever possible, using advocacy and communication services if necessary.
Both direct and indirect contact arrangements should always be clearly detailed setting out how contact will take place, the venue, the frequency and how the arrangements will be evaluated and reviewed. The use of mobile communication and social media use should also be considered.
Maintaining contact with siblings from both the same or different parents who cannot be placed together should be prioritised. Independent Reviewing Officers should ensure that Looked After Reviews consider whether contact arrangements including sibling contact in Care Plans has been implemented and that the child is happy with the contact – both its frequency and its quality. The IRO should inform the child that they can access Advocacy Services if they have a complaint.
The Children’s Home staff must ensure they are familiar with the arrangements for children to keep in touch with their family and friends, including any restrictions. They should provide regular updates to the child’s social worker and IRO on children’s views about their contact with others, and also any observations about the impact on children (positive and negative) of their contact with others.
Suitable facilities must be provided within the Home for all children to meet privately at any reasonable time with their parents, friends, relatives or any of the following:
A disabled child accommodated in the Home must be provided with access to such aids and equipment as necessary to facilitate the child’s communication with others.
There may be circumstances where staff assess that it is necessary to impose conditions, prohibitions or restrictions on access to communication in the interests of the child, to safeguard them or promote their welfare. This decision should not be taken lightly and must be agreed with the placing authority, where possible, except in an emergency situation, where the placing authority must be notified within 24 hours.
Appropriate forms of contact should be promoted and facilitated for each child, including where appropriate visits to the child in the Home; visits by the child to relatives and/or friends; letters, emails and texts; use of social media and other forms of contact via the internet.
Face to face meetings and visits will generally be the best way of maintaining relationships, but other means such as letters, mobile communication, social media use, photograph exchanges etc. should be borne in mind. Responsible authorities and carers should work together to explore how electronic media can support positive relationships for children. Children should be supported to ensure they are safe online rather than this form of contact being avoided. It may be useful to encourage young people to share details of how they communicate with others (this may include mobile phones or other social networking sites and apps and consoles such as Xbox or Play Station) and an agreement reached between the young person, social worker and staff about how safely to do this.
See also: Safe Use of the Internet, Social Media and Photographs Procedure.The need to supervise contact should be considered as part of the assessment and planning process by the social worker and their manager. It is the responsibility of the child’s social worker to ensure that the person(s) supervising contact is appropriately skilled and experienced to do so. In many cases it will be preferable for children’s home staff to supervise the contact, being a familiar person for the child, and enabling them to support the child before, during and after the time with their family or friends.
The primary focus of the assessment of this issue will be the safety and welfare of the child.
Where supervised contact is deemed necessary, the reasons should be clearly recorded and the role of the supervisor or supervisors clearly defined.
A written risk assessment must be completed before supervised contacts begin.
This assessment must take account of all factors that could impact on the success of supervised contact and relevant safeguards including:
Where any of the above features in the risk assessment, and supervised contact is to continue, the risk assessment must state the specific measures to be put in place to minimise risks. The assessment must then be approved and signed by the social worker's Team Manager.
Where supervised contact takes place, the detailed arrangements for the supervision must be set out in the Placement Plan.
In addition, there should be a written agreement with the parents and other relevant parties having supervised contact, signed by them, which should state clearly any specific conditions relating to the contact and any expectations placed on the parents or relevant parties:
The agreement should state the adults who will be allowed to attend for supervised contact and supervisors should be asked to apply that strictly.
Particular attention should be given to when and how visits are ended. It may be more appropriate that all “goodbyes” take place indoors.
Significant changes to Care Plans, court proceedings and/or decisions made about the frequency of future contact are all likely to be potential tension points so extra vigilance should apply at any contacts arranged around these times.
The staff and any other person involved in the supervision of the contact should have copies of the Placement Plan and the agreement with the parents or relevant adults.
Where possible, those supervising the contact should be known to the child and the family before the supervised contact takes place.
In the event of problems emerging, the supervisors must be clear who to contact and what details they will need to share.
The supervisor’s observations of the contact must be clearly recorded in the child’s record and shared with the parents within 3 months of the visit.
The supervisor must immediately report to the social worker any concerns about the child or parents’ conduct during the contact. The social worker in consultation with their manager should consider the need to review the risk assessment and/or the contact arrangements in light of the concerns expressed.
The social worker and their manager should keep contact arrangements, including the continuing need for supervision, under regular review.
The risk assessment in relation to the arrangements for supervising contact must be reviewed at least every six months, or sooner if any incident or report identifies concerns.
Where the child is the subject of a Child Protection Plan, the contact arrangements should also be reviewed as required in the Child Protection Plan.
Any significant reactions that the child has to contact should be reported to the child's social worker by those observing contact arrangements and/or supervisors of contact.
The contact arrangements should also be reviewed in any Placement Planning Meeting and at the child's Looked After Review.
Where a Contact Order is in force and it is considered that the contact arrangements set out in the Order should be altered, the agreement of the child and the parents should be sought and legal advice should be obtained as to the need to seek a variation of the Court Order.There may be circumstances where staff assess that it is necessary to impose conditions, prohibitions or restrictions on contact in the interests of the child, to safeguard them or promote their welfare. This decision should not be taken lightly and must be agreed with the placing authority (child’s social worker), where possible, except in an emergency situation, where the placing authority must be notified within 24 hours.
Contact should never be cancelled unless there is a very good reason, e.g. it is deemed that it would not be safe for it to take place or the child/ adult/sibling attending is too unwell for it to take place. Contact should take place in accordance with the child’s Placement Plan, Court Order and any Court Directions.
If contact is cancelled, the social worker or, if the social worker is not available, the staff must ensure that the child and, as far as practicable, the parent or relevant adult is informed in advance and that the reason for the decision is explained. The social worker or staff should arrange an alternative contact.
Contact arrangements must not be withdrawn as a sanction imposed on a child.
Any proposal to suspend or terminate the contact should be considered as part of the child’s Looked After Review, unless the circumstances require an urgent decision to be made, in which case the social worker must be consulted and legal advice should be obtained.
Any such proposal should be made in the context of the overall aims and objectives of the Care Plan.
Even where it is not possible to hold a Looked After Review because of the urgency of the situation, the reasons for the proposal must be explained to the parents and to the child, and their agreement obtained if possible.
Where the proposal is to suspend the contact, the length and purpose of the suspension together with the basis upon which contact will be reinstated must be made clear.
Where the child is the subject of an Emergency Protection Order, Interim Care Order or full Care Order, an application to the Court for authority to terminate the contact will always be necessary if contact is to be suspended for more than 7 days.
Staff should always be mindful of the importance of contact for children and work with children and their social workers to ensure there are suitable arrangements, outlined in their placement plan, for children to keep in contact with those people who are important to them.
Staff should ensure children are supported to manage their feelings about their contact with others and this might mean doing direct work with them before and after planned contact to prepare for the session and to support them afterwards.
Link workers should regularly talk with children about who is important to them in their network, and how they can maintain contact appropriately and safely, and in accordance with their overall care plan. This should include the safe use of social media.
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