What happens if an allegation is made against me or my family?

Occasionally allegations and complaints are made against foster carers or those in their family. Obviously, this can be a difficult and distressing situation.

When a child is staying with you, their social worker will provide you with all relevant information needed to keep them safe, including details of any abuse or neglect they have experienced, and/or previous allegations made by the child.

All foster carers will receive training and guidance on how to provide a safe home environment for any children in their care and all other members of the foster family. You will also be provided with information on how to access the relevant Local Safeguarding and Child Protection Procedures. It is important that, on an on-going basis, you record in writing, with the time and date, any incidents or concerns involving children in your care and any complaints made by the child or their family as they can provide important evidence if an allegation is made.

• Ensure that you carefully consider the referring information, and seek additional clarity if needed from the practitioner who accompanies the child during the initial visit or introduction;
• Sometimes, concerns about a child will not be fully appreciated until more in-depth assessment is undertaken. Be prepared to raise any queries that you, as a foster carer, have at the Placement Planning Meeting (which should be held during the first 5 working days of the initial placement) or before if required;
• Keep a daily record with time references of any concerns or incidents which occur;
• Be clear on 'house rules' and expectations around behaviour and ensure all members of the household are aware of these;
• Develop your own Safer Caring Family Agreement to keep everyone safe, this should consider who in the household may be vulnerable to allegations;
• Be aware of and have a copy of the allegations pack. If you do not have a copy, please request one through your Supervising Social Worker.
• Follow the training you have received and access support from your Supervising Social Worker. The Safer Caring mandatory training covers the allegations process; The Safer Caring mandatory training covers the allegations process. We also commission an allegations course run by Fostertalk. Please see your Learning Pool site for up-to-date training information;
• Build a positive relationship with the child, using the Secure Base Model to underpin your fostering, which will increase the likelihood of a child talking to you about their concerns or worries or prevent situations escalating.
• Make sure you have appropriate insurance cover;
• When needed, or if you feel unsure, approach your Supervising Social Worker to ask for advice and guidance in a timely way on any concerns you may have; and
• Work closely with other professionals, taking on board any practice advice or information provided. It is important you also share this with your Supervising Social Worker and Child’s Social Worker of any concerns or observations.

If an allegation is made, support will be given both to the child making the allegation and the person who is the subject of the allegation.

When allegations are made it is important that you feel supported and seek. It can be a difficult and worrying time for you as a foster carer and as a family. At the point of allegation, you can access support from ESFCA, a charity run by East Sussex foster carers. Alternatively, your SSW will be able to direct you to a neutral advocate through Fostertalk or you can chose to go via Fostering Network as part of your membership.

The allegation will be investigated quickly, fairly and confidentially in line with the Multi-Agency Safeguarding Children Procedures (trix please link to https://sussexchildprotection.procedures.org.uk/page/contents). All investigations into allegations are overseen by a Designated Officer in East Sussex County Council (trix please link to  https://www.esscp.org.uk/professionals/lado/) (also called the LADO) who will coordinate and oversee allegations and monitor the progress of cases to ensure they are handled as quickly as possible consistent with a fair process.

Where there are concerns that a child has suffered significant harm, a multi-agency Strategy Meeting will be called within 2 working days of the allegation being made or received to decide whether an investigation by Children’s Social Care Services and/or the Police is required and if so, how it will be carried out. At the strategy meeting it will also be decided whether the allegation meets the Section 47 threshold or not. Any that do meet the threshold of Section 47 will follow the allegations process and this is a professional meeting about decisions and safeguarding of the children. You will not be invited to this meeting but will be informed of the outcome decision and actions agreed to safeguarding children in your care.

Any Strategy Meeting will also consider whether, due to the nature of the allegation, your own children should be considered as part of a S47 enquiry.

If it is decided that the allegation does not meet the threshold for Section 47, there may still be a decision to deal with the matter as a complaint or as a Standards of Care concern. A Standards of Care concern is an internal process which focuses on training and targeted support but may also include a review of your approval.

You will be given the chance to respond to the allegation before a final decision is made about what action to take. Your views and opinions will be sought in any work undertaken by the social worker working with you and your allegation.

The minutes of the Strategy Meeting and any relevant information will be held on your record. In some situations depending on the seriousness and nature of any allegation, East Sussex County Council may look for a new carer to care for the child and a decision may be made not to place any other children with you during the investigation and until there is an outcome to the investigation. If East Sussex County Council do decide to move the child, the maintenance element of your fostering allowance will stop, and professional allowance could continue for a period of up to 3 months.

Your Supervising Social Worker will not be able to discuss all the details of the allegation with you during the investigation as it could compromise the investigation. This can be really emotionally challenging. You can access free support through the East Sussex Foster Care Association (ESFCA) and through FosterTalk. You are also able to get legal advice from Fostering Network as part of your membership.

Sometimes a child living with foster carers might make an allegation of abuse. Possible reasons for this include:

• They have been abused in foster care.
• To bring attention to past abuse for the first time and because you or someone in the household is trusted;
• Misinterpreting an innocent action (sometimes this is due to sensory processing difficulties);
• As a way to have some control over their life which may seem out of control;
• They may have a personal grudge, perhaps after having been refused something;
• They may think it could result in them returning home;
• As an expression of their distress or to prompt a visit from their social worker
• To bring an end to a foster placement;
• They may have been influenced by people in their family or by their friends.

You should work alongside the child’s allocated social worker to identify any additional support which could be provided to the child.

The outcome of the investigation into the allegation may:

• Recommend that the child is transferred to another foster family on a short term or permanent basis;
• Ask that a member of your household resides elsewhere, at least on a temporary basis. (Note that this will not include your child);
• Identify additional training needs for you;
• Recommend that the Fostering Panel considers your approval category or considers your suitability to continue as a foster carer (see: Reviewing My Approval and Appeals Procedure).

If a child or other person tells you about any concerns they have in relation to another person, you should inform your Supervising Social Worker or the child’s social worker as soon as possible or within 24 hours. If you are concerned that the child is at immediate risk of harm, always contact the Police and then inform the out of hours service.

It is important to note that, although there may be insufficient evidence to support a Police prosecution in some cases, this does not mean that action cannot be taken to protect a child and the possible termination of your approval could be considered.

See also: Reviewing My Approval and Appeals Procedure.

If, as a result of the investigation into any allegation or Standards of Care concern, the Fostering Service identifies that you should no longer be a foster carer, or seeks to change your category of approval, and you are unhappy with this, you can challenge this decision by making a representation in writing within 28 days to the fostering service provider or the Independent Review Mechanism (IRM) (see: Information about the IRM for Foster Carers).

Concerns regarding standards of care, complaints or child protection allegations regarding foster carers are dealt with under one or more of the following procedures.

1. Standards of Care Procedures;
2. Complaints Procedure;
3. Child Protection (allegations) Procedures.

The standards of care procedure applies to situations where it is considered that  standards and minimum standards in foster care are not being met. A criticism or concern about the conduct, attitude and practice of a foster carer would be investigated under this procedure. For example, it would be applied to situations such as concerns about clothing, contentious interactions with birth parents, inadequate supervision of foster children, not seeking appropriate medical advice for a child, inappropriate management of behaviours and any practices by foster carers which may be viewed as discriminatory etc.

East Sussex’s complaints procedure is available to any young person or parent wishing to make representation or complaints. The complaints procedure can be used alone, or in conjunction with the standards of care procedures and the child protection procedures.

The child protection procedures apply to situations where there are allegations of abuse or suspected abuse by a foster carer, or a member of the foster carer’s household as described above.

Where it is unclear whether the issue being raised is a standards of care matter or a child protection issue, the child protection procedure should be initiated in the first instance.

If it is subsequently decided that this is not appropriate, then the child protection procedures may be suspended and the matter dealt with under the standards of care or complaints procedures. In any child protection matter, there may also be issues of Standards of Care arising, but child protection issues will always take precedence.

Principles of the standards of care procedures

Complaints and concerns against foster carers are an inevitable result of the increasingly complex and sensitive work with children that foster carers are now required to undertake.

Complaints by or on behalf of a child cared for by East Sussex County Council’s Children’s Services Department will always be taken seriously, even when there may be a conflict between the Council’s legal responsibilities for the care and protection of a foster child and its obligation to provide support for a foster carer.

The overriding principle will be that the needs of the child are paramount, but Children’s Services will also respect the rights and interests of its foster carers.

If a complaint is made or concerns are raised about standards of care against a foster carer, the information will be shared immediately with the following:

• The supervising social worker;
• The relevant fostering service practice manager;
• The foster child’s locality social worker;
• The practice manager responsible for the locality social worker.

The practice manager for the foster carers supervising social worker will make the decision as to whether to pursue a complaint or concerns about standards of care under the standards of care procedures. This will occur following a decision by the Locality Children & Family Team that the implementation of child protection procedures is not appropriate.

The practice manager for the foster carers’ supervising social worker is responsible for ensuring that the following steps take place within 28 days:

• The complaint may initially be communicated verbally, but must be put in writing in order to proceed with the standards of care procedure;
• Information about the standards of care concern is gathered and collated by both the supervising social worker and the child’s social worker;
• A joint visit may be made by the supervising social worker and child’s social worker to share concerns with the foster carer and seek clarification. However, the decision as to who will make this visit will be decided by the fostering service practice manager, who will take into consideration the level of skill and expertise of staff and their ability to be objective and fair in their approach;
• The outcome of this visit is fed back to both practice managers.

Action

The following options are available and action may include a combination of the following:

• No further action;
• Further discussion with the foster carers about the concerns, which must be recorded in the foster carers’ supervision record;
• The development of a specific training and development programme to help address the concerns;
• To bring forward the foster carers Annual Review, with a report and specific recommendations to the Fostering Panel;
• Child protection procedures to be initiated.

Outcome

The Head of Looked After Children’s Services should be informed of the outcome of any investigation regarding Standards of Care and the action taken.

Recording

The outcome of the investigation and any action to be taken must be communicated to all parties, including foster carers, with expediency and clarity.

For any further information pertaining to allegations, please see the Allegations Supporting Information Folder in local resources.