Amendments

• Assessment and Approval of Prospective Adopters.

A new Section 4, Multi-Agency Process Guidance has been added.

This chapter has been updated. Amendments have been made in:

• Section 5, Leaving Care Assessment of Needs - in relation to children who are victims of trafficking or unaccompanied asylum seeking children;
• Section 7, Reviews of Pathway Plans - in relation to Relevant/Former Relevant young people moving to 'unregulated' accommodation; and
• Section 8, Personal Advisers - in relation to frequency of visits by Personal Advisers.

• Placement Panel Form;
• Financial Support for Adopters (Practice Guidance).

This chapter has been updated in line with the Children and Social Work Act 2017 and revised statutory guidance which require schools, through the designated teacher to provide support to previously Looked After Children.

This chapter has been updated in line with the Children and Social Work Act 2017 and revised statutory guidance.

These changes relate to the status of ‘previously looked after children’. A previously Looked After Child is one who is no longer looked after in England and Wales because they are the subject of an Adoption, Special Guardianship or Child Arrangements Order which includes arrangements relating to with whom the child is to live, or when the child is to live with any person, or has been adopted from ‘state care’ outside England and Wales.

This chapter has been updated in line with the Children and Social Work Act 2017 and revised statutory guidance.

These changes relate to the status of ‘Previously Looked After Children’. A Previously Looked After Child is one who is no longer Looked After in England and Wales because they are the subject of an Adoption, Special Guardianship or Child Arrangements Order which includes arrangements relating to with whom the child is to live, or when the child is to live with any person, or has been adopted from ‘state care’ outside England and Wales.

This chapter has been updated in line with the Children and Social Work Act 2017 and revised statutory guidance.

These changes relate to the status of ‘Previously Looked After Children’ i.e. a Previously Looked After Child is one who is no longer Looked After in England and Wales because the child is the subject of an adoption, special guardianship or child arrangements order which includes arrangements relating to with whom the child is to live, or when the child is to live with any person, or has been adopted from ‘state care’ outside England and Wales. The chapter includes a new Section 12, Mental Health and a new Section 7, Safeguarding the Looked After Child at School. A link has been added to the National Curriculum Assessments at Key Stage 2.

• Guide for Professionals in Accessing Social Care Services.

The following information has been added to the Scope box: 'Where there has been an adoption breakdown prior to the granting of an Adoption Order the prospective adopters approval status will be Reviewed. If this Review recommends that the prospective adopters are no longer suitable to adopt, the same procedures should be followed as set out in Section 13, Review of Prospective Adopters' Approval AND Section 9, Representations / Independent Review Procedure.

Where the disruption takes place after lodging for adoption order then the same procedure should be followed as set out in Section 4, Disruptions After Lodging'.

The following new sections have been added to this chapter:

• Section 1, Assessments Under the Children Act 1989;
• Section 2, The Purpose of Assessment;
• Section 3, Process of Assessment;
• Section 4, Communication;
• Section 11, Timescales;
• Section 15, Assessing Family Abroad.

The following parts of this chapter have been revised:

• Section 2, Definition of Physical Intervention - additional paragraphs have been added at the end of this section regarding restraint;
• Section 5, Locking and Bolting Doors – additional paragraphs have been added at the end of this section regarding the circumstances in which the restriction of liberty may be appropriate;
• Section 6, Timeout and Withdrawal – an additional final paragraph has been added a the end of this section regarding the locking/bolting or doors.

• Transfer of Children in Care and Care Leaver Cases (within and outside Nottingham City);
• Protocol to Address a Provider’s Decline in Quality;
• Protocol to Address an Ofsted Inadequate Provider;
• Protocol to Address Concerns of a Providers’s Financial Viability;
• Protocol to Address a 'Requires Improvement' Provider.

Minor amendments have been made to this procedure as follows:

• Where a prospective adopter enquires about inter-country adoption, information should also be given about the policy on fees and an estimation of the costs the prospective adopter will have to pay to the agency and the Department for Education;
• In relation to references, applicants will be asked to provide the names of three personal referees, who are adults(not more than one of whom should be related to them), have known the applicant for at least two years and who are happy to provide personal references on the prospective adopter. A written report must be prepared of the interviews held with each of the referees.

The following information has been added in relation to the Child’s Permanence Report:

• Child's Permanence Report must be written by the worker who knows the child best and is also a qualified social worker;
• The Report should include a summary, written by the agency’s medical adviser, of the state of the child’s health, health history and any need for health care which might arise in the future, and a Chronology of the decisions and actions taken by the agency with respect to the child; and
• Those parts of the Report that contain factual information about the birth family should be shared with the relevant family members to enable them to confirm their accuracy and agree to it being passed on to a child in due course. Any such agreement should be clearly recorded on the child’s case record. Each of the child’s parents should be shown those parts of the Report which set out their views and wishes, and given the opportunity, if they so wish, to express these in their own words. Where appropriate, the relevant.

Additional information has been added into Section 1.7, Ending of Placement, to take account of recent case-law. Additionally, minutes of the Looked After Review which recommended the child's placement can be taken as a written record of the consultation with those in attendance.

The following contracting Nottingham City protocol documents are now accessible through this online manual:

• Protocol for Managing Placement;
• Protocol for Spot Purchasing an Unknown Provider;
• Protocol to Address a Provider’s Decline in Quality;
• Protocol to Address an Ofsted Inadequate Provider;
• Protocol to Address Concerns of a Providers’s Financial Viability;
• Protocol to Address an ‘Adequate’ Provider.