London Borough of Hillingdon (LBH) - Permanency Planning Process and Family Finding for children
Introduction
Permanency PlanningMeetings (PPMs) are held in addition to the Child’s Looked After Review to establish a child’s permanency pathway and ensure that a clear parallel plan for all looked after children is in place. PPM should consider the most effective route to securing permanency for a child or young person.
When to convene PPM?
Unless there is a strong and achievable plan for the child to live with birth parent(s) within the child's timeframes, a PPM should be convened at the earliest opportunity. This needs to take place within 2 weeks of the child's first looked after review. In some cases where there when the plan is removal of the child at birth and successful reunification is unlikely to be achieved, theinitial PPM should be convened before the child comes into care, pre birth to consider Fostering to Adopt if suitable
Who does what?
In Hillingdon, the Permanency Team Manager is responsible for coordinating and chairing all PPM's held on children under 14 years .
The PPM process has two stages:
- Permanency Planning Meetings
- Family Finding Meetings
Children under 8 years old
The LBH Permanency Strategystates that adoption should be the care plan / parallel plan for all children aged 8 and younger. Some children will have a connected person who applies for a Special Guardianship Order (SGO), Family and Friends Foster Carer approval, or a Child Arrangement Order (CAO). If this is successful the child's permanency is secured. PPM’s continue until an Order and, or approval as Foster Carer is achieved and the planning for child’s permanent placement is therefore finalised. In other situations where a PPM may be necessary are:
Children 8 to 13 years old
Children and young people in this age group are subject to the same PPM process, but the care plan for the child will be long term fostering unless they are placed with connected person who secured a permanency order and the child ceases to be looked after
Children and Young People 14-16 years old
Young people in this age group will have their permanency plan agreed at their LAC review. The matched placement will be presented by the CSW to the long term matching panel, they are not referred into the PPM process managed by the Permanence Team
Referrals
Children's Social Workers refer cases for PPM
Requests are made through a Family Finding Referral on ICS email sent to the Permanence Team
The initial PPM will be arranged within a week of a referral email
Attendance at PPM’s
The child’s social worker, the social work manager , Foster Carer , the fostering supervising social worker (SSW) . Other professionals from the Team around the Looked after Child should attend as required. When the case concerns a child living with a connected person, the chair will decide if it is appropriate to invite the carers to the PPM
The purpose of the meeting is to establish the child’s permanence plan, including formulating a parallel plan and to agree the preparation that is required for the child, their parents etc , agreeing the tasks that need completion with timescales. The timescale for review PPMs will be determined on an individual case work basis
Agenda and decisions
PPM and family finding meeting follow a standardised agenda with necessary checks and balances
After a review of the reports and a discussion of the background, legal context etc, and understanding the views of everyone involved and the current contact arrangements, the chair should lead a review of the permanency options and facilitate decisions about the permanence plan.
The PPM coordinator sends decisions to the IRO, relevant Team Managers
and to the Head of the Adoption Service within 2 working days.
Family Finding
A Family Finding Social Worker (FFSW) will be allocated to a case if and when the permanency plan is outside of thechild's network and in advance of the final hearing to undertake early family finding work, including preparation of court statements.
Family Finding meetings are the next stage and continuum in the permanency planning process and take place once a Care Order isgranted.
Foster Carers are not invited to the family finding meetings. These are smaller internal meetings held between the social worker, FFSW and permanency TM.
Once a Care Order has been granted active Family Finding begins in accordance with Hillingdon's familyfinding standards
Family Finding meetings continue until a permanent family is identified and successful selections and matching meetings are held culminating with the case being presented at Hillingdon's Fostering and Adoption Panel
Matching children with permanent families - Adoption / Long Term Fostering
Selections Meeting
When there is more than one family available for a child, a selections meeting needs to take place to identify in order of prioritythe most suitable family for the child. Visits to identified prospective families will then take place in order of priority and prospective carers need to be informed if other families are being considered .
Following a successful first visit and when there is agreement that that the placement is likely to be recommended, a second visit needs to be undertaken , before a final decision about the match is made. The second visit (when possible and appropriate) should include the child’s current Foster Carer to provide further information to the prospective carers and to share their views about the proposed placement with the child’s social worker and FFSW .
Matching Meeting
Once a family has been identified and this is agreed by the child’s social work team and prospective carers, a formal matching meeting is held to confirm how the family can meet the child’s needs and to formulate thesupport plan . The recommendation of the matching meeting forms the basis of the matching report and support plan All children under 14, need to have their permanency placement recommendation presented to the Fostering and Adoption Panel. If Panel recommend the match and if this is endorsed by the Agency Decision Maker , the family finding process is completed and an introductions meetings is held to plan the child's move to their permanent placement
For children 14 -16 years, a matching report is presented to the ADM and does not need to be presented at the F&A panel