Reviewing my Approval and Decisions / Appeals Procedure

Once your assessment is ready to be presented to panel for a decision on your approval as a foster carer, your assessing social worker will meet with you to discuss the whole panel process.

If your initial approval as a foster carer is being considered then your social worker will have discussed their draft report and recommendations with you and provided their line manager, who is the respective Foster Placement Service Team Manager, with a copy. This is the opportunity for any factual errors to be corrected.

The report will then be prepared for panel and you will be asked to read, agree and then sign it. If you wish, you may make written comments; this is in addition to your Personal Profile, which will be submitted to the panel with the social workers report. You are under no obligation to submit comments but if you feel a need to do so, please ensure you date and sign any documents you provide.

Your social worker will confirm the date, location and time for you to attend the Panel and you will also receive this in writing.

As an existing foster carer(s), if your Review of Approval is being considered by the Fostering and Permanence Panel then you will have seen and been asked to sign the reports being presented.

This is an opportunity for any factual errors to be corrected. If you wish, you may also make written comments or a statement to be circulated to the Fostering and Permanence Panel. Any written comments/statement that you wish the Panel to consider must be dated, signed and received by the Family Placement Service Manager at least 14 working days prior to the Panel date.

Whilst the Cornwall Council and The Council of the Isles of Scilly, Services for Children and Families, Family Placement Service aims to conduct its Fostering and Permanence Panel processes in a transparent manner and encourages all those involved in the process to do similar, there may be limited occasions when certain “Third Party” information is not shared with Applicants or current Foster Carers. An example of such an occasion may be in respect of “References”.

The panel is not quorate unless at least five members are present. These must include the Chair or Vice-Chair, one social worker, and three Independent Members.

Panel members will have had the reports circulated to them several days before the panel meeting. Prior to your entry into the panel, the chair will ask members for comments on the reports and a list of points for discussion will be put together.

When you are invited to join the panel, the panel chair will ask everyone to introduce himself or herself. The chair confirms the reasons for the meeting and how the meeting will be conducted.

Typically, if the panel are considering an application of a prospective foster carer, they will ask the assessing Social Worker to introduce the applicant(s) and offer their recommendations to the panel. The Social Worker may also be asked for clarification of specific points contained in their report.

The panel may also ask the prospective foster carer(s) to tell them:

• Why they want to foster;
• Why they have chosen this time to apply;
• What they and their family can offer to the makeup of the Family Placement Service and more importantly, to the children/young people they are proposing to care for.

Or again, they may simply ask for clarification or comment on specific issues from within the report.

If the panel are considering a review of current carer(s), the social worker will outline the reasons for the review and its recommendations.

The carer(s) will then add any comments or present their statement to the panel.

Panel may then ask questions in respect of the submissions they have heard.

Applicants and current Carer(s) will not be permitted to question individual panel members.

The panel will then deliberate and reach their recommendation.

It is usual for the chair of the panel to ask the applicant(s) or existing carer(s) and staff members to leave the panel while the panel considers their recommendation. Panel may ask the staff members to remain or return for further discussion or to seek clarification on a matter.

It is the Fostering and Permanence Panel’s current practice, to inform those attending panel of their recommendations at the panel meeting.

The foster carer or prospective foster carers are then informed verbally of the Agency Decision Maker’s decision within two working days of the date of the meeting with the Agency Decision Maker and written confirmation is sent to them within five working days (the meeting with the Agency Decision Maker is usually the following Tuesday after the panel (which is usually a Wednesday)).

Current carer(s) may wish to bring a support person to the panel – this may be a representative of the Cornwall Foster Care Network, or in very exceptional circumstances their solicitor, or one of the Independent Support Workers identified by the service.

The Family Placement Service Manager must be informed at least 2 working days before the panel meeting of the carer’s intention to be accompanied by a support person and the name and designation of this individual.

The support person may not take part in the discussions at the panel meeting unless explicitly requested to do so by the panel chair.

Applicant(s) and current carer(s) may claim travelling expenses for attendance at the panel; This will be paid at the current mileage rate of 40p per mile. If public transport is used, then full reimbursement costs will be made on production of tickets or appropriate receipts. No payment will be made for “loss of earnings”. Reasonable childcare costs will be met, subject to prior agreement with the assessing social worker.

The Family Placement Service Decision Maker will make a considered decision that takes account of all the information available to them, including the recommendation of the Fostering and Permanence Panel and, where applicable, the Independent Review Panel, within seven working days of receipt of the recommendation and final set of panel minutes.

If the Cornwall Council and The Council of the Isles of Scilly, Children and Families (the Children’s Authority) proposes not to agree the application or in circumstances where it proposes to terminate a current carer’s approval, then the applicant(s)/existing carer(s) will be notified in writing of this proposal and the reasons for it in accordance with the requirements of the Fostering Services Regulations 2011, by the Fostering Decision Maker.

The options following a qualifying determination are:

1. Accept the determination; or
2. Make written representations to the service; or
3. Apply for the determination to be reviewed by the Independent Review Mechanism panel (IRM).