FOSTER CARE FORUM

When a concern or complaint is made the fostering provider must decide how to investigate.

Section 47 of the Children Act 1989 makes a distinction between concerns, complaints and allegations. 

• A standard of care concern (Level 1) may be about day-to-day care such as diet, clothing, hair or low-level discipline etc. 
• A standard of care complaint (Level 2) may include, for example 
  • style and quality of care
  • how the foster parent works with professionals
  • whether the quality of care plan is followed
  • breach of confidentiality
  • concern that the child is failing to flourish
  • level 1 concerns not being addressed
• A safeguarding allegation (level 3) is much more serious and is when a child may be suffering significant harm if the foster parent may have, for example,
  • behaved in a way that causes harm to a child
  • committed a criminal offence against or related to a child
  • behaved in a way that could pose a risk to a child
  • behaved in a way indicating they may not be suitable to work with children
  • failed to address significant level 2 concerns

A Level 3 allegation must be investigated under Section 47 child protection procedures.

The fostering provider therefore must decide what level the complaint falls into. At all times there must be a very clear distinction between discussions of standard of care and allegations of harm.

There is a worry that some local authorities tend to refer to all cases – including concerns and complaints – as ‘allegations’ and immediately escalate to Level 3. This means that foster parents are suspected of abuse immediately without first looking into cases under levels 1 or 2.

This happens in spite of the fact that just over half (54%) of allegations of abuse resulted in an outcome that no further action was needed. In other words, in those cases foster parents were falsely accused – https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/fostering-in-england-1-april-2020-to-31-march-2021/fostering-in-england-2020-to-2021-main-findings#safeguarding.

Of course, all cases must be taken seriously with the interests of the child coming first. However, false allegations can be extremely traumatic for foster parents and damaging for children, for example if children are removed.

According to government guidelines https://www.minimumstandards.org/fost_twentytwo.html any investigation should be in full communication and cooperation with foster parents. If a Level 1 or 2 concern or complaint is being looked into through discussion with parents, passing on information to outside agencies should only happen with their consent. However, if most cases are straight away escalated to level 3, data sharing can happen without consent.

There are clear procedures that a fostering service must follow, including having a clear policy; fully informing a foster parent of the allegations made; and providing support and mediation.