Chwefror 12 af 2012
This information applies to Scotland
There are a number of reasons why a child may be ‘looked after’ by the local authority. Most often it is because the child’s parents or the people who have parental responsibilities and rights to look after the child are unable to care for him/her, have been neglecting him/her or the child has committed an offence. The local authority has specific responsibilities and duties towards a child who is being looked after or who has been looked after.
The child may be:-
A child can be subject to an order from a children’s hearing and an order from the sheriff court at the same time.
A children’s hearing is a formal meeting of three children’s panel members for the local area, a Children’s Reporter, and normally a social worker, who has visited the family and prepared a report. It is called to consider a child’s case and whether or not the child is ‘at risk’ and requires to be supervised and/or protected. A children’s hearing may be called after a child has been removed from home to a safe place in an emergency. The other types of situations that may mean the Children’s Reporter calls a hearing are when a child is:-
A child can only be called to a children’s hearing if s/he is under 16 or under 18 and already subject to an order from a children’s hearing. In all cases if the child is old enough, s/he should be given the opportunity to put forward his/her view of the situation. Legal representation may be available for a child at a children's hearing when it is likely that the child will be placed away from home or if the case is unusually complex. Legal representation may be available for a parent at a children’s hearing where certain types of supervision requirements are likely to be made, for example, requiring that the child no longer live with her/his parent, and where the parent is unlikely to be able to participate effectively at the hearing without legal representation.
When the hearing has discussed the details of the child’s situation, it can either discharge the case or make an order called a ‘supervision requirement’. In some cases, the supervision requirement will have a condition attached to it that the child must live away from home, either with foster parents, in a children’s home or at a special residence where the hearing believes the child will receive the right help or supervision (see under heading Where the child lives).
A supervision requirement lasts for one year unless the hearing decides it should be reviewed earlier than this. At any time three months after the supervision begins a parent or a child can ask for the children’s hearing to review the supervision requirement. A social worker can ask for a review at any time.
Parents or a child who is old enough can appeal against any decision made by a children’s hearing. This must be done within 21 days of the decision being made and the appeal is made to the sheriff court. Legal aid is available for an appeal.
The sheriff court can make a number of orders for the protection and supervision of children. The main orders that can be made are:-
Anyone whose child is the subject of a court order, or the child him/herself, will need expert advice about his/her rights. S/he should contact a Citizens Advice Bureau, a specialist organisation (see under heading Useful organisations) or a solicitor. To search for details of your nearest CAB, including those that can give advice by email, click on nearest CAB.
If you are a child being looked after by the local authority you have a right to be consulted about what is happening to you. This does not mean that you will always get what you want, but that your views should be taken seriously.
Some local authorities may appoint children’s officers who are responsible for helping children to understand what is happening to them. Voluntary organisations may also be able to provide advice or representation direct to children. For information about useful organisation, see under heading Useful organisations.
In formal legal procedures, such as children’s hearings and courts, you have rights to be represented independently.
If you are the parent of a child who is being looked after by the local authority, what rights you have will depend on how the child came to be looked after.
If the child is being accommodated by the local authority under voluntary measures, as a parent you retain full parental rights.
If the child is subject to a supervision requirement or an order of the court, as a parent you retain full parental rights, although these may be limited by the children’s hearing or the court.
If the local authority has a permanence order for your child, you do not have the parental right to have the child living with you or to control where the child lives. The permanence order will set out whether you still have any other parental responsibilities or rights or whether these have been given to the local authority or the carer of the child, for example, a foster carer.
Every child who is being looked after by the local authority must have a care plan. The child, the parents and the prospective carers (if the child will be living away from home) should be involved in producing the care plan.
The care plan should include information about:-
The care plan should be clear and easy to understand and the local authority should ensure that everyone affected by it understands what it means. You and your parents should be given copies of the plan.
If you are a parent or a child who is unhappy with some aspect of the way in which you or your child is being looked after you should consult an experienced adviser for example, at a Citizens Advice Bureau. To search for details of your nearest CAB, including those that can give advice by email, click on the nearest CAB.
Your rights as a child or parents to be consulted about where the child lives depends on whether the child is being looked after under compulsory measures or whether the arrangement is voluntary.
If you are unhappy with any aspect of the accommodation provided for you or as a parent are unhappy, you should consult an experienced adviser for example, at a Citizens Advice Bureau. To search for details of your nearest CAB, including those that can give advice by email, click on nearest CAB.
Although you are being looked after by the local authority you might remain at home with your parents under a supervision requirement. The local authority has to visit regularly to ensure that the terms of the supervision requirement are being met.
When you are being looked after by the local authority you might stay with close relatives or close friends until your parents are able to care for you. This is known as kinship care.
For more information about kinship care, see Kinship care.
Fostering means that the local authority arranges for you to live with foster carers in their own home. It enables you to be cared for in a family environment. The fostering may be for a brief period, for example when your parents are temporarily unable to look after you because of illness in the family. The intention will be that you return to your parents as soon as possible. If it is not going to be possible for you to return to your parents you may remain with foster carers for a longer period.
Foster carers are recruited and selected by the social work authority. Relatives and friends of children can be used as foster carers but they will also have to be assessed and approved by the local authority.
For more information about fostering, see Fostering.
Children’s homes can either be administered by local authorities or by private or voluntary organisations such as Barnardo’s. They are run by paid staff. In general, children placed in children’s homes tend to be older. If you are under 12 you will be placed wherever possible in foster homes.
You might be placed in a residential school for a variety of reasons such as a problem of persistent truanting or difficult behaviour in school or criminal offences. These homes tend to be larger than children’s homes and provide a more structured and disciplined environment, similar to that of a boarding school.
When you are living away from home the local authority has a duty to promote contact between you and your parents and other members of your family, so long as this is consistent with your welfare. Your parents also have a responsibility to maintain contact with you.
If you are accommodated under voluntary arrangements, all the people involved should try to agree the terms of contact with you. The local authority cannot stop contact between you and your parents. If the local authority is concerned that contact should be restricted or stopped it must refer your case to the children’s hearing for consideration, or apply to court.
If you are being looked after away from home under compulsory measures, arrangements for contact may have been made by the children’s hearing or court. If arrangements for contact have not been made by the children’s hearing or the court, the arrangements will have to be agreed between the local authority, and you and your parents.
Any arrangements for contact should only be changed, stopped, increased or restricted after they have been considered at a regular review meeting about you, unless the local authority considers that there is an emergency.
If, after a review, a local authority considers that arrangements for contact should be changed for whatever reason, it must refer the matter to the children’s hearing or court for consideration.
If you or your parents are unhappy with the decision of the children’s hearing or court, you can appeal.
If you are unhappy with any aspect of the contact arrangements you should consult an experienced adviser for example, at a Citizens Advice Bureau. To search for details of your nearest CAB, including those that can give advice by email, click on nearest CAB.
Local authorities have a responsibility to encourage contact between you and your parents. They have powers to help you to overcome difficulties with the practical arrangements, for example by making payments for travel expenses. A parent who needs practical help with keeping contact should ask her/his social worker for help.
Young people can leave care at 16 but, if it is in their best interests, should not have to leave before they are 18.
There are special arrangements for young people leaving care. Most young people over school-leaving age are not entitled to benefits and instead are supported by the local authority.
The local authority should plan from the beginning of the placement for what will happen when the young person stops being looked after.
As a young person leaving care you must be consulted about what will happen and should be given information and advice about making choices about your future.
If you are not going to return to live with your parents the local authority should consider how you can plan for living independently, or in supported accommodation.
The local authority should draw up a Pathway Plan which draws up the support and guidance provision for you. This may include:
A useful leaflet aimed at young people thinking about leaving care is available from Scotland’s Commissioner for Children and Young People (SCCYP) and can be downloaded from their website: www.sccyp.org.uk. For more information on young people leaving care you should contact her/his local Citizens Advice Bureau.
A child or a parent may wish to complain about:-
It is also against the law for a local authority to discriminate against you because of your race, sex, sexual orientation or because you have a disability. If you feel you have been discriminated against you can make a complaint about this.
You have a choice about who to complain to about a social service provided by the local authority. You can either:-
Compass House
11 Riverside Drive
DUNDEE
DD1 4NY
Tel: 01382 207100
Fax: 01382 207289
Lo-call: 0845 603 0890
Website: www.scswis.com
If you have a complaint about a particular member of staff you could complain first to the person’s line manager or, if the member of staff is registered with the Scottish Social Services Council, directly to the Council.
Compass House
11 Riverside Drive
Dundee
DD1 4NY
Tel: 01382 207101
Lo-call: 0845 60 30 891
Website: www.sssc.uk.com
If you are unhappy with the response from the local authority you can ask for a review of its decision. If you are still unhappy after the review you can take the complaint further in a number of ways outlined below.
If you did not complain to Social Care and Social Work Improvement Scotland (SCSWIS) in the first instance you can make the complaint to SCSWIS after using the local authority complaints procedure. If you are unhappy with Social Care and Social Work Improvement Scotland's decision you can complain to the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman.
You can complain to the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman after the complaint has been through the normal complaint process.
You must put your complaint in writing to the Ombudsman and you should include any letters to and from the organisation you are complaining about. Send your letter to:-
The Scottish Public Services Ombudsman
4 Melville Street
Edinburgh
EH3 7NS
Tel: 0800 377 7330
Text phone: 0790 049 4372
Fax: 0800 377 7331
E-mail: ask@spso.org.uk
Website: www.spso.org.uk
You may want to complain to the relevant Scottish Minister about what you think is a failure of the local authority to comply with one of its legal duties, for example, under the Children (Scotland) Act 1995. You will need the help of an experienced adviser to do this. You should consult your local Citizens Advice Bureaux.
Depending on the nature of the complaint you may be able to take legal action in one of the following ways:-
You will need the help of a solicitor to take legal action and legal aid may be available to do this.
54 East Crosscauseway
Edinburgh
EH8 9HD
Tel: 0131 667 6333
Fax: 0131 662 1713
Freephone: 0800 328 8970 (for under 18s)
Website: www.sclc.org.uk
The centre provides free legal advice to children and young people, professionals or members of the public on any aspect of the law relating to children.
Oswald Chambers
5 Oswald Street
Glasgow
G1 4QR
Tel: 0141 226 4441
Fax: 0141 226 4445
E-mail: enquiries@whocaresscotland.net
Website: www.whocaresscotland.net
This organisation provides advocacy services for young people in care or leaving care.
Many local authorities have a children’s rights officer who can advise children and young people. Contact your local authority for details.
Childline provides a special help line for children living away from home, for example, in a local authority care home or with foster parents.
Tel: 0800 884444 (Weekdays 3:30-9:30pm, Weekends 2:00-8:00pm)
Website: www.childline.org.uk
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