Foster Care
If you wish to place your child in Foster Care you can place them there either permanently or just short term. The law requires you to notify your local authority six weeks before the private fostering arrangement begins. Local Authorities become involved to make sure the welfare of your child are promoted while in the private fostering arrangement. If you wish you could arrange for your child to stay with another family just for a few days or longer.
While a child is in Foster Care they will be looked after and their needs will be fulfilled. The professionals will contact suitable candidates to foster a child permanently rather than temporarily. If the foster parents are happy with the child and form a close bond with the child, they can permanently adopt the child. Foster carers will have financial and medical assistance available to help care for the child.
Children that have been neglected have mental health problems or behaviour problems undergo assessments, care and planning associated with the information based on their strengths and challenges. They are given limited social, educational and health care resources. The professionals try and find these children permanent placements which will be suitable for them.
Respite Care
Respite Care is designed to support children within their own families or the foster families with whom they are living. Respite foster care families take children in for a couple days at a time, to give stressed families a periodic break. This can be anything from an overnight stay to a couple of weeks. Respite care provides a series of pre-planned short term placements of a child with the same carer. The length of the arrangements can vary based on the specific needs of the child and their family. Respite Carers provide support, advice and attention to children and families, the Social Services draw up a care plan and visit the child regularly and review the placements on a regular basis, they make sure the agency that is providing the short-term care should be meeting the child's needs.
Adoption
Children can be adopted through foster care or private agencies. There is an agency called Barnardo’s that can help you with the adoption process. In adoption your child will be adopted and cared for permanently by a family, the family will go through a thorough assessment to see if they are capable of caring for your child permanently. Agencies offer to provide a high level of legal and emotional support to children and families for as long as it is necessary. To put your child up for adoption you can contact an agency and they will give you information on putting your child up for adoption and the process you and your child will go through. They will then show you many parents that would love to adopt a child and the agency will give you information on the families that you are interested in.
Residential
Residential care homes are to ensure that the needs of children are met when they cannot live with their own family. They are a place for children to grow as well as providing food, shelter, and space for children to play in a caring environment. Residential care homes look after children with many different needs, children will have a care plan which will have all the information on which says why they are in the residential home, what should happen while they are living in the residential home and what will happen at the end of their stay. Children can stay in touch with their birth family while they are in residential care and have their family visit them while they are staying in care. However if a child has been hurt by their birth family and the court states they are not allowed to keep contact then the birth family will not be allowed to have contact with their child.
The Paramountcy Principle
The paramountcy principle comes from the Family Law Act 1975, where it was stated that the best interests of the child must be the paramount consideration when making specific decisions as to the child's health and welfare. Parents, Local Authorities and the courts have a duty to safeguard the welfare of children and legally it is in the best interests of the child that are considered when determining what action should be taken, when a child is in the process of being put into any form of care the court make the child’s welfare and needs paramount in all decisions made in the process.
Continuity of education and health care needs
According to the ‘Ever Child Matters’ document that the government have made, children in care should continue with education while they are in care, children are encouraged to reach their full educational potential to ensure they are successful in the future. Going to school also lets children maintain contact with friends and keeps them in a good routine. Being happy at school produces better behavior and adjustment.
While in care children’s health care is continued, children in foster care are more likely to have physical health problems due to being abused, neglected or injured. Pediatricians play an important role in helping child welfare agencies, foster families, and birth families to minimize the trauma of placement separation and improve the child’s health and development during the period of foster care. Providing health care to looked after children requires more time than it does for an average patient. Physicians are prepared to provide necessary care even when little information about the child is available at the time. The pediatricians attempt to identify physical and developmental problems and assist social workers and foster parents in working out the types of additional care and services the child requires.
Organization of care provision
The Department of Health is a department of the United Kingdom government which is responsible for the health and social care matters for the NHS in England.
References
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