Looked After Children

Children and young people under the care and supervision of a Local Authority are referred to as “Looked After Children”.

Looked After Children fall into two categories:

Looked After and Accommodated

These are children and young people placed with foster carers, in a residential setting, or with relatives by the local authority or by the Children’s Hearings system.

Looked After at Home

These are children who are made subject to a Supervision Requirement via the Children’s Hearing system, but remain at home with their families receiving support and assistance to address the grounds of referral that led to their attendance at a Children’s Hearing.

Principal Statutory Legislation

The principal statutory legislation that outlines the local authority's responsibilities towards "looked after children" is the Children (Scotland) Act 1995, mainly:

Section 25

Sees children and young people looked after and accommodated usually with foster carers, at the request of their parents. It is therefore a voluntary agreement.

Section 70

This is the statute by which children become subject to Supervision Requirements (either at home or accommodated through the decision of a Children’s Hearing.)

Section 86

Refers to those small numbers of looked after children who are subject to Parental Responsibilities Orders as they are unable to be returned to their parents care and have required the local authority to undertake parental responsibilities.

Planning and Reviewing Arrangements for Looked After Children

All looked after children are obliged to have their Care Plans reviewed on a regular basis. This is defined under Section 31 of the Children (Scotland) Act 1995.

It is current practice to involve and invite all professionals involved with a child and their family, in order to progress the best possible planning for each child or young person and their circumstances.

Each child or young person has an allocated Social Worker to coordinate and report on the progress of their Looked After Care Plan, with the guiding principal being that the plan should help to ensure that they are only looked after for as long as necessary and beneficial for them.