Looked After Children fall into two categories:
These are children and young people placed with foster carers, in a residential unit setting, or with relatives by the local authority or by the Children’s Hearings system.
These are children who are made subject to a Compulsory Supervision Order 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.
You can refer to our Children's Hearings web page. You can also view or download various Scottish Children's Reporter Administration (SCRA) leaflets from their website.
The principal statutory legislation that outlines the local authority's responsibilities towards "looked after children" are the Children (Scotland) Act 1995, the Children's Hearings (Scotland) Act 2011 and the Adoption and Children (Scotland) Act 2007:
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.
This is the statute by which children become subject to Compulsory Supervision Orders (either at home or accommodated through the decision of a Children’s Hearing).
Refers to those small numbers of looked after children who are subject to Permanence Orders as they are unable to be returned to their parents care and have required the local authority to undertake some parental rights and responsibilities.
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 and the Council's duties are summarised under the Looked After Children (Scotland) Regulations 2009.
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.
The care plan will aim to ensure each looked after child has their needs met across agreed indicators summarised by SHANARRI, ie every looked after child should have a plan that keeps them safe, healthy, achieving, nurtured, active, responsible, respected and included. This follows the GIRFEC model.
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.
Child Care
Kilncraigs, Greenside Street, Alloa, FK10 1EB
Tel: 01259 450000
Email: childcare@clacks.gov.uk