Children and Young People Living Away from Home

Everywhere children live should provide the same basic safeguards against abuse, founded on an approach that promotes their general welfare, takes into account their wishes and feelings, protects them from harm and treats them with dignity and respect.

The National Minimum Standards/Quality Standards contain specific requirements on safeguarding and child protection for each particular regulated setting where children live away from home.

Children living away from home are particularly vulnerable to being abused by adults and peers. Limited and sometimes controlled contact with family and carers may affect a child's ability to disclose what is happening to them. Given that young people may live away from home because of concerns about the conditions or the ability of their parents or carers to safeguard their welfare, it is particularly important that their welfare is protected when they are being cared for by another agency or institution.

All settings must ensure that:

• Children feel valued and respected and their self-esteem is promoted;
• There is an openness on the part of the institution to the external world and to external scrutiny, including contact with families and the wider community;
• Staff and carers are trained in all aspects of safeguarding children, can recognise children's vulnerabilities and risks of harm, and know when and how to implement safeguarding children procedures;
• Children are listened to, and their views and concerns responded to;
• Children have ready access to a trusted adult outside the institution, e.g. a family member, social worker, independent visitor or children's advocate. Children should be made aware of independent advocacy services, external mentors and Childline;
• Staff/carers recognise the importance of ascertaining the wishes and feelings of children and understand how individual children communicate by verbal or non-verbal means;
• Complaints procedures are clear, effective, user-friendly and are readily accessible to children and young people including those with disabilities and those for whom English is not their preferred language;
• Bullying is pro-actively managed and effectively countered;
• Recruitment and selection procedures for all staff/carers/volunteers are rigorous and create a high threshold of entry to deter abusers and there is effective supervision and support that extends to temporary staff and volunteers;
• Contractor staff are effectively checked and supervised when on site or in contact with children;
• Clear procedures and support systems are in place for dealing with expressions of concern by staff and carers about other staff or carers (a Whistle-blowing Policy);
• There is respect for diversity, and sensitivity to race, culture, religion, gender, sexuality and disability;
• Staff and carers are alert to the risks of harm to children in the external environment from people prepared to exploit the additional vulnerability of children living away from home;
• When children go missing from any setting the Children who run away or go missing from home or care statutory guidance should be followed.

The most important aspect is the need to listen to children to ensure that they are able to share concerns with people who they trust and who will act on the child's concerns.

Where there is reasonable cause to believe that a child has suffered Significant Harm, the Local Authority for the area in which the child is living has the responsibility to convene a Strategy Discussion/Meeting, (see Child Protection Enquiries Procedure, Strategy Discussion/ Meeting) which should include representatives from the responsible home / Local Authority that placed the child, where this is different.

At the Strategy Discussion/Meeting it should be decided which Local Authority will take responsibility for the next steps, which may include a Section 47 Enquiry.

This duty to protect remains irrespective of setting: whether living in the family home, on a sleepover with grandparents, on holiday with wider family, privately fostered by a family friend, in long-term regulated foster care, a secure specialist children's home, or post-adoption. The local authority has a duty to undertake a section 47 enquiry where there are concerns about significant harm.  

Any child or young person who is living away from home has the potential to be:

• Impacted physically, educationally, and emotionally by the circumstances that have resulted in living away from home;
• Distanced (geographically, physically, socially, emotionally) from:
  • Attachment figures, parents/carers, siblings;
  • Peer-networks and interaction;
  • Access to usual education;
  • Familiar settings, culture, language;
  • Opportunities to engage in usual hobbies/activities;
  • Agencies who have an existing understanding of and relationship with the CYP (GP, paediatrician, SLT, teacher, counsellor, health visitor etc.).
• Less visible to others who may identify and address safeguarding or other needs;
• In the care of someone who does not hold legal right to make decisions or give consent on behalf of the CYP;
• With carers/adults who do not have necessary understanding of their background and lived experiences to meet their needs (e.g. regular medications and safe administration, allergies and immunisation status, cultural or religious practices, educational support needs, trauma impact).

When assessing risks and safeguarding concerns for a CYP who is living away from home, consideration should be given to areas such as:

• The identity of carer(s) and exact relationship to the CYP (e.g. is 'auntie' or 'nana' a more distant relation or a family friend)?
• Who else is in the household/in contact (adults and other CYP in the home)?
• Are the local authority aware or involved?
• Is the setting safe and appropriate?
• Is the CYP registered with a local GP, 0-19s team (health visitor/school nurse), dentist (>1yr) and optician (>4yr)?
• Are they in education (if of school age)?
• What are their wishes and feelings?
• What are the implications for consent and information sharing?

Private Fostering

A Private Fostering arrangement is essentially one that is made without the involvement of a Local Authority for the care of a child under the age of 16 (under 18 if disabled) by someone other than a parent or close relative for 28 days or more. It is irrelevant whether or not any reimbursement, payment, or transfer of child benefits occurs.

For these purposes a "close relative" is defined as:

• Grandparent;
• Step-parent;
• Sibling;
• Uncle or aunt (whether full-blood or half-blood, and whether by marriage or by civil partnership).

"Close relative" does not include wider relatives (such as cousins, great-aunts etc.), neighbours, friends or informal carers. Being a "close relative" does not confer Parental Responsibility to that relative, and being with a close relative may not reduce the level of any safeguarding concerns.

Privately fostered children are a diverse and sometimes vulnerable group which includes:

• Children sent from abroad to stay with another family, usually to improve their educational opportunities;
• Asylum-seeking, refugee, and separated migrant children (this includes schemes such as Homes for Ukraine);
• Teenagers who, having broken ties with their parents, are staying in short-term arrangements with friends or other non-relatives (sometimes called 'sofa surfing');
• Students living with host families (e.g. language students or exchange students);
• Living with another family due to parents/guardians being in prison, in hospital, overseas (e.g. armed forces or occupational requirements), or other reason for prolonged separation.

Under the Children Act 1989, both private foster carers and the person(s) with Parental Responsibility are required to notify the local authority of their intention to privately foster or to have a child privately fostered, or where a child is privately fostered in an emergency.

Teachers, health and other professionals should notify the local authority of a private fostering arrangement that comes to their attention, where they are not satisfied that the arrangement has been or will be notified.

It is the duty of every local authority to ensure the welfare of the children who are privately fostered within their area is being satisfactorily safeguarded and promoted. The local authority must also arrange to visit privately fostered children at regular intervals. All arrangements and regulations in relation to Private Fostering are set out in the Children (Private Arrangements for Fostering) Regulations 2005. Children should be given the contact details of the social worker who will be visiting them while they are being privately fostered.

Emergency or Unplanned Private Fostering

Emergency or unplanned private fostering is an indication in itself for the local authority to be made aware by the parent/guardian and the private foster carer.  Need for emergency care may include separation from the person with Parental Responsibility if the parent/guardian is in custody, hospital, or otherwise not available.  The CYP may have additional vulnerabilities as part of the reason for separation, for example a lived experience of exposure to criminal/drug culture where the adult is in custody, or the child be suffering emotional impact of an illness in a parent.  Care arrangements made by the usual parent/carer may not provide sufficient safeguards or meet their needs, whether with a 'close relative' or private foster carer, or may be unsustainable if the separation is for longer than originally predicted.

CYP with 'Host Families'

Children attending language schools or part of exchange programs that are cared for by 'host families' or similar arrangements for a period of 28 days or more should be regarded as a privately fostered.  In some cases the host families are linked to businesses or agencies that arrange or manage the hosting.  These are private businesses not regulated Local Authority placements and the relationship is between social care and the host family directly as with any private fostering arrangement.

Children in Residential Settings

Residential settings can include schools, children's homes, secure placements and supported/semi-independent living.  In some of these cases the CYP will be legally LAC, and so are discussed separately in the procedures under Looked After Children, but this is not always the case.

Residential and boarding schools are subject to slightly different standards according to if they are mainstream or special education settings, and how long CYP are resident for. Not all settings are run by a Local Authority and may be provided via a private, charitable or faith based organisation.

Schools which accommodate or arrange accommodation for any child for more than 295 days a year (or intend to do so) are classified as children's homes rather than schools, and must register with Ofsted as a children's home and follow children's home legislation.

If a child under 16 remains in school residence for over 14 days outside of term time, and the school is not run by the Local Authority, they are treated as privately fostered for that period.

Where there is reasonable cause to believe that a child in a residential setting has been harmed, whether meeting criteria for being classed as a children's home or not, a referral must be made to Children's social care in accordance with the Referrals Procedure. The concerns may be related to bullying, children who display harmful behaviour towards other children or allegations about the behaviour of practitioners or volunteers.

Children in Hospital

Children under 16 should not be cared for on an adult ward. Hospital admission data should include the age of children, so that hospitals can monitor whether children are being given appropriate care in appropriate wards.

Hospitals must have policies in place to ensure that their facilities are secure and regularly reviewed.

Any concerns about harm to a child within a hospital or health-based setting must be referred to the Children's Social Care Services in whose area the hospital is located.

When the child has been in hospital for 3 months or more, the appropriate health/hospital trust must notify the Responsible Authority i.e. the local authority for the area where the child is normally resident or, if this is unclear, where the child is accommodated. This is so that the local authority can assess the child's needs and decide whether services are required under the Children Act 1989.

No child known to Children's Social Care Services who is an inpatient in a hospital and about whom there are child protection concerns should be discharged home without a referral to establish that the home environment is safe, the concerns by medical staff are fully addressed and there is a plan in place for the ongoing promotion and safeguarding of the child's welfare (usually this would be a discharge planning meeting chaired by social care).

Children of Families Living in Temporary Accommodation

It is important that effective systems are in place to ensure that children from homeless families receive services from health and education, social care and welfare support services as well as any other specific services, because with frequent moves they may become disengaged from services. Where a child who needs specific treatment misses appointments due to moves, the problem may become an issue of Significant Harm.

Temporary accommodation, for example bed and breakfast accommodation or women's refuges, may be in a location which is not secure and safe and where other adults are also resident who may pose a risk to the child.

All concerns of Significant Harm to a child should be referred to Children's Social Care Services. (See Referrals Procedure).