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Children In Care

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Poole has a number of children and young people who are looked after by the local authority, because their families and friends are unable to care for them. This could be because of illness in the family, behavioural difficulties with the young person or a situation in which they are not receiving basic care or protection. We also have a small number of young asylum seekers who have their own dedicated social work assistant within our Pathways team.

 Where are children looked after

We have developed our Young People's Charter after listening to children and young people's views. This document clearly sets out our commitment as Corporate Parents. When a child becomes looked after, their needs as an individual are carefully considered. Initially they may stay with foster carers, on a short term basis before moving to a longer term foster placement, residential facility or other appropriate provision. We endeavour to minimise the number of moves a child makes when they are in care as much as possible.

The Young People's Charter is available for download from this page.

Care Plans

Every young person cared for has a care plan that prevents unnecessary time spent away from family and prevents them going into care without a clear direction. The plan is usually about creating changes in order to provide a speedy return home. 

 Care Plan reviews

The law (1989 Children Act) states that a young person care plan must be reviewed:

• At four weeks, three months and then every six months.
• Until a court order is made or the young person is discharged from local authority care.

The Independent reviewing officer has a duty to chair review meetings and to ensure that the care plan is appropriate for the individual needs of that child. We have two Independent Reviewing Officers.

 Young people's choices

Young people have choices to make if they are looked after by us. The young person can talk to us at any time, in order to ensure that they feel that they have a say in the management and planning of their lives.

Young people may feel that they do not have enough influence in this process and they are not able to be heard properly. We often run looked after young peoples forums to do just that.