• Legislative framework
• Inclusion, diversity & participation
• Theoretical base
• Context
• Care planning
• Strategic planning
• Organisational systems & processes

Care Planning & Review Guidance

'Remember, it's your life, take control, take help and take care.'
(Lanyon 2005)

This toolkit has been written for all practitioners, carers and managers in all the agencies working with and caring for looked after children.

What is a care plan?

Care plans are for all looked after children.

The Children Act 1989 defines the purpose of the care plan in care proceedings.

• It influences the decision of whether to make a Care Order or not.
• It should set the framework for the case management following the Care Order being made, specifying the goals to be achieved and the desired outcomes for the child.

These purposes are also applicable to the care plans for children accommodated under Section 20 of the Children Act. For them the plan should:

• determine why it is in the child’s best interests to become looked after or whether other support services would be able to meet their needs
• identify the child’s assessed needs and the services which will be provided to meet those needs
• set the framework for the services provided to the child and family to enable the desired goals and outcomes to be achieved for the child.

Why do we need good care plans?

Care planning is the driver for achieving good outcomes for looked after children.

Parents want the best for their children and have hopes and aspirations for them. They want them to feel safe and loved, have people around them who are constant and show they care about them, and they want them to achieve and enjoy life. We want this for looked after children but use words and terms such as 'improving their life chances' and 'having good outcomes'. For some looked after children we have to think and work hard to achieve this. Because of their experiences, they may have a lot of needs and hopes that are more difficult for us to help them with.

'They (social services) understand that (children) need love and caring and they are getting looked after, and they have put them in the right place. You know because with my sister and her husband they are actually growing – and being happy, enjoying school and doing everything.'
Quote from the Care Planning and Review Project (McCann 2006)

How do we achieve good care planning?

Good care planning requires the participation and contribution of everyone involved in the child’s life, including the child and their parents. It will be based on a holistic assessment of the child’s developmental needs. ‘Needs’ are different from 'wants'.

The tasks of care planning are to:

• hear wishes and views
• identify needs, based on the information from the assessment
• evaluate the evidence
• analyse all this to determine a plan which is in the child’s best interests and which meets their needs, now and in the future, in the context of planning for permanence
• set individualised objectives and intended outcomes
• identify the resources required to implement the plan
• identify the process for reviewing intended outcomes against actual outcomes.

We all have to achieve a balance between many, sometimes competing needs.

There will be some small steps to be made, for example making sure that a child can continue with their hobby or interest, but all these small steps will contribute to achieving the long-term plan for safety, security and stability.

The care plan is developed from gathering and analysing information from all those who have relevant knowledge of the child, their parent(s) and their family and environment. Effective care planning requires a corporate parenting responsibility across all the agencies and people involved in the child’s life. They must be able to work together to ensure a complete and continuing understanding of the child and their needs – the assessment – and that the best possible services are in place to meet these – the plan.

Managers and senior directors of all agencies delivering children’s services (including elected members, boards, governing bodies and trusts) are responsible for:

• ensuring the right services are in place at the right time
• explaining their decisions concerning the allocation of resources
• reviewing and evaluating how effective their services are, taking into account the views of all those who are using them
• assessing whether they continue to meet changing need.

Care planning relies on skilled workers with:

• understanding of child development
• understanding of the processes of assessment and planning
• abilities to analyse information gathered
• abilities to use theory and research to guide and evidence their assessments and plans
• abilities to communicate with children.

Good care planning is underpinned by a clear theoretical framework. Promoting the attachments of, and finding permanence for, the child must be a central aim of all care plans.

The messages emerging from research emphasise the need for detail, clarity and transparency in care planning.

Carers, their support workers, and managers of services should expect, ask for and contribute to clear care and placement plans. These will inform all that they do for the child and enable them to provide new pathways and opportunities through a combination of:

• the skills of all
• the personal relationships made
• high quality services.

'I feel the foster carers know lots about you because they live with you and I think they get to know you better, so I think foster carers, I mean my foster carer knows me inside out'.
(Lanyon 2005)

Social work managers' responsibilities are to ensure that there are systems in place which support needs-led assessment and planning, and which collate met and unmet need, to inform service development plans and commissioning. Staff development plans should support workers and carers in their direct work with children, parents and families.

All of these people must be able to work together to achieve transparent, participative decision-making, at individual and strategic levels. Regular evaluation and review are key components of qualitative care planning, corporate parenting and commissioning.

This toolkit, including its training materials, aims to assist carers, practitioners and managers from all agencies to contribute to a process of high quality care planning.

Further reading