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Contents

1. Introduction
2. Procedures and Guidance

1. Introduction

As Corporate Parent, a Local Authority has statutory responsibilities to the children/young people who it looks after or for whom it has duties and responsibilities under the Children (Leaving Care) Act 2000.

The corporate parent role can best be described as a local authority and its partners acting together to ensure that a young person in care is given the same support and guidance that a reasonable parent would give to their own child. The corporate parent should provide the child/young person with every opportunity to reach their potential. This should include proper support if the child/young person offends and is given a custodial sentence.(1)

The Children Act (1989) provides the legislative basis for the corporate parenting role of local authorities. The Local Authority is required to:-

• Safeguard and promote the young person’s welfare
• Make use of other children’s services (education, health, leisure, etc.) so that the needs of the young person are responded to comprehensively.

The Children Act 2004 has strengthened the duty for key agencies to safeguard and promote the welfare of children, including Looked After children, and to co-operate with each other.

The Children (Leaving Care) Act 2000 has established ongoing duties to care leavers.

2. Procedures and Guidance

Response to Offending

Identifying the Involvement of other Agencies

In forthcoming National Guidance Children’s Services Departments and Youth Offending Teams (YOT) will be expected to have robust arrangements in place to check for each other’s involvement with individual children, including those placed outside their home authority. This principle is an essential element of these procedures. If a looked after child or relevant care leaver (aged 10-17) is arrested, the social worker/PA(2) and the YOT worker must communicate with each other and share relevant information about the child/young person’s circumstances and needs. This will include the social worker/PA passing on key information from the child/young person’s care plan/pathway plan and the YOT worker disclosing details of the child/young person’s offending.

Former relevant care leavers (aged 18 - 24) will come to the attention of the Probation Service rather than the YOT. Practitioners must be proactive in seeking to elicit each other’s involvement, but the same principles of sharing relevant information from pathway plans apply.

The Children Act 2004 has strengthened duties for key agencies to safeguard and promote the welfare of children, and to co-operate with each other.

A Welfare Response

It is important to acknowledge the body of research evidence which shows that looked after children can be disadvantaged by their care status through, for example, facing charges which might not be brought against a child/young person living at home, or by refusal of bail because, for example, they live in a children’s home. 

When a Custodial Sentence seems Likely

If a custodial sentence is considered to be likely, the social worker/PA and YOT worker should work together to prepare the child/young person (and their family, if appropriate), explaining what may happen and how the child/young person will be supported during and after their time in custody.

The young person’s social worker/PA should attend court with the child/young person throughout, and especially on the day of sentence. This will ensure that the child / young person is well supported, and that the child/young person’s best interests are being represented, for example by discussing the possibility of an appeal with the child/young person’s representative.

Custodial Remand or Sentence

Information Sharing

Although prison is not a placement in the usual sense, prison staff have the same need for information about the child/young person as in any other residential setting.

If the child/young person is remanded or sentenced to custody, regardless of their legal status, the social worker/PA must contact the prison case worker (sometimes known as resettlement worker or through care worker) and/or the social worker based in the prison to inform them of:

• The child/young person’s legal status
• Who has parental responsibility
• Name and contact details of allocated social worker/PA and team manager
• Any immediate information necessary to ensure the child/young person’s safety.
• Relevant information about the child/young person’s family/carers and contact arrangements
• Date when social worker/PA will be visiting the child/young person.

This should be followed up by the social worker/PA completing an Essential Information Record and sending this to the prison.

The social worker/PA should also provide any relevant information from the child/young person’s Care Plan or Pathway Plan.

Information from the Prison Service

The social worker/PA should seek information from the caseworker or prison social worker re:-

• Visiting arrangements for practitioners and for family/carers/friends
• Systems/arrangements for providing money, clothing and other belongings to the child/young person
• Sentence planning system
• Arrangements for speaking to the child/young person on the telephone
• Contact details of prison staff, including those on the young person’s wing
• Arrangements for keeping social worker/PA informed of significant events, such as transfers.

Assessment of Need and Risk

The allocated social worker/PA should visit the child/young person, regardless of the child/young person’s legal status, within 1 week of imprisonment to assess the child’s needs whilst in prison. 

The assessment will cover areas addressing:

• Is the child/young person safe?
• Is there a risk of self-harm?
• What is the child/young person’s mental state?
• Does the child/young person need money, clothes, books or other practical support?
• What impact has the sentence had on family relationships?
• Does there need to be help with family arrangements?
• Are the prison education staff aware of and able to meet the child/young person’s educational needs, including any special needs or abilities?
• Are the health unit and wing staff aware of and able to meet the child/young person’s health needs?
• Are staff aware of and able to meet the child/young person’s particular religious and cultural needs?
• What action is needed to provide for the child/young person’s accommodation on release?  Which local authority will be responsible for arranging this?
• Is the child/young person worried about anything? If so what?
• Are changes needed to the child/young person’s care plan/pathway plan?

This assessment will form the basis of an interim plan which should deal with how the child/young person’s needs will be met in prison and who is responsible for each aspect of the plan. For young people who qualify or will qualify under the Children (Leaving Care) Act 2000 the Pathway Plan or Pathway Plan Review process should be used. For children / young people who are subject of care orders the care planning process will continue and should deal with these issues.

For any child / young person who was looked after under S20 of the Children Act immediately prior to imprisonment, or who was remanded to the care of the local authority, and who thus loses this status upon imprisonment, the assessment must still be completed. A decision should then be taken by the Service Manager for Looked After Children regarding the continuation of planning during the young person’s period of imprisonment, taking into account guidance under “Differences according to legal status” and “Planning and Review Process” (see below).

Differences according to Legal Status

Responsibilities will differ according to the legal status of the child/young person The implications for good practice are as follows:-

• If a child/young person is subject to a Care Order, they continue to be looked after whilst in prison and the Responsible Authority with the order remains responsible for ensuring that care planning continues and that their needs are met.
• If a child has been in s20 care, or has been remanded to the care of the local authority, they are not subsequently formally looked after during their time in prison, but remain entitled to an assessment and plans to meet their needs during their time in prison and on release. This will include early consideration as to whether they will become looked after again on release and, if so, by which local authority. If there has been no prior plan for the child to cease being looked after, the presumption must be that the child will require accommodation on release. LAC(2004)26 states that the local authority where the YOI is situated is responsible for identifying where the child will live on release and for contacting the Responsible Authority. If the assessment concludes that the child does not require social services support whilst in prison or subsequent accommodation under Children Act S20, evidence of alternative plans for meeting their needs should be provided.
• If the child/young person is a relevant care leaver their status remains unchanged whilst in prison and the social services department that last looked after them retains responsibility for providing support during their time in prison and on release. (Some children/young people will achieve this status whilst they are in prison: i.e. those who reach age 16 whilst in prison, had reached 13 weeks looked after since the age of 14 and were in s20 care or remand to local authority accommodation immediately prior to imprisonment).
• Similarly, the status of former relevant care leavers remains unchanged during their time in prison and the responsible local authority will remain that which last looked after them
• Children who have been looked after for significant periods but were not deemed to be looked after immediately prior to imprisonment, and who do not already have “leaving care” status may be considered ineligible for social services support as looked after children or care leavers. Their circumstances should be checked carefully to ensure that their legal status is interpreted correctly. For example, being missing from a placement is not the same as having been discharged from care. The social worker in prison should undertake these checks. In any event such children may be entitled to an assessment as qualifying children under Section 24 of the Children Act 1989 if any period of accommodation included time after their 16th birthday. It must be remembered that any child may be a child in need under S17 of the Children Act regardless of their legal status (see LAC(2004)26)

Planning and Review Process

The child/young person should be enabled to nominate a person within the prison to act as the link with their social services planning process. It is suggested that this is the prison social worker, but the child/young person may choose a caseworker or personal officer. There should be arrangements for back-up in the nominated person’s absence, This link person will be informed of the key elements of the child/young person’s plan and, in turn, will keep the child/young person’s social worker informed of events within the prison.

• For children/young people subject to Care Orders the usual LAC planning and reviewing process applies, including advance consultation with the child/young person and other key participants. It is good practice to undertake a review during the first month of the sentence and within the last month before release, but minimum statutory time scales should apply between.
• For children who were looked after under s20, the plan will not be reviewed under LAC arrangements but it is good practice to review it as a “child in need” plan.
• For relevant and former relevant care leavers, the usual Pathway Planning Review process applies.

If the child/young person is in agreement, the nominated prison link person and YOT worker should be invited to LAC, Pathway Plan or Child in Need review meetings.

The agenda for the review meeting will need to take the prison setting into account and many questions in standard forms and paperwork will not be relevant. Large, formal review meetings may not be the most appropriate way of undertaking reviews in prison. The child/young person should be actively consulted about the most useful process. Some children/young people may want a meeting, others may prefer to meet with only the IRO and Social Worker/PA. The IRO in consultation with the case holding Social Worker/PA is responsible for negotiating this.

For relevant and former relevant young people the case holding Social Worker/Young Persons Advisor is responsible for arranging the Pathway Plan Review. Again this can be formal with the nominated prison link person and YOT worker invited if a young person chooses, but can be a meeting between the young person and their social worker/PA.

Sentence Planning

Sentence planning serves a different purpose from care or pathway planning. It is designed to plan the activities the child/young person will be engaged in during their sentence, both in prison and in the community. It is service-led rather than needs-led and primarily aimed at reducing the risk of re-offending. Given these different purposes, it is not appropriate that the planning meetings be combined, but robust links should be made between them.

The social worker/PA should ensure that he/she is invited to sentence planning meetings and it is good practice to attend whenever possible. As a minimum during a short sentence the social worker/PA should attend the first meeting and the meeting where the pre-release plan is discussed. For longer sentences or where there are particular difficulties, it is appropriate to attend more often but the main focus of the social work task is to meet regularly with the child/young person and to establish ongoing liaison with the YOT worker and prison link worker.

If the social worker/PA is not going to attend the meeting they should ensure that the prison link worker feeds the relevant information re the child/young person’s care or pathway plan into the meeting. 

The YOT worker is responsible for making the links between the respective plans and (if the social worker/PA is not present) feeding information back.

Financial Arrangements

There may be exceptional occasions when a small amount of money can be paid to the institution to be forwarded to the young person. Discussions about this should be held with the institution.

Planning for Release

Social workers / PAs must ensure that they are involved in the plans for release of Looked After Children, former S20 children who will become Looked After on release, or Care Leavers. In most cases, they will be responsible for ensuring the provision of accommodation as well as for financial, practical and emotional support. Social workers/PAs should also ensure that they are involved in discussions about early release and the child/young person’s ability to cope with any additional supervision requirements, such as electronic monitoring or ISSP. Wherever possible arrangements should be made for children/young people to visit prospective placements and employment or educational facilities and to meet relevant practitioners before their release.

It is essential that there is clarity about who is responsible for each element of the release plan and the arrangements for communication and enforcement.

As soon as possible before release the child must know:

• Who is collecting them
• Where they will live
• The reporting arrangements
• Sources of support - including out of hours
• The arrangements for education or employment
• Arrangements for meeting continuing health needs
• How and when they will receive financial support
• When they will be seeing their social worker
• The roles and responsibilities of the respective practitioners

The release plan should be in writing with copies available for the child/young person and all practitioners involved.

Support in the Community

The social worker/PA must remain a presence in the child/young person’s life. Their role is different and more extensive than that of the YOT worker, whose involvement will be determined by the length of any order and the child/young person’s offending behaviour rather than their wider social needs.  Children/young people are vulnerable in the early days after release and need considerable help, both emotionally and practically to:-

• Meet the requirements for reporting and surveillance
• Sort out finances
• Settle into accommodation
• Negotiate work or further education
• Re-establish relationships
• Resist the temptation to drink or use drugs excessively
• Avoid situations where offending may occur.

It is good practice to have some joint appointments with the child/young person, YOT worker and social worker/PA so that information is shared and the child receives an integrated service. The YOT worker should consult the social worker/PA over enforcement issues, particularly if there is a possibility of the child/young person being breached. Social workers and YOT workers should keep each other informed of significant events, including any changes in service delivery or plans to close the case. 

(1)Responsibilities will differ according to the legal status of the child/young person. See page 6  ‘Differences according to legal status.’

(2)The Children (Leaving Care) Act requires the appointment of a Young Person’s Adviser (PA) for eligible, relevant and former relevant care leavers. In Children’s Services this role is usually held by the allocated Social Worker or Leaving Care Worker.

End