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December 2011

Contents

1. Display and Browser Options
2. Structure of the Manual
3. Amendments and Forthcoming Updates
4. How to Find a Chapter
5. Terminology
6. Forms Library
7. Keywords
8. Compliance
9. Contact us and Alerts
10. Copyright
11. Printing and Retaining Copies

1. Display and Browser Options

People with a visual impairment may have difficulty accessing this Manual.

To change the size of the text/layout - please use these accessibility buttons

which are on menu bar on the left side of every screen. Click a larger button to increase your text size, the very largest being high visibility mode.

2. Structure of the Manual

This manual contains the policies, procedures and guidance for Lewisham Children's Services.

We have also integrated a copy of the London Child Protection Procedures, with links to internal Children's Services Procedures.

All Lewisham's Policies, Values and Principles are located in one Chapter, which users are required to familiarise themselves with before proceeding to the main body of the Manual. These Policies, Values and Principles are located in a Chapter called 'Values' - available from the left hand side of the screen.

In an attempt to keep procedures succinct, procedures and more detailed guidance are separated - with links provided as appropriate.

• 'Procedures' summarise how Managers and Staff must act in given circumstances;
• 'Guidance' provides direction or advice to a decision or course of action.

2.1 London Child Protection Procedures

To access the London Child Protection Procedures, click on 'London Child Protection Procedures' on the left hand side of the screen.

3. Amendments and Forthcoming Update

3.1 Amendments

This manual was updated in June 2011, October 2011 and December 2011.

If a Chapter is new or updated/amended, it is shown in the Contents List.

If a Chapter is new, users should familiarise themselves with the whole Chapter.

If a Chapter is substantially amended, the amendment is summarised at the start of the Chapter.

The table below gives a full list of the new and revised chapters:

New Chapters and features
Chapter Name	Change
Assessment and Approval of Foster Carers	This is a new chapter with the current details the recruitment of foster carers.
E Safety Policy and Guidance for Foster Carers	This is a new chapter regarding safeguarding children and young people whilst using the internet.
Supervised Contact Preferred Provider Framework	This is new for October 2011.
Placements in Secure Accommodation	This is new for October 2011.
Age Assessments under the Children Act 1989: Tips for Age Assessments and Practice Advice Workshop	This is a new PDF document.
Leisure Activities for Looked After Children	This is a new chapter for October 2011.
Looked After Children and Care Leavers in Prison	These procedures and guidance should be applied to children and young people whose legal status immediately prior to imprisonment was “Looked After” (whether by virtue of a Care Order, S20 Accommodation or remand status) or “Relevant Child” or “Former Relevant Child” (by virtue of qualification under the Children (Leaving Care) Act.
Looked After Children in Contact with Youth Justice Services	This is a new chapter for October 2011.
Safe Caring for Lewisham Foster Carers and Preferred Providers	This is a new chapter for October 2011.
Placements with Preferred Providers and all Inclusive Fees	This is a new chapter for October 2011.
Family Finding (Long Term Foster Care)	This is a new chapter for October 2011.
Updated Chapters
Chapter Name	Change
Arrangements for Conferences	This chapter was updated in regard to timescales.
Allegations Against Foster Carers	This chapter was significantly amended to take account of the Fostering Services Regulations 2011.
Do's and Don't of Caldicott and Data Protection	This chapter was significantly updated and should be read in its entirety.
Reducing the Risks of Environmental Tobacco Smoke for Children and their Carers	This chapter was updated to include the Fostering Network Foster care and smoking briefing November 2009.
Section 17 Financial Assistance	The guidance in this chapter was updated in October 2011 .
Family Group Conferences	This chapter was updated in regard to families who are subject to Care Proceedings.
Adoption Values and Principles	This chapter was updated and should be re read.
Applications for Special Guardianship	This chapter has been reviewed in October 2011 and should be read in its entirety.
Decision to Look After	This chapter was slightly amended in regard to Decision to Accommodated.
Placement with Parents	This chapter was significantly updated in October 2011 to take account of the changes in the Care Planning, Placement and Case Review (England) Regulations 2010 and Associated Guidance, and should be read in its entirety.
Post Placement Arrangements	This chapter was slightly amended in October 2011 in regard to liaising with the LAC Education Team (Advisory Teacher) and the use of the Placement Information Record on ICS.
Trans-Racial and Trans-Cultural Placements	This chapter was updated in October 2011 in regard to ensuring there is no delay in placing a child if the placement meets the child’s other needs.
Education of Looked After Children	This chapter was significantly updated in October 2011 to take account of the changes in the Care Planning, Placement and Case Review (England) Regulations 2010 and Associated Guidance, and should be read in its entirety.
Supplementary Schools Directory	This chapter was updated in October 2011.
Contact with Parent and Siblings	This chapter was slightly amended in regard to suspension or termination of contact.
Social Worker Visits	This chapter was updated in October 2011 to take account of the changes in the Care Planning, Placement and Case Review (England) Regulations and Associated Guidance and should be read in its entirety.
Health Assessment and Health Plans	This chapter was slightly updated in October 2011 to take account of the changes in the Care Planning, Placement and Case Reviews (England) Regulations 2010 and Associated Guidance, in regard to the change from Health Care Assessment to Health Assessment and the arrangements for Health Assessments.
LAC Health Documents	This chapter was updated in October 2011 and should be read in its entirety.
Personal Advisors	This chapter was slightly updated in October 2011 in regard to the change of age from 24 to 25.
Pathway Plans	This chapter was slightly updated in October 2011 in regard to the change of age from 24 to 25.
Financial Arrangements for Care Leavers	This chapter was substantially updated in October 2011 to take account of the changes in the Care Levers (England) Regulations 2010 and Planning Transition to Adulthood for Care Leavers Guidance and should be read in its entirety.
Looked After Young People Living or Returning Home	This chapter was slightly updated in regard to finances.
Limit on the Number of Children in Foster Homes	This chapter was significantly updated and should be read in its entirety.
Foster Carers Complaints	This chapter was slightly updated in regard to 2011 version of the Complaints and Representation procedure.
Kinship Guidance	This chapter should be read in its entirety.
Foster Carers Support	This chapter should be read in its entirety.
Supervision of Foster Carers	This chapter was significantly updated and should be read in its entirety.
Annual Review of Foster Carers	This chapter was significantly updated and should be read in its entirety.
Permanent Fostering	This chapter was significantly updated and should be read in its entirety.
Physical Intervention	This chapter was significantly updated and should be read in its entirety.
Persons Disqualified from Fostering	This chapter was significantly updated and should be read in its entirety.
Disclosure Checks Guidance	This chapter was updated in regard to the Vetting and Barring Scheme.
Overnight Stays and Contact with Relatives and Friends	This chapter was slightly amended in regard to Placement Planning.
Placements and Procurement Process	This chapter was significantly updated and should be read in its entirety.
Placements in Foster Care	This chapter was significantly updated and should be read in its entirety.
Short Break (Respite) Carers	This chapter was significantly updated and should be read in its entirety.
Placement for Adoption Procedure	This chapter was slightly amended in October 2011 to take account of the changes in the Adoption National Minimum Standards 2011. Section 7.12, Inter Agency Placements: The child’s details to be sent to the Adoption Register and Section 9, Planning the Placement: Later Life letters must be provided within 10 working days of the adoption ceremony.
Adoption Panel Procedure	This chapter was amended in October 2011 to take account of the changes made in the Adoption National Minimum Standards 2011. See Section 2, Adoption and Permanence Panel Membership, in regard to the Central List. This section should be re read.
Assessment and Approval of Agency Adoptive Parents Procedure	This chapter was slightly amended in October 2011 in regard to the ethnicity of applicants. Applicant will not be turned away on the basis of their ethnicity and culture if not shared with those children waiting to be placed with adoptive parents.
November 2011
Pre Meeting Report Flow Chart (LAC Review)	This flowchart was added to the manual November 2011.
Guidance for Reports for Fostering Panel	This chapter is new to the manual November 2011.
Decision to Look After	This chapter was updated in November 2011 to clarify the financial arrangements in regard to Notification from Parents Private Family Arrangements.
Fostering Panel	This chapter was significantly amended in November 2011.
Forms Library	Additions and updates to the forms library can be identified by the November 2011 insertion date.
December 2011
Forms Library	New and replacement forms
Tool Kit for Reflective Supervision	This is a new form to compliment chapter 6.2 Supervision Policy
Children's Social Care Staff Induction Booklet	This booklet has been updated and should be re read in its entirety.
Legal Planning Meetings	A Legal Planning Agenda can be found in the Forms Library
Children's Social Care Escalation Policy	This is a new chapter

3.2 Forthcoming Updates

We have agreed a plan to update this Manual twice in the next 12 months.

To find out more about the timescales and process for contributing to these updates, please see Requesting Changes to the Manual.

To suggest or recommend a change to the Manual, go to 'contact us/updates' - available from the left hand side of any screen.

4. How to find a chapter

Procedures and guidance are located in individual 'Chapters' which are available from a 'traditional' Contents List - on the left hand side of the screen.

4.1 Using the Contents List

Chapters are categorised or grouped together as follows:

PARTS: The manual contains procedures categorised under a number of Service Sectors, like 'Looked After Children',

SECTIONS: Within each Service Sector e.g. 'Looked After Services', you will find a Section (group of procedures) like 'Adoption and Permanence'.

CHAPTERS: Under each Section, you'll find individual Chapters/Procedures e.g. 'Placement and Procurement Process'

4.2 You can search for a Chapter

If you aren't sure which service or section to look in, try 'Search' which will help you identify specific Chapters and sub headings within Chapters.

5. Terminology

We believe it is crucial to use consistent terminology, which we agree with individual customers, for example:

'Home' and 'Resource'	this is a generic term which means Children’s Home, Foster Home
'Child' or 'Young Person'	both these terms are used to mean any child under the age of 18
'Staff' or 'Carer'	means all Staff and Carers (including) whether employed or not
'Manager'	means Team Manager, it also means YOT Team Manager
'Line Manager'	means the first Line Manager of a team/service
'Parent'	means person with Parental Responsibility
'Regulatory Authority'	Regulatory Authority is the generic term used in this manual to describe the independent regulatory body responsible for inspecting and regulating services e.g. Ofsted.
'Social Worker'	This means the worker allocated to the child/family. If there is no allocated worker, the Duty Social Worker or Team Manager is responsible.

6. Form Library

The 'Form Library' (available from the left hand side of every screen) contains non ICS forms that can be downloaded and completed as required. If you would like to recommend a form to be included in the library, please go to Requesting Changes to the Manual.

7. Keywords

The manual is accessed by practitioners from varying agencies, who may find terms that they are not familiar with. Therefore, a large glossary (Keywords) of terms such as Notifiable Disease (Try it: click on the highlighted text). We call them 'Keywords'. Once clicked, the definitions will appear in a new window or tab, depending on your browser. You can leave it open for reference, or close it using the "close" button at the bottom.

Many Keywords are highlighted in the body of procedures, but you can search for the Keyword you need: Go to the Keywords Index, on the left hand side of the screen. Or, use 'Search'.

8. Compliance

8.1 Regulatory Compliance

Every effort has been taken to ensure regulatory compliance. If you discover any errors or mistakes, please alert your manager or contact us.

8.2 W3C Compliance

This manual meets the double A Standards of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), for example, it can be accessed by people with high levels of visual impairment. To find out more, click on 'Display Options' on the left hand side of the screen.

9. Contact us

9.1 Comments and Suggestions

If you have any comments or suggestions to make about this manual, including amendments to existing Chapters, the inclusion of new Chapters or new/amended Forms, please contact us by using the button on the left hand side of any screen.

9.2 Alerts

If you would like to be notified when this manual is updated, register your contact details in 'contact us/updates' - on the left hand side of the screen.

10. Copyright

The content of this website can be accessed, printed and downloaded in an unaltered form, on a temporary basis, for personal study or reference purposes. However any content printed or downloaded may not be sold, licensed, transferred, copied or reproduced in whole or in part in any manner or in or on any media to any person without the prior written consent of Tri-X-Childcare Ltd and Lewisham Children's Services.

11. Printing and Retaining Copies

The Manual should normally be viewed on line but can be printed, for reference only.

To print a chapter, click on the icon which is in the top right hand corner of the relevant procedure.

Please note, the Manual will be updated regularly, so staff should avoid retaining printed versions - hard copies are only valid for 72 hours.

End