London Borough of Hillingdon (LBH) - Permanency Planning Process and Family Finding for children

 Introduction Permanency Planning Meetings (PPMs) are held in addition to the Child’s Looked After Review to establish a child’s permanency pathway and ensure that a clear parallel plan for all looked after children is in place. PPM should consider the most effective route to securing permanency for a child or young person.

When to convene PPM? Unless there is a strong and achievable plan for the child to live with birth parent(s) within the child's timeframes, a PPM should be convened at the earliest opportunity. For Looked After Children this needs to take place within 2 weeks of the child's first looked after review. In cases when children remain in the family but the LA care plan is long term fostering or adoption ,a PPM maybe called before the final hearing in order to progress the parallel plan at the earliest point . Early PPMs are suitable when the LA care plan is removal of the child at birth .In these cases Fostering to Adopt placements should be considered if the case fulfils the criteria for such a placement and this would best meet the child's needs when the plan is removal of the child at birth and successful reunification is unlikely to be achieved. The initial PPM should be convened before the child comes into care, pre birth to consider Fostering to Adopt if suitable

Who does what? In Hillingdon, the Permanency Team Manager is responsible for coordinating and chairing all PPM's held on children under 14 years . The PPM process has two stages: 1. Permanency Planning Meetings 2. Family Finding Meetings

Children under 8 years old The LBH Permanency Strategy states that adoption should be the care plan / parallel plan for all children aged 8 and younger. Some children will have a connected person who applies for a Special Guardianship Order (SGO), Family and Friends Foster Carer approval, or a Child Arrangement Order (CAO). If this is successful the child's permanency is secured. PPM’s continue until an Order and, or approval as Foster Carer is achieved and the planning for child’s permanent placement is therefore finalised. In other situations where a PPM may be necessary are:

Children 8 to 13 years old Children and young people in this age group are subject to the same PPM process, but the care plan for the child will be long term fostering unless they are placed with connected person who secures a permanency order and the child ceases to be looked after

Children and Young People 14-16 years old Young people in this age group will have their permanency plan agreed at the LAC review, they are not referred into the PPM process . The match is presented at the long term matching meeting

Referrals Children's Social Workers refer cases for PPM Requests are made by the child's social worker completing a Family Finding Referral Form which is sent to the Permanency Team Manager's tray The initial PPM will be arranged within a week of a referral

Attendance at the first PPM These meetings are chaired by the Permanency Team Manager and are attended by the child’s social worker, the social work manager , the fostering supervising social worker (SSW) if the child is placed with a Hillingdon registered Foster Carer . Other professionals from the Team around the Looked after Child may attend as required. The purpose of the meeting is to establish the child’s permanence plan, including formulating a parallel plan and to agree what preparation is required for the child, their parents etc , agreeing the tasks with timescales. The timescale for review PPMs will be determined on an individual case work basis

Agenda and decisions PPM and family finding meetings follow a standardised agenda with necessary checks and balances After a review of the reports and a discussion of the background, legal context etc, and understanding the views of everyone involved and the current contact arrangements, the chair should lead a review of the permanency options and facilitate decisions about the permanence plan. The Chair sends decisions to the IRO, relevant Team Managers and to the Head of Children's Resources within 2 working days.

Family Finding   A Family Finding Social Worker (FFSW) will be allocated to a case if and when the permanency plan is outside of the child's network and in advance of the final hearing to undertake early family finding work, including preparation of court statements.   Family Finding meetings are the next stage and continuum in the permanency planning process and take place once a Care Order is granted. Once a Care Order has been granted active Family Finding begins in accordance with Hillingdon's family finding standards Family Finding meetings continue until a permanent family is identified and successful selections and matching meetings are held, culminating with the case being presented at Hillingdon's Fostering and Adoption Panel

Matching children with permanent families - Adoption / Long Term Fostering

Selections Meeting When there is more than one family available for a child, a selections meeting needs to take place to identify in order of priority the most suitable family for the child. Visits to identified prospective families will then take place in order of priority and prospective carers need to be informed if other families are being considered .   Following a successful first visit and when there is agreement that that the placement is likely to be recommended. Arrangements for the child's Foster Carer to meet the prospective permanency carers need to be made preferably before the match presented to Panel

Matching Meeting Once a family has been identified and this is agreed by the child’s social work team and prospective carers, a formal matching meeting is held to confirm how the family can meet the child’s needs. The recommendation of the matching meeting forms the basis of the matching report and support plan . All children under 14, need to have their permanency placement recommendation presented to the Fostering and Adoption Panel. If Panel recommend the match and if this is endorsed by the Agency Decision Maker , the family finding process is completed and an introductions meetings is held to plan the child's move to their permanent placement   For children 14 -16 years, a matching report is presented to the long term matching meeting for consideration and does not need to be presented at the F&A panel