Looked After Children
Looked After Children Teams
Children and Families looks after approximately 480 children and young people at any one time. About 7 out of 10 children go home within six months. Children are mainly looked after if there are serious concerns for their welfare ; if there is family breakdown/illness and nobody else to provide care or where a child has been abandoned or placed for adoption. Parents are responsible for the upbringing of their children, not the Local Authority, and we do not provide care because young people are fed up with their parents or parents are fed up with their teenagers!!
Most children looked after are cared for in foster homes. A smaller number are looked after in children’s homes or specialist boarding schools. Unless there are good reasons why not, you and other family members will be encouraged to keep in touch and invited to all important meetings.
Your child’s care plan will be reviewed on a regular basis and your views and those of your child (where old enough) are important and will be listened to. Where children are never going to return home to their family, adoption will always be considered as an option in order to provide a permanent and settled home for the child. It is seldom in the interests of the child to be looked after by public agencies for all of their childhood. Adoption will be considered if a child remains in care with little chance of returning home safely and especially if the child is 10 or under.
Leaving Care Service
This service is available to young people aged 18 plus who have been looked after by the Local Authority for a certain amount of time. Help is given to the young person with independent living skills, career advise and training and educational opportunities. The leaving care worker keeps in touch with the young person and especially when they have no family members to help and support them. For young people who go on to higher education, support can be given until they are 24yrs, if they wish.
Fostering and Adoption Services
Hackney recruits and approves a large number of foster carers and adoptive parents from different age groups, ethnic, religious and social backgrounds and who live in various family structures. Foster carers are always needed to look after the many children who are in care. Carers receive a weekly allowance for each child they look after as well as and a fee for the work they do. There are also many children in care who need a loving adoptive home. If you are interested in either adoption or fostering, we would like to hear from you.
For more information on Fostering and Adoption services, or to register your interest in becoming a foster carer or adoptive parent click on the links in the 'See Also' box on the right.
Page updated: 28 Oct 2008