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What is private fostering?
Private fostering applies when the following 4 criteria are met:
- A child under 16 (or 18 if disabled)
- Staying in the home of someone else for 28 days or more
- The carer is not a close relative (close defined as parents, grandparents, siblings, aunts or uncles only)
- The arrangement was made privately, not made through the Local Authority
When all the criteria apply, by law the Local Authority must be notified.
People become private foster carers for all sorts of reasons. They can be a friend of the child’s family or someone who is willing to care for the child of a family they do not know.
When private fostering might happen
Common situations may be
- Children and young people living apart from their families through their own choice or due to family circumstances
- Children with parents overseas, including children here on educational residential placements
- Children on holiday exchanges which last more than 27 days
- Children living with host families for a variety of other reasons
The private fostering team
The private fostering team will ensure
- Safe, healthy and being properly cared for
- Getting a proper education
- Keeping in touch with people who are important to them
- Having their racial, cultural, language and religious needs met
What to do
If you know of a child who is already in a Private Fostering (PF) situation, or who is due to enter a PF arrangement in the next 6 weeks, and you believe they may not be linking in to PF support, you should notify the PF team via the MASH email address. This will be shared with the PF social worker team who will send you the correct notification forms to complete with the parents and host family PF carers, or they will contact you to take the available details and visit the host family themselves. If you work in healthcare or education, you don’t have to keep this information confidential.
What happens next
- The private fostering social worker must visit the child and host family within 7 days of being notified.
- PF social worker will do safeguarding checks on the host family and will do a Care Profile on the carers’ suitability to look after that child within 42 days, this is not a Single Assessment and does not have to have the consent of parents.
- PF social worker will visit the young person at least every 6 weeks and more often if required, again not necessarily with parental consent.
- The PF team present the case to Panel as they would for a Fostering case, however this remains a private arrangement. Arrangements for language students are agreed direct by the ADM – agency decision maker.
- The child can get help and support through the PF team and assistance down the line as a Care Leaver.
Important things to note
- Parents retain PR and their consent will be needed for everything done for that child including medical appointments, haircuts etc. If Early Help is deemed to be appropriate, parental consent will be needed for this. PF social workers will liaise with parents in some circumstances in order to help facilitate this type of consent being given.
- If Social Care say that it is not suitable for that child to return to their family home at any stage, then this is not a PF case and Children’s Social Care involvement will be necessary.
- If a child already has a SW and is open as CIN, you will need to inform their social workers of the child’s new living arrangements. The social workers will then notify the PF team so they can assess the host family, the child’s allocated social workers will retain full case responsibility.
- If the arrangement is deemed to be unsuitable by the fostering panel, parents will be advised to make alternative arrangements for their child and a further referral made to MASH if necessary.
Information and contacts for private fostering in Devon
Contact: privatefosteringservice-mailbox@devon.gov.uk or telephone 0345 155 1071
Email notifications to: mashsecure@devon.gov.uk or telephone 0345 155 1071.
For Torbay children: https://www.torbay.gov.uk/children-and-families/private-foster-care/ or call 01803 208100.
For Plymouth children: https://selfservice.plymouth.gov.uk/MyServices and select ‘Private Fostering notification’.