6.1.5 Placement Planning and Disruption Meetings

1. Placement Planning Meetings

Placement Planning meetings should be convened as part of the process of identifying and placing a child - as set out in the Placements in Foster Care Procedure and the Placements in Residential Care Procedure. The first Placement Planning Meeting in relation to a placement should be held before the placement. Where this is not possible because of the urgency of the situation, it should be held in order that the Placement Plan is prepared within 5 working days of the start of the placement.

Further Placement Planning Meetings should be held at intervals agreed with the manager of the residential home or the foster carers and their supervising social worker - or as required for example where there are issues to be resolved in relation to the day to day arrangements for the placement.

The social worker and home manager/foster carers supervising social worker will agree the best format and venue for the meeting and who will chair the meeting but generally this will be in the foster carer's home.

The people listed below should contribute to the meetings:

1. The child's social worker and/or other professional associated with the child e.g. Personal Adviser or advocate;
2. The child;
3. The child's parents;
4. For children in residential care, the child's link worker/keyworker and, where appropriate the home manager;
5. For children in foster care, the foster carers and their supervising social worker.

• The child's Placement Plan;
• Any work which has been undertaken in supporting the child's placement;
• If relevant: the child's Care Plan, Personal Education Plan and Pathway Plan.

Where the proposed placement has the effect of disrupting the arrangements made for the child's education and training - see Supporting the Education and Promoting the Achievement of Children with a Social Worker, Looked After and Previously Looked After Children Procedure.

Where the proposed placement is out of area, see Out of Area Placements Procedure.

The chairperson should also ensure that the child, parent(s) and others who have been asked to contribute understand the purpose of the meeting, how it will be conducted and are given the opportunity to put their views and suggestions.

If children are not settling into their placement, or if there are concerns about the suitability of the placement, consideration should be given to the following:

• Whether it is possible to sustain the placement until the next Looked After Review by, for example, providing additional support to the placement;
• Bringing forward the date of the next Looked After Review;
• Ending the placement.

2. Disruption Meetings

2.1 Aim of the Disruption Meeting

Placements break down through a combination of several factors and the objective of a Disruption Meeting is to look at the sequence of events and to learn from the experience. It is usually a combination of unidentified circumstances, misinterpretations and unpredictable circumstances.

When endings are unplanned, the welfare and well-being of children remain paramount. The needs and feelings of other children living in a foster/residential home will also be taken into account.

No one person is to blame for the disruption. Everyone has feelings about placement breakdowns, and there is more than one way of viewing the disruption.

The aim of the Disruption Meeting is not to attribute blame, it is important that all participants are aware of this.

The purpose of this Disruption Meeting is instead to:

• Enable participants to share information and feelings about the stability of the foster family home and to share what we are worried about without assigning blame;
• Gain an understanding of what individuals would like this meeting to achieve;
• Identify what's not worked that have made things difficult for this foster family home;
• Offer the different agencies involved with the child/young person a chance to talk through the reasons for the disruption which could contribute to the matching considerations of future placements for the foster carer, and care planning for the child;
• Give the foster carer the opportunity of reflecting on the placement loss, and wherever possible the opportunity of exploring and considering restorative practice to repair the carer/child relationship;
• Bring together plans for the child/young person on what we have learnt;
• Give the service the opportunity of exploring and considering trends and patterns that would contribute to a future Care Plan for the specific child or children as well as more general learning points for the agency/agencies concerned;
• Consider the child's lived experience in placement including friendships, relationships, and memories from their time here. To consider how this information is to be captured, gathered, and shared;
• Create a statement for children to help them understanding why they had to leave the placement.

2.2 When to Call for a Disruption Meeting?

A Disruption Meeting should be considered in the following circumstances:

• When a foster carer ends the placement without notice;
• When a child's placement ended in an unplanned way.

A Disruption Meeting must be convened in the following circumstances:

• When a permanent placement, identified as being a long-term match disrupts. This is irrespective of whether notice to end placement has been given;
• When a placement of over two years duration ends in an unplanned way.

Please note, decisions about placements for children and/or carers should not be delayed awaiting outcome of Disruption Meetings. Any concerns about foster carers when placement ends need to be addressed by Fostering Service at the time.

2.3 Arranging the Meeting

When a disruption notified to the fostering service, the Supervision Social Worker will start a Disruption and Unplanned ending record on Liquid Logic. The fostering SFMs will authorise the record and decide if a disruption meeting is to be convened. A Disruption Meeting Form will be generated automatically when this is answered 'Yes' in the manager authorisation section on the Disruption and Unplanned ending record on Liquid Logic.

The Disruption Meeting Form is embedded with Signs of Safety framework and should be used as the agenda template to guide the meeting through.

A disruption meeting should usually be held within 4 - 6 weeks of the placement disruption. However it is important to strike a balance between the meeting taking place too soon after the disruption, when participants may be defensive, or too long after the disruption, when participants may be less open to considering issues or have rationalised events.

• The Fostering Service will take the lead in arranging for Disruption Meetings for children placed with SCC in-house fostering provision. In these circumstances, the fostering social worker should liaise with the child's social worker to ensure that key participants are invited to contribute to or attend the meeting;
• If the child is placed with an Independent Fostering Agency, (IFA), it will be the responsibility of SCC Children's Social Care team to make its own arrangements regarding who will arrange the Disruption Meeting, but this would usually be the child's social worker in conjunction with the IFA;
• For children whose adoptive placement disrupts, a Disruption Meeting must take place.

The chairperson should take minutes at the meeting and complete the meeting minutes within the Disruption Meeting Form on foster carer's record on Liquid Logic. A copy of the meeting record must be sent to the child's Social Worker to be saved to the child's file on Liquid Logic. A copy of the meeting record must be shared with the foster carer. The minutes should also be circulated to all other concerned.

2.4 Participants

A manager of the fostering service will chair the meeting. In complex cases, however, consideration will be given to the Service Manager acting as chair. Consideration needs to be given to the number of active participants and whether they need to attend throughout the meeting. Following is a list of suggested relevant people to consider:

• IRO;
• Minute taker;
• Foster carers;
• Previous foster carers;
• Present foster carers;
• Supervising Social Worker;
• Child's Social Worker;
• School - current and previous, especially the school attended during the disrupted placement;
• All agencies involved with the child/young person;
• Team Manager.

2.5 Actions Taken From the Disruption Meeting

• Record of meeting completed on foster carer's file;
• A copy of the meeting record sent to child's social worker for the child's file;
• A copy of the meeting record sent to the foster carer;
• Consideration should be given to holding an early Foster Carer Review to consider the foster carer's approval - see Review and Termination of Approval of Foster Carers Procedure;
• Consideration should be given to updating the carer's learning and development plan with any relevant training;
• Ensuring that the child/ young person understands the reasons why the placement has ended, and explore options for a therapeutic ending/ restorative conversation between the child/ young person if appropriate;
• Ensuring that the child/young person's belongings have been given to the child/young person;
• Ensuring that life story work has been shared with the young person including information about friendships, relationships, memories, current interests/activities, and pets etc.

Appendix: Disruption Meeting Process Flowchart

Click here to view Appendix: Disruption Meeting Process Flowchart