9.2.2 Placement Plans |
Contents
1. Context
The Children Act 1989 and the Care Standards Act 2000 place significant emphasis on assessment, planning and review. The National Minimum Standards for Children's Homes, 2011 further endorses the requirement for all Looked After Children and young people to have their needs assessed effectively and comprehensively, and written Placement Plans which outline how these needs will be met and are implemented.
This chapter should be read in conjunction with Placement Planning and Disruption Meetings which provides the context of this chapter within Children’s Social Care.
2. Scope
The Placement Plan for each young person is a way of setting out the assessed needs of the young person, the objectives of the placement and how these will be met on a daily basis. It also is designed to be a means of assessing the effectiveness of the placement. It is important not to confuse the Placement Plan within the children’s home location with the Looking After Children (LAC) Care Plan and the Placement Agreement (Placement In Residential Care). The Care Plan (LAC) provides the overarching plan for the young person from a corporate and departmental perspective, whereas the Placement Plan, referred to within this procedure, is the translation of the Care Plan into the daily life of the individual young person.
The Placement Plan should include the following key areas:
- Health needs and health promotion
- Education needs and attainment targets
- Cultural, religious, language and racial needs and how they will be met
- Leisure needs
- Contact arrangements with family, friends and significant others
3. Procedure
| 1.0 | Young people should have a Placement Plan that sits alongside their Care Plan. The Placement Plan should set out the assessed needs of the young person, the objectives of the placement, how these will be met by the home on a daily basis, the contribution to be made by staff of the home and how the effectiveness of the placement will be measured. The Plan should include the whole of the young person’s life in relation to the main headings, as outlined above. |
| 1.1 | Young people should know, according to their level of understanding, the content of their overall Care and Placement Plans and they should be involved in drawing up, reviewing and assessing these plans. |
| 1.2 | The Keyworker within the home should monitor each young person's plans. The key worker should also ensure that the requirements of the plan are implemented as part of the day-to-day care of the young person. |
| 1.3 | The Children’s Homes Manager should regularly and frequently seek the views of the young person, parents (where appropriate) and social worker on the content and implementation of the Placement Plan. These views should be taken into account when making any changes to the plan. |
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