this article will define the meaning of unauthorised Leave in Health & Social Care
Table Of Contents
When Authorised Leave Means you have gained permission to leave your placement unauthorised Leave means the completely opposite. the Leave Has Not Been Authorised and therefore it needs to be reported to the Local Authority
An unauthorised absence is any instance when a child is not where she/he should be. This includes the foster home, school, an authorised activity venue, etc. The police do not need to be informed of an unauthorised absence unless their wearabouts / reason is unknown or their is an risk of harm at the known location.
This may also been known as a unauthorised Absence
Is the Looked After Child Contactable
before reporting the looked after child as being on unauthorised leave. its important to contact the resident to make sure they are okay. and to try and gage if they will be returning back to the placement or not, and if they are not reachable, or your unable to to get a location of where they are staying. what should i do?
i can’t reach the looked after child / the looked after child won’t disclose a location
at this point, unless the local authority or Social worker has stated otherwise you should start filing a Misper (Missing Persons Report) this will require you contacting the police and filing a Missing persons report with the police, its important to give as much information as you can provide them and to take the Police Reference Number so you can give that to the local Authorities and / or OOH (Out Of Hours)
although their is not much differences between authorised and unauthorised leave, its important that the social workers and local authority as well as the placement provider are able to risk asses the risks involved in your care. by being absent / absconding the placement when its unauthorised your carer workers / foster parents may need to alert the police. Some reasons your leave has been marked as Unauthorised include:
- Your considered a danger to the public
- Your Considered to be with people who may put you in danger
- No prior notification of your absence has been made, so no one has been able to risk asses it.
- you have a court order by the criminal justice teams to be placed within Local Authority Care
- Your a child aged under 18
- Your considered Vulnerable
You Can speak with your Foster Carers or Local Authority to discuss the details of why you are being reported as unauthorised if this dose not solve your query you should contact a advocate
