Learn best practices for social workers conducting comprehensive sibling assessments. This guide emphasizes a child-centered, trauma-informed approach to safeguard vital sibling bonds, inform permanence planning, and support the well-being of children within the care system, ensuring decisions prioritize their unique needs and relationships.
Understanding a child’s trauma history is paramount for guiding effective therapeutic placements, ensuring tailored care that fosters healing and stability.
Discover how to build safe, affirming spaces for LGBTQ+ youth in care. Learn about essential training, inclusive policies, and support systems to combat discrimination and foster positive development and mental well-being.
This article explores the vital role of local authorities as corporate parents, outlining their legal duties and responsibilities in safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children in their care, guided by legislation like the Children Act 1989.
Explore the essential advocacy and support services available for young people in care who wish to make a complaint. Learn how advocates can empower you by providing independent advice, emotional support, and practical assistance throughout the complaints process, ensuring your voice is heard and your rights are upheld.
This step-by-step guide empowers children in care to confidently make a complaint, explaining why their voice matters and detailing the process from identifying a concern to seeking support, ensuring their rights are heard and acted upon.
Tier 1: Physiological Needs (The Foundation of Survival) In a traditional sense, physiological needs include air, water, food, shelter, sleep, and clothing. In a residential or foster care setting, these are the baseline statutory requirements. However, providing these elements is only the first...
Attachment theory is the fundamental psychological framework used to understand how the quality of early relationships between a child and their primary caregiver dictates the child's lifelong emotional, social, and cognitive development. For professionals in the social care sector—including...
Introduction: What are Looked After Children? Looked After Children, also known as children in care, are individuals who are placed under the care and supervision of the local authority. This can occur for a variety of reasons, including neglect, abuse, or the inability of parents or guardians to...
Section 20 of the Children Act 1989 is a voluntary legal provision where a local authority provides temporary accommodation for a child when their parents are temporarily unable to care for them, or when there is no one with parental responsibility. Crucially, this arrangement does not involve a...
```html As the Director of Looked After Child Limited, I have spent over seven years on the frontline—from NVQ Level 4 leadership to the daily realities of managing a residential home. I have seen the "paper trail" of a child's life fail them repeatedly during transitions. In 2026, we are finally...
A comprehensive guide for leaders on navigating UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018 to ensure robust digital safeguarding practices, particularly in care settings, emphasizing compliance, risk mitigation, and ethical data handling.