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<p>Before the decision is made to remove a child, local authorities, where possible,
offer early help and support in order to keep the families together. In ‘Children's
Social Care: Stable Homes, Built on Love’, the government has outlined plans to build
on the strengths of current early help services, through the creation of Family Help.
The aim is to provide effective, joined up support to help families overcome multiple
and complex problems before they escalate. Further details are available at: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/childrens-social-care-stable-homes-built-on-love"
target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/childrens-social-care-stable-homes-built-on-love</a>.</p><p>The
department recognises the value of family arrangements, including Kinship Care. We
have made a commitment to implement or explore each of the recommendations on Kinship
Care from the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care, including a commitment
to invest £9 million to establish a new kinship carer training offer in this Spending
Review period and over £45 million to begin implementing family network support packages
through the Families First for Children pathfinder. As part of this, the department
will also invest in pilots that solely focus on Family Network Support Packages, in
seven local areas. These pilots will allow us to test and evaluate the impact of these
packages on keeping families together and keeping children out of care, and build
on the investment we have already made to establish a network of up to 100 peer support
groups for kinship carers across England.</p><p>When it is not possible for a child
to live with their parent, a person with parental responsibility, or someone named
in a child arrangements order, section 22C of the Children Act 1989 states that the
local authority must:</p><ul><li>Give preference to a placement with an individual
who is a relative, friend or other person connected with the child.</li><li>Be satisfied
that placement with foster carers is, in their opinion the most appropriate placement
available.</li><li>Ensure as far as reasonably practicable that the placement allows
the child to live near their home and does not disrupt their education.</li></ul><p>The
Children Act 1989 makes clear that when determining the most appropriate placement
for a looked after child who has a sibling, the local authority must also, as far
as reasonably practicable, ensure the placement is such that the child can live with
their sibling if that sibling is also looked after.</p><p>Where a child is placed
in foster care, the local authority has a duty to promote contact between the child
and their friends, relatives and others connected to the child or with parental responsibility,
unless this is not reasonably practical or consistent with the child’s welfare. Details
for promoting and maintaining contact must be included in the child’s care plan.</p><p>Where
the court decides the best decision for the child is adoption, it is important that
siblings are placed together. The adoption statutory guidance says that siblings should
be adopted by the same prospective adopter, unless there is good reason why they should
not be. Where an agency is making a placement decision on two or more children from
the same family, it should be based on a comprehensive assessment of the quality of
the children’s relationship, their individual needs and the likely capacity of the
prospective adopter to meet the needs of all the siblings being placed together. Where
it is not possible for the siblings to be placed together, the agency should carefully
consider the need for the children to remain in contact with each other and the need
for adoption support.</p><p>Where safe and appropriate, maintaining relationships
with birth family members is important to wellbeing of the child. The government committed
to improving contact practice in the National Adoption Strategy. Regional Adoption
Agency (RAA) leaders are trialling what good contact practice looks like, with a view
to setting national standards in this area. RAAs are also currently trialling a programme
called ‘Letterswap,’ a new digital platform to improve the current ‘Letterbox’ system.</p>
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