Children in care
Looked after children are children who might be:
- living with foster parents
- living in a residential children's home or
- living in residential settings like schools or secure units.
Relevant Legislation
Children and Young Persons Act 2008 aims to ensure children in care receive high-quality care and services, which are focused on and tailored to their needs.
The Children and Families Act 2014 amended the Children Act 1989 to require local authorities in England to appoint at least one person to promote the educational achievement of its looked-after children.
In England, the Department for Education (DfE) has provided guidance and regulations on care planning, placement and case review (PDF) (DfE, 2021).
The DfE has also published a protocol for local authority children’s services, local care providers, police forces, criminal justice agencies and local health services (including mental health services) on reducing criminalisation of looked after children and care leavers (DfE, 2018a).
In England, schools must have a designated teacher for looked after and previously looked after children. The DfE has published statutory guidance for local authority maintained schools on their roles and responsibilities (DfE, 2018b).
The DfE has also published guidance on promoting the education of looked-after children and previously looked-after children (PDF) (DfE, 2018c).
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has published a guideline on Looked after children and young people, which sets out how organisations, practitioners and carers should work together to deliver high-quality care, stable placements and nurturing relationships for children in care (NICE, 2021).
Information taken from NSPCC website
For information on children in care in Warrington - access Warrington Borough Council website Children in care | warrington.gov.uk
The NSPCC website contains a wealth of information on looked after children
Looked after children | NSPCC Learning