Health

You should be provided with a child’s basic medical history when they are placed with you. If it is an emergency placement, this should happen as soon as possible. As much information as possible needs to be understood about the child’s health especially where the child has health or behavioural needs that potentially pose a risk to themselves, you and others. Any issues should be fully shared with you, together with an understanding as to what support you will receive as a result.

Information should be given about any allergies. See also First Aid and Medication and The Foster Home and Health and Safety.

A child/young person will have a Health Care Assessment which forms the Health Care Plan. If the child/young person does not have one, the Social Worker should arrange an assessment so that a plan can be drawn up and available for the child’s first Looked After Review which will take place within 20 working days.

The Health Care Assessment happens at particular times:

• The first Assessment must be done before the first placement or, if not possible, before the child’s first Looked After Review (unless one has been done within the previous 3 months);
• For children under five years, further Health Care Assessments should occur at least once every six months;
• For children aged over five years, further Health Care Assessments should occur at least annually.

The child should have a copy of their health plan.

You play an important role in looking after and promoting the health needs of children in your care. This means talking to them and providing them with information about doing the things that keep them healthy and well.

You should encourage children/young people to follow their interest and leisure activities.

You should help the child/young person to identify where they can access activities they are interested in and support them to attend. This may be linked to the educational setting they attend. It could be sporting activities or activities which they enjoy which make them feel good about themselves.

It is important that you keep a record of the child’s health and that you take the child for their health assessment and relevant appointments.

The information you hold about the child - including their daily routine, likes and dislikes, health issues etc. - should be shared with other professionals.

Health care plan should detail the progress the child has made and include areas of health such as physical health, health education needs, emotional, social and psychological help.

For children with disabilities and lifelong conditions then their health needs are identified (including their mental and sexual health needs, as appropriate). You and the child should feel well supported and have access to local health services when it is needed. There is good monitoring in place to support with the child’s needs and effective relationships have been built up with the health professionals.

You will need to register a child with a GP, Dentist and Optician and whether you have delegated authority to take the child for any treatment. This will usually have been decided when completing the Placement Plan.

Upon placement, you will need to facilitate dental and optical checks. Children will need to be seen by a dentist at least annually, and optical checks need to be undertaken at a minimum of every two years or more often if the child wears glasses or requires dental treatment.

Each time a child is given medication, you must record when, how often and how much was given. All medicines should be stored securely and accessible for those who need it. Safe management is in place with controlled drugs - see First Aid and Medication.

You should help children/young people to make informed decisions about their health and their views should be taken into account when making decisions.   

In the event of an accident or incident, you must record the details of what happened and inform your Supervising Social Worker and the child’s social worker as soon as possible.

You will receive appropriate training including health promotion, communicable diseases, hygiene and first aid. Social Workers and health practitioners should ensure you have specific contact details and information on how to access relevant services, including Children and Young People’s Mental Health Services (CYPMHS).

Each Children’s team will have access to in house therapeutic support service via a Systemic Therapist or CLA CYPMHS. The therapists are trained and experienced in using specific techniques to develop skills and draw out hidden strengths and abilities of foster carers. They will be able to assist in exploring options of support for children and their carers.

Many children in care have had unhappy, frightening or painful experiences, such as witnessing or suffering violence, multiple moves and uncertainty or losing important people in their life. This may have left them vulnerable to becoming highly sensitive to what happens around them, which is often expressed through challenging, unpredictable or impulsive behaviors. Research and clinical experience suggests that specialist assistance is sometimes required to help these children.

The service aims to help children. In the first instance, the therapists make arrangements to meet foster carers and social workers to discuss individual children. These meetings aim to help understand the child’s experience, to think about how to help them with their difficulties, and to help foster carers to manage their family life. The therapists might also arrange to see foster carer(s) on their own or with the child(ren). At times, the therapists might meet the foster carer’s family even after the foster child has moved on and might also explore with the carer what would be the most helpful way forward in a non-judgmental way.