Staying Put

1. Introduction

A Staying Put arrangement is where a Former Relevant child, after ceasing to be Looked After, remains in the former foster home where they were placed immediately before they ceased to be Looked After, beyond the age of 18.

It is the duty of the local authority:

• To monitor the Staying Put arrangement; and
• To provide advice, assistance and support to the Former Relevant child and the former foster parent with a view to maintaining the Staying Put arrangement (this must include financial support), until the child reaches the age of 21 (unless the local authority consider that the Staying Put arrangement is not consistent with the child's welfare).

Under the Care Leavers (England) Regulations 2010, Planning Transition into Adulthood for Care Leavers Guidance and Government Guidance Staying Put - Arrangements for Care Leavers Aged 18 and Above to Stay on With Their Former Foster Carers (2013), the Local Authority must provide information about extending foster placements post-18.

The intention of Staying Put arrangements is to ensure that young people can remain with their former foster carers until they are prepared for adulthood, can experience a transition akin to their peers, avoid social exclusion and be more likely to avert a subsequent housing and tenancy breakdown.

(Note that the term 'arrangement' should be used rather than 'placement' - the term 'placement' denotes a situation where the local authority arranged and placed the child with a foster carer. Once the child reaches the age of eighteen and legal adulthood, the local authority is no longer making a placement, but facilitating a Staying Put arrangement for the young person.)

Young people living with connected persons or foster carers supported by independent providers should be treated in the same way as those young people living with local authority non-connected in-house foster carers when consideration is given to a 'staying put' arrangement.

If a young person feels that his/her wish to remain with their former foster carer has not been properly considered by the local authority or they are unhappy with the way in which the local authority has acted, they may wish to speak to their Independent Reviewing Officer who chairs their reviews before they turn 18 and request a review of their Pathway Plan. The young person should be told of their right to use their local authority's complaints procedure to voice their concerns, and of their right to have an independent Advocate.

Note: Where a Staying Put arrangement is in place, the local authority, where appropriate, may consider delegating part of the Personal Adviser function to the foster carer (see Leaving Care and Transition Procedure, Personal Advisers).

2. Planning

Discussion should start with the young person and foster carer regarding the option of staying put as early as possible, ideally before the young person reaches the age of 16.

If this has not already been done, the first Looked After Review following his or her 16th birthday should consider whether a Staying Put arrangement should be an option. This will entail assessing the implications for both the young person and the foster carer.

When carrying out an assessment of an Eligible child's needs, the local authority must determine whether it would be appropriate to provide advice, assistance and support to facilitate a Staying Put arrangement. Where they determine that it would be appropriate, and where the child and the local authority foster parent wish to make a Staying Put arrangement, the IRO will be consulted. The decision to authorise a Staying Put plan as part of the young person's Pathway Plan must be given by the Team Manager. Where Staying Put is a likely option, the young person's social worker or PA will liaise with the foster carer's agency. For internal foster carers, this will be with the carer's supervising social worker. For external foster carers, this will be with External Placement Management Team in first instance.

If a young person would benefit from remaining in a family setting, but this cannot be provided by their current foster carer, a match may be sought from the SMBC Supported Lodgings hosts.

Setting up a Staying Put arrangement

A 'Living Together Agreement' will be drawn up to reflect the young person's Pathway Plan the agreement will set out all of the practical arrangements regarding the young person remaining as a young adult in the Staying Put arrangement. It should set out the 'ground rules' of the household as well as the areas of responsibility that all parties to the arrangement are expected to fulfil. Many of these will be an extension of the expectations on them when they were a foster child. This will cover arrangements such as:

• Preparation for adulthood and independence tasks;
• Finance, including young people having credit cards, loan agreements and mobile phone contracts registered at the address;
• Income and benefit claims;
• Friends and partners visiting and staying at the address;
• Staying away for nights/weekends and informing carers of movements;
• Education, training and employment activities;
• Health arrangements;
• Move-on arrangements;
• Issues related to younger foster care children in the placement, i.e. safeguarding, being a positive role model and time-keeping.

It should be assessed from the outset how the arrangement will help the young person develop the skills required for independent living once they move on. They should be supported to continue to develop a range of skills including:

• Relationships - getting on with neighbours; understanding acceptable behaviour; when and how to communicate with relevant professionals;
• Emotional Resilience - managing isolation and where to go for support. Building self-esteem;
• Finance and budgeting - opening a bank account, safe borrowing and managing debt, understanding basic financial products, benefits and welfare reform; budgeting for priority bills, household appliances and everyday shopping on a budget;
• Cooking - cooking healthily and on a budget; understanding nutrition and its impact on overall health;
• Managing a home - washing and ironing, cleaning, basic DIY, operating appliances and what is allowed within a tenancy; and
• Applying for jobs - understanding strengths and areas for personal development; developing job skills, understanding job/volunteering pathways and support available; understanding bursaries and other financial support; where to go for advice; understanding the impact of work on benefits.

3. Legal Status and Safeguarding

Following the young person's 18th birthday, the legal basis on which they occupy the property (former foster home) changes (the legal term is that the young person becomes an 'excluded licensee' lodging in the home) - this should not denote that the young person will be treated differently than they were as a fostered child.

From the age of eighteen, young people are no longer legally 'in care' or Looked After and therefore fostering arrangements and legislation relating to children placed with foster carers no longer applies. While Fostering Regulations will no longer legally apply to these arrangements, key standards should continue to govern the expectations of the placement when the young person reaches 18.

The Local Authority will assess individual circumstances and consider the appropriateness of all of the checks in the scheme particularly where the young person is the only person placed/living with their carer/s and it is not envisaged that further children will be placed. In circumstances where it is clear that the carer will not be fostering any further children, it may be deemed appropriate to terminate their approval as a foster carer.

In situations where it is possible that they may foster again in the future, it would be inappropriate to terminate their approval, given the length of time that re-approval would take. Where a foster carer's approval is terminated, it will be necessary to ensure that the Staying Put arrangement continues to meet appropriate standards.

Safeguarding arrangements will need to be sufficient, including Disclosure and Barring Service checks on over 18 year olds and issues relating to fostered children in households. Where foster children are in placement, the foster carers will need to be returned to the fostering panel due to a change in circumstances as the child/young person Staying Put will have reached adulthood and become an adult member of the fostering household. As such, they will require a valid Disclosure and Barring Service check. To ensure that the check (and possible subsequent risk assessment) is completed by the child/young person's eighteenth birthday the process will need to commence in sufficient time.

The Staying Put arrangement will be monitored and reviewed within 4 weeks of new arrangements, and following this by the PA as part of their regular contacts with the young person and at the young person's review of their pathway plan every 6 months. In addition, the Supported Lodgings Officer will monitor the arrangement in line with the Staying Put and Supported Lodgings guidance.

4. Support for Foster Carers

All Staying Put carers will be offered on-going support in line with Staying Put and Supported Lodgings Guidance and Financial Procedures. This support will be offered regardless of whether the former foster carer is from the local authority (including connected person carers) or an independent fostering service or approved only within the Supported Lodging Scheme.

Discussions with the former foster carer will consider whether they require any particular training and guidance to help support the young person. Careful consideration should be given to continued support.

5. Financial Implications

Former foster carers will be paid an allowance that will cover all reasonable costs of supporting the care leaver to remain living with them (see Staying Put and Supported Lodgings Guidance and Financial Procedures).

Clear information will be provided to foster carers on the financial support which may be provided for staying put arrangements, in order to help foster carers plan well in advance whether they wish to participate in such arrangements. Information will also be provided to the foster carer about the tax and benefit implications of becoming a Staying Put carer (see HMRC Help Sheet 236) Staying Put carers will also be provided with information about liability insurance cover in situations where Staying Put young people may make an allegation against a foster child in placement, or against their Staying Put carer/s, or an allegation is made against the Staying Put young person. (The majority of foster carers hold public liability insurance stemming from their local authority membership of Fostering Network).

6. Young People Attending University and Other Settings Away from Home

Living away from the former foster carer's home for temporary periods such as attending higher education courses should not preclude a 'staying put' arrangement. This might include a residential further education institution; undertaking induction training for the armed services or other training or employment programmes that require a young person to live away from home.

Financial arrangements in these circumstances are outlined in Staying Put and Supported Lodgings Guidance and Financial Procedures.

7. Young People with Additional Needs

The Staying Put framework is aimed at former relevant children who require an extended period with their former foster carer/s due to delayed maturity, vulnerability and/or in order to complete their education or training. Where young people have an on-going cognitive disability and meet the adult services Fair Access to Care Services criteria (Putting People First), foster placements should be converted to Adult Placements/Shared Lives Arrangements when the child reaches their eighteenth birthday. This is important to ensure that both the young person and the carer have a formal regulatory and safeguarding framework that addresses their respective needs.

8. Ending of Staying Put Arrangements

The Staying Put arrangement extends until:

• The young person leaves the Staying Put arrangement;
  
  or
• The young person reaches their twenty-first birthday;
  
  or
• The arrangement is assessed to be not consistent with the welfare of the young person and/or no longer meeting the needs of the young person.

The end of a 'staying put' arrangement should not another 'cliff edge' for the young person but a gradual transition to independent living. Procedures will be agreed at the outset about how any wish by the carer or young person to bring the arrangement to an end should be managed. The social worker/PA should discuss with the young person their transition from such an arrangement to another type of accommodation and agree the type of support the young person will require.