Why am I 'looked after' and what does being 'looked after' mean?

Why am I being looked after?

There are lots of different reasons why children cannot live with their family.

Sometimes parents ask for help because they feel they are struggling to look after their children in the best way or sometimes it might be safer for a child not to live at home.

Being looked after means that...

You may be on a 'Care Order' - this means that a decision has been made in court, with help from social care, that you should be looked after by the local authority.

You may be accommodated (you might hear this called 'Section 20') - this means that the council and your parents have agreed to share responsibility for your care. Your parents will still be part of any decisions that are made about how you are looked after.

From now on we’ll talk about Care Plans, you’ll find out more about these as you go along. But these are really important and you’ll hear people talk about them a lot. You will be asked your opinion about your care plan.

What will my social worker do?

You will have a named social worker who will be responsible for your care. They are there to help and support you.

They will:

visit you and explain to you why you are being “looked after”
let you know how long you may be looked after and what the long term plans are
they will make sure you understand what is happening and why and will help you with any problems
visit you within the first week of moving to a new foster home or placement
then, if you carry on being looked after, at least every 6 weeks
they may visit you more often if you need them too. You can ask for extra visits if you need them
talk to you on your own
talk about your hobbies, what you like and things you’re good at or anything you’re unhappy about
tell you how you can get in touch if you need to