Placement Resource Group

1. Aim

To manage the requests for external placements and support services by:

• Effective monitoring and scrutiny of external placements and support services to ensure wherever possible children are placed within the borough;
• Allocating resources to support the best possible outcomes for Children Looked After and care leavers, through a mixed economy of in-house and independent provision based always on the needs of the child;
• Promoting placement stability by getting the right resources and accommodation in place straight away to meet every child's individual needs;
• Making best use of local resource to meet the placement accommodation and support needs of Children Looked After and care leavers in Calderdale;
• Ensuring that all partner agencies provide the necessary resources to meet specialist, complex or additional needs.

2. Function

• Ratify emergency external placements, where decisions were made outside the placement Resources Group;
• Consider and agree, if appropriate, the extension of current external placements;
• Consider and agree, if appropriate, changes to external care placements, including moving from an internal to an external placement and vice versa;
• Decide whether or not additional resources should be allocated to support a current placement or an internal placement;
• Review all external placements and support packages over time;
• Review children and young people who have been waiting for a permanent placement for more than 6 months (except adoption);
• Decide and review new applications for supported living placements;
• Monitor unplanned endings in relation to placement decisions;
• Decide on whether the criteria is met for financial assessment for adoption or Special Guardianship support services.

3. Membership

The membership of the Panel will be as follows:

• Service Manager - Children Looked After (Chair);
• Virtual School Head;
• Fostering Team Manager and Practice Manager;
• Placement co-ordinator;
• Finance;
• Children's Commissioning team officer;
• Team Manager Children Looked After;
• Team Manager CiN / CP.

4. Accountability

The Panel is accountable to:

• Children Looked After and care leavers whose cases are considered by the Panel;
• Head of Service Early Intervention and Safeguarding;
• Corporate Parenting Panel.

5. Frequency of Meetings

The Panel will meet weekly.

6. Recording

Minutes of meeting are taken and distributed. Child specific financial decisions in relation to allowances or agreement for funding for long term independent fostering agency placements are recorded on Cass by the chair of the meeting.

CYPS commissioning hold records in relation to children placed externally. The fostering team hold children who have been waiting for a permanent placement for more than 6 months.

Appendix 1: Process Flowchart

Click here to view Appendix 1: Process Flowchart.

Appendix 2: Panel Process