FAQs

When you are ‘looked after’ this means the same as ‘being in care’. There are different ways you might have come into care, for example this could have been where it was decided through the courts or where your parents have asked for help taking care of you. You might be in care for a short time (short term) or for a long time (long term). Other young people may go on to be adopted. It really depends on your own personal situation. If you have any questions please talk to your social worker, carer or key worker.

The answer to this question is different for every child and young person.  However, you have the right to ask your Social Worker about why you are being looked after away from your family.  The reason you are being looked after may be because your family are having problems that they find difficult to deal with.  You may have been at risk of harm if nothing changed.  You may be in care because you have become separated from your parents.  You may also be cared for, for a short period – this is known as respite care.

It is difficult to say how long you will be in care for. It really depends on your situation. You may only be in care for a short while or you may be in care for a longer period of time. If this is something you are unsure about please speak with your social worker.

The court can create a care order under Section 31 of the Children Act 1989, placing a child in the care of a local authority, if this is the case for you this would be the London Borough of Bromley. Bromley then has shared parental responsibility with your parents. This means that Bromley will be able to make decisions about your education, health and accommodation in order to keep you safe. If appropriate we will continue to work alongside your parents to ensure they are involved in the care you are receiving.

When you are born, your mother will have legal parental rights, this is called parental responsibility. Almost all fathers will have the same rights but this is not always the case if your mother and father are not married. If your father is on your birth certificate he will automatically have parental responsibility. If your father does not have parental responsibility he will be able to get this and can seek advice online to do so. However once a care order is granted, parents will then share this responsibility with the local authority in this case the London Borough Bromley.

The most important roles that come with having parental responsibility are to provide a home and safe place for the child, to protect and look after a child, ensuring education is in place, ensuring that health needs are being met and discipline is in place.

It is the duty of Bromley to place you somewhere you are going to be safe and well cared for. Before someone can look after you there are a number of checks to see whether they are safe and suitable to look after children. If you feel that you aren’t safe then you need to let your social worker know straight away so that they can do something about it. If you find it difficult opening up to your social worker then tell an adult that you trust like a teacher at school or an advocate.

Contact with your family may be face-to-face or through telephone calls, letters, texts, cards, sending photos, skype or email etc. Contact can be supervised – which means that a social worker may go with you, or that the contact takes place in a centre where there is staff around. Contact may be unsupervised which means that you will be dropped off and picked up at a set time. You can ask your social worker for more contact if you miss people but sometimes your social worker may decide this is not in your best interest. There may be some people that you are not allowed contact with, if it is considered unsafe for you to be around them.

You are strongly encouraged to mix with those you live with and take part in their activities. This is a good way of getting to know one another.

At the very least you should be able to bring some of your belongings to your new placement; however, it may not be possible to bring all of them. If it’s not possible then your carers are given an allowance of money to look after you so some of this can be used to make sure that you have things to make you feel at home.

Your carers may want to supervise you or block certain sites so that you can’t access them. If you think this is unfair you can always speak to your social worker. If you are able to use the internet then you will be expected to do this in a shared area.

You should be able to use the phone but you need to discuss this with your carer first because they are the ones who pay the bill. They may want you to make calls at certain times in the day because it is cheaper or they may not want you to call mobiles because that can be really expensive. You need to remember that other people in your placement will want to use the phone too. It might be an idea to arrange set times that you are allowed to use the phone.

If you dislike where you live you should speak to your social worker about how you are feeling. They will listen to your concerns and help you to think of ways to solve the problems you are having. If you are still unhappy you could ask for an advocate to help you get your voice heard.

This is the meeting that your care plan is looked at. This meeting will be chaired by your Reviewing Officer and will include most of the adults that are a part of your life, like your parents (where possible) social worker, carer etc.

Visit here for more details.

A personal education plan or PEP is an educational document describing how you will be supported to reach your full academic potential. It is a legal requirement for every looked after young person to have one and it must be reviewed at least twice a year. In order to ensure that your education plan is working for you, there are PEP meetings to discuss the progress you are making. These usually include your social worker, someone from your school, your carers and sometimes a worker from the Virtual School.

You will be supported with your education whilst you are in care. We have a Virtual School with workers who will work with your school; your carers etc to ensure you are well supported. If you’d like more information please click here to read more information on our Education page.