Customer Care and Complaints Service
Children's Services & Learning Directorate
Southampton City Council
4th Floor, Marland House
SOUTHAMPTON SO14 7PQ
Please ask for: Anne Daly FOI Ref: FOI/0910/347
Direct dial: 023 8083 3154 Fax: 023 8083 3815
Mrs L Taylor 11 November 2009
Dear Mrs Taylor
Information Request
Thank you for your Freedom of Information request received on 16 October 2009. In your request, you have requested the following information:
December 2006 - Evidence shows children in care are being let down and suffer more than those placed with relatives.
We are interested to see how the introduction of the PLO (Public Law Outline) Welfare Checklist 2008 has altered the outcomes for children.
I would be grateful if under the FOIA you could advise how many times your Local Authority has applied for care orders via the Family Courts WITHOUT the Welfare checklist set out in section 1 of the Children Act 1989 being completed. The completion of the Welfare Checklist would confirm that extended family members had in fact been contacted prior to any application for a care order.
Whoever signs the application for a care order is responsible for ensuring that the Welfare checklist has been fully completed, please state who within your authority holds this position.
`The Government recognises the importance of family members taking care of children who cannot be cared for by their parents. We know that a child brought up by a family member benefits from living with someone they already know and trust rather than a stranger. The Children Act 1989 placed a duty on local authorities to support the upbringing of children by their families wherever possible, and that services should be provided to children in need and their families to enable this to happen.
There is now an increased focus on the steps that must be taken prior to any court proceedings. Unless it is necessary to take emergency action to protect a child from immediate harm, the local authority must undertake various steps before initiating care proceedings. Welfare checklist set out in section 1 of the Children
Act 1989'
Page 1 of 3
Please find attached the information you have requested that has been provided to me for your response.
Please contact me again if you require any further assistance on this matter and I will do my best to provide relevant help and advice.
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Use of any material supplied in response to your Freedom of Information request including reproduction or transmission in any form by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, or stored on any retrieval system of any nature of any material contained in these pages may not be made without permission. No use of any material is authorised without the express written permission of the Solicitor to the Council. The supply of documents does not give you an automatic right to re-use the documents in a way that would infringe copyright.
If you have any complaints in respect of your information request, please write to the Complaints Officer:
Corporate Complaints Officer
Corporate Policy and Performance Division
Southampton City Council
Civic Centre
Southampton
SO14 7LT
Alternatively you can telephone 023 8083 3050. If your complaint is not resolved to your complete satisfaction, you have the right to apply to the Information Commissioner for a decision.
The Information Commissioner's Office can be contacted by way of letter addressed to:
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Alternatively you can telephone: 01625 545 700.
Please contact me again if you require any further assistance on this matter and I will do my best to provide relevant help and advice.
Yours sincerely
Anne Daly
ANNE DALY
Freedom of Information Co-ordinator
Enc. 1
Response to Freedom of Information Request
Welfare Checklist (PLO) 2008 - for Mrs L Taylor
Your request was:
We are interested to see how the introduction of the PLO (Public Law Outline) Welfare Checklist 2008 has altered the outcomes for children.
I would be grateful if under the FOIA you could advise how many times your Local Authority has applied for care orders via the Family Courts WITHOUT the Welfare checklist set out in section 1 of the Children Act 1989 being completed. The completion of the Welfare Checklist would confirm that extended family members had in fact been contacted prior to any application for a care order.
Whoever signs the application for a care order is responsible for ensuring that the Welfare checklist has been fully completed, please state who within your authority holds this position.
`The Government recognises the importance of family members taking care of children who cannot be cared for by their parents. We know that a child brought up by a family member benefits from living with someone they already know and trust rather than a stranger. The Children Act 1989 placed a duty on local authorities to support the upbringing of children by their families wherever possible, and that services should be provided to children in need and their families to enable this to happen.
There is now an increased focus on the steps that must be taken prior to any court proceedings. Unless it is necessary to take emergency action to protect a child from immediate harm, the local authority must undertake various steps before initiating care
proceedings. Welfare checklist set out in section 1 of the Children Act 1989'
The results are as follows:
The welfare checklist referred to is the PLO 1 which is now completed by the case holder in legal services when we issue. Therefore, since the introduction of the PLO in April 2008, every case issued has had that checklist completed. Consideration of family members as resources to either have a child with them or for them to play an active role in a child's care plan is done on every case in order to comply with the welfare checklist.
The responsibility for completing the checklist rests with the relevant lawyer for each case
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END
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