Welfare Checklist (PLO) 2008 introduced to ensure children are placed with relatives rather than in care

Mrs L Taylor made this Freedom of Information request to Hertfordshire County Council This request has been closed to new correspondence. Contact us if you think it should be reopened.

The request was partially successful.

Dear Sir or Madam,

http://www.centreforsocialjustice.org.uk...

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’

Yours faithfully,

Mrs L Taylor

Herts Direct,

1 Attachment

Dear Mrs Taylor

Your message has been received and will be dealt with as soon as possible.
Our standard is to reply within ten working days.
Should you need to make contact with us again on this matter, it helps us
if you quote reference number 814

Kind Regards
Ben at HertsDirect

Mrs L Taylor To FOI requests at
<[FOI #20997 email]> Hertfordshire County Council
<[Hertfordshire County Council request email]>
14/10/2009 17:43 cc
Subject Freedom of Information
request - Welfare Checklist
(PLO) 2008 introduced to
ensure children are placed
with relatives rather than
in care

Dear Sir or Madam,

http://www.centreforsocialjustice.org.uk...

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'

Yours faithfully,

Mrs L Taylor

show quoted sections

Information Governance,

Reference number: FOI/CSF/10/09/1610

Dear Mrs Taylor,

Thank you for your correspondence of 14th October 2009 requesting the
following information:

"Dear Sir or Madam,

http://www.centreforsocialjustice.org.uk...

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'"

Your request for information is being considered under the Freedom of
Information Act 2000. We will respond to your request as quickly as
possible, and by 11th November 2009 at the latest.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me, quoting
the reference number on this letter. To find out more about Freedom of
Information, please visit www.hertsdirect.org/foi.

Yours sincerely,

Information Governance Unit
Hertfordshire County Council
Telephone: 01992 555848
Fax: 01992 588117
Email: [email address]
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
The Information Governance Unit supports Hertfordshire County Council's
Data Protection, Freedom of Information and Records Management activity.

****Disclaimer****

The information in this message should be regarded as confidential and is
intended for the addressee only unless explicitly stated. If you have
received this message in error it must be deleted and the sender notified.
The views expressed in this message are personal and not necessarily those
of Hertfordshire County Council unless explicitly stated. Please be aware
that emails sent to or received from Hertfordshire County Council may be
intercepted and read by the council. Interception will only occur to
ensure compliance with council policies or procedures or regulatory
obligations, to prevent or deter crime, or for the purposes of essential
maintenance or support of the email system.

Information Governance,

Dear Mrs Taylor,

Reference number: FOI/CSF/10/09/1610

On 14th October 2009 we received the following request for information
from you:

"Dear Sir or Madam,

http://www.centreforsocialjustice.org.uk...

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'"

Your request for information has been considered under the Freedom of
Information Act 2000. I can confirm that Hertfordshire County Council
does hold the information you have requested.

Applications are signed by different people depending on the individual
case. In some instances it is the social worker or social care team
manager, whilst in other cases it may be a qualified solicitor in the
Child Litigation Unit signing on behalf of the County Secretary.

Turning to your question regarding how many times the Local Authority has
applied for care orders via the Family Courts without the prior completion
of a Welfare checklist, this information is not held centrally in an
easily accessible and reportable format. The Public Law Outline (PLO)
came into effect on 1st April 2008 which means that Hertfordshire County
Council holds 18 months' worth of records, which would equate to roughly
375 cases, relevant to this request. In order to establish when a Welfare
Checklist was submitted in each case it would be necessary to work through
every individual case file which we estimate would take 20-30 minutes per
case. We therefore estimate that the cost of carrying out this work would
greatly exceed the appropriate limit of *450, which has been specified
under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and associated regulations. This
represents the estimated cost of one person spending 2* working days in
determining whether Hertfordshire County Council holds the information,
and locating, retrieving and extracting the information. Under Section 12
of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 we are not obliged to comply with
requests for information which exceed this appropriate limit, and will not
be undertaking this additional work in its current form.

You are, of course, welcome to narrow down and resubmit your request for
the County Council's reconsideration. However, being mindful of the
Authority's duty to advise and assist, I can confirm that in nearly all
cases a Welfare Checklist is completed as it is part of the initial
statement which the Authority has to send to Court to issue proceedings.
There may be a minority of cases where a care order had to be issued in
an emergency and so the Welfare Checklist was not included in the first
statement, but it would have been included in the next statement filed
with Court.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me, quoting
the reference number on this letter. To find out more about Freedom of
Information, please visit www.hertsdirect.org/foi

If you are unhappy with the way the County Council has handled your
request for information, you may complain through the County Council's
complaints procedure which is available at www.hertsdrect.org/complaints

If you are unhappy with the outcome of the complaints procedure you are
entitled to ask the Information Commissioner to investigate your
complaint. You should write to: FOI/EIR Complaints Resolution, Information
Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9
5AF.

Yours sincerely,

Information Governance Unit
Hertfordshire County Council
Telephone: 01992 555848
Fax: 01992 588117
Email: [email address]

show quoted sections