Quality standard

Quality statement 3: Stability and quality of placements

Quality statement

Looked-after children and young people live in stable placements that take account of their needs and preferences.

Rationale

Well-planned care that takes account of the needs and preferences of looked-after children and young people promotes stability and can reduce the need for placement changes and emergency placements.

Quality measures

The following measures can be used to assess the quality of care or service provision specified in the statement. They are examples of how the statement can be measured, and can be adapted and used flexibly.

Structure

a) Evidence of a strategy to commission a diverse range of placements for looked-after children and young people, which includes arrangements for considering sibling co-placement.

Data source: No routinely collected national data for this measure has been identified. Data can be collected from information recorded locally by health and social care professionals and provider organisations, for example local authority strategic plans.

b) Evidence of local arrangements to involve looked-after children and young people in choices and discussions about placement changes.

Data source: No routinely collected national data for this measure has been identified. Data can be collected from information recorded locally by health and social care professionals and provider organisations, for example from patient records.

c) Evidence of local arrangements for identifying potential carers among extended family and friends and assessing them for suitability at the start of the care planning process.

Data source: No routinely collected national data for this measure has been identified. Data can be collected from information recorded locally by health and social care professionals and provider organisations, for example from patient records.

d) Evidence of local arrangements to ensure that the child or young person gets to know their new carers and placement through visits and, where possible, overnight stays before they move to the placement.

Data source: No routinely collected national data for this measure has been identified. Data can be collected from information recorded locally by health and social care professionals and provider organisations, for example from patient records.

Outcome

a) Looked-after children and young people's satisfaction with their placement.

Data source: No routinely collected national data for this measure has been identified. Data can be collected from information recorded locally by health and social care professionals and provider organisations, for example from patient records and surveys.

b) Carer satisfaction with decisions made to place children or young people in their care.

Data source: No routinely collected national data for this measure has been identified. Data can be collected from information recorded locally by health and social care professionals and provider organisations, for example from carer surveys.

c) Feedback from looked-after children and young people that they were involved in decisions about placement changes.

Data source: No routinely collected national data for this measure has been identified. Data can be collected from information recorded locally by health and social care professionals and provider organisations, for example from patient records and surveys.

d) Placement stability.

Data source: Contained within the Children looked after data return (SSDA903) and reported in the Department for Education's statistics on children looked after in England including adoption.

e) Proportion of all placements that are emergency placements.

Data source: No routinely collected national data for this measure has been identified. Data can be collected from information recorded locally by health and social care professionals and provider organisations, for example from patient records.

What the quality statement means for different audiences

Service providers (organisations providing care) provide a diverse range of placements to enable matching that takes account of children and young people's needs and preferences.

Health and social care practitioners and education staff discuss placement changes with the child or young person, taking account of their preferences along with their best interests, and explaining and documenting any reasons why their wishes cannot be followed.

Commissioners (for example, local authorities) ensure they commission services that provide a diverse range of quality placements and that ensure placement decisions take account of children and young people's needs and preferences.

Carers of looked-after children and young people have children and young people placed with them who have been matched to the placement to take account of their needs and preferences.

Looked-after children and young people live in placements that take account of their needs and preferences, and understand how and why decisions about placement changes are made.

Source guidance

Looked-after children and young people. NICE guideline NG205 (2021), recommendations 1.2.21, 1.2.24, 1.2.25, 1.3.2, 1.5.22, 1.5.34 and 1.7.1

Definitions of terms used in this quality statement

Care plan

The care plan will contain information about how the child's current developmental needs will be met as well as the arrangements for the current and longer-term care for the child. The health and education dimensions of the care plan are populated by the health plan and the personal education plan. [Adapted from Department for Education's Children Act 1989 guidance and regulations volume 2: care planning, placement and case review]

Range of placements

A range of residential placements available to allow placements to be matched to each child's individual needs. Needs and placement options should be considered in advance of a placement being made to allow full consideration of the suitability of each option including the opportunity for a visit as part of the decision-making process. A strategy for placement decisions should also clearly set out how to meet the local authority's 'sufficiency duty' under the Children and Young Person's Act 2008. [Adapted from Department for Education's Children Act 1989 guidance and regulations volume 2: care planning, placement and case review and Department for Education's Securing sufficient accommodation for looked-after children]

Stability

A secure, and loving family to support them through childhood and beyond and to give them a sense of security continuity, commitment, identity and belonging. [Adapted from Department for Education's Children Act 1989 guidance and regulations volume 2: care planning, placement and case review]

Equality and diversity considerations

Services need to be aware of different communication needs among looked-after children and young people and should consider a variety of means of involvement and communication. Consider creative techniques to gather and understand views. Specific groups identified through consultation as having potential additional needs include:

  • very young children

  • children and young people with special educational needs

  • children and young people with learning or physical disabilities

  • children and young people with speech, language and communication difficulties

  • children and young people with a hearing or visual impairment.

Unaccompanied asylum-seeking children and young people, and black and minority ethnic looked-after children and young people should have access to interpreters if their knowledge of English is limited, so they can explain their situation and make their needs known. This applies to all children and young people who do not have English as a first language, and to those with specific communication needs.