Safe Care Plan

The first priority of any foster home is that it should be a safe place for all its members, particularly any child or young person coming into it. The objectives of safe caring practices are:

• To keep the foster child safe from abuse by adults
• To keep children in the foster home safe from abuse by other children in the household
• Keep members of the foster family safe from false allegations of abuse

Each foster home is asked to develop a Safe Care Plan through discussion with your family members and your Fostering Social Worker.  This plan will be reviewed with every new placement and if any previously unknown risks are identified.  Alternatively, the plan will be reviewed annually if no changes have taken place within the household during that period. 

The Safe Care Plan is designed to cover many different situations including fire plan, computer use, behavioural management etc.

In addition to the Safe Care Plan for the household, each child and young person placed will have an individual safe care plan detailing safer caring issues specific to them.  This will be compiled in discussion with you, your Fostering Social Worker, the Child’s Social worker and the child (dependent on their age and understanding) at the placement agreement meeting.  It will be reviewed if previously unknown risks are identified or if no such issues arise annually.

Every foster home will receive a copy of Fostering Network’s book entitled ‘Safer Caring’, which will inform any discussions in relation to Safe Care issues.