Fostering Team
Delegated Authority Policy
January 2014
Delegated authority
What is it?
Where a person with parental responsibility gives permission to another person to do or agree
something on their behalf in relation to a particular child.
Why is it important?
To give children in care as normal an experience of life as possible, foster carers should be given the
maximum appropriate flexibility to make day-to-day decisions relating to the children in their care.
Discussion needs to be had between the parents, the foster carers or residential care workers and
the social workers about what decision-making the parents will delegate to the local authority and
to the foster carer.
Arrangements for delegated authority should be given particular scrutiny when children are
confirmed in long term or permanent placements, and attention given to how responsibilities are
shared in order to reinforce and support the long terms bonds and attachments which foster carers
will be expected to build with the child.
How is this recorded?
The Delegated Authority support tool outlines different areas of decision making. It should be
identified who has decision making authority in each of these areas. This MUST be completed as
part of the placement planning meeting.
This can be updated and amended as necessary within the looked-after child (LAC) review.
What if parents refuse to delegate decision making power?
‘If parents are unable to engage in the discussions about delegation of authority for whatever
reason, or refuse to do so, the local authority will need to take a view. If the local authority has a
care order, then they can exercise their parental responsibility (PR) without the parent. Where the
local authority does not have PR, they can still do what is reasonable in the circumstances for the
purpose of safeguarding and promoting the child’s welfare.’
If the child is accommodated under a Section 20 agreement, decisions around delegation of
authority should ‘as far as reasonable practicable, be agreed with the child’s parents and anyone
else who has PR.’
Parents must be reassured that by delegating authority on certain every day decisions, they will not
be marginalised from their child’s life, they will still be given information about their children and
included in important decisions.
Day-to-day parenting decisions, for example, routine decisions about heath, hygiene, education and
leisure activities ‘should be delegated to the child’s carer’… Where ‘decisions are not delegated to
the carers, any exceptions and reasons for this should be set out in the child’s placement plan.’
When a child is subject to a care order to the parental responsibility is shared between the parent
and the local authority. The majority of day-to-day decision making power is delegated by the
local authority to the foster carer. There may be other areas in which the social worker is happy
to delegate decision making to the foster carer and these should be document on the delegated
authority support tool.
Professional support
All those working within the professional network should be aware of delegated authority principles
and support foster carers or residential care workers in being able to make timely decisions in
respect of children in their care.
If the parent is not able to attend the placement planning meeting, decisions relating to delegated
authority MUST be discussed with them by the child’s social worker within five working days so that
relevant paperwork can be distributed within 10 working days.
The delegated authority tool can be updated at any time and should reflect changes in circumstance
such as if a child is being rehabilitated home, increased decision making should revert to the
parents. If a permanence decision has been made, this should be incorporated into the decision
making tool. The age and understanding of the young person will also affect how decisions are
made over time.
The London Borough of Richmond pledges to implement this policy in all its placements of lookedafter children either in foster care or residential care. We aim to support all carers in providing the
best quality care to children and young people, giving them an authentic and normal experience,
where decisions can be made in timely and clear way.
Signed:
Nick Whitfield
Director Education of Children’s Services
Cllr Percival
Lead Member for Children’s Services
Appendix 1
Department for Education 2012
Delegating authority to foster carers – things you need to know
Listen to what children want
The people who look after children on a daily basis are usually the ones who make day-to-day
decisions such as whether to agree sleepovers and school trips. This should be no different
for foster carers. Children do not want social workers making these decisions – it makes them
feel different to their peers, can result in missed opportunities and gets in the way of them
enjoying a full childhood and family life.
1. Involve birth families in care planning
Children’s relationships with their birth families vary. Some birth families will be very
involved in making decisions about their child’s care, particularly where the child is likely
to return home. It is essential, wherever possible and always where children are voluntarily
accommodated, to involve birth families in discussions about delegating decision making
to foster carers, helping them understand how beneficial this can be to the life of their
child.
2. Set out clearly what decision making is delegated
Authority for day-to-day decision making should be delegated to foster carers unless there
is a good reason not to. Every fostered child must have a placement plan which sets out the
plan for their day-to¬day care and how decisions about them will be made. This plan should
include what decisions can be made by their foster carer, and where decision making is
not delegated to the foster carer, the reasons should be clearly explained in the child’s
placement plan.
3. Help promote placement stability and good outcomes for children
Ensuring that foster carers are supported to make day-to-day decisions helps the children
in their care to have confidence in these relationships and supports the development of
trusting and secure attachments to their foster carers.
4. Work together in the best interests of the child
Effective partnership working is core to good quality foster care. Where the foster carer,
supervising social worker and child’s social worker are clear about how day-to-day
decisions are to be made, decisions are more likely to be on time with everyone working in
the best interests of the child.
5. Support foster carers to develop the skills and confidence they need
Through appropriate training and supervision, fostering services should support their
foster carers to develop the skills and confidence to take day-to-day decisions, empowering
them to make these decisions within a strong framework of support.
6. Understand and support appropriate delegation of authority to foster carers
Everyone at every level should understand how authority should be delegated to foster
carers. Organisations should have a clear policy on delegation of authority for decision
making to foster carers that can be shared with birth parents and foster carers. It is
important that social workers believe that their organisation is committed to appropriate
delegation of authority and that they and foster carers will be effectively supported even
when things go wrong.
7. Make a reality of the vision in the Foster Carers’ Charter
The Minister, Tim Loughton, made clear the importance of appropriate delegation to
foster carers in his letter to Directors of Children’s Services in August 2010. The Foster
Carers’ Charter launched in March 2011 underlined this. The charter clearly states that
that fostering services must ‘Treat foster carers with openness, fairness and respect as a
core member of the team around the child and support them in making reasonable and
appropriate decisions on behalf of their foster child’.
8. Make a reality of the vision in the Foster Carers’ Charter
The Minister, Tim Loughton, made clear the importance of appropriate delegation to
foster carers in his letter to Directors of Children’s Services in August 2010. The Foster
Carers’ Charter launched in March 2011 underlined this. The charter clearly states that that
fostering services must ‘Treat foster carers with openness, fairness and respect as
a core member of the team around the child and support them in making reasonable and
appropriate decisions on behalf of their foster child’.