Early Permanence Planning Practice Guide

The purpose of this guide and the National Early Permanence Practice Standards is to promote and shape effective early permanence practice systems across the region, in order to:

• Achieve child centred practice in Early Permanence
• Enable more children to benefit from early permanence
• Promote effective working partnerships across agencies 
• Help standardise practice guidance and outcomes in delivery across agencies
• Promote confident and informed delivery of early permanence 
• Be used as a dynamic tool to organise and strengthen local arrangements

Early Permanence information for Social Workers – what do you need to know?

What is Early Permanence? 

Concurrency? Fostering for Adoption? Dual Approval? Early Permanence? Reg 25A temporary approval? The terminology is confusing, but the names describe placements that are similar. Frequently, these children come from backgrounds of severe difficulties, and at the time of placement there are no known suitable family members available to care for the child. The carers will foster the child through the Court proceedings. The child will return to the family if a family member is positively assessed OR they will go on to be adopted by the carers. Or they may have been relinquished by their birth parents, for many different reasons, to go through a consensual adoption process. While the court decides what plan is best for the child’s permanence, early permanence offers a fostering placement for a child with foster carers who are also approved as adopters. Early Permanence (EP) is a type of planning which helps a child (or children) who has to be removed from their birth family, or relinquished by their birth family, to find a safe, stable and permanent home as quickly as possible. In Early Permanence (EP) placements for children, all the normal planning and court work is completed but sometimes planning and placement work is completed alongside the court process. Early Permanence Placements can be used for children where the local authority's plan for permanence could possibly be adoption, but where other outcomes such as rehabilitation to their birth family are still under consideration. In such cases, the local authority will place the child with foster carers who are also approved as adopters. Early Permanence is seen as a positive option for many children who may ultimately be adopted. People who are approved as adopters can also be approved as foster carers, allowing children to be placed with them while the legal routes are being finalised. Being placed with early permanence foster carers can reduce the number of moves a child experiences. Often the child lives with the people, who may become their adoptive family earlier than they would otherwise have, building stronger attachments and bonds from a younger age. Early permanence can be used for children of all ages where there is a possibility of the child (or children) needing a care plan for adoption. A foster carer who makes the decision to adopt a child in their care has not provided an early permanence placement; this is not early permanence. Early permanence placements are not emergency fostering placements.

I’m not sure about the terminology?

Early Permanence is an ‘umbrella term for what you may have heard referred to as ‘Concurrency’ and ‘Foster for Adoption’ placements.

How does it work? 

Early permanence foster carers will have been approved to adopt, and then again also approved as foster carers for a specific child by means of Regulation 25a. Early permanence placements mean that the child (or children) will receive foster care as looked after children, until such time as the Court decide the outcome of care proceedings. Page 5 of 73 If the Court orders the child’s return to their family, these foster carers will support the reunification and they will only ever have been foster carers for the child or children. However, if the Court grants a placement order, these carers will then become prospective adopters, going on to formally apply to adopt the child (or children).

Why use an Early permanence placement? 

Placing the child into an EP placement means that their time in care will either result in the child being supported by the EP foster carers to return to their family, or that the child will already be placed with their future adopters. This enables the child to begin forming attachments as early as possible and safeguards the child from multiple moves. In an EP placement, it is the carers taking on the uncertainty on behalf of the child, so that the child does not have to.

I’m not sure if the child will have a plan for adoption 

Early Permanence Placements can be used for children where the local authority's plan for permanence is possibly to be adoption, but where other outcomes such as returning to their birth family are still under consideration and assessments are still underway.

Am I disadvantaging the family? 

No; the legal tests for removal and whether a care plan for adoption is needed are the same. Early permanence foster carers are only acting as foster carers until, and only if, such time as the Court grant a placement order. In the early days of early permanence, you may have heard talk of percentages of children remaining with the EP foster carers and being adopted. It is much more helpful to ground yourself, the family and the EP foster carer in the fact that whilst all early permanence cases involve children with a possibility of needing a plan for adoption, only the Court can decide the final care plan for a child. In all cases unexpected events can occur. Therefore, any early permanence foster carer may experience children placed with them returning to their family.

How does time with the birth family (family time) work? 

Early permanence foster carers will usually bring the child(ren) to and from family time and participate (if assessed as safe), which will be supervised in the usual way. Early permanence foster carers will also keep a communication book for the birth family to share.

Is an EP placement more work? 

There are differences in the timing of your work. With an early permanence placement you will be actively involved in the placement search and initial matching, including meeting the potential early permanence foster carers. However, as these carers are able to become the potential adopters, if needed, you should not need to carry out family finding later. You will still need to complete official matching and adoption processes to ensure that the EP placement is the right long-term match for the child(ren). Early permanence foster carers may need more support than traditional foster carers due to the uncertainty they are managing. However, you will have an Adoption Social Worker to support you and the early permanence foster carers.

Working with early permanence foster carers 

Early permanence foster carers are putting themselves forward to potentially care for the child(ren) for life, taking on significant emotional uncertainty so the child(ren) does not have to. This is different to the role of a traditional foster carer who has planned to play an important but temporary role in the child(ren)’s life. Early permanence foster carers describe their journey as a “rollercoaster”. It is important to avoid over reassurance about possible case outcomes. Early permanence foster carers tell us that over reassurance, talk of percentages, guesses about the proceedings etc are unhelpful. They have to remain focused on the outcomes being uncertain for them whilst a ‘win-win’ for the child. Early permanence foster carers may be approached many times about possible placements. They are assessed as being very resilient and are trained to manage their expectations. Therefore, they may present differently to other prospective adopters that you may have met. Your visit may not be their first visit, several visits may already have taken place about other children for whom an early permanence placement was being considered but was in the end not needed. Please ask about any previous placement discussions so you understand where the potential carers are in their early permanence ‘journey’. It is important to keep early permanence foster carers up to date on important information, especially care plan changes. If you have explored a potential placement with an early permanence foster carer, let them know as soon as possible if they are not linked or if the placement is no longer needed.

What standards for early permanence are available? 

The early permanence sector standards have been developed through the need to set out good practice arising from the statutory provision in legislation including the Children and Families Act 2014, and the associated amended Care Planning Placement and Case Review Regulations 2013. They are a framework to guide good practice and standardisation across all agencies.

Helpful tips 

• Early permanence placements should always be considered for a child(ren) where there is reason to believe that adoption may be necessary (The Care Planning, Placement and Case Review Regulations 2010). 
• Early permanence is appropriate in adoption by consent/consensual adoption (relinquishment) cases. 
• Hold a Family Group Conference/Family Network Meeting as soon as possible to increase the chances of viable relatives being identified as early as possible (this avoids unnecessary EP placements and multiple placements for children). 
• Do not think about early permanence placements in terms of success or failure; if a child returns back to their birth family this is not a failure. Early permanence is win-win for the child(ren), either they return to their family, or they have a permanent carer as early as possible. 
• Be mindful of confidentiality from pre-placement, e.g. will carers only be identified by their first names to the family? Remember you need to think of immediate safety risks and longer-term adoption disruption risks.

Considering early permanence for a child – some initial considerations

• What do we know about the birth parents and their likely ability to care for this child, e.g. have they had other children removed, what parenting assessments have already been undertaken?
• Who else is in the wider family and what is the likelihood of them being able to care for this child? If parents haven’t suggested anyone, what do we already know (or could find out) about the wider family that would help to assess whether or not they may be able to care for this child or children? 
• Has either parent had other children? If so, where are they living? If with relatives, could they care for this child too (even if not a direct relative, e.g. the parent of a half sibling)? If adopted, do we know whether those adopters might be a possibility for this child too? 
• How sure can we be of the child’s paternity? If known, has the Social Worker considered paternal family members as well as maternal? If there is more than one possible family, what do we know about the wider family of all potential fathers? Do we know the child’s expected ethnicity (e.g. if two possible fathers and both of the same ethnicity?). If paternity is unknown, what is the likelihood of this being known in the future (e.g. is birth mother likely to disclose once the baby’s born or does she possibly not know herself)?

The above areas are to help identify whether there is a possibility of the child being adopted. If there is, then an early permanence placement should be considered, provided that the adopters of any siblings are not able to consider this child too, and that the potential early permanence foster carers are a good, and potentially permanent, match. The referral form should help to get further information that will be necessary for potential matching with early permanence foster carers, such as ethnicity, genetic factors, geographical issues for matching, etc. If available early permanence foster carers aren’t assessed as being a good match long term for the child’s known or anticipated needs, the benefits of a better match for the child later may well outweigh an earlier but less well-matched placement for the child. There may be a lot of unknown information from the above questions, which increases the chance of the plan for the child changing in the future when more is known. An early permanence placement could still be appropriate for the child, provided that the early permanence foster carers know and understand that plans are inevitably uncertain at this stage.

Early permanence protocol for Social Workers and professionals involved in planning for permanence

Purpose

1. To ensure that Social Workers placing Looked After Children (LAC) with early permanence foster carers through Adoption West, do so in a manner consistent with good practice and legislation. 
2. To identify persons responsible for required actions.
    

Scope

1. This protocol applies to all those involved in the placement of looked after children (LAC) in early permanence (EP) placements with Adoption West. By placing with Adoption West, these Local Authorities (LAs) have agreed to work in partnership for the purposes of early permanence for the benefit of the child.
2. It is accepted that placing LAs may have developed their own early permanence placement procedures and where these follow the principles of best practice in early permanence, these should work together.
    

Definitions

1. All references to the agency in this protocol refer to Adoption West. The other parties are referred to as the placing agency or the LA where applicable. 
2. All documentation referred to in this protocol are available from the Adoption West SharePoint folder.
    

General Action

1. All Team Managers responsible for Family Placement/Recruitment and assessment Social Workers or Children and Families’ Social Workers, should have attended training on early permanence. Training resources are available from the Adoption West SharePoint folders. 
2. Early Permanence cases should be closely overseen by experienced practitioners and their line managers. 
3. All Social Workers and managers should be aware of this protocol, the guidance and documents available, as well as those available through CoramBAAF.
    

Criteria for selection

1. Early permanence should be considered for all children that meet the following criteria: A) The child is assessed as possibly needing an adoptive placement, based on an analysis of the case history, birth parent’s history and or current difficulties. With parental mental ill health, learning difficulties etc. the prognosis and outcome is likely to be known and a change in circumstances is assessed as unlikely.  B) Whilst it is unlikely that the birth parents can change their behaviour enough to meet the parenting needs of the child within the child’s timescales, they may want to try and there is at least a possibility they could.
2. The child’s Social Worker should, with their team manager, and the RAA Family Finding Manager make the decision that an early permanence care plan is appropriate for the child, or that the child may be suitable for such a placement. 
3. If considering early permanence for an unborn baby, this protocol should be used in conjunction with the Local Authority’s Expected Baby or Pre-Birth Protocols.
4. Any child identified as possibly suitable for an early permanence placement, whether during the mother’s pregnancy, or when initially referred to the LA Social Work team, should be notified to the RAA family finding team via an EP planning referral form.
    

Social work tasks that need to be completed prior to the final decision to implement an early permanence plan.

1. Any child that the LA is considering early permanence planning for should have: A) An up-to-date chronology. B) A genogram or family tree showing wider family, both paternal and maternal (and all family members who could possibly care for the child should have been assessed). C) Their parentage clarified by a DNA test if there is any doubt as to who the parents are. Although an EP placement would still be suitable for a child where the parentage could not be confirmed initially. The Early permanence foster carers would need to be informed of this and that further information could be obtained at a later date, which could also lead to the assessments of identified family members.
2. LA protocols in relation to pre-birth referrals should be followed. Pre-birth permanency planning meetings (from 30 weeks gestation) should always consider early permanence and the RAA should be included in the discussions where this looks like it might be a viable option for the unborn child. The child’s Social Work manager should take a lead strategic role in relation to pre-birth assessments and ensure that active communication with the RAA team(s) takes place. 
3. For young children already born, a full assessment should be completed to facilitate information gathering, analysis of the child’s and birth family’s circumstances and to inform decision-making about an appropriate match. 
4. Plan a Family Network Meeting (FNM) to identify and approach possible alternative carers.