(Last reviewed 18/02/2025)
Legislation and Standards
National Minimum Standards (2011):
Standard 6 – Promoting Good Health and wellbeing
Guidance for Training, Support and Development and Standards for Foster Carers (TSDS)
Standard 1: Understand the principles and values essential for fostering children and young people
Standard 2: Understand your role as a foster carer
Standard 3: Understand health and safety, and health care
Standard 5: Understand the development of children and young people
Agency Expectation
The Agency believe that every child/young person must be given every support to develop their own identities and aspirations, as well as the life’s skills and resilience to realise their potential. The Agency wants children and young people to have positive experiences of being in care and happy memories of their time with their foster carers, wherever possible.
We recognise the importance of encouraging and providing opportunities for children and young people in care access to leisure, recreational and sporting activities, where they have often experienced a difficult start in life. These opportunities can bring stability, create and build upon relationships in and outside the home, provide a sense of belonging, as well as building upon their health (physical and emotional), well-being, confidence and self-esteem. Play and creative activities can help foster carers build warm and caring relationships, a sense of belonging for children and young people and their foster carers. This creating a sense of belonging is at the heart of the Agency.
We appreciate that separation and loss is not only about the child or young person being taken away from their family, but also from their friends, possibly school and their local community, where they may have had strong attachments and bonds with.
This policy is to guide the Agency’s staff and its foster carers from the onset of when a child or young person is placed with their foster carer. It sets out guidance and processes that are required to be undertaken and promoted.
The Initial Placement Agreement (IPA)/Finance
The IPA is to ensure that all significant matters are addressed for the child/young person when first placed with their foster carers. This requires the SSWs and foster carers to participate in making plans for the child/YP in a spirit of partnership with the child/YP, and the placing Local Authority Social Worker.
It is important to ask what the child or young person would like to do or continue to do for their leisure pursuits. Children and young people can only be asked and encouraged in what they would like to do for activities. It must be acknowledged that it may take some time, patience and trust from the child/young person to allow this to happen.
Leisure activities needs to be discussed and agreed at this meeting so the child or young person has the earliest opportunity to attend agreed activity pursuits, for example, join clubs, scouts and sporting activities such as swimming or football. Furthermore, it should also promote any activities the child/young person had been undertaking before they came into the care of the Agency. This allows consistency and stability in the child/young person life, but also to keep and maintain friendships already made by the young person, particularly when they have been separated from their families is difficult circumstances.
Making and sustaining new relationships is also very important and that the children and young people are encouraged to do this, for example, maintaining school friendships (particularly important if the carers home is some distance to the school), and making new friends in the local community. This needs to be discussed in the IPA (and in subsequent Child Looked After Reviews, SSW Supervisory Home Visits, etc.) to promote a sense of well-being and continuity.
The Agency appreciates and understands that activities/hobbies/sports can be expensive, such as martial arts, dance, and some sports equipment can be expensive too. It is therefore essential that foster carers are supported financially so the child/young person they care for can have access to the same opportunities as their peers and that is discussed in the IPA.
The allowances must be agreed in order to facilitate the agreed actions for activities, hobbies, as well discussing as to how the foster carer will assist in the child/young person to do this and what support is required. This will need to be agreed at the IPA as to the amounts to be set aside for their activities.
Some Local Authorities may also have their own play/summer schemes that children and young people can attend. The SSW and foster carer need to request what the Local Authority resources may have and include this in the IPA. This also should be raised at Children Looked After reviews.
Babies and Preschool
Babies and preschool aged children also need have opportunities to leisure activities to promote stimulation and healthy development and again this needs to be considered when under taking the IPA and any costs to be considered. Foster carers are encouraged to take babies and preschool children to mother and baby groups, soft play, for example.
Not everything costs money when looking at leisure activities for children and young people and this needs to be promoted not only in the IPA, but when SSWs undertake the supervision with their foster carers. Foster carers can easily research on line for free things to do. Examples of free things to do the foster carers can with their child/young person:
- Go to the local park, take a picnic (weather permitting)
- Walks or drives out in local country parks
- Have a dedicated family night in (watch a movie, play games together, etc.)
- Museums/Art galleries
- Attend places of local and national interest
- Go to City Farms
Foster carers will be expected to comply with plans which have been made by the parties of the placement to the best of their ability. Any concerns or issues need to be raised with their SSW as soon as possible.
After School Activities
After school activities also promote and give opportunities for children and young people to learn and develop social skills. It may be possible that the Pupil Premium can be used as part of this, for example, music lessons, sports, etc. This will need to be discussed in the child/young person’s Personal Educational Plan (PEP)
It is the foster carers responsibility, in discussion with the child/young person and the SSW, to encourage and promote to attend any after school activities that may be of benefit and of pleasure for them.
Holidays
It is not unusual for children to come into foster care and for the foster carer to learn that they have never had a holiday of any sort. Holidays are very much part of the child/young person’s leisure experiences and can promote so many benefits, already cited above. The Agency wants to ensure that children and young people in our care have the opportunity to experience going on holidays, be it abroad or in the UK. It is an expectation that the Agency’s foster carers should include children and young people in their plans for family holidays. The IPA specifies any plans the foster carers may have for holidays and consideration needs to be considered if the young person can also attend.
(NB: the SSW also needs to ensure this is discuss in the supervisions with the foster carers and the Local Authority be informed so plans can be made accordingly). Please see Holidays and Over Night Stays Policy 2020 for policy and procedures for full details.
Settings for Discussion on Leisure Activities
Leisure activities need to be kept ‘alive’ and on foster carer and SSWs agendas. These need to be discussed in the following settings so we do not lose sight of encouraging and providing opportunities for children and young people in care to access any leisure activities they may enjoy:
- IPA
- Child Looked After Reviews
- Personal Educational Plans (PEP’s)
- Foster Carers Supervision with their SSW
- Supervisory Home Visit
The following policies to be referred to:
- Delegated Authority Policy
- Health and Well-Being
- Education and Employment
- Holidays and Over Night Stays
