(Last reviewed 27/05/2025)
Underpinning Regulations and Guidance
The Fostering Services (England) Regulations 2011:
- Regulations 11, 12 and 13
National Minimum Standards for Fostering Services (England) Regulations (2011):
- Standard 4: Safeguarding Children
- Standard 5: Missing from Care
- Standard 6: Promoting Good Health and Well-being
Children Act 1989: Guidance and Regulations: Volume 4
Children Act 2004
Children and Young Persons Act 2008
Working Together to Safeguard Children 2018
Department for Education Guidance on Information Sharing: Advice for Practitioners Providing Safeguarding Services 2015
United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child
Introductions
Fostering Services: NMS Standard 4
The agency is dedicated to meeting this Standard by offering homes where children and their foster families both feel safe and are kept safe. We encourage foster carers to support children in taking age-appropriate, everyday risks that help them grow. We aim to help foster carers balance risk thoughtfully while ensuring they have the key information about each child or young person that will help them keep themselves and any children they care for safe from harm. Risk assessments are expected to follow a collaborative team approach and be reviewed regularly.
This policy provides guidance on carrying out risk assessments, how often they should be reviewed, and the circumstances that should prompt a review. The policy should be referred to when completing the Individual Child Safer Caring Policy.
Eileen Munro, in Effective Child Protection, states that to manage risk, we need to identify the following:
- What has been happening
- What is happening now
- What might happen
- How likely it is
- How serious it would be
- A combined judgement of seriousness and likelihood leading to an overall assessment of risk
High-quality risk assessments share certain characteristics: they tell a clear story about the child’s circumstances; they acknowledge ambiguity and uncertainty; they are built through curiosity and the testing of ideas; they are thoughtful; and they enable change.
1. Principle
Risk is part of fostering, and the purpose of a risk assessment is to design supports that manage and reduce risk. It should be recognised that the level of risk a child or young person presents or faces often becomes clear only after the placement begins.
In some cases, the risk may be too great to manage safely in a fostering household, and a new placement or setting must be found. However, we remain responsible for providing high-quality placements for children and young people whenever and whenever it is safe to do so.
2. Risk Assessment Ethos
Supervising social workers are encouraged to be vigilant and thorough regarding the Safer Caring Policy and risk assessment. They are asked to be risk-alert rather than risk-averse.
There may be times when it is appropriate for a young person to take a “planned risk” — for example, moving toward independence by receiving keys or spending agreed periods alone in the foster home. In this process we encourage the young person to recognise danger and respond safely. Any plan involving risk must reach agreement with the placing authority on the level of risk involved and how it will be managed.
We strive to recognise triggers to risky behaviour for each young person. These may include events before or after contact, experiences of rejection, specific times of the year, periods of high anxiety, and similar situations.
The purpose of identifying triggers is to help foster carers and staff anticipate higher-risk periods, respond sensitively, and create strategies to reduce risk.
We must remember that risk is not static; it changes over time and in different circumstances. Risk is dynamic, and our assessments must reflect this reality by being reviewed and revised as circumstances change or new information comes to light.
The clearest guide to whether a risk will become reality is whether it has occurred in the past. History informs future planning. Nevertheless, we should not assume that something will definitely recur, nor assume that it will never occur simply because it has not happened before. Holding uncertainty in mind is important.
Sharing information with, and requesting information from, other professionals and agencies is essential. We must acknowledge what we do not know and avoid assuming that we have been given all relevant information when a child or young person arrives in our care.
When working with others we aim to reach consensus. Where consensus on the nature, severity, or likelihood of risk is missing, this must be recorded and sought.
It is rare to lack agreement on the facts of a case. These can usually be clarified and agreed with persistence. Do not be deterred from escalating matters if consensus cannot be reached.
Disagreements generally centre on interpretation, especially thresholds for concern, which can be influenced by knowledge and personal experience.
Exploring disagreement is vital because it encourages reflection and helps everyone recognise appropriate levels of risk and thresholds for intervention.
It also shares responsibility so that neither we nor foster carers are solely accountable if difficulties arise. Shared risk-taking is encouraged, and expert advice can be sought when appropriate.
Safer caring strategies must be used to reduce and manage risk and should be included in the child or young person’s Individual Safer Caring Plan. These strategies must be comprehensive. Each Risk Assessment must be specific to the child; siblings must not share the same Safer Caring Policy.
Understanding the foster carer’s skills and experience, and any existing known risk regarding the child or young person, is important. Analysing any new information is also essential to identify whether additional support or training is required.
Starting with a “blank sheet” does not create neutrality; it creates danger.
Significant Events concerning the child or young person must be properly recorded, kept current, and appropriately shared.
It is legitimate to develop hypotheses about what may be happening in any case, provided they are clearly labelled as such. Hypotheses can be explored, interventions designed and implemented, results analysed, and plans refined.
There are occasions when immediate protective action is required before a formal written risk assessment is completed. The absence of a completed Risk Assessment must not prevent proportionate protective measures based on the information available at the time.
A strong risk assessment is thorough, prompt, involves other professionals, and makes use of research. It keeps risk visible, challenges others when appropriate, maintains “respectful uncertainty,” and stays open to the possibility of harm. It is used to design interventions to reduce and manage identified risks, incorporates new information and incidents, and is reviewed regularly.
A weak risk assessment is static: it fails to include new information or incidents, does not influence risk calculation or intervention design, is not reviewed regularly, is overly optimistic, or may be disproportionately risk-averse. To prevent this, risk assessments should be reviewed every six months or sooner if new information emerges or a Significant Event occurs.
When preparing a risk assessment, it must not exist in isolation. It should link to other relevant assessments — such as CSE, CCE, or Gang Affiliation — and form part of the Safer Caring Policy, with clear reference to how the Safer Caring Plan was shaped to manage overall risk.
3. Range of Assessments in Use by the Agency
- Family Safer Caring Policy for Foster Families
- Matching Report
- Annual Health and Safety Inspection
- Pet Questionnaire
- Individual Safer Caring Policy and Risk Assessment for all Looked After Children
- Child Criminal Exploitation (CCE)
- Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE)
- Child Trafficking Policy
- Gang Affiliation
- Missing from Care
- Parent and Child Placement
- Radicalisation/Extremism
- Self-Harm
Parent and Child Risk Assessments
Parent and child placements carry additional risk because another adult moves into the fostering household. All information about the placement must be requested before the placement begins or as soon as possible once it has started. Completing a thorough Placement Agreement is essential. Understanding the parent’s history, including any risks that partners or relatives may pose, is critical. While a DBS check is not required for an adult parent joining the household, it is good practice to ask the placing authority to obtain a PNC check on the parent and on any partners who will visit the foster home.
Every parent and child placement must have a specific risk assessment, and the supervising social worker must maintain heightened child-protection awareness. Serious Case Reviews have underlined the importance of linking Parent and Child Risk Assessments with the Foster Family Safer Caring Policy. A Parent and Child Risk Assessment may not cover every risk associated with the placement; for example, the parent may be a young person at risk of sexual exploitation, which must then be considered using the Child Sexual Exploitation Risk Assessment.
Safer Caring Policies and Risk Assessments are completed whenever a child is placed with the agency. Some examples of risk may already be known:
- Serious self-harm or repeated minor self-harm
- Suicidal thoughts or intent
- Significant bullying of others or being bullied
- Information or an incident suggesting a child may pose a risk to other children in terms of sexual or physical harm
- Risk of sexual exploitation
- Risk of criminal exploitation
- Vulnerability created by substance or alcohol use
- Risk of allegations against foster carers
- Online behaviour indicating vulnerability to grooming, grooming others, accessing unsuitable sites, or posting inappropriate images
- Risks from birth family or others, including abduction, honour-based violence, or radicalisation
- Threat of violence to foster carers
- Risk of trafficking
- Gang affiliation
This list is not exhaustive; risk may become apparent over time. The Safer Caring Policy and Risk Assessment must be signed by the supervising social worker, the local authority social worker, the foster carer, and the supervising social worker’s team manager.
Review of Safer Caring Policy/Risk Assessment
All looked after children placed with the agency’s foster carers have a Safer Caring Policy. Risks are first identified at the matching stage and then discussed in more detail at the Placement Planning Meeting alongside any other potential risks. Training can be arranged for foster carers at the matching stage if specific learning could reduce or mitigate risks. All risks and agreed actions are captured in the Safer Caring Policy, which is completed after the Placement Planning Meeting. The policy highlights known risks and sets out how best to manage them.
Once the Safer Caring Policy and Risk Assessment have been completed they must be reviewed every six months, and more frequently if significant new information emerges or significant incidents occur. New information or incidents must be shared with the child’s social worker and other relevant agencies, and the Safer Caring Policy and Risk Assessment must be reviewed and sent to the local authority social worker.
Supervising social workers must ensure that the Safer Caring Policy and Risk Assessment are discussed as a set agenda item in supervision with foster carers. Subtle changes or concerns may be identified through discussion, meaning explored, and risk levels reviewed. This also ensures that no new information has been missed and that the Safer Caring Policy and Risk Assessment remain current and accurate. These risks can also be discussed and reviewed within the supervising social worker’s own supervision and should likewise be reviewed at every monthly team meeting when the Risk Tracker is discussed.
Where looked after children are known to be at high risk within complex categories, a Risk Assessment Matrix should be used to assess the complexity when completing the child or young person’s Safer Caring Policy. This applies to children and young people at risk of CSE; CCE; Radicalisation/Extremism; Gang Affiliation; Parent and Child Placement; Self-Harm; Missing from Care; and any other high-risk categories identified by a social worker or manager.
When a child or young person is at risk in one or more high-risk categories, the agency’s Risk Matrix must be used during risk assessment to define the level of risk by comparing likelihood and consequence severity. This straightforward tool increases the visibility of risks and helps supervising social workers guide and support foster carers in managing risks while they care for children and young people. This assessment must be clearly recorded within the child or young person’s Individual Safer Caring Policy.
THE AGENCY’S RISK MATRICES
- Child Criminal Exploitation (CCE)
- Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE)
- Child Trafficking Policy
- Gang Affiliation
- Missing from Care
- Parent and Child Placement
- Radicalisation/Extremism
- Self-Harm
