Positive Aspirations Group has the responsibility of ensuring that appropriate procedures are in place to safeguard and protect the children and young people in its care.
Positive Aspirations Group will ensure that all children and young people are appropriately matched with Foster Carers who are best able to meet their needs and provide a nurturing and secure placement.
Given the vulnerability of some children placed with our Foster Carers it may be necessary to take additional measures toensure they are safeguarded and protected.
Each child will have their own safer caring policy with details of how Foster Carers can and should keep the child safe.
What is an incident and when must an incident form be completed:
- Complaints in relation to children placed with foster parents.
- Any allegations or suspicions of abuse or neglect in respect of children placed with foster parents.
- All accidents, injuries and illnesses of children placed with foster parents.
- Medication, medical treatment and first aid administered to any child placed with foster parents.
- Any child missing from a foster parent’s home without permission including unauthorised absence.
- Use of any measures of control, restraint or discipline in respect of children accommodated in a foster home.
- Incidents including suspected incidences of CSE, radicalisation and extremism and self-harm.
- Suspicion of involvement in county lines or gang affiliation.
- Any involvement of a child with police, and/or any visit by police to the foster home
- An event of heightened behaviour that the Foster Carer found difficult to manage
Recording and Tracking Incidents on the Base
- When a Foster Carer makes the first call/email/text to the SSW to inform them of an incident, SSW must create a recording and create a trackable event (e.g. SB missing 02.02.25)
- When any recordings or items in relation to this incident are added/uploaded to Base, SSW must add the item to the trackable event (Incident report, Ofsted notification, strategy meetings, professional meeting, phone calls, emails etc…)
Completion of Incident Reports
- When an incident takes place, Foster Carers must contact their SSW to inform them of the incident as soon as possible and follow advice and guidance. This includes all out of hour serious incidents. (Refer to the Quick Reference Guide)
- If the incident is of a serious nature, Foster Carers must call the appropriate emergency services first, followed by contacting their SSW.
- Foster Carers must complete an incident report within 24 hours and send to the SSW. The SSW must complete their section of the incident report and submit to their Team Manager.
- The Team Manager will complete the Managers section with actions and recommendations which must be followed up by the SSW. The Team Manager must change/amend the subject line of the incident report to the trackable event label so it is the same. A copy of the incident report must be sent to the LA SW, this email to the LA SW, MUST be uploaded to Base and added to the trackable event.
- The Team Manager will ensure the incident is tagged with a trackable event for monitoring purposes and decide whether the incident meets the threshold for Schedule 7 notification to Ofsted.
- If Notifiable incident, Team Manager to inform Registered Manager and notify Ofsted within 24 hours. This must be marked as a schedule 6 and 7 on the base, if applicable.
- Sometimes it may not be appropriate or possible for the Foster Carer to initiate the incident report (example, if the allegation is about the Foster Carer or if the Foster Carers are at a hospital/still dealing with the incident, etc). If this happens the SSW can initiate an incident form direct from Base, details below:
Step by Step Guide
- Incident reports is under the ‘Forms’ tab on the base.
When you click on ‘incident’, open as a full page which will take you to the page in the diagram below:
- When an incident takes place, Foster Carers have their own personal incident reporting link which they complete. This link is unique for each Foster Carer and is permanent for them and can use the same link each time. The link is sent to them every week at the bottom of the email that goes to Foster Carers with the weekly recording request.
- If for whatever reason, the Foster Carer cannot access the link to complete the incident report, SSW can click on the ‘send link to carer’ tab.
- If the Foster Carer is not in a position to complete the form (either the Foster Carer is still dealing with the incident at the hospital or the allegation is about the Foster Carer), the SSW should click the ‘Add incident form manually’ button and complete the incident form themselves.
- When a Foster Carer completes an incident form they add their SSW email address.
- When the Foster Carer submits the form, an email is automatically sent to the SSW asking them to edit the document.
- The SSW clicks the link in the email, which takes them to the partially completed form. The SSW can then change the role title at the top of the form to SSW and add their comments to the relevant box.
- The SSW MUST add their Team Manager’s email address AND sign the box titled SSW signature or the form will get ‘stuck’.
- When the SSW clicks submit, an email is automatically sent to the Team Manager asking the Team Manager to edit the document.
- The Team Manager clicks on the link in the email, which will go to the partially completed form. The Team Manager then changes the role title at the top of the form to Manager and adds their comments to the relevant box. The Team Manager MUST also sign the box titled manager’s signature.
The Team Manager adds the agency name and the Foster Carers name at the bottom of the form before clicking ‘submit’.
NOTE the Foster Carers name MUST be in the Base format or the form will not be allocated to that Foster Carers and will not appear on the tracker.
- If all the above is completed accurately, the Team Manager will get an auto email to say that the incident form is now available on the tracker (please allow five minutes or so as this is not instant).
- If the SSW or the Team Manager keep getting auto emails even after submitting the form, it means something is not completed correctly and they must go back to the process and check the form for titles, roles, signatures and the format of the agency or Foster Carer’s name. The form is only complete when the Team Manager receives the email saying the form is on the tracker.
- Team Managers must go into the open incidents to find the incident that they have added and then;
- tick the relevant boxes that apply to that incident for schedule 6 and 7. Please see diagram below.
- click on upload/Open PDF (red on the right) and add the pdf that is attached to the auto email informing the Team Manager that the form is on the tracker.
- The pdf must also be uploaded to Base using ‘document upload’ function and be linked to the trackable event
- After an incident is recorded following the above steps, the incident remains as an ‘open incident’ on the Base tracker and can be viewed by clicking the ‘open incidents’ button.
- The incident can be left open, until it has been concluded with ALL interactions and recordings being linked to the trackable event
- When the incident is ready to be closed, the Team Manager goes into the open incident tracker and;
- Clicks ‘close incident’ (red on the left) where an overlay screen will appear asking for a closing summary
- The Team Manager must add a closing summary that:
- confirms all necessary steps have been taken
- the outcome of the incident/investigation/safety plan etc
- steps that have been taken to prevent or minimise the risk of the incident happening again
Important Reminders:
- All incidents must be recorded as Schedule 6, following the procedure outlined above.
- For allegations, complaints, or concerns about standards of care, these should initially be recorded as an incident and marked as both Schedule 6 and Schedule 7.
- To find a specific incident, you can filter by the child’s name, the carer’s name, or by date.
- It’s crucial to mark each incident with a trackable event in the recording system. This ensures that all related recordings can be easily accessed, rather than having to sift through multiple entries.
- The Team Manager’s closing summary should provide a clear overview of how the incident was handled and its final resolution.
