Staying together and connected: getting it right for sisters and brothers: national practice guidance

11. Planning and decision-making

"Children, families and the workforce must be supported by a system that is there when it is needed. The scaffolding of help, support and accountability must be ready and responsive when it is required."^[76]

Sensitive planning and well-evidenced decisions are crucial for ensuring the rights of brothers and sisters are upheld. These processes need to be supported by a system that enables positive relationship-based practice, and by senior leaders and corporate parents who emphasise the importance of sibling relationships.

11.1 Early planning

Early and proactive planning is needed to ensure the needs of brothers and sisters are met and their rights are upheld.^[77]This means having clear processes in place for pre-birth planning, children who may need care and protection, and when children are in care, for joined up working between all practitioners supporting a child and their family.

Creative solutions

'We make sure all children have the same reviewing officer as their brothers and sisters (and all children who live in the same residential house as one another). This ensures their care planning is connected.' (Source: Glasgow City Council)

11.2 When siblings become looked after

If a child requires care and protection away from their parents, they should be cared for in a home with their sisters or brothers unless there is an identified risk or it is not considered appropriate to do so. It is extremely important, especially at this immediate point of being cared for away from their parents, that practitioners are focused on keeping children together and identifying exactly what might best support them at this uncertain time. For example, would sharing a room with a sibling provide them with more comfort?

Decisions that may be made on an emergency basis could have long-term implications for brothers and/or sisters. Due to the circumstances and short timescale involved when a child comes in to care on an emergency basis, there may have been little opportunity to plan and identify suitable carers who could care for a child together with their brothers and/or sisters. This may mean that brothers and/or sisters may have to be cared for by different carers. This is important to highlight, as often a decision based on immediate need can become the 'default' position through time^[78] and this can lead to very difficult decisions having to be made which weigh the benefits of the child being cared for with their siblings, against the potential disruption caused by moving the child from the care of their current carer. When such emergency arrangements are put in place, there must be an expectation that this will only be for a very short time and that practitioners will be reviewing all the children's plans extremely quickly so that they can live together again, where appropriate, for all children involved.

Collaboration amongst practitioners at this early stage, including between children's social workers and social workers who have responsibilities for identifying carers for children, is fundamental.

11.3 Pre-birth planning

Siblings are not a homogenous group of children. Where children are cared for, some will already know their brothers and sisters and have a relationship with them, and some may have sisters and brothers who have yet to be born and who they will have a right to know about.

Many infants who require protection from birth may have brothers and sisters in need of care and protection who are being cared for away from their parents. Placing newborn babies with their brothers or sisters may be the best option in terms of the needs of the children concerned but this can also be challenging. A newborn's brothers and/or sisters may live with kinship carers who are not able to care for another child; or they may live with an adoptive family in a different community; or if they are half siblings, their siblings may live with the family members of the parent who they do not share. Early assessment in pregnancy may indicate that an infant will require to become looked after from birth. When this is the case, and the child already has sisters and brothers placed elsewhere, social work should, at the earliest opportunity, explore the possibility of this infant living with their siblings. Wherever possible, local authorities already prioritise kinship options and the adoption of siblings together.

11.4 If it is in children's best interests not to live together

A clear, well-evidenced assessment of family circumstances and sibling relationships may identify that it might not be in a child's best interests for them to remain living with their siblings. More guidance is given in Section 10.

In addition, clear plans for how the children will spend time together must be developed, in collaboration with the children, their parents, carers, and the practitioners supporting them.

The decision for the child not to live with their siblings must be kept under regular review as part of their care planning within the Looked After Child Review processes and ongoing decision-making. By doing so, decisions made about the way in which sisters and/or brothers spend time together, or keep connected with each other, at the point of a child requiring care and protection, do not become fixed as part of their long-term plan without sufficient evidence and assessment. This regular review will enable children being able to live together or keep in touch with each other if it becomes in their best interests to do so in the future.

Creative solutions

'A grandmother who is a kinship carer for her grandson carefully considered whether she could care for a second grandson who was born, and could not live with his mum. Despite loving both her grandsons dearly, and wanting to care for them both, she became clear this would be too much for her to manage. After thorough assessment, adoption was planned for the younger child. The sibling assessment recognised the need for the brothers and their grandmother to remain as significant people in each other's lives, so there were clear expectations that adoptive parents would promote and facilitate this. Now the younger brother is adopted, his adoptive parents and grandmother have an established relationship and work together to promote the brother's family relationships as they grow up.' (Source: Aberdeenshire Council)

11.5 Care planning and permanence planning – children's plans and carers' plans

Care planning and permanence planning go hand in hand. All plans should seek a safe, secure, stable and loving home for the child. The importance of relationships needs to be at the core of all planning and decision-making in the interests of a child. Consideration of who is important to each child and seeking their views in relation to decisions about their brothers and sisters should be included in all planning and decision-making processes. Further guidance on this can be found in Section 7. Within the new legislation this is now a requirement, and local planning and decision-making processes must reflect this.

11.6 Deciding where children should live

Deciding where children should live – whether that be with their sisters and/or brothers or not – is crucial to planning for children's welfare throughout their childhood and into adulthood. There is now a duty on local authorities to place brothers and/or sisters together, where appropriate, to support their lifelong relationships. If it would better safeguard and promote the welfare of a child for them not to be placed with their siblings, then they should live near to their brothers and sisters, if that would be appropriate. More detailed guidance on how to assess the needs of children can be found in Section 10.

Before making any such decisions, there is now a duty to ascertain the views of the child's siblings about the decision, and have regard to them, so far as is reasonably practicable. This needs to be woven into processes – with sufficient time allocated and support allowed – to enable this to happen. More detailed guidance on listening to children's views can be found in Section 7.

Consideration needs to be given to the interpretation of homes which are 'near' to each other to fully uphold this duty. For example, aspects such as being near enough for brothers and/or sisters to attend the same school; or near enough for children's carers to drive them to see each other; or near enough for young people to perhaps visit their brothers and/or sisters by themselves (where this meets with their wellbeing, and their abilities to do so).

11.7 Siblings spending time together

If children are not living with their brothers and sisters, their plans should reflect the ways in which their personal relationships and direct contact with their siblings are being supported, if appropriate.

Creative solutions

'Three older siblings were placed with a foster carer and their new-born sister remained in hospital in intensive care. When the baby came out of hospital, she stayed with foster carers very close to her older siblings. Both sets of foster carers shared lots of pictures and information about the children, held Skype calls and fully embraced the importance of making special memories from the earliest days of the baby's life. Family time was prioritised, and now all of these children are back home with their parents with a package of community supports.' (Source: Glasgow City Council)

Sometimes, plans for brothers and/or sisters to spend time together when they do not live together may have been influenced by the geographical location of where the children live. For example, they may only be able to see each other in person once a month because one child lives with their foster carer at a distance from a sibling living in residential child care. The new legal duties ensure that such circumstances should never be barriers to children spending time together, and that resources and support should be put in place to enable children to be together when and where children wish, where considered appropriate by practitioners.

There may sometimes have been assumptions made that sisters and/or brothers might not be able to spend time together if one, or more, of them is adopted. This should not be the case, unless it is in the interests of one or both children not to spend time together. Face-to-face time together should continue if that is what children wish to happen and it is safe for them to see each other. If this is not appropriate, then consideration needs to be given to 'indirect' means of keeping connected such as emails, newsletters, social media, video calls, etc. with the reasons for this need to be clearly communicated to children. More guidance on this is given in Sections 7 and 13.

It is not always necessary to wait until a child has 'settled in' to a new home before face-to-face time with their brothers and sisters can take place. There may be circumstances where it would be appropriate to wait, but this should not be the assumption. Many children find that spending time with their brothers and sisters has allowed them to keep their close ties and help them settle into their new homes as they can see for themselves that their siblings are feeling cared for too.

Creative solutions

'We worked with three children who came into care at the same time, they were aged 7 months, 19 months, and 7 years. Initially, and unfortunately due to a lack of resources, the oldest two children were in foster care together, and the baby with separate carers. The carers worked together to arrange regular family time for all of the children so their bonds were not lost. Because there were no family alternatives, the children were all adopted together.

A short time later, the children's birth parents had another baby. As the parents were unable to care for him, we made contact with the adopters who, after careful consideration, were able to welcome this child into their home so all four brothers and sisters could grow up together.' (Source: South Ayrshire Council)

11.8 Decision-making for brothers and sisters

Decision-making processes and practices need to enable timely decisions to continue to be made for children to have a safe, secure, stable and loving home, whilst also upholding their rights in relation to their siblings.

Decision-making frameworks should be driven by the rights of children as explained in Section 2 and recognise that every child's circumstances and needs are unique.

Submissions to all decision-making forums must make clear references as to the ways in which children's views have been sought and heard, and clearly state the ways in which proposed plans uphold the rights of siblings, and are led by the needs of children, not resources.

11.9 What if children want and need different things and have different permanence plans?

It is important to acknowledge that, where children need and want different things from each other, there may not always be a straightforward answer and that this is an extremely complex part of practice in supporting brothers and/or sisters.

For example, a child may want their newborn brother or sister to live with them, but they may live in residential child care which is in their best interests to meet their needs, but which cannot accommodate the needs of a new baby. In such circumstances, clear and supportive communication with children is key to ensure that all children can understand (as far as is appropriate) the differing needs of their siblings.

Consideration of relationships between sisters and/or brothers is an important part of permanence planning and this is further emphasised in the new duties. Children's individual needs should also be assessed within the context of their relationships with their brothers and sisters and their identity as a sibling group (if they belong to one). These considerations should be undertaken in a timely way to ensure that children are cared for in a safe, secure, stable, and loving home as quickly as is possible.

In certain circumstances, a choice may need to be made, for example, about whether it would be better in the interests of a child for them to live together with their brothers and/or sisters in a care arrangement able to support them on a interim basis, or whether they should live with long-term carers or prospective adopters but separately from their sibling. In this instance, joined-up working between services responsible for the children's care, and a holistic approach to their needs, is vital, as is seeking the views of each child. This may also be a factor when children come in to care at different times.

The needs of a child in care without brothers and sisters also must be considered. A child should not be moved from a settled and loving home to accommodate the needs of a sibling group.

Sensitive practice will be needed when children are introduced to their brothers and sisters who they did not previously know or know about. This should form a key part of planning and decision-making, with input from each child's carers to ensure their relationships can be supported in ways that meet the needs of all the siblings.

11.10 Looked After Child Reviews

Looked After Child Reviews are one of the key forums that support planning for children, their carers, and their families. Attending to the relationships between brothers and/or sisters should be a standing item on the agenda for all Reviews.

It is helpful to have a clear and robust plan that has been recommended at a Looked After Child Review – and ideally has the support of the child, their family, their carer and the Team Around the Child – before a child's case is taken to other decision-making forums, such as a Children's Hearing. The focus on the rights of brothers and sisters can help to shape such a strong and supportive plan.

11.11 Support after decisions have been made and when children are no longer in the care of a local authority

To ensure that sisters' and/or brothers' relationships are upheld beyond the point they need support for their care and protection from a local authority, careful consideration needs to be given. This will be relevant to post-adoption support plans, kinship care arrangements and in aftercare services.

Practitioners need to continue asking 'who is important to you?' and 'how do you want to spend time with them?' to support these relationships to continue, at all stages in their role of supporting children and young people. Post-adoption support plans should outline what support adoptive parents will require to uphold their child's relationships with their sisters and brothers. Practitioners will need to know that adoptive parents are confident to do this themselves with their child's siblings' parents or carers. Practitioner support should be offered to help to sensitively establish these relationships between the children, their adoptive parents, birth parent and carers as appropriate.

11.12 Complaints and redress

To reflect the importance of these duties, organisations should strengthen their complaints and redress processes to ensure that these duties are included. Children must be told about their rights and these redress processes. These should be readily accessible and written in child-friendly language so that children know how to get the support they need when they need it. This includes support to contact a solicitor and/or advocacy worker to help with this process where needed. Children should also be reminded of their rights throughout the time they are looked after.