Safer caring and understanding risk in foster care
'Safer caring' encourages a positive approach to exploring and managing risk for children, young people, carers and their families
'Those involved in child protection must be “risk sensible”. There is no option of being risk averse since there is no absolutely safe option. In reality, risk averse practice usually entails displacing the risk onto someone else. Even if every child who was considered or suspected to be suffering harm was removed from their birth family, that would only incur different risks.' The Munro Review of Child Protection, 2011
We cannot eliminate risk from any situation, however, we can consider how risks can be reduced and effectively managed to make things 'safer'. There is no such thing as 'safe care', only 'safer care - this encourages a positive approach to exploring and managing risk for children, young people, carers and their families.
In this conference we will consider together:
- What is safer caring and why it is important?
- The difference in a household safer caring plan and a child specific safer caring plan and when we should review them
- How safer caring can be implemented in a non-intrusive way, but that we do not become complacent and keep it “live” and meaningful”
- How we can be realistic and proportionate in our approach to risk
- How risk reduction plans inform individual safer caring that leads to what this means for the household safer caring policy - safer caring for everyone
- How we recognise that carers provide the best possible care to children, at the same time as keeping their own families safer from risk of allegations
About the trainer
Catherine Lockett has worked within social care for 38 years as a practitioner and in senior management positions within the fostering sector, both for local authorities and the independent sector. She has experience of being a panel chair, panel advisor and Agency Decision Maker. Catherine is an associate for NAFP and takes a lead on practice discussions, including working with NAFP's fostering panel chair/vice forum.
(this event will be hosted on Zoom; delegates will be emailed details of how to join a few days beforehand)
