Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014

95 Promotion and maintenance of contact between child and family

(1) Where a child is being looked after by a local authority, the authority must, unless it is not reasonably practicable or consistent with the child’s well-being, promote contact between the child and—

(a) the child’s parents,

(b) any person who is not a parent of the child but who has parental responsibility for the child, and

(c) any relative, friend or other person connected with the child.

(2) Where a child is being looked after by a local authority, the authority must take such steps as are reasonably practicable to secure that the following persons are kept informed of where the child is being accommodated—

(a) the child’s parents;

(b) any person who is not a parent of the child but who has parental responsibility for the child.

(3) Every person mentioned in subsection (2)(a) or (b) must secure that the authority is kept informed of his or her address.

(4) Where a local authority (“the receiving authority”) takes over the provision of accommodation for a child from another local authority (“the transferring authority”) under section 76—

(a) the receiving authority must (where reasonably practicable) inform—

(i) the child’s parents, and

(ii) any person who is not a parent of the child but who has parental responsibility for the child,

(b) subsection (2) applies to the transferring authority, as well as to the receiving authority, until at least one of the persons mentioned in paragraph (a) or (b) of that subsection has been informed of the change, and

(c) subsection (3) does not require any person to inform the receiving authority of his or her address until that person has been informed under paragraph (a).

(5) Nothing in this section requires a local authority to inform a person of the whereabouts of a child, other than a child aged under 16 who is being accommodated under section 76, if the authority has reasonable cause to believe that informing the person would prejudice the child’s well-being.

(6) Any person who fails, without reasonable excuse, to comply with subsection (3) is guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 2 on the standard scale.