1.—(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Foster Placement (Children)Regulations 1991 and shall come into force on 14th October 1991.
(2) In these Regulations, unless the context otherwiserequires—
“the Act” means the Children Act 1989;
“approving authority”, in relation to a foster parent, means the local authority(1) or voluntary organisation responsible under regulation 3for approving (or not approving) the foster parent;
“area authority”, in relation to a child (and foster parent), means the localauthority in whose area the child is placed where that authority is notalso the responsible authority;
“foster parent” means the person with whom a child is or is proposed to be placedunder these Regulations;
“foster placement agreement” means an agreement referred to in regulation 5(6);
“responsible authority”, in relation to a child, means the local authority or voluntaryorganisation responsible for the placement of the child under (as thecase may be) section 23(2)(a) or 59(1)(a) of the Act.
(3) Any notice or consent required under these Regulations is to begiven in writing and any such notice may be sent by post.
(4) In these Regulations—
(a)any reference to a numbered regulation is to the regulation inthese Regulations bearing that number and any reference in a regulationto a numbered paragraph is to the paragraph of that regulation bearingthat number;
(b)any reference to a numbered Schedule is to the Schedule to theseRegulations bearing that number.
authority is defined in section 105(1) of the Act asthe council of a county, a metropolitan district, a London Borough orthe Common Council of the City of London. Pursuant to section 2 of theLocal Authority Social Services Act 1970 (c. 42), local authorityfunctions under the Children Act 1989 stand referred to the socialservices committee of a local authority.