4.—(1) Any person who proposes to foster privately a child for whom he is not already caring and providing accommodation shall notify the appropriate authority not less than 6, nor more than 13, weeks before he receives the child, unless he receives him in an emergency.
(2) A person who is privately fostering a child—
(a)whom he received in an emergency; or
(b)for whom he was already caring and providing accommodation when he became a foster child,
shall notify the appropriate authority not more than 48 hours after the fostering arrangement began.
(3) A notice under paragraph (1) or (2) shall specify—
(a)the name, sex, date and place of birth, religious persuasion, racial origin and cultural and linguistic background of the child;
(b)the name and address of the person giving the notice and any previous address within the last 5 years;
(c)the purpose and intended duration of the fostering arrangement;
(d)the name and address of any parent of the child and of any other person who has parental responsibility for the child and (if different) of any person from whom the child was, or is to be, received;
(e)the name and address of any person, other than a person specified in sub-paragraph (d), who is involved directly or indirectly in making the fostering arrangement; and
(f)the intended date of the beginning of the fostering arrangement or, as the case may be, the date on which the arrangement actually began.
(4) A person giving notice under paragraph (1) or (2) shall include in the notice particulars of—
(a)any offence of which he has been convicted;
(b)any disqualification or prohibition imposed on him under (as the case may be) Article 109 or 110 of the Order or any refusal of consent under section 1 of the Children and Young Persons Act (Northern Ireland) 1968(1) or section 2 of the Children and Young Persons Act (Northern Ireland) 1950(2); and
(c)any such conviction, disqualification or prohibition imposed on any other person living in, or employed at, the same household.
(5) Any person who is fostering a child privately shall notify the appropriate authority of—
(a)any change in his address;
(b)any person who begins, or ceases, to be part of his household; and
(c)any further conviction, disqualification or prohibition as mentioned in sub-paragraphs (a) to (c) of paragraph (4).
(6) A notice under paragraph (5) shall be given—
(a)in advance if practicable; and
(b)in any other case, not more than 48 hours after the change of circumstances,
and if the new address is in the area of another authority, the authority to whom the notice is given shall inform the other authority of the new address and of the particulars given to it under sub-paragraphs (a) and (d) of paragraph (3).
(7) Paragraphs (4)(a) and (c) and (5)(c) are subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders (Northern Ireland) Order 1978(3).
1968 c. 34 (N.I.); section 1 is repealed from 4th November 1996 by the Children (Northern Ireland) Order 1995
1950 c. 5 (N.I.); section 2 was repealed by the Children and Young Persons Act (Northern Ireland) 1968
S.I. 1978/1908 (N.I. 27)