Regulation 3(4)(b)
SCHEDULE 1Information as to prospective foster parent and other members of his household and family
1. His age, health (supported by a medical report), personality and marital status (including any previous marriage).
2. Particulars of the other adult members of his household.
3. Particulars of the children in his family, whether or not members of his household, and any other children in his household.
4. Particulars of his accommodation.
5. His religious persuasion, the degree of his religious observance and his capacity to care for a child from any particular religious persuasion.
6. His racial origin, his cultural and linguistic background and his capacity to care for a child from any particular origin or cultural or linguistic background.
7. His past and present employment or occupation, his standard of living and leisure activities and interests.
8. His previous experience of caring for his own and other children and his ability in this respect.
9. Subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders (Northern Ireland) Order 1978(1), his previous criminal convictions, if any, and those of other adult members of his household.
10. The outcome of any request or application made by him or any other member of his household to foster or adopt children or for registration under Article 118 of the Order (registration of child minders and persons providing day care) or any previous enactment of that Article.
11. Particulars of any previous approval under regulation 3, or refusal of approval or termination of approval under regulation 4, relating to him or any other member of his household.
Regulation 3(6)(b)
SCHEDULE 2Matters and obligations to be covered in foster care agreements
1. The amount of support and training to be given to the foster parent.
2. The procedure for the review of approval of a foster parent.
3. The procedure in connection with the placement of foster children, and in particular—
(a)the matters to be covered in foster placement agreements and the respective obligations, under any such agreements, of the responsible authority and the foster parent;
(b)the responsible authority’s arrangements for meeting any legal liabilities of the foster parent arising by reason of a placement; and
(c)the procedure available to foster parents for making representations to the authority in whose area that child is placed.
4. To give written notice to the responsible authority forthwith, with full particulars, of—
(a)any intended change of his address;
(b)any change in the composition of his household;
(c)any other change in his personal circumstances and any other event affecting either his capacity to care for any child placed or the suitability of his household; and
(d)any further request or application of a kind mentioned in paragraph 10 of Schedule 1.
5. Not to administer corporal punishment to any child placed with him.
6. To ensure that any information relating to a child placed with him, to the child’s family or to any other person, which has been given to him in confidence in connection with a placement is kept confidential and is not disclosed to any person without the consent of the responsible authority.
7. To comply with the terms of any foster placement agreement, to care for the child placed with the foster parent as if he were a member of the foster parent’s family and to promote his welfare having regard to the responsible authority’s long and short-term arrangements for the child.
8. To notify the responsible authority immediately of any serious illness of the child or of any other serious occurrence affecting the child.
9. Where regulation 7(1) or (2) applies, to allow the child to be removed from the foster parent’s home by the responsible authority or (as the case may be) the area authority.
Regulation 5(6)
SCHEDULE 3Matters and obligations to be covered in foster placement agreements
1. The provision by the responsible authority of a statement containing all the information which the responsible authority considers necessary to enable the foster parent to care for the child and, in particular, information as to—
(a)the responsible authority’s arrangements for the child and the objectives of the placement;
(b)the child’s personal history, religious persuasion and cultural and linguistic background and racial origin;
(c)the child’s state of health and need for health care and surveillance; and
(d)the child’s educational needs,
including a requirement for the statement to be provided either at the time of the signing of the agreement or, where this is not practicable, within the following 14 days.
2. The responsible authority’s arrangements for the financial support of the child during the placement.
3. Any arrangements for delegation of responsibility for consent to the medical or dental examination or treatment of the child.
4. The circumstances in which it is necessary to obtain in advance the approval of the responsible authority for the child to live, even temporarily, away from the foster parent’s home.
5. The arrangements for visits to the child, in connection with the supervision of the placement, by the person authorised by or on behalf of the responsible authority or area authority and the frequency of visits and reviews under the Review of Children’s Cases Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1996(2).
6. The arrangements for the child to have contact with his parents and other persons, including any arrangements in pursuance of Article 53 of the Order (parental contact etc. with children in care) in relation to a child in care, or any contact order (as defined in Article 8(1) of the Order).
7. Compliance by the foster parent with the terms of the agreement set out in Schedule 2.
8. Co-operation by the foster parent with any arrangements made by the responsible authority for the child.
S.I. 1978/1908 (N.I. 27)