Records & plans
What is a care plan?
A care plan is the placing authority's plan for a looked-after child, setting out how their needs will be met and what the plan for their future is. The home's placement plan delivers part of it.
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<img src="https://careoptix.co.uk/glossary/care-plan/diagram.svg" alt="care plan — diagram from CareOptix" width="880" height="620" loading="lazy">
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<a href="https://careoptix.co.uk/glossary/care-plan">What is a care plan?</a> — diagram by
<a href="https://careoptix.co.uk">CareOptix</a>
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</figure>It belongs to the local authority rather than the home, which is the distinction that causes confusion. The home contributes to it and works to it; it does not own it.
It covers health, education, contact, emotional development and the permanence plan, which is a broader scope than a home's day-to-day arrangements.
A home working without a current care plan is working without knowing what the placement is for, and chasing it is a legitimate and necessary part of the role.
In practice
A plan that arrives with a child and is never revisited.
It was written for a different placement, before two things changed, and the home works from it because it is what they were given.
The care plan belongs to the local authority and the placement plan is the home's. Confusing them is how a home ends up believing somebody else is reviewing something nobody is.
Chasing the plan is tedious, and it is the home's job because the home is where the consequences land.
What goes wrong in practice
- Placement plan written without a current care plan to deliver against.
- Care plan not updated after a review, with the home working to an old version.
- The home's contributions to review not prepared, so the child's day-to-day reality is under-represented.