1.In deciding to make a supervision requirement, a children's hearing may impose compulsory measures of supervision while the child remains at home. Such disposals account for some 70% of all disposals made in recent years by hearings. | Section 70(1) |
2.The remaining disposals are with foster carers, friends or relatives or in a residential establishment. Children on home supervision have the legal status of children who are looked after and are covered by the Arrangements to Look After Children (Scotland) Regulations 1996 and the associated guidance. | Section 17 |
3.The overall aim of home supervision is to promote beneficial changes in the life of the child while enabling him or her to remain at home. These changes may include reducing offending or reducing the risk of abuse or neglect or any of the other grounds on which the child was referred to the hearing. | Section 52 |
4.Home supervision has the following objectives - to provide effective measures for the care, protection, support, guidance, treatment or control of children living at home with their families
- to enable children and their families to recognise and tackle successfully the difficulties and problems which led to the child being referred to a children's hearing;
- to reduce offending behaviour where this is an issue
- to provide protective measures for the child from others or from himself or herself, where this is an issue
- to help ensure school attendance where this is an issue
- to provide programmes of supervision which will maintain the confidence of panel members and the public in the effectiveness of home supervision as a decision of the hearing
- to provide programmes of supervision which aim to integrate the child in the community and maintain the confidence of the community.
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5.All children who are looked after by local authorities are required under the Arrangements to Look After Children (Scotland) Regulations 1996 to have a care plan in place which is reviewed at regular intervals. Children on home supervision must have such a plan covering those matters laid out in regulation 6 and Part I of Schedule 2 of the Regulations. The plan should be drawn up in close consultation- and wherever reasonably practicable in agreement - with the child and family. It should reflect the fact that the day-to-day care is undertaken by the family. The objective is to clarify and strengthen within the care plan the arrangements for home supervision so that all those concerned - the child, the parents and the local authority - know what to expect of the arrangements and what is required of them. Some children and families may not wish to be involved in the drawing up of the plan. Some children may be too young to take part in drawing up the plan. In these situations a plan still has to be drawn up by the social work department who, where appropriate, will consult with other agencies, such as the school. It should be recorded if it was not possible to obtain agreement to the plan from the child or his or her family. | |
6.The services required to address the needs of children on home supervision generally are different from those of other children who are looked after but are living away from their parental home. In deciding whether to make a supervision requirement and any conditions related to that requirement, the children's hearing will in the case of children placed on supervision at home have decided that their welfare is best assured by living with their parents. The child's care will remain the responsibility of the family. The social worker and others working with the family need to work closely with the child and family to achieve the objectives for which the home supervision requirement was made. | |
7.The supervision requirement and conditions imposed by the hearing form the foundation of the care plan. Use of supervision conditions set by the hearing will enhance the clarity and focus of the use of home supervision. The care plan builds on the statutory requirements and will set out in detail how the objectives identified by the hearing are to be achieved. The plan should lay out clearly who is responsible for doing what, and what resources or services are to be employed and should set out expected timescales for the allocation of cases, meetings with the family, drawing up of the care plan and ongoing contact between the social worker, child and family during the period of the supervision requirement. | |
Planning Home Supervision Programmes
8.The decision to impose compulsory measures of supervision rests with the children's hearing which needs to be provided with a report containing an assessment of the child and family's situation and an indication of the options and outcome considered best suited for the child, supported with reasons. Assessment is dealt with in chapter 1 of Volume 2 of this guidance on children who are looked after by the local authority. | |
9.Planning for supervision will vary depending on the age and the needs of the child and the grounds for referral. The supervision provided for a young child at risk of abuse will be very different from that provided for a fifteen year old who has offended. If home supervision is to be recommended to the children's hearing, the social worker needs to discuss this with the family and the child taking account of his or her age and maturity. | |
10.When planning for the home supervision of a child who is the subject of actual or potential abuse, a protection plan will have been developed by an inter-agency case conference, if the child is registered. This will need to be included in the report to the hearing and will be reflected in a care plan. If there is an outline or suggested care plan in existence before the hearing, this should be included in the report to the children's hearing. A report from the child's school should, as a general rule, be provided directly to the hearing. It should give as full a picture as possible of the child's situation as seen in his or her behaviour and performance at school. Liaison between the school and the social worker should take place in the preparation of the report. This will be particularly important if a school representative will not be present at the hearing. | |
11.The hearing should be told how home supervision objectives are to be achieved and which techniques and services are to be used. A range of different approaches can be used in any supervision programme and the social worker needs to ensure that they are properly co-ordinated and effective in their delivery. This will require ongoing review. Collaboration between agencies and within the authority is essential. The methods used in home supervision may include - family-based work which may encompass family casework, family therapy, mediation and behavioural programmes in support of the more effective functioning of all members of the family together
- one-to-one approaches involving casework, counselling, problem-solving, personal learning (of skills or knowledge), and work aimed at behavioural change or attitudinal change where the emphasis is on the support and development of the individual
- groupwork techniques for children, parents or whole families focusing on mutual support, problem-solving, skills development, confidence building, project development, or similar goals where the contribution of other people facing similar difficulties can be productive
- resources in the community for instance family centres, day care, befriending, specialist schooling, home care, community education, intermediate treatment and voluntary groups.
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After the Hearing
12.Once a hearing has made the decision to make a home supervision requirement, the social worker allocated by the local authority should - if possible, at the end of the hearing see the family to discuss the terms of the supervision requirement
- arrange to visit the child and family immediately where there is a significant level of risk, but in any case within two weeks
- work with the family and the child to complete and write up a care plan, specifying the frequency, location and nature of contact with the social worker.
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13.The local authority should allocate a social worker to take responsibility for the case, immediately if the level of risk requires this or at least within two weeks if a social worker has not already been allocated. | |
14.Children's hearings rightly expect that where they impose a requirement for supervision, children will receive the supervision that they require. It is unacceptable for a child not to be seen after a requirement for home supervision has been made. If it is impossible to implement a requirement, for example, by being unable to maintain the agreed contact because of a refusal to co-operate by the child or his or her family, the local authority needs to consider the best way to proceed and should hold a child care review. If the review concludes that the requirement is not being complied with a request for an immediate review by the children's hearing should be made. | Section 73(4) |
The Care Plan
15.Each child is required under the Arrangements to Look After Children (Scotland) Regulations 1996 to have a care plan in place and the matters to be addressed in the plan are outlined in regulation 6 and Part I of Schedule 2 to the Regulations. In addition to the statutory matters to be addressed, the care plan should also record - details of the supervision requirement
- timescale for meeting of objectives and reviews
- how disagreements are to be dealt with
- occurrences that would lead to a review hearing being called
- any other plans (for example, child protection or a Record of Needs) relevant to the child.
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16.The care plan should be drawn up by the supervising social worker with the child and his or her family after the hearing and should incorporate any conditions determined by the hearing. The plan should, wherever reasonably practicable, be based on agreement between the child (where of sufficient age and maturity) the parents, the local authority and any other relevant parties, for example, the school. The plan will then represent a written agreement to which all can work. A plan must be drawn up even if the child or his or her family do not wish to become involved in the drawing up of the care plan or if they disagree with some aspect of the plan. The social worker should seek to reach a position of agreement with the child and family on as many of the objectives of the home supervision requirement as he or she can, although the welfare of the child should remain the paramount consideration throughout. | |
17.Other family members may be included in the care plan and so may the school and other professionals as appropriate and they may also have statutory or agreed tasks. As a written document the plan should wherever possible be signed by each of the parties with a copy to each party. | |
Delivering the Supervision Programme
18.The responsibility for ensuring that a supervision requirement is carried out lies with the local authority. Where the care plan identifies roles for departments and agencies, the local authority should ensure they are committed to and undertake their allocated tasks. The role of the social worker in home supervision is: - to maintain contact at the level agreed in the care plan
- to undertake direct work with the child and ensure that at all points the child's views are sought and listened to concerning intervention in his or her life
- to work closely with the child's family, listen to their views and to ensure the child's needs are met and welfare ensured
- to oversee the implementation of the care plan and ensure the focus of work is on achieving its objectives
- to co-ordinate the work of other professionals with the child and family as agreed in the care plan
- to ensure a review of the plan is undertaken at least at the statutory minimum of a first review within three months from the date when the authority began to look after the child and thereafter every six months.
| Regulation 9(2) |
19.Where the supervision requirement is based on offence grounds or where offending is a key issue the social worker should - maintain the frequency of contact agreed. For the first three months at least fortnightly contact is recommended; there will be cases where more frequent contact is needed
- monitor whether the child and the family are doing what is required in the supervision requirement and the care plan; this will almost certainly include a focus on the reasons for previous offending behaviour and how to ensure this does not re-occur
- discuss at once with the child and family any failure to keep the terms of the supervision requirement or the care plan. If this breakdown is serious a child care review should be called and, if the review concludes that the requirement is not being complied with an early review hearing should be requested.
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20.Where the child's protection is a key issue the social worker should ensure that the child protection plan remains consistent with the supervision requirement and the care plan. The social worker should also - ensure that the frequency and nature of contact (whether by social worker, health visitor or other) as agreed in the care plan is adhered to
- ensure that the family and, where appropriate, the child are doing what is required in the supervision requirement, or the care plan and any child protection plan. If this is not happening, a child care review should be called if that is required. In any case if the conclusion is that the supervision requirement is not working a review hearing should be requested
- ensure that the child protection procedures of the local authority are activated immediately when required (events that trigger this may be included in the child protection plan and care plan)
- maintain regular contact with school and health professionals and others identified as outlined in the care plan.
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21.Where failure to attend school regularly is the problem, the social worker should - maintain the frequency of contact agreed
- ensure that the child and the family are doing what is required in the supervision requirement and the care plan, in particular in relation to school attendance;
- obtain regular reports from school on attendance
- discuss at once with the child, the family and the school any failure to meet the terms of the supervision requirement. If school attendance remains poor it may be necessary to call a child care review and if this review agrees that the supervision requirement is not being complied with an early review hearing should be called.
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22.During the course of a supervision requirement, the circumstances of the child and family may change. New causes of concern may arise or new information may be obtained and these should be recorded by the social worker. Most changes may be accommodated during the course of the supervision requirement by consulting with the child and family, revising objectives and agreeing to amend the methods and services. Where as a consequence of these changes the local authority is of the view that a supervision requirement should cease or be varied, they should refer the case to the Principal Reporter. | Section 73(4) |
Ending and Withdrawing
23.The overall aim of statutory supervision is to enable the family and child to function satisfactorily so that compulsory measures of supervision are no longer required. The young person and family should therefore know the timescales to which they are working. The ending of compulsory measures of supervision does not mean that contact between the child or family and the social worker should automatically cease. During the final reviews the social worker should discuss whether continuing support may assist the family when statutory supervision ends. Voluntary provision of services could be offered with explicit objectives and methods agreed by the child and his or her family. |
Section 73
Section 22 |
24.When a young person ceases to be the subject of a home supervision requirement on or subsequent to his or her school leaving age then the local authority has a duty under the aftercare provisions to advise, guide and assist a young person unless they are satisfied that his or her welfare does not require it. Guidance on Throughcare and Aftercare is provided in chapter 7 of this volume. For those young people on supervision at home the duty to advise, guide and assist applies just as much as for those placed away from home. Their needs may however be different and an assessment of those needs should be made before they cease to be looked after. | Section 29 Section 17(2) |
25.The resources needed for high quality home supervision involve both direct social work and a range of services for children. The resources available in any one local authority area will vary and competing demands will affect their availability. Local authorities should, where appropriate, establish shared services and services developed in partnership with the voluntary sector. Nevertheless, resources are finite and Children's Panels need to be kept informed about the resources available and any constraints. Discussions between the local authority and the Children's Panel should take place regularly to discuss such matters. | |