Law, standards and the regulation of UK fostering and adoption agencies
A number of agencies and authorities work together to provide services for children, including local authority adoption, fostering and residential services, voluntary adoption agencies and independent fostering providers. This page provides information about the regulation and management of these services.
Our agencies database lists details of registered adoption and fostering services in the UK who are BAAF members.
Some of the documents linked to on this page are in the pdf format.
To read pdfs you will need Acrobat Reader
(download free from Adobe).
On this page:
> Regulatory bodies
> Regulations
> Standards
> Inspections and ratings
> Managing services for children and families
> Involving children and young people in decision making
> Interagency and registration fees
> Services for BAAF member agencies
Regulatory bodies
England
The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (ofsted) is responsible for the inspection of regulated care services in England. Details of registered service and inspection reports are provided on the Ofsted website.
Northern Ireland
The Social Services Inspectorate http://www.dhsspsni.gov.uk
of the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety (DHSSPS) is responsible for the inspection of social services provision in Northern Ireland.
The Northern Ireland Social Care Council (NISCC) is responsible for raising standards in social care and for the registration of the social care workforce. Information about the registration process and codes of conduct are provided on their website.
Scotland
The Scottish Commission for the Regulation of Care (Care Commission)
started under the Regulation of Care (Scotland) Act 2001 to regulate and inspect care services in Scotland.
The Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) is responsible for raising standards social care standards in Scotland through registration of the social service workforce and promoting and developing education and training
Wales
The Care Standards Inspectorate for Wales (CSIW) is the social and health care regulator for Wales responsible for the registration and inspection of a range of care services
The Care Council for Wales helps ensure high standards of conduct, practice and training across the social care workforce in Wales.
Regulations
England
Northern Ireland
Scotland
Wales
Standards
England
Northern Ireland
Scotland
Wales
Inspections and ratings
England
New Arrangements for the Inspection, Assessment and Review of Services for Children and Young People
The Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted) has published details of the new arrangements for inspection, annual performance assessment and joint area reviews of services for children and young people aged 0-18, as required under the Children Act 2004. The documents are available from the Ofsted website at http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/childrenandyoungpeople/ and a summary of the arrangements is provided at http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/publications/index.cfm?fuseaction=pubs.summary&id=3961
Inspections
The Commission for Social Care Inspection (CSCI) http://www.csci.org.uk is responsible for the inspection of regulated care services in England. Details of the inspection process and inspection reports can be found on the website http://www.csci.org.uk
Star Ratings
CSCI also produces summary reports for each council, using star ratings to show strengths and weaknesses across social services. http://www.csci.org.uk/
council_star_ratings/default.htm
Performance Assessment Framework Indicators
Social Services are also measured against a set of performance indicators devised by the Department of Health. Descriptions of the indicators and ratings http://www.publications.doh.gov.uk/paf/ for each council can be found on the DH website.
Northern Ireland
The Social Services Inspectorate (SSI) of the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety is responsible for the inspection of social services provision in Northern Ireland. Details of the inspection programme and published reports can be found on the SSI website http://www.dhsspsni.gov.uk
/hss/ssi/function.asp
Scotland
The Scottish Commission for the Regulation of Care (the Care Commission) was set up in 2002 to regulate and inspect Scottish care services. Information about the inspection process and copies of inspection reports are available on the website http://www.carecommission.com
Wales
The Care Standards Inspectorate for Wales (CSIW) http://www.wales.gov.uk/
subisocialpolicycarestandards/index.htm is responsible for the regulation and inspection of care services in Wales. Summaries of inspection reports area available online at http://www.csiwreport.wales.gov.uk/
Managing services for children and families
Listed below are a number of resources on good practice and service development.
Good Practice
Improving Services
- 'Tomorrow's Children' is a discussion paper highlighting the needs of vulnerable and excluded children and examining how UK childcare services need to develop in the next decade in order to meet these needs. http://www.adss.org.uk/
publications/other/tomorrow.pdf
- 'From vision to reality: transforming outcomes for children and families' is a guidance document produced by a coalition of children's sector organisations detailing proposals for the development of children's services. http://www.lga.gov.uk/
Documents/Publication/visiontoreality.pdf
- Information about the six strands of the Co-ordinating Children's Services Programme (includes Children's Trusts and Information Sharing and Assessment) can be found on the Children and Young People's Unit website at http://www.cypu.gov.uk/
corporate/services/index.cfm
- The Improvement and Development Agency (IDeA) has published the first in a three-part briefing series designed to help people working in children's services to consider the most effective means of delivering improved outcomes for children and their families http://www.idea.gov.uk
/children/?id=childrenbriefings
Involving children and young people in decision making
Article 12 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child http://www.unicef.org/crc/bg007.htm states that children have the right to express views on all issues that affect them, and that their views should be taken into consideration. The UK has ratified this Convention and the requirement to seek and take into account the views of children and young people is becoming part of UK law and policy. Listed here are a number of resources and tools that are designed to help policy makers involve children and young people.
Research
Resources
Interagency and registration fees
See our financial information section.
Services for BAAF member agencies
BAAF provides a host of Services for BAAF member agencies, from training and advice to consultancy. For more information see the BAAF members' area, or join BAAF.
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