Meetings you may need to attend
Placement meetings
In the first three days that you come into care you will have a placement meeting, at the place where you are living.
At this meeting the following people will be there with you:
- Your foster carer
- Your social worker or key worker and
- Sometimes your parents or relatives.
Together they – and you – will help put a plan together around how you will be looked after.
Looked-after children reviews
All the adults and professional people involved in your care get together regularly to look at your care plan while you are looked after. These are called looked-after children reviews.
We will always ask you and help you to go to these meetings so that you can speak about your feelings and wishes.
When and where we will meet
Your first review meeting should take place within 28 days of you moving to your placement. The second meeting should take place no more than three months after the first. After that, you should have review meetings every six months.
Your review meetings will usually take place in the afternoon so that you don’t miss school or college. They usually take place at your placement.
Preparing for your looked-after review meeting
A review meeting is about you and it is very important that you go to it. Your social worker will make sure you are invited and will ask you who you would like to go to the meeting, such as your carer, teacher, learning support worker or your foster carers’ social worker. Your parents or a person that is important to you can also go to the meeting.
Your social worker will meet you before the review meeting and talk to you about what you want to say at the meeting.
We will send you a consultation form before the meeting asking you what you think about your social worker, carers and your care plan. If you can, you should fill in this form before your meeting because it will help you to remember everything you want to say.
We will also send consultation forms to your parents and carers and ask them to complete them before the review.
At your looked-after review meeting
An independent reviewing officer, who is not part of Newham Council, will oversee your review meeting. It is his or her job to make sure that:
- You have your say and your views are considered
- The right decisions are made about your future and
- Social workers do what has been agreed and don’t forget to follow things up.
The review meeting will look at:
- How you are doing in your placement
- What you are entitled to
- What is expected of you
- Your health and education
- The contact you have with family and friends
- Your care plan
- Anything else you would like to talk about.
The independent reviewing officer will talk to you privately at the review meeting so that you can tell him or her about any worries you may have. They will make every effort to meet your parents or an adult in your life that is important to you.
During the meeting you will have the chance to say what you think about the reports people are writing and the plans being made for you.
Someone to speak up for you
If you would like someone to speak up for you at meetings because you think you will not be good at speaking up for yourself, you can ask for an advocate to speak for you.