FAQs
As a young person in care, you may have lots of questions as you grow up that you'd like answered but you find it difficult to ask, particularly if you’re living with people you don’t know or if you have moved to a new area and a new school. The main advice is not to worry but do not hesitate to ask your foster carer or ring up your social worker as they're there to help you. You can also call some of the people on the resources page of this section. If you are older, have a look at the "Next Steps" guide, which has lots of practical information on everything you can think of! Here are some examples of the things you may wonder about:
How long will I stay in care? Your social worker will make a plan for you; called a care plan and this includes everything that’s important to you, such as your school, your health, when you see your friends and family and how long you will stay with your foster family. The older you are the more involved you will be in making this plan and you should receive a copy of this. It’s important that you tell your social worker if there is anything in the plan you don’t like as they may be able to change this.
What’s a "child care review"? This meeting decides what you care plan should be. It’s chaired by an independent person called an independent reviewing officer who must make the best possible plan for you and take into account your views and those of your family. You will usually be asked to attend this meeting to give your views and can also get an advocate to help you if you’re worried about meetings or need help to say what you want to say. There must be a review within 28 days of you going into your foster home and they must take place on a regular basis after this.
What are the rules in my foster home? When you move into a new family it may be confusing as the rules may be different from your own. Some things will be the same like going to the school, seeing a doctor when you’re ill, others may be different such as bedtimes and going out. These are usually discussed when you first live with your foster family so you know what is going on and understand what is different about the new family.
I want to get a part time job and need to get a National Insurance number (NI number), what do I do? Because children in care may not have acquired a National Insurance Number automatically before their 16th birthday, a separate procedure has been developed, which is administered by a specialist team within the Inland Revenue. The application has to be made by your social worker and they have to write or fax through their request and ask for form no CA353OU which they then fill in. Getting your own national insurance number is important and should be discussed at the review, before you get to 16.
