What safeguarding duties apply to approved foster carers?

Approved foster carers have a day-to-day safeguarding responsibility for the children placed with them. This means following the child’s agreed care and safeguarding plans, taking reasonable steps to prevent harm, responding appropriately to incidents, and passing concerns to the professionals responsible for the placement. The precise arrangements are set by the fostering service, the child’s local authority and the individual risk assessment.

Safeguarding duties usually include the following:

• Following the child’s plans and risk assessments. Carers must understand the child’s placement plan, safer care plan, health information, contact arrangements and any known risks. These documents should inform practical decisions about supervision, routines, visitors, transport, personal care, use of devices and contact with other people.
• Providing appropriate supervision. The level of supervision should reflect the child’s age, development, history, vulnerabilities and current circumstances. A carer should not assume that the same arrangements are suitable for every child, or leave a child with another person unless this is permitted by the agreed plan and the person is appropriately known and approved.
• Maintaining safe household arrangements. Foster carers need to consider the safety of everyone in the household, including birth children, other foster children, pets and regular visitors. Sleeping arrangements, access to medicines, alcohol, weapons, hazardous substances and private areas should be managed in line with the fostering service’s instructions and the child’s assessed needs.
• Using agreed safer-care practices. These practices help reduce the risk of misunderstandings and protect both children and carers. They may cover privacy, bedroom and bathroom boundaries, physical contact, managing challenging behaviour, transporting children and responding to allegations. Any approved behaviour-management approach must be followed; physical punishment and humiliating treatment are not acceptable.
• Supporting safe relationships and contact. Family time, telephone contact and online communication should take place in accordance with the child’s plan. Carers should report changes in behaviour, distress before or after contact, attempts to arrange unapproved contact, or information suggesting that a contact arrangement is unsafe.

Concerns must be escalated through the correct route. A concern might involve an injury, disclosure, unexplained change in behaviour, missing episode, bullying, exploitation, unsafe contact, online grooming, self-harm, abuse by another person or a risk posed by someone in the household. If a child is in immediate danger, the priority is to secure their safety and contact the emergency services where necessary. The fostering service and the child’s social worker should then be informed in accordance with local procedures.

For non-immediate concerns, carers should contact their supervising social worker or the designated fostering-service contact without delay. They should also follow any instructions about notifying the child’s social worker, out-of-hours safeguarding arrangements, education staff or health professionals. A carer should not wait for a routine supervision meeting if delay could increase the risk to the child.

Carers should listen carefully but should not investigate. If a child makes a disclosure, the carer should remain calm, listen without showing disbelief, avoid leading questions and avoid promising to keep the information secret. It is appropriate to explain that the information must be shared with people whose job is to help keep the child safe. The carer should make a contemporaneous record using the child’s own words where possible and report it promptly.

Records should distinguish between what was seen or heard, what the child said, and the carer’s observations or concerns. They should include relevant dates, times, people present and actions taken. Records must be stored securely and shared only with those who have a legitimate safeguarding role. Foster carers should not discuss allegations or sensitive information on social media, in community groups or with people who are not involved in the child’s care.

Allegations about a foster carer must be reported even when the carer believes they are unfounded. This includes an allegation made by a child, family member, visitor, professional or another household member. The carer should follow the fostering service’s allegations procedure, avoid confronting the person making the allegation and not attempt to gather evidence independently. The service may need to refer the matter to the local authority designated officer, often known as the LADO, and involve children’s social care or the police. The carer is expected to cooperate with the process and follow any temporary arrangements or restrictions put in place to protect children while enquiries take place.

Safeguarding also applies to less obvious risks. Foster carers may need to help a child use phones, gaming systems and social media safely; recognise signs of criminal or sexual exploitation; respond to missing-from-care incidents; challenge discriminatory or threatening behaviour; and pass on concerns about radicalisation or trafficking. They should use the child’s risk assessment rather than relying on general assumptions about what is safe.

Information sharing is part of the duty, but it must be proportionate. Foster carers should provide relevant information to the professionals involved in the child’s care, attend meetings and contribute factual observations to reviews. They should not withhold a safeguarding concern because they are uncertain whether it is significant enough. Professionals can assess the information alongside other evidence.

Approved carers are also expected to complete safeguarding training, keep their knowledge current and seek guidance when a situation is unclear. Training does not replace professional advice: the safest response is usually to consult the supervising social worker or the designated safeguarding contact promptly and follow the child’s agreed procedures.

In practice, good safeguarding is consistent, child-centred and recorded. It involves applying the child’s individual plan, recognising changes, acting on concerns, respecting appropriate confidentiality and working openly with the fostering service and other professionals. These duties continue throughout the placement and are reviewed when the child’s circumstances, behaviour or level of risk changes.