Outbound Permanence Service: staying in touch
There are additional aspects to consider when placing children overseas with kinship carers on all legal orders. 38% of the children in our data, are of mixed ethnicity, meaning that their parents are from different countries, and the children may only be familiar with one country’s culture, language and customs. Sometimes relatives have migrated to a country like the US, Australia, Canada or Norway and the child will not share that cultural background via the family member. 77% have little pre-existing relationship with their overseas carers before the care proceedings begin. 36% are over 5yrs old.
Thus, many will be settled in the UK and will have built up important relationships with family members, their foster carers and friends. Each child will have a developing sense of who they are and what is important in the world around them. This will become the basis of self-esteem and identity. Staying in touch with those important to them plays a crucial role in supporting this.
Remaining within the extended family, usually by going to live with an aunt or grandparent overseas, can have positive benefits for the children concerned, not least because the only alternative might be staying in the UK care system. It also gives them the opportunity to maintain relationships with family members in the UK and elsewhere in the world, which may not occur if they are adopted in the UK. However, ensuring this happens takes extra effort and commitment on the part of the local authority and the overseas carer as the time difference, internet connection, logistics and finances can make staying in touch difficult to achieve.
The social worker will need to find out from the child and foster carers who the key people in the child’s life are and include these in the support plan where it is safe to do so. If the child is young, it is important to consider how to keep contact with key people alive in the future. 35% have older siblings in the UK, usually in other placements, and the potential for either maintaining or developing relationships with them could be hindered by a move abroad. This requires special consideration as part of any care plan.
The most critical aspect of any approach to post placement plans for staying in touch is that it needs to allow for genuinely individual plans. No two children/families or kinship carers are the same. Those with lived experience constantly reiterate the need for an individual, flexible approach which allows for differences in circumstances and can also change to reflect the changing needs of the child throughout childhood, teenage years and beyond.
There are lots of ways for relatives and other people important to the child, such as the foster carers, to keep in contact. The type of contact and how often it should happen, will plan for the child to keep family time with their parents, siblings, and other people important to the child. One practical way of keeping the child’s links with the UK and key people, is to consider assistance to maintain their English language if it is not routinely spoken in the kinship carer’s home overseas. Another is by obtaining a UK passport for them and ensuring it is renewed every ten years so that when they are older, they can visit themselves. Many countries allow dual nationality. For those that do not, consider whether it is best to send the child on a UK passport with the appropriate visa, so that the child can then decide at 18yrs old whether to retain it or apply for the passport for the overseas country.
All of this needs to be discussed during the assessment and details included in the support plan. Often children are moving to their new family life from foster carers who may also be important to the child. Many foster carers love to hear from the children they cared for. Older children may wish to keep in touch with friends. There are many ways to keep this contact alive virtually e.g., via email, social media, or virtual platforms as well as in person, although it may be that an internet booster is required to facilitate broadband connection, or the child may need a laptop or mobile phone. It is important that the overseas carer knows and agrees with the arrangements and understands the expectations of them. If the child has extended family in the UK, clarify if the local authority will pay for in person family time and for how long. This is especially important for families overseas that do not have access to the internet or where the connection is unreliable or restricted. Keep the plan clear and practicable, so that the overseas carer feels able to commit to it.
Social media is the key way of keeping in touch and the overseas carer should think carefully about the child and social media channel as it can be problematic. In general, a child needs to be helped to understand that anything posted on social media can potentially be seen by many people and is there permanently, so every child needs to be guided as to what is sensible to post, who to accept as friends and the need for the overseas carer to sometimes monitor the activity.
Sandra Latter, Outbound Lead and Senior Adviser, CoramBAAF.