Parents and carers Of looked after children
Looked after children and young people face barriers to achieving success in education. A child who is looked after may be cared for in their own home, or in a foster home, residential unit or residential school. The guidance for the Children (Scotland) Act 1995 states, "Children who are looked after should have the same educational opportunities as all other children". In order to achieve this, it is vital that schools are aware of the children in their school who are looked after and that they keep in contact with the appropriate parent or carer. This may be a relative carer, foster carer, a local authority or another carer.
"Unless there are strong reasons against it, parents in contact with their children should receive regular information about their children's progress in school, including end-of-session reports."Learning with Care, HMIE, March 2001
Care planning for looked after children should clarify who is taking responsibility for keeping in contact with the school and helping the child with their education. Careful planning and effective joint working between carers/social workers and teachers is of equal importance.
In addition, all local authorities have developed or revised joint policies and protocols on looked after children and all schools should now have a Designated Senior Manager, who is responsible for their looked after children.