Sheffield Children Safeguarding Partnership

Children 'in care' or 'looked after'

Children can be 'in care' or 'looked after' by people other than their parents for a number of reasons including where:

• an informal temporary short-term arrangement by a parent with family or friends

• a temporary arrangement by a parent with extended family or friends for longer than 4 weeks - known as 'private fostering'

• an arrangement to give the child and their family a break e.g. where a child has intensive needs such as a disability

• a child has been placed in specialist accommodation because they are appearing in court for criminal offences

• they have been removed from their family by the Police or Local Authority because they need to be kept safe

• a child has been formally placed with wider family of friends to live permanently because a parent is unable to look after them

• a child has come to the UK seeking asylum without any adult able to care for them (known as Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Child or UASC)

Sheffield resources:

• LAC Virtual School, tel. 0114 273 4452

• Sheffield Children in Care Council

• Looked-After Children Designated Teacher role

• Student Well-Being Resource, Learn Sheffield

National resources:

• Looked-After Children, Gov.uk

SCSP Learning Briefs: 

• Children Looked After by the Local Authority for less than 28 days, March 15

• Multiple Heritage Children Subject to Child Protection Plan or Looked After by the Local Authority, June 14

Other relevant information can be found on this website here: Information and resources or in the index on the left side of this page.

If you are concerned about a child or young person, follow this link: Referring a safeguarding concern to Children’s Social Care