Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether the Government's covid-19 guidance has affected the legal obligations foster carers have to facilitate meetings with birth parents.

There are no legal obligations placed upon foster carers to facilitate birth family meetings. Arrangements for children to keep in touch with their family are set out by courts or in care plans. Foster parents will necessarily be involved in ensuring that the child in their care is able and supported to attend those meetings, and they may therefore have a role in facilitating or hosting birth families.

Ultimately, contact arrangements should be focused on, and shaped around, the child’s needs. Maintaining contact is crucial to help children and young people develop their identity and history, and to understand their lives and their sense of self. However, the child’s welfare is the paramount consideration at all times, and each child’s wishes and needs for contact should be individually considered and regularly assessed.

The department's guidance on vulnerable children describes how children living in care can stay in touch with their family during the COVID-19 outbreak. Contact arrangements should be assessed on a case by case basis taking into account a range of factors including the government’s social distancing guidance and the needs of the child. Additional information can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-guidance-for-childrens-social-care-services/coronavirus-covid-19-guidance-for-local-authorities-on-childrens-social-care.