Safeguarding

Smartphone Free Childhood

What is Smartphone free Childhood?

This is a parent-led national movement sparked by growing concerns about smartphone and social media use amongst young children. It aims to give parents/ carers a genuine choice about the age that they allow their child to access smartphone devices without peer pressure.

Through collective dialogue, discussing not judging, around a third of parents at Our Lady of Lourdes School have taken a Smartphone Pledge and are reassured by the fact that their child will not be missing out or be the only one without a smartphone.

Why does Our Lady of Lourdes support this?

Over recent years we have realised that many children have access to smartphones of their own. There is a growing body of evidence linking smartphones (and social media use) to poor mental health.

Surveys in school revealed that by the time pupils reached Year 5, the majority of them had their own devices. Through various discussions with parents across the school, it became clear that parents had done this with reluctance and when the idea of a pledge was mentioned, a wave of enthusiasm and discussion followed.

The concept of a Smartphone Free Childhood has captured the interest of the national media.

What do parents have to do?

The idea of the pledge is to help parents who do not want their child to have a smartphone until they are older, to realise that they are not alone in this decision.

The community at Our Lady of Lourdes is extremely strong and proactive. Therefore, when parents were encouraged to start the dialogue and have conversations with each other, they did so. Parents with older children have been extremely proactive and have also supported each other and taken this beyond primary school.

By taking the pledge, parents are working to support each other and their children. However, we also recognise that not all parents wish to take the pledge. Every family will want to do what they believe is right for their child.

There is no expectation for parents to commit to the pledge. It is about choice for parents to decide on the right time for their child to have their own devices and access to social media.

Please check our weekly notifications for our next meeting.

Private Fostering

In the definition provided by the Children Act 1989, a privately fostered child means:

A child, under the age of 16 (under 18 if disabled) who is cared for, or proposed to be cared for, and provided with accommodation by someone other than:

A parent of his/hers;
A person who is not a parent of his/hers but who has Parental Responsibility for him/her;
A close relative of his/hers, i.e. a close relative is an aunt/uncle/step-parent/grandparent/sibling but not a cousin or great-aunt/uncle;
And she/he has been cared for and accommodated by that person; for 28 days or more; or the period of actual private fostering is less than 28 days but the private foster career intends to privately foster him/her for a period of 28 days or more.

A child is not privately fostered if the person caring for him/her:

Had done so for a period of less than 28 days;
Does not intend to do so for any longer than 28 days.

A child who is Looked After by a Local Authority or placed in any residential home, hospital or school is excluded from the definition.

There is a wide variety of reasons why parents seek private foster care for their children. These may include:

Children living apart from their families due to parental or family problems;
Teenagers living with a friend, or friend’s parent/carer, where relationships at home have broken down; or
To complete a stage of education because of a family move;
Children whose parents are working abroad or in another part of the country or serving in the armed forces;
Children whose parents come into the country to study or work and find it difficult to care for their own children;
Children sent to the UK for educational purposes, including those attending language schools, foreign exchanges or sport academies who stay with host families;
Children attending residential schools who stay with a teacher, or a friend’s parents during the long school holidays;
Unaccompanied minors who are living with friends, relatives or strangers.

The Local Authority’s Duties and Functions under the Children Act 1989 and Children (Private Arrangements for Fostering) Regulations 2005

The duties of the Local Authority in relation to private fostering are set out in the Children Act 1989, the Children (Private Arrangement for Fostering) Regulations 2005 and, amendments are contained within the Children Act 2004. The National Minimum Standards for Private Fostering 2005 set out a number of standards to be met by all Local Authorities in discharging their duties which cover the following areas:

Statement of Purpose;
Notification;
Safeguarding and promoting welfare;
Advice and support;
Monitoring and compliance.

Local Authorities have a duty to satisfy themselves that the welfare of children who are privately fostered in their area is being satisfactorily safeguarded and promoted and to secure that such advice is given to those caring for them as appears to the Authority to be needed (The Children Act 1989 Section 67(1) and Section 44 the Children Act 2004). The Local Authority needs to ensure the following duties and functions are carried out:

Where the Local Authority has received notification under Regulation 3 (The Children (Private Arrangements for Fostering) Regulations 2005) they must arrange for an officer of the Authority within seven working days to:

Visit the premises where it is proposed that the child will be cared for and accommodated;
Visit and speak to the proposed private foster carer and to all members of the household;
Visit and speak to the privately fostered child alone unless the officer considers it inappropriate;
Speak to and if it is practicable to do so, visit every parent or person with Parental Responsibility for the child; and
Establish such matters listed in Schedule 2 (2005 Regulations as above) as appear to the officer to be relevant

Where notification is received about a child who is already being privately fostered the duties of the officer remain the same as in section 67(1) of The 1989 Act.

The assessment should include:

The wishes and feelings of the child or young person about the arrangement;
The suitability of the private foster carer’s household and their capacity to care for the child or young person;
That arrangements are in place to meet the child’s health and educational needs;
That adequate and clear arrangements are in place between the private foster carer and the birth parents covering such areas as contact, financial support, decision making, health care etc.

All privately fostered children will have an Assessment completed following notification of the private fostering arrangement, in order to assess their needs and to ascertain whether they require any additional services to be provided. CPAT will carry out the in Assessment.