Standards and Regulations
Fostering Services National Minimum Standards (England) 2011:
Training, Support and Development Standards for Foster Care:
See also:
Different ways of communicating with friends are important to a child/young people and are now a way of life from an early age. When a child is placed with you, find out their background and whether the internet, photographs and mobile phones contributed towards any abuse so that you can plan their use safely for all children but particularly those where it has been an issue. You should ask the child’s social worker for advice and information.
Your knowledge of different media will vary but it is important that foster carers develop their understanding of different electronic devices, the internet and social media, and that you learn how to safeguard children when using the internet and mobile devices. Foster carers should also be aware of and alert to the signs of grooming behaviour. Grooming is when someone builds an emotional connection with a child to gain their trust for the purposes of sexual abuse or exploitation.
If you are concerned that a child/young person is being bullied over the internet or phone, you should talk to them about it, record what is happening in the daily record and speak to the child’s social worker as soon as possible.
The placement plan should identify any risks or issues associated with the use of a computer, mobile phone or gaming equipment particularly in relation to bullying, sexual exploitation, radicalisation or other risk-taking behaviours and where appropriate assess the risk and how safely to manage the child or young person's use. The use of social media/electronic communication as a way of maintaining contact with family and friends should be outlined in the child’s Care Plan.
You should try and take part in a child’s web browsing particularly for a new child in placement; school homework is an ideal opportunity for this. Explain the web's positive and negative sides and tell them that if they are not sure about a site they should talk to you. Children should not be permitted to use sites that are also used by adults unless risk assessment has been carried out, in consultation with the social worker. These arrangements must be outlined in the child's Placement Plan and must be reviewed regularly.
Some useful guidelines are:
Teaching the child to be cautious is important and can help when they start to use social networking sites like Facebook or X (formerly known as Twitter).
When they do you should ensure the child's profile and postings contain nothing that might expose their identity or whereabouts.
You should go through the site's terms and conditions, explaining them to the child - it's important you both understand them.
You should try to equip the child with the skills to decide who to trust, even when they have not met the person face-to-face and talk to the child/young person about what makes a real friend.
You should be aware and understand the risks that using the internet may pose for children, such as bullying, sexual exploitation and radicalisation. The Fostering Service should have a well-developed strategies to support you in keeping children safe and to support and provide you with appropriate learning around internet safety.
You should be aware of and alert to indicators of grooming behaviour and possible sexual exploitation.
Social networking sites are websites where you can create a profile all about yourself and contact other people. You can also upload photos, music and videos to share with other people, and on some sites, chat to other people on forums. Popular social networking websites include Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram and X (formerly known as Twitter) but there are others.
Social networking sites are often used by perpetrators as an easy way to access children and young people for sexual abuse. The Serious Crime Act (2015) introduced an offence of sexual communication with a child. This applies to an adult who communicates with a child and the communication is sexual or if it is intended to elicit from the child a communication which is sexual and the adult reasonably believes the child to be under 16 years of age. The Act also amended the Sex Offences Act 2003, it is an offence for an adult to arrange to meet with someone under 16 having communicated with them on just one occasion (previously it was on at least two occasions).
Radical and extremist groups may use social networking to attract children and young people into narrow ideologies that are intolerant of diversity: this is similar to the grooming process and exploits the same vulnerabilities. The groups concerned include those linked to extreme Islamist, or Far Right/Neo Nazi ideologies, extremist Animal Rights groups and others who justify political, religious, sexist or racist violence.
Children may be drawn to adopt a radical ideology through a failure to appreciate the bias in extremist material; in addition by repeated viewing of extreme content they may come to view it as normal.
‘Internet Abuse’ relates to four main areas of abuse to children:
It should be noted that creating or sharing explicit images of a child is illegal, even if the person doing it is a child. A young person is breaking the law if they:
However, if a young person is found creating or sharing images, the police can choose to record that a crime has been committed but that taking formal action is not in the public interest.
With effect from 29 June 2021, section 69 Domestic Abuse Act 2021 expanded so-called 'revenge porn' to include threats to disclose private sexual photographs and films with intent to cause distress.
If it is OK to take pictures or videos always ask the child’s permission first and make sure they are clear on who will see them and why.
You should try and take photographs regularly of the child/young person to help record their life; it may also help when putting together their Life Story book. See Keeping Memories.
You should be clear on who can give consent for the child to have their picture taken or be filmed for school etc.
Mobile phones and some apps offer text messaging, taking pictures, sending and receiving them, sending and receiving video clips and sound tracks, as well as access to the internet which means a child can download pictures and videos.
With a camera phone a child/young person can also send pictures of themselves, friends and where they live, which can have security implications for some Looked After Children.
It may be useful to encourage young people to share details of how they communicate with others and an agreement reached between the young person, social worker and foster carer about how safely to do this.
You need to be aware that most mainstream Social Networking sites impose a minimum age limit of 13 on their membership. This includes Facebook. It is therefore not appropriate for children under 13 years old to use social networking sites which are also used by adults.
The following is a set of guidance for what should be considered or when a child or young person has a mobile phone:
Mobile phone network providers operate a barring and filtering mechanism to prevent those under 18 years accessing 18 rated content. The service can be provided for both contract and pay as you go phones. You are advised to explore this with the network provider that a child/young person uses or see what other services they offer.