SLAC

What does it mean?

What does being 'Looked After' mean?

You are said to be 'Looked after' if you're under 18 and Surrey County Council provide you with somewhere to live for more than 24 hours.
This can be in a children's home, a boarding school, with a foster family, and sometimes with another responsible adult your parents or guardians already know.
Some people go to stay for a 'short break' from their family for a couple of days. This is often to give their family a rest from caring for them if they need a lot of help.

Are there special rules when you are 'Looked After'?

These days we are trying much harder to make sure that 'looked after' children and young people have as normal a life as possible. This includes seeing your family and friends, and staying over at friends' houses. Sometimes it's not always the rules that cause problems but the practicalities. For example if you grew up in a town, and then move to a foster family in another part of Surrey it's much harder to keep in touch with your mates.
When you are 'looked after' Surrey County Council are responsible for your welfare, often jointly with your parent or parents.
Your foster family, or residential staff who look after you will make most of the day to day decisions.
Surrey County Council must make sure you are able to keep in touch with your family if possible.
You should have the same opportunities as other young people your age.
These things are written in a Placement Agreement at a meeting at the beginning of your placement.
You can talk about this at your review meetings . People should make sure this agreement works well for you.

Why can't you always stay in your home town?

To be honest there just aren't enough foster families and children's homes to choose from. We are trying to find more foster families in Surrey so more people can live nearer their home town.
For some children or young people there may be a serious reason why they need to move away from their home town.
If you are living in a different town it can be harder to keep in touch with your friends. A lot of people are able to keep going to their school, usually by taxi - this can mean long journeys sometimes.