Records & plans
What is a case record?
A case record is the full record a home keeps about a child — plans, logs, health and education information, incidents and correspondence — retained for a long period after they leave.
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Free to use on your own site, in training material or in a handout, as long as the credit link stays on it. Paste this where you want the diagram to appear.
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<img src="https://careoptix.co.uk/glossary/case-record/diagram.svg" alt="case record — diagram from CareOptix" width="880" height="620" loading="lazy">
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<a href="https://careoptix.co.uk/glossary/case-record">What is a case record?</a> — diagram by
<a href="https://careoptix.co.uk">CareOptix</a>
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</figure>It is written for the child as much as for the home. Care-experienced adults can request their records, and what they find is frequently the only detailed account of their childhood that exists anywhere.
That should shape how it reads. Factual, respectful, recording achievements and ordinary days as well as incidents, and distinguishing what was observed from what was concluded.
Retention periods are long, and the obligation to keep records secure and accessible runs for the whole of that period rather than while the child is placed.
What goes wrong in practice
- Clinical or judgemental language that a child reading it later would find painful.
- Records split across systems so no complete picture exists.
- Retention obligations not met after a home closes or a provider changes.