Visits & reviews
What is a looked-after child review?
A looked-after child review is the periodic meeting, chaired by an independent reviewing officer, that considers a child's care plan and whether it is meeting their needs.
It is the child's meeting. Their participation, in whatever form works for them, is the point of it rather than a courtesy, and a review where the child was not meaningfully involved has missed its purpose.
The independent reviewing officer sits outside the home and outside the placing team, and can escalate where a plan is not being delivered.
The home's contribution is its evidence about the child's daily life — progress, relationships, difficulties — which is information nobody else at the meeting has.
What goes wrong in practice
- The home's report prepared at the last minute from memory rather than from records.
- The child's participation treated as attendance rather than involvement.
- Actions from the review not brought back into the home's own plans.