Wishes and feelings record. A printable record of what a child has said they want — asked properly, recorded in their words, and followed up so they can see what happened.

Asking children what they want is a statutory expectation and, more to the point, the only way a home works. What inspectors actually look for is not whether it was asked but whether anything changed — a file full of recorded wishes with no outcome against any of them demonstrates a process, not a culture.

That is why the last two sections exist. 'We asked, and here is what happened, and here is what we could not do and why we could not do it' is a complete record. Asking and then never going back is worse than not asking, because the child has learned something about whether it is worth saying anything.

Recording in the child's own words, without tidying them, matters more here than anywhere. A young person who says 'I hate it here, nobody listens' should have that written down, not 'expressed some dissatisfaction with the placement' — which is a sentence that has removed everything the child was trying to say.

What a child would not talk about is recorded because it is information. A young person who will not discuss contact with a family member has told you something, and a form with no room for it loses it entirely.