Caring for children and young people Essay Example for Free

Caring for children and young people Essay The roles and responsibilities of a foster carer are to provide care for a foster child, to promote positive health care, to promote a positive view of the Childs family background, to promote a foster Childs own race, culture and religion, to promote education, to let Children Young People’s Service know immediately of any Serious Incident, to Notify the Department of any Change of Address, to Ensure the Safety of any Foster Child whilst they are in your care, to keep Confidentiality, to Accept and Ensure that Corporal Punishment is Not Permitted to be used on any Child Placed with You, to ensure that Young People receive Sex Education appropriate to their needs, to Permit any person authorized by the Department to see the Child/Young Person, to Allow the Child/Young Person to be Removed from the Foster Home when so requested by a Person Authorized by the Department, to Provide Information to the Children Young People’s Service and the Courts if they request it and I nformation about the Child’s Behavior and Development. A foster carer has to provide care for a foster child this means to provide general care for a child or young person which includes providing love, comfort, listening, patience, food, clothing and warmth. Foster carers could encourage any hobbies or interests. Foster carers also have to remember that children have came from all different backgrounds and have different experiences from the past. A foster carer also has to try their best to get the child to have a positive view of themselves. A foster carer has to promote positive health care. This includes getting in touch with doctors or hospitals if needed. This also includes getting in touch with the dentist and opticians regularly. Social carers should also encourage their child to exercise, making sure that the child has a healthy balanced diet and making sure that the child is aware of the bad affects of  smoking alcohol and illegal drugs. Before a child goes into a foster care and when coming out of foster care the child will have a medical assessment which the foster carer will normally attend with the child. A foster carer has to promote a positive view of the childs family and background which means they will need to understand the feelings that a child has about their parents. This means they need to respect the values that a child has brought from home and when a child has visits with their parents that the child does not feel they have to choose either the foster parents or their real parents. The foster carer must also show respect and understanding for the parents feelings as it must be upsetting for the parents seeing someone else caring for their child better than themselves. A foster carer has to promote the childs race, culture and religion. The first stage of this is by putting the child into a foster home with a foster carer who has the same race, religion or culture. If this is not possible at a certain time a child will be put into the best available placement. If the child is not of the same culture or religion then it is the foster carers responsibility to meet the childs needs for example places of worship, music, decorations in the home etc. A foster carer needs to promote education. They should do this by spending time with the children when doing homework and school events, listening to the child read and also reading them bedtime stories. They should also not keep the child off of school for small illnesses, not make appointments during school time and not arranging holidays during school time. A foster carer needs to let the children and young peoples service know immediately if there are any serious incidents this includes any accident, illness, abduction, absconds or prosecution by police. A foster carer needs to ensure the safety of a child. A foster carer can make sure the children stay safe by being conscious of safety within the home and when transporting the children around. They can do this by making sure children are wearing seat belts or using booster seats if they are needed.  Deciding at what age a child can take responsibility is also very important they should decide this in the same way that they would make the decision for their own children. A foster carer needs to keep confidentiality this means all the information about the child which Is given to them has to stay with them and not told to anyone else. A foster carer needs to accept and ensure that corporal punishment is not permitted to be used on any child placed with the carer. This means the carer should not belittle a child or use inappropriate punishments. Good behavior should also be rewarded. A foster carer needs to ensure that young people receive sex education appropriate to their needs. This is because young people need opportunities to talk about their worries when it comes to sex. A gay or lesbian young person in care may need a more sympathetic foster carer. Children and young people who have been sexually abused will need counselling and opportunities to talk about appropriate sexual behaviour. A foster carer has the responsibility to provide information to the childrens and young peoples service and the courts if the request it and information about the childs behaviour and development. This means the social worker may need to complete an assessment on the child or their family or they may need to write reports for the court. Child minder A child minder has a lot of different roles and responsibilities including day to day management to enable delivery of a high quality provision, Knowledge of relevant legislation and Ofsted requirements, establish and sustain a welcoming, purposeful, stimulating, and encouraging environment where children feel confident and secure and are able to develop and learn, promoting childrens health, safety and physical, mental and emotional well-being, establish and sustain a safe and secure environment which meets  the welfare requirements of the statuatory framework, maintain confidentiality at all times, observe and record childrens activity, development and progress systematically and carefully and use this information to inform, plan and improve practice and provision, promote children’s rights, equality, inclusion and anti-discriminatory practice in all aspects of the setting, be responsible for the collection and recording of fees, together with managing accounts, purchasing of appropriate resources and keeping accurate records, establish a framework of policies and procedures including Health and Safety, Safeguarding Children and Equal Opportunities and to understand your role and responsibilities, establish and maintain positive relationships with children and their families in a way that values parental involvement.