Child Care
Guidance
The Department has produced a document setting out the main aspects
of the law in relation to Child Care in Northern Ireland.
This
section of the Child Care Policy Directorate website contains the Guidance and Regulations produced
by the Department in the context of The Children (Northern Ireland) Order 1995.
The Regulations and Guidance in this series build upon the legislative
framework of The Children (Northern Ireland) Order 1995. The Regulations made under the Children Order
include permissions and restrictions as to what may or may not be done and also requirements on what
must be done. As with the Children Order itself, the Regulations carry the full weight of the law. The
guidance issued under the Children Order is not law, but rather what the Department considers to be
good practice.
The Children Order series of Regulations and Guidance consists of the
following:
- Volume 1: Court Orders and Other Legal Issues (PDF 758 KB)
- Volume 2: Family Support, Child Minding and Day Care (PDF 569 KB)
- Volume 3: Family Placements and Private Fostering (PDF 1.35 MB)
- Volume 4: Residential Care (PDF 1.15 MB)
- Volume 5: Children with a Disability (PDF 364 KB)
- Volume 6: Co-operating to Safeguard Children*
- Volume 7: Schools Accommodating Children (PDF 509 KB)
- Volume 8: Leaving and After Care Guidance and Regulations
*Published
May 2003 and replaces previous Volume 6: Co-operating to Protect Children
This section also includes leaflets, available shortly on this site,
produced by the Department to explain aspects of the Children Order.
- COG 1: The Children Order: A Guide (PDF 99 KB)
- COG 2: The Children Order and You – A Guide for Young People (PDF 36 KB)
- COG 3: The Children Order and the Courts – A Guide for Children and Young People (PDF 74 KB)
- COG 4: Getting Help from Social Services – A Guide for Children and Young People (PDF 67 KB)
- COG 5: Living Away from Home – Your Rights – A Guide for Children and Young People (PDF 105 KB)
- COG 6: The Children Order and Social Services – A Guide for Parents (PDF 79 KB)
- COG 7: The Children Order and the Courts – A Guide for Parents (PDF 86 KB)
- COG 8: The Children Order Child Minding and Day Care – A Guide to help you with registration (PDF 51 KB)
Protecting Looked After Children
The Department has issued guidance which deals with the issue of children
who become Looked After and are on the Child Protection Register. This guidance takes effect from
1st September 2010.
- COG 9: Protecting Looked After Children (PDF 272KB)
- COG
10: Guidance on Protecting and Safeguarding Looked After
Children (PDF 28 KB)
Personal Education Plans
The Care Matters in Northern Ireland strategy,
which aims to improve support for children in care, was endorsed by the Executive in 2009. One of the
recommended actions flowing from the strategy is the introduction of a Personal Education Plan for each
and every Looked After Child or young person for the expressed purpose of improving educational outcomes.
Personal Education Plans focus on the “whole child/young
person” by ensuring they take advantage of the best learning opportunities within education, while recognizing
the relationship between the home environment, school
and opportunities available to children and young people within communities to engage in youth work
based and/or alternative programmes.
Care Matters in Northern Ireland (DHSSPS, 2007)
What is a Personal Education Plan?
A Personal Education Plan is a continuous running record of the child/young
person’s school history and identifies what needs to happen for Looked After children/young people to
fulfil their potential by planning and establishing clear targets for the child/young person relating
to learning achievements.
This guidance takes effect from 1st December
2011.
