Baby Sitting

Foster children and young people can only be left with trusted people who are well known to the carers. They must also have been DBS checked by the agency. In exceptional circumstances GLF may agree to a ‘babysitter’ where they have provided the agency with a copy of a recent enhanced DBS check undertaken by someone else.

Carers are responsible for identifying a sufficient pool of potential babysitters both to cover their attendance at training and their other childcare needs.

GLF will arrange DBS checks on those people carers identify. Supervising social workers or the office will provide DBS application forms on request and foster carers are asked to check that their potential babysitters fill in their forms properly. Foster carers need to sign to say that they have seen the original evidence of identity and send copies of this evidence to the office with the application form.

When DBS checks are returned to the office foster carers will be sent a letter from the office to say that their baby sitter’s check is satisfactory. Nobody should be allowed to baby-sit until that letter has arrived.

Sometimes, particularly when children are in long term placements, the local authority may delegate to the foster carer the decision about who can babysit and may not require DBS checks for members of the extended family and close friends. This will be set out in the placement plan.

Young people under the age of sixteen should not be left at home on their own even for short periods of time without the prior agreement of the young person’s social worker.

Young people over the age of sixteen should only be left alone for short periods of time and then only if the carers are satisfied that they will behave responsibly.

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