One minute guide: Placement Support and Stability Team

The Placement Stability and Support Team (PSST), part of the wider Placements Service, was established to strengthen stability for children looked after by reducing placement breakdowns. This includes any child or young person with an Interim Care Order, Care Order, Section 20 or Placement with Parents.

The team can offer support to children, care givers and practitioners in the following circumstances:

• to contribute to robust placement planning, identifying potential vulnerabilities from the start of a placement and working with practitioners to formulate a planned response to potential future challenges
• where a placement is at risk of breaking down, and support is needed to sustain it
• a child has a reunification plan to return to their birth family
• support is needed during an ongoing placement search, and for a planned transition

The PSST use restorative and relational practice, trauma-informed and strength-based approaches, working to the Leeds Practice Model. Their work is guided by formulation from the referral stage onwards, working with all relevant parties to develop a clear plan of work which can be evaluated and amended with children, care givers, practitioners and other partners.

Support for placement stability is critical because child development research tells us that children need consistency and attachment to a caring adult to thrive. This is especially true for children in care, who may have experienced trauma prior to their care entry, as well the potential trauma of ongoing separation from their birth family. Secure attachments are best formed in stable placements that help young people maintain connection with their family and community, and support their transition into permanency. The possibility of safety risks increases with every move; permanency is delayed when a child experiences multiple placement moves, and their wellbeing is affected in different ways. 

What the team can offer

When an initial referral is made, the team have a discussion with the referrer, followed by a meeting with the wider team around the child, using formulation to explore what is affecting placement stability, develop an initial hypothesis and plan next steps to address the issues identified. The formulation will then be reviewed and evaluated as required.

The team can offer a range of support, depending on the formulated needs. Examples include:

• direct work with carers, birth families and/ or residential staff; if the PSST and team around the child agree that direct work is appropriate, as the PSST is a short-term intervention
• sourcing short breaks/outreach support
• working closely with the wider team around the child, including schools, to support their understanding of trauma and relational approaches

Despite the work of the team, it is recognised that there will always be placements that break down in an unplanned way. For this reason, the PSST has a duty worker system in place to ensure that advice and support can be offered in a timely manner.  

Reasons why a placement might be at risk of breakdown

Common reasons for a placement breakdown include:

• frequent missing episodes from the child
• child behaving in ways that challenge their care giver’s window of tolerance
• child being out of full-time education, which can place additional pressure on care givers
• changes in the capacity of the care giver
• difficulties in the relationship between the care giver and the child’s birth family

The PSST offer a range of support options, including completing safety plans and supporting care givers to feel listened to when a young person is going missing; supporting care givers with behaviour strategies and holding restorative discussions between young people and care givers; and working closely with the Virtual School to support a child to access appropriate education or time-limited outreach support during the school day.

In addition to supporting placements at risk of breakdown, the PSST proactively support children with a plan for reunification, for example, back to Leeds from out of area placements, back to their birth families, or from residential care into foster care. A robust formulation is held to explore the possible behaviours the care giver may experience, supporting them to prepare for this as well as giving a space for them to reflect and plan responses prior to crisis situations. This is currently a small aspect of the work of the PSST that the team are ambitious to grow.

When and how to refer to the Placement Stability and Support Team

An early referral to the team can mean that there are more support options available to be explored. Early warning signs of potential risk of placement breakdown include: care giver fatigue; blocked care; blocked trust; child and care giver unable to be balanced when discussing each other; an increase in behaviours that challenge one another’s window of tolerance; and the child starting to seek connections outside of the home.

If practitioners identify any of these warning signs and are concerned about the stability of a placement, they can contact the PSST using the email address below for a discussion and guidance prior to making a referral, which is done via the child’s Mosaic record. 

When notice has already been given to end a placement

It is more challenging for the PSST to support in the event of an unplanned breakdown, but practitioners can still refer, which should be done as soon as possible for options to be explored. 

For referrals made at this point, it may be that the child and care giver struggle to engage with a discussion about how to maintain the placement as they have already ‘checked out’. However, academic research highlights that positive placement endings with a focus on repair can offer significant benefits to a child/ young person and a care giver, and the PSST can support through taking a mediation role, which can help to limit or manage feelings of shame, guilt and rejection. The team can also explore whether the relationship between the child and care giver can continue in some way post-breakdown, which can be positive for both parties.

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