FI17008

Request

I am writing to request recorded information regarding your local authority’s exploration and use of family and connected persons placements, including placements outside England and outside the UK, for children who are or have been looked after.

This request relates to information held by your authority in accordance with duties under the Children Act 1989 and the Care Planning, Placement and Case Review (England) Regulations 2010. Local authorities are required to safeguard and promote the welfare of looked after children and to prioritise placement with relatives or connected persons where consistent with the child’s welfare.

This request is being made by CFAB (Children and Families Across Borders), a UK-based charity that provides advice and support in cases involving children with family connections overseas.

There is a clear public interest in disclosure. Although certain information is not reported in national returns such as SSDA903, local authorities are required to record details of family members explored as potential carers, including where they reside and the outcomes of assessments. This request seeks aggregated, non-identifiable data derived from those existing records. Disclosure will support transparency, accountability, and informed discussion of cross-border and international family placements.

To support consistency and minimise administrative burden, we have provided a secure response form: [link removed] 

This form is hosted via Microsoft Forms (Microsoft 365), a platform widely used across UK public sector organisations and compliant with standard data security requirements. It is designed to mirror the structure of the request and minimise manual reformatting.

Instructions for completion of the form:
- Please provide your full Local authority name.
- Please provide recorded local authority data for the period 2023–2025 where available.
- Enter “0” where the answer is nil.
- If data cannot be provided, please explain using the question at the end of each section (e.g. data not recorded or unable to retrieve).

Questions in the Microsoft form are laid out below to help you to prepare to fill out the structured form. For ease of response, please use the secure Microsoft form to submit all data. We estimate that completion of the structured form takes approximately 15-20 minutes where data is readily available.

Response

Dover District Council does not hold the information you are seeking. The social care authority within our District is Kent County Council, who should be able to assist you and can be contacted at the following address: freedomofinformation@kent.gov.uk.