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Contents

1. When to Appoint
2. Duties of Independent Visitor
3. Role and Function of Independent Visitor
4. Visiting
5. Advising
6. Befriending
7. Meetings With the Local Authority or Other Agencies
8. When a Child Ceases to be Looked After

1. When to Appoint

An Independent Visitor will be appointed for a child whenever this in their best interests. This might include where children and young people are isolated from family and friends or where it is apparent that they would benefit from contact with an adult who can offer them guidance and support.

Where an appointment is considered necessary, the child's Social Worker will identify whether there is a person already known to the child and independent of the local authority who may be suitable.

Independent Visitors must be suitably qualified and have undergone necessary checks with the Criminal Records Bureau, Children's Social Care Services records and the NSPCC, such organisations include Voice for the Child in Care.

The child must be consulted about the appointment and if he or she objects, the appointment should not be made.

2. Duties of Independent Visitor

The independent visitor should undertake regular visits to the child and maintain other contact, by telephone and letter as appropriate.

The main purpose of the visits and contacts will be to befriend the child and give advice and assistance as appropriate.

3. Role and Function of Independent Visitors

The functions of the independent visitor comprise visiting, advising and befriending the child. These are specific duties set out in paragraph 17(2) of Schedule 2 Children Act 1989. It is recognised, that in some instances, independent visitors may have qualities, skills, experience and qualifications, which in other settings entitle them to undertake work in a professional capacity with children. In general, however, the role is envisaged as being undertaken by volunteers from a lay perspective. This section of the guidance discusses further the role of the independent visitor and also a range of specific functions which, depending on the individual child and his circumstances, may have greater or lesser prominence.

How the independent visitor pursues his/her role in terms of a plan and timetable of more specific activities will vary depending on the circumstances. He/she will need to form own judgements about how best to proceed. Taking into account the local authority’s view of the child’s needs, the child’s wishes and the developing relationship with the child, the independent visitor must reach their own conclusions as to how, in this particular situation, their activities might best be focused. Whatever he/she does should be directed at contributing to the welfare of the child, and this includes promoting the child’s developmental, social, emotional, educational, religious and cultural needs. It may also require them to encourage the child to exercise their rights and to participate in decisions which will affect them. It will also include (unless it is felt that there is clear evidence to act differently) supporting the care plan for the child and their Carers, such as residential workers who have day to day care of the child.

The independent visitor’s role and functions can also be described in terms of what they are not intended to do. They are not to be anything other than child-focused, however sympathetic they may be to other points of view. Their functions are not that of a substitute Parent or Carer but they should aim, as far as possible, to complement their activities. In bringing the lay perspective, they must not allow personal prejudices to determine their actions. They are not expected to accept unquestioningly what those responsible for the child tell them is in the child’s interests, but should remain open-minded and even sceptical.

4. Visiting

Face to face contact with the child is an important aspect of the independent visitor’s role. The frequency and length of such visits will depend on the circumstances of each situation and may change in the course of the relationship between the child and independent visitor. A child may have often experienced the disappointment of the cancellation of an arranged visit from a Parent or relative and the independent visitor will need to make arrangements in advance about visiting the child’s Carers as well as with the child him/herself.

As the relationship develops it may well be appropriate for the independent visitor and child to go out somewhere. The type of outing will depend on the child’s interests and the range of facilities in the area. The independent visitor will need to be sensitive to avoid being regarded and treated as the person who simply provides ‘treats’. It is not intended that the independent visitor should provide compensating leisure experiences, which ought more appropriately be the responsibility of the child’s Carers. However, such outings can afford privacy, ease communication and develop the relationship between independent visitor and child through a shared activity. There may be activities, which the Carers cannot provide, perhaps for example connected to the cultural background or religion of the child. The fact of the child being of a different culture or religion from that of the residential Carers or foster Parents may not only influence the selection of an independent visitor but also their choice of the type of activity in which they involve the child. They may be able to promote contacts in the area relevant to the child’s cultural development.

In exceptional circumstances it may be appropriate if the relationship with the child has developed, for the independent visitor to invite the child to their own Home. Again, such a step must be seen within the overall care plans for the child and agreed with the authority and Carers with due sensitivity. This is not an area suited to spontaneous gestures. There are obvious dangers that the child’s hopes for the future may be unrealistically aroused and carefully laid plans distorted. However, there is also a general principle that children in care should experience normal activities and they will know that other children in their class at school, for example, will often visit friends at their Homes.

5. Advising

There will be a range of issues about which an independent visitor might offer the child advice. Some of these may be quite straightforward such as where to find, or who to ask for, particular information. The advising role becomes more complex where it overlaps with counselling and the responsibilities of other professionals involved with the child. It is not intended that the independent visitor should engage the child in intensive counselling. Independent visitors need to recognise that it is not their role to counsel or advise the child in complex situations. They should rather encourage and support the child to seek and accept help from their Social Worker in the first instance.

6. Befriending

Whoever is appointed will need to try to establish with the child a sense of trust in the relationship which must form one of the basic elements in the befriending role. The independent visitor must also be prepared for the process of establishing trust to be a slow one and for there to be set-backs. For some of these children earlier relationships with adults have ended in disappointment and disillusionment. They may be reluctant or find it very difficult to establish rapport with adults and to place any trust in them.

7. Meetings With the Local Authority or Other Agencies

The possible involvement of the independent visitor in meetings or consultation processes arises in some circumstances as a legal requirement and in others is on a discretionary basis.

The independent visitor will have the opportunity to provide contributions to the review of a child’s case either in writing or at meetings where the child’s case is to be discussed and to which they have been invited because they have something relevant to contribute or because the child has requested that the visitor attend with him/her. The independent visitor may wish to put views to the meeting as a friend of the child. The independent visitor will have to take care to distinguish between repeating what the child has asked them to say on their behalf, interpreting such information and offering their own view as to what is best for the child.

The child may wish the independent visitor to speak as a friend on their behalf in order to help resolve a particular issue or difficulty. This may involve the independent visitor’s attendance at a meeting; perhaps a review meeting, or an oral hearing of a complaint being made under the representations procedure. Independent visitors do not constitute the independent visitor to accompany them in the capacity of a friend to an oral hearing convened under the representations procedure.

The Children Act also offers the opportunity for an independent visitor to contribute views outside the formal review arrangements. The child may be involved in family proceedings where the Court has requested a welfare report (Section 7). Another possibility in relation to Court proceedings is that a Children's Guardian has been appointed (Section 41). The views of the independent visitor about the child may well be of relevance to such proceedings and the independent visitor may need to take the initiative in seeking out the relevant person in order to convey their views. He/she will wish to consult with the child before taking such action.

8. When a Child Ceases to be Looked After

The need for an independent visitor to continue their relationship with a young person once he/she ceases to be Looked After by the local authority, where the young person seeks this, should not be overlooked. Such continuing arrangements would be on an informal basis but the local authority should consider whether it would be appropriate to continue to meet the cost of reasonable expenses associated with this continued role until such time as its own after-care responsibilities expire.

End