Social services Keeping in touch with family and friends

Seeing your family

If you are a child in care, being in touch with your family and friends is called ‘contact’.

When you go to live with a foster family or in a children’s home, it’s important that you still have some contact with your family. Your social worker will make sure this happens.

Your care plan will say what contact you should have, and we’ll look at this again at every review. If the Family Court is involved, it may decide what contact you have.

What you think and feel about seeing your family will be listened to and is important in what’s decided. We’ll also have to think about what’s going on with your family when we talk about who you see, when, where and how often.

If you have brothers or sisters and they’re not at the same placement or not in care, we’ll make sure that you see them regularly.

Sometimes, the Family Court decides that children and young people in care shouldn’t see some members of their family. If this happens to you, your social worker will explain it to you. If there’s someone you don’t want to see, tell your social worker. They need to know how you feel so they can make the right plans for you.

You might meet your family in a few different places. Some people go back to their family home for contact, while others meet at a children’s centre or on an outing. Brothers and sisters sometimes meet at each other’s placements.

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