Foster carers and conflict training
Since the supreme court judgement on Armes v Nottinghamshire County Council, it is now clear that local authorities have vicarious liability for the actions of foster parents.
Despite persistently poor advice from many supervising social workers on this point, foster carers ARE given powers to use force under law and those who look after children with a history or risk of violent behaviour are sometimes put in positions of grave risk which necessitate a use of force to keep themselves or others safe.
However, without training in the legal principles of reasonable force, duty of care/decision-making in managing violent incidents and particularly the avoidance of high-risk restraint interventions (what NOT to do if physically intervening with a person), we consider that many local authorities are running services where their liability for the unknowing actions of foster carers who are working with violent children is significant.
Watch the Supreme Court judgement on vicarious liability of local authorities for the actions of foster carers here: supremecourt.uk – UKSC 2016/0004.
To read a press summary of the judgement – Armes (Appellant) v Nottinghamshire County Council (Respondent) [2017] UKSC 60, on appeal from [2015] EWCA Civ 1139: press summary (PDF).
Dynamis training for foster carers in conflict and interventions: managing violent behaviour for foster carers and parents.
