Care and Support teams for looked after children
The Care and Support teams look after some of the most vulnerable children and young people.
The teams:
- work together with families and carers to promote and safeguard their health and welfare
- give advice and support around healthy living
- encourage good school or college attendance
- encourage children and young people to keep in contact with parents and wider family where appropriate
Types of living arrangements
Foster care
Where possible, children and young people in care will live with foster carers. The team will try to match children and young people with carers whose skills and location meet their needs. This helps to them to stay in contact with their support networks.
Residential homes
Some children and young people live in residential homes. This is where children and young people are supported by their key workers to achieve their best outcomes.
Supported housing
Some older young people live in supported housing if this is part of their plan and they are ready to live more independently.
Education options for children in care
The Virtual School
The Dorset Virtual School supports children in care as though they were on a roll at a single school. They work to secure the best educational outcomes for children in care in schools and other settings.
See the Virtual School handbook to see how we're working with educational establishments in the Virtual School.
Who uses the Dorset Virtual School?
The Dorset Virtual School works in partnership with:
- social workers
- foster carers
- residential home workers
- parents of adopted young people
- guardians of young people on a special guardianship order (SGO)
Through these partnerships we, Dorset Virtual School, advise and support looked after children and young people and their carers so that they're ready for learning and can make good educational progress.
National curriculum
At key stages 1, 2 and 3 the national curriculum has 8 levels. These are to measure your child's progress compared to pupils of the same age across the country.
School information
See our:
- schools and learning pages for general information
- youth link education and training pages for education information from 16 years old
Values and policies for children in care and care leavers
We have values and policies in place to make sure children get the right care:
- Our Pledge to children in care is our promise to children and young people in care and care leavers
- World at their Feet is a framework and strategy for delivering effective services for children and young people in our care and care leavers
- e-cigarettes and their impact is information on e-cigarettes and their potential impact on children in care
More information for young people
See our youth link webpages for general information for young people.