Making it Right

“Making it right is about what happens when you break the rules of where you are living
If you live in a Children’shome a lot of the rules will be written down. There may be different behaviour managements for different rules that are broken. If you are living with a foster family they will explain to you what they will do if you break some of the rules.

To keep children and young people in care safe, The Children Act says that there are some things that carers cannot use as a sanction or punishment. These are:

• You should never be smacked or hit by your carers
• You should not be denied food or drink
• Visits to your friends or family or other visitors should never be stopped (although special outings may be). Phone calls and letters between you and your friends should also not be stopped purely as a sanction (there may be times when either temporarily or permanently some contact with friends or family is changed, but this will be for other reasons and not because you are being “punished”)
• You should not be made to wear any clothes that make you stand out as being “punished”
• You should never be given any medical treatment, examination or medication as a punishment.
• You should not be locked in a room or anywhere else.
• You should not be deliberately stopped from sleeping.
• Your pocket money should not be stopped as a punishment, although some of it can be taken to pay for any damages.

If any of these things happen to you as punishments or sanctions you must tell your social worker. Some of these things may happen for other reasons, maybe to do with keeping you safe or because it is an essential part of your routine or care. For example, your carers will want you to get up to go to school or attend appointments that have been arranged for you, this would not be seen as “deliberately depriving” you of sleep, if you chose to be late getting to bed you will need to accept that was your choice.

Sometimes you may have to spend your pocket money in the presence of your carer if they have reason to believe that otherwise you might buy dangerous or harmful things with the money, this is not the same as “stopping” your pocket money.

There are things that your carers are allowed to do if you break their rules:

• You may have to pay to repair or replace anything that you have deliberately damaged.
• You may be stopped from going on some outings, trips or doing some activities for a while.
• You may have to do extra household chores, like more than your usual share of washing up!
• You may be kept away from other young people in the Children’s Home or foster family, but only for a short while, in order for you to calm down.