Service level agreement
Information for agencies referring children to Be My Parent.
Consents and permissions
When completing a child referral, you will be asked if your agency has the proper consents to feature a child on the web and in the newspaper. If you answer 'yes' by ticking the box provided then we take this to mean that you do have either a placement order; freeing order; Section 19 parental agreement and /or court permission to feature a child. The responsibility to ensure that these consents are in place remains with your agency and any breach will need to be addressed by you.
It is even more necessary than with Be My Parent referrals for the newspaper that birth parents and significant members of the birth family know about children being featured, as there is a greater likelihood of family members discovering information about 'their' child on the web.
When you submit your referral make sure you have had this authorised by your line manager; team manager; or the budget holder. This is your responsibility and once we receive your referral, we will assume it has been cleared in your agency for publication.
Responding to enquiries
We receive feedback from families that they often wait a long time before a social worker responds to their enquiry. Please respond to enquirers within seven working days – even if it is with a short standard email acknowledging receipt of their enquiry.
Finance issues
When you submit a referral, please do not send any money or purchase order. We shall invoice you promptly.
Please remember that there are significant discounts for multiple referrals, and if you place a referral with both the newspaper and website. Cancellation fees do apply.
Referral rates
Placement fees are payable for children whose permanent family have been identified through either the paper or web service. Costs and deadlines
Referral information
Please ensure that the information you send is up to date. Any repeat referrals must be no more than a year old and should ideally be re-written just before the referral is featured.
It is very important that your contact details are correct and regularly updated.
Security
Please do not use emails to send confidential information as it is not secure. Sending referrals over the web link, however, is secure.
There is an area of the site where child profiles can only be viewed by enquirers who have been CRB checked. These are particularly sensitive profiles and this level of screening will mean these child profiles will attract less interest. We will contact approving agencies to confirm the enquirers’ approval status.
For more information, see our Privacy policy and privacy and security statement.
Last updated: 02 January 08
