Commentary on Sections Part 6 - Looked after and Accommodated Children Section 95 - Promotion and maintenance of contact between child and family
276.Section 95 requires a local authority to promote contact between a child whom it looks after and the child’s parents, others with parental responsibility for the child, the child’s relatives, friends and anyone else connected to the child, provided this is consistent with the child’s well-being and it is reasonably practicable to do so. The authority must also ensure the child’s parents and others with parental responsibility for the child are kept informed of where the child is accommodated. Similarly, those persons must ensure they keep the local authority informed of any changes to their address.
277.Subsection (6) makes it an offence for a parent or other person with parental responsibility for a looked after child to fail to keep the local authority informed of his or her address.
278.Section 95 further requires a local authority which is taking over the responsibility for providing accommodation to a child from another local authority, to inform the child’s parents and anyone else who has parental responsibility for the child. A local authority however is not required to do so if that would prejudice the child’s well-being unless that child is under 16 years of age and accommodated under voluntary arrangements made by virtue of section 76.