Children in out-of-home care and foster care — branching viva

Viva — Branching structured oral

Stem. A four-year-old boy in statutory foster care is referred for an entry health assessment three days after his third placement in a year. His caseworker attends and expects a full report. The child does not speak during the visit. ^[1]

Branch 1 — Classification and consent authority

Examiner: How do you classify this child's placement and legal status, and what does that mean for who can consent to his care? ^[1]

Model answer. Placement is family-based foster care; legal status is statutory or court-ordered, which means the child-protection authority holds placement decisions and may share or hold parental responsibility. Before any assessment or treatment, I clarify and document who holds parental responsibility — parent, guardian or the state — and, for a young child, there is no mature-minor capacity, so consent rests with whoever holds parental responsibility. The placement type sets the intensity and risk profile; the legal status sets consent authority. ^{[1] [3]}

Examiner follow-up: The caseworker expects a full report. What do you tell the child and the carer? ^[1]

Model answer. I state conditional confidentiality aloud, in language the child can understand: what we discuss stays private unless I am worried he is not safe, someone else is being hurt, or the law requires me to act. I am explicit with the child and carer about what the caseworker will and will not receive, sharing the minimum necessary and lawful, and I tell them before I share anything that crosses a threshold. ^[1]