Keeping Yourself Safe – All About Me Plan
One of the most important things you can do as a caregiver to keep yourself safe is to have an updated ‘All About Me Plan’ filled out for the children in your care.
The All About Me Plan will tell you all about te tamaiti in care including what they like and don’t like, what their routines are, about their family, why they came into care and who they can or can’t have access to. The ‘All About Me Plan’ is generated from the Oranga Tamariki database and includes three parts. All three parts should be completed to ensure all information about the child is documented.
All of the parts are important for welcoming a child into your family, but the last two are particularly important to help keep you, your whānau, and the tamariki safe. By understanding why the child came into care and who they can/cannot have contact with, will inform you what precautions you and your whānau should do to keep safe, what situations you should avoid, and will also guide your behaviour around the child.
If you provide emergency or transitional care, there may not be time for the Social Worker to complete the All About Me Plan. In these circumstances, we recommend you ask the full name of the child and their date of birth, in case of a medical emergency. You can also ask “what happened to the child and why have they come into care”. Based on their answers, you will be able to put safety measures in place.
The All About Me Plan is a living document that should be kept up to date by Oranga Tamariki and any changes should be communicated with you regularly. The first All About Me plan must be completed within six weeks of tamariki and rangatahi entering care. The entire plan must be reviewed and reassessed by the child’s Social Worker, at a minimum of every six months. For more details, please see Oranga Tamariki Practice Centre – All About Me plan | Practice Centre | Oranga Tamariki
If you have not received an All About Me Plan, please contact your social worker in the first instance. If you are having trouble obtaining the information you need, please contact your Caring Families Aotearoa Regional Coordinator or call our National Office on 0800 693 323.