Citation, commencement, interpretation and extent

1.-(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Children's Homes Amendment Regulations 2000 and shall come into force on 1st January 2001.

(2) In these Regulations, "the Act" means the Children Act 1989.

(3) These Regulations extend to England only.

Amendment of the Children's Homes Regulations 1991

2.-(1) The Children's Homes Regulations 1991(2) shall be amended by inserting after regulation 3A, the following regulation-

"Exemption from registration as a children's home

3B.-(1) Subject to section 63(12) and Schedule 7 to the Act (Foster parents: limits on numbers of foster children), any home in which a child is cared for and accommodated by a person who-

(a)is a local authority foster parent in relation to the child; or

(b)is a foster parent with whom the child has been placed by a voluntary organisation; or

(c)fosters the child privately,

is so far as the provision of care and accommodation for that child is concerned, exempt from the definition of "a children's home" in section 63(3) of the Act."

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations amend the Children's Homes Regulations 1991 in relation to England only, consequent on the commencement of section 40 of the Care Standards Act 2000 (2000 c. 14) also on 1st January 2001. Section 40 amends section 63(3)(a) of the Children Act 1989 so as to require privately operated children's homes which accommodate and care for less than four children to be registered with the local authority in the same way as larger children's homes. The effect of these Regulations is, subject to existing restrictions on fostering more than three children, to exempt homes in which children are accommodated as foster children from the requirement to register as a children's home.