Regulation 24 kinship placements and phones
A guide for family and friends carers in England whose council has placed a child with them under Regulation 24: what temporary approval means, who decides about the child’s phone, and how to set it up safely from day one.
By Voop. Last updated 7 November 2026.
In this guide
What a Regulation 24 placement is
Regulation 24 of the Care Planning, Placement and Case Review (England) Regulations 2010 lets a council place a child in its care with a relative, friend or other connected person straight away, before that person has been fully assessed as a foster carer.
You’re approved as a kinship foster carer temporarily, for up to 16 weeks.
Before the child moves in, the council must check you, your home and the other adults living there. Councils often call this a viability assessment.
The full fostering assessment has to be arranged straight away and finish before the temporary approval ends.
If it won’t, Regulation 25 lets the council extend the approval once, by up to 8 weeks.
Children’s homes have a different Regulation 24, about monitoring. For that one, read Regulation 24 in children’s homes.
Who decides about the child’s phone
While the child lives with you, they’re a looked-after child and you’re their foster carer, so the same rules apply as in any foster placement.
Whoever has parental responsibility keeps it, usually the child’s parents. If there’s a care order, the council shares it.
The placement plan sets out which day-to-day decisions you can make, known as delegated authority. Use of social media is one of the things it must cover.
If the plan doesn’t mention phones, apps or social media, ask the child’s social worker to add them.
Until it does, agree anything big with the social worker first, like taking the phone away or blocking a family member.
Phones, privacy and the law in care explains these terms in more detail.
Family contact and the phone
In a kinship placement, many of the people the child calls are your own family. That’s usually a good thing, and the phone keeps them connected.
Contact with some people may be limited by the care plan or a court order. A phone can get round that quietly, through calls, messages or a new social media account.
Ask the social worker what contact is agreed, with whom, and how.
Agree what to do if someone the child shouldn’t be in touch with gets in touch.
If a number needs blocking, agree it with the social worker and record why.
Setting up the phone from day one
A Regulation 24 placement can start within hours. You don’t need everything sorted to make the phone safe.
Agree the basics with the child: what the phone is for, which protections are on, and when it winds down at night.
Start with what they need now. With Voop, protections range from a phone like any other to calls and texts only, and you can change them as things settle.
Agree with the social worker what happens if the child goes missing, and record it.
Keep a note of what you change and why. Voop records every change with a reason, which helps at reviews.
Children in care should agree their own phone protections explains why agreeing protections with the child matters.
Voop for kinship carers
Voop runs on the child’s own Android phone. Protections scale with them, they can see what’s on, and Voop never reads their messages. If they go missing, one tap alerts everyone linked to them and turns on temporary location sharing.
Getting Voop as a kinship carer
Kinship carers can buy Voop directly. In a Regulation 24 placement, agree it with the child’s social worker first, because decisions about the phone belong in the placement plan.
Some foster carers have recharged the cost to the child’s local authority. It’s worth asking, though we can’t guarantee it.
You can add the child’s social worker and anyone else who cares for them, each with their own role, so everyone works from the same settings.
If you later become the child’s special guardian, or have a child arrangements order, who decides about the phone changes. The kinship question on Parental controls for foster care explains how.
Sources
This guide explains the law in England as it stood on 7 November 2026. It’s general information, not legal advice. For decisions about a particular child, talk to their social worker or your own legal adviser.
Show all 6 sources
Questions carers ask
How long does Regulation 24 approval last?
Up to 16 weeks. If the full fostering assessment won’t be finished by then, the council can extend the approval once, by up to 8 weeks, under Regulation 25. A senior officer at the council has to approve the extension.
Can I set up parental controls for a child placed with me under Regulation 24?
Yes, if the placement plan gives you decisions about their phone. Check it, and agree the settings with the child’s social worker before you set them up. If phones aren’t covered, ask for them to be added.
What if a parent contacts the child when they shouldn’t?
Tell the child’s social worker, and agree together what to do. If you block a number, record why. With Voop, every block needs a written reason that the rest of the team can see. Emergency numbers always work.
Is this the same as Regulation 24 in children’s homes?
No. That’s Regulation 24 of the Children’s Homes (England) Regulations 2015, which covers monitoring in children’s homes. This guide is about Regulation 24 of the Care Planning, Placement and Case Review (England) Regulations 2010.
Can kinship carers get Voop?
Yes. Kinship carers can buy Voop directly from Voop. In a Regulation 24 placement, agree it with the child’s social worker first, because decisions about the phone belong in the placement plan.
How Voop helps
Voop is therapeutic digital safeguarding for children in care. It runs on the child’s own Android phone.
Protections scale with the child, from a phone like any other to calls and texts only.
The child agrees to them first and can see what’s on, on their own phone.
If the child goes missing, one tap turns on temporary location sharing and alerts everyone linked to them.
Every change is recorded with a reason, so everyone linked to the child can see what was agreed.
