1. Home
  2. Children and families
  3. Children's social care
  4. Children in care and care leavers
  5. Going into care
  6. Quality Assurance Reviewing Officer

Quality Assurance Reviewing Officer (QARO)

Your Quality Assurance Reviewing Officer is known as a QARO in Dorset – we call them a QARO because it’s quicker to say.

Your QARO does the role of your Independent Reviewing Officer (IRO). This is a legal requirement to independently review the plans for your care, and challenge Dorset Council if needed.

They will:

  • meet with you and get to know you
  • arrange and lead your child in care reviews
  • get your views
  • get updates from others
  • make recommendations for what should happen next.
They can also use their powers to challenge Dorset Council if things are not happening in your best interest. This could be anything that you need to thrive, or simply making sure your voice is heard.

They are independent from everyone else and that means they can advocate for what is right for you regardless of money, rules or time.

You can contact your QARO at any time and talk to them about what’s happening in your life. They will get the plans for your care right for you.

You can ask your QARO to challenge things on your behalf, especially if you feel you are not being listened to. You can ask them to complete an ‘escalation’ which is a formal written request from the QARO to the Social Work team to do or change something.

Find out more about this role in the young people's guide to the IRO handbook.