Issue - meetings

To provide the Committee with an understanding of the basis on which practitioners and manager in Children’s services make decisions about referral, levels and types of assessment and case or service allocation.

In collaboration with children and young people’s partnership agencies the Children and Young People’s service had produced a threshold of need and service document. This set out levels of need and risk which triggered referrals to universal or targeted services. Also it provided a guide to practitioners in all agencies that worked with children to assist in assessing and identifying children’s level of need and to consider which services might be available to meet those needs.

It was noted that each individual child’s situation was unique to them. Also the members noted that children could and did move from one level of support to another. For some children/young people it was clear that they fell on the continuum, whilst for others a practitioner might need to use the threshold guidance which had been produced to determine additional needs and where they fell in the continuum. This process could help to decide if a CAF would be appropriate to help identify need and response. The cooperation and engagement of parents and carers was central to understanding where a child’s needs might lie.

It was noted that most children and young people needs would be met through universal services such as schools, GP surgeries etc as well as support from within the family and from friends, whilst a relatively small number of children and young people at risk of significant harm or significant impairment to health or development required specialist support, usually led by Children’s Social Care.

In between levels 1 and 4 were the vulnerable children/young people who had additional needs and were in need of targeted support.

It was noted that training had been given to all partner agencies, schools and GP’s and posters were on display in key work places within the Authority. Biannual events with schools were planned in order to address any concerns. It was hoped that the training would identify any gaps or overlaps in service provision and support would give a wider picture of the whole process.

Members were informed that the Children’s Service were working on joint protocols with Adult Services. It was acknowledged that some adults with children were vulnerable and needed support; this had to be taken into account and worked with. Also it was noted that the adult threshold for receiving support was high and many adults who did not met the threshold level needed support, especially if they had parenting responsibilities. .

RESOLVED:

That the report be noted.