Agenda item

To inform the committee about the implementation of the Common Assessment Framework in Haringey.

(Report from the Chair of the CAF Panel – Agenda item 8 )

At the last meeting of the committee in June the panel had requested a report on the role of CAF to gain a wider understanding of how this process works. The panel noted that the common assessment framework (CAF) is a standardised approach to conducting an assessment of a child’s additional needs. It can be used by practitioners across children’s services in England and is a tool for identifying a child’s needs and what is working well in their life, then putting in place a plan to make sure they get the support that they require. The process followed by officers when receiving a referral was set out in the report. It begins with contacting the CAF team in order to check that a CAF already exists or if the child is in contact with social workers. There will follow a meeting with involved practitioners, parent, and child to complete a CAF form. The committee were advised that the CAF is a voluntary process and has to be agreed with by the parent/carer before submission to the CAF panel. The advantage of the CAF is that it can be undertaken by a number of people and  therefore it can be completed by the professional who knows the child well. It was important to note that the CAF is resource based and will mean directing eligible children to the available resources. To further aid committee members understanding of how a child’s need is assessed it was important for members to have information on the thresholds of need used by Children and Young Peoples’ service with Haringey Children and young people’s partnership agencies. This is a document that sets out agreements on levels of need and risk which will trigger referrals to universal or targeted services. It provides a guide to practitioners in all agencies that work with children to assist in assessing and identifying children’s level of need and think about which services might be available to meet those needs. The committee agreed that it would be useful to receive this document to further aid their understanding about how children are located to the CAF process or child protection service.

The committee were informed about how the CAF panel works. This meeting was described as a live process as it involves multi agencies coming together and considering the CAF applications together on the computer database. This allows a good discussion on the received applications with information sharing about the families which maybe in contact with more than one agency. The meeting also allows agencies to understand if there are any gaps in service provision to the families. The committee shared their own experiences about  the CAF process and commented on:

• The length of time needed to complete the CAF form as it   impacts on the speed in which a child can access a service. There is a hidden cost element as involves time given to information gathering and completion of the form.

• Duplication of effort as there is sometimes further form filling required when the CAF is passed to an agency.

• Level of attention given to CAF’s at the panel meetings especially if there are a large number received.

• The number of CAF’s completed by schools and whether this varies with similar type schools.

• The support for agencies available and increasing awareness about what the CAF involves.

We noted, in response to these concerns, that there were CAF training modules which would be scheduled for agencies and schools to attend. The current focus was processing the large number of CAFs received during the summer period. Children services agreed to check through the CAF applications received from schools to understand if there were significant variations in the numbers received from similar type schools. The committee were shown a CAF form and also advised that anonymised initial and core assessment forms, used for training purposes, were available to help the committee with their understanding on the differences between the child protection and CAF process.

RESOLVED

1. That the report be noted.
2. That the committee receive the thresholds of need document.
3. That the committee receive a copy of the CAF form tabled by the independent member.
4. That the Children’s service investigate the number of CAF forms received from schools and check if there is a variation in the number received from schools in the same area.
5. That the committee consider at their next meeting initial and core assessments which have been used previously for training purposes.