Our approach to assessments of disabled children and their families
We understand that it is important for our families to know what social care assessments are available to them, and how we will consider requests for social care assessments at Devon County Council. Our approach to assessments and planning with disabled children, young people and their families forms part of our graduated response. Although all disabled children are defined under the Children Act 1989 as being ‘Children in Need’ and therefore entitled to an assessment by the Council and/or its partners, there are no statutory duties as to the form of the assessment, or who should carry it out.
This information is provided to assist families and professionals in understanding the graduated response to the assessment of disabled children and their families by Devon County Council.
Context
Where requested, a disabled child or young person is always entitled to an assessment of their needs unless the parent, carer, or young person does not want one. We will carefully consider the needs and impact of the child or young person’s disability on their family to determine the right pathway for assessment. Where we identify imminent risks to the safeguarding of a child or young person, their family stability, or a possible need to provide full-time care and support as a corporate parent, an assessment will always be undertaken by a social worker.
We recognise that every disabled child or young person and their family is different. Assessments of disabled children and their family’s needs (in situations where there is no cogent evidence of neglect or abuse) require social care professionals to think and act differently compared to when they are undertaking an assessment in the context of safeguarding or where there is an immediate and imminent risk.
We want to support families at the right level and right time to promote their outcomes and protect their rights, building on their relationships and the understanding of those who know them best. We know that many disabled children and their families find assessments difficult, and it is important to be sensitive and consider parent carer needs.
We will begin assessments from the standpoint that parent carers are best placed to judge the well-being of their disabled child as a result of their daily experience, while remaining curious.
We know that it is important that the assessor has the necessary skills, knowledge, and competence to carry out needs assessments to consider the social causes and social impacts of disability and the nature of impairments or conditions which are appropriate to the assessment. Where an assessor does not have the necessary understanding or experience of assessing the needs that arise from a particular condition, they must consult with someone who does. This may be through a connected person who has this understanding, a specialist, or through the Disabled Children’s Teams, which can be accessed as part of early help triage or the consultation and assessment team.
We recognise that wherever possible, assessments of disabled children, young people, and their families should be completed in a joined-up way. The right time for assessment may vary from family to family. However, where it is possible, assessments should draw together existing assessments, plans, and reports and either be linked or conducted as part of existing arrangements for review and planning for their family. Assessments should always include a Parent Carer Needs Assessment where this is consented to.
Types of assessment
- Early help – Level 2
Early help is not a single service but a network of multi-agency services and professionals who work separately and together to provide support and scaffolding when children and their families need it. We know that children with special educational needs and disabilities may need additional support to help them thrive and achieve. The partnership across Devon aims to ensure that help is provided early, in the right place, and at the right time.
Early intervention means identifying and providing effective early support to children and young people who are at risk of poor outcomes. Effective early intervention works to prevent problems from occurring or to tackle them head-on before they get worse. It also helps to foster a whole set of personal strengths and skills that prepare a child for adult life. Agencies delivering Level 2 early help aim to resolve emerging difficulties and develop strategies in partnership with children, young people, and families to prevent difficulties from resurfacing, progressing, or becoming entrenched.
An early help assessment can be initiated by any practitioner who has attended the training. This will enable the needs of the child or young person and their family to be identified and the best services to be coordinated to meet their needs. The lead practitioner will organise a Team Around the Family (TAF) meeting with the parent(s), young people, and relevant services to coordinate the Plan.
Children in need may be assessed through an early help assessment or through other assessments in relation to the care they are receiving, their special educational needs, disabilities, or as a carer, because they have committed a crime, for children and young people whose parents are in prison, and for asylum-seeking young people. Where a child or young person or their family has very complex needs detailed in the Indicators of need guidance on the Devon Safeguarding Children Partnership or where the early help plan has not resulted in the desired improvement outcomes for the child or young person, an assessment by the Council may be appropriate. Professionals can consult with a children’s social worker in the Council if they are unsure whether a Social Work Assessment is necessary.
When this might be the right assessment
Children within the early help level of need are likely to have additional support needs that require a coordinated assessment and plan of support, for example, due to needs arising from neurological diversity, speech and language, occupational therapy, parenting programmes, child and adolescent mental health services, or behaviour/communication support and the impact on parent carers and siblings’ personal and social lives.
Children within the early help level of need may be vulnerable and showing early signs of abuse and/or neglect; their needs are not clear, not known, or not being met. These children may be subject to adult-focused caregiving and require, alongside Universal Services, two or more agencies to meet their needs. More information can be found here: Devon Safeguarding Children Partnership – Indicators of need.
A multi-agency early help assessment undertaken by a lead professional brings a plan of support together to meet the identified needs relating to:
- Physical and mental health and emotional well-being
- Protection from harm and neglect
- Education, training, and recreation
- The contribution made by them to society
- Social and economic well-being
Early help assessments and plans will have regard to the importance of parents/carers’ needs in improving the well-being of children and young people in Devon, with lead professionals being able to access additional support and consultation through early help triage. Practitioners should consider how the needs of the child could otherwise be met, for example, through provision by universal services that the family already engages with.
Where the lead practitioner is unsure whether targeted early help services or a social work assessment provided by Devon County Council is necessary, as identified through the early help assessment and plan, the lead practitioner can consult with Devon County Council’s Front Door or Disabled Children’s teams through their consultation line or as part of the integrated pathway approach to early help triage. This enables practitioners to consider if it is necessary to provide services or support under the Children Act 1989 or Section 2 of the Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Act 1970.
Pathway to request an assessment
There is no requirement to contact the Front Door to access early help support. Early help support can be accessed via locality teams and directly by parents and young people. Early help is a voluntary approach, requiring the family’s consent to receive support and services offered. If a family does not consent to an early help assessment, practitioners will seek to understand why this is the case, so that they can provide reassurance to the family about their concerns. They should ensure the family has understood the consensual nature of support and the range of services available to meet their needs. A separate Parent Carer Needs Assessment can be requested directly.
Legal framework
Early help assessments, and the type and level of early help and targeted early help services, are provided under sections 10 and 11 of the Children Act 2004.
- Targeted early help – Level 3
Targeted early help is support for children of all ages that improves a family’s resilience and outcomes, or reduces the chance of a problem getting worse. It is not an individual service, but a system of support delivered by Devon County Council and our partners working together and taking collective responsibility to provide the right provision in our area to children, young people, and their families, including where there is a disability.
Targeted early help services are coordinated by Devon County Council and/or our partners to address specific concerns within a family. Examples of these include direct parenting support, mental health support, youth services, youth offending teams, and housing and employment services. These services work alongside the lead practitioner to add expertise and value to a child, young person, or family’s plan where needs have been identified that cannot be met by Level 2 early help services. These services are generally task-focused and time-bound, aimed at achieving specific identified outcomes that will improve the well-being and welfare of the child or young person and their family.
When this might be the right assessment
Targeted early help may be appropriate for children, young people, and families who have several or significant needs, or whose circumstances might make them more vulnerable, including where there are signs of abuse and/or neglect that are not understood or not being met. These children may be subject to adult-focused caregiving or require specialist skills and knowledge to meet the identified needs.
This may include disabled children requiring services to prevent further impairment of health or development and/or alleviate stress in the family, which may impact their caregiving. Children with neurological diversity, Autistic Spectrum Disorder, and/or obsessive behaviours, or those who display complex behavioural or communication needs, families needing specific and focused intervention to support in developing or adapting their parenting, and parent carers’ needs which improve the well-being of the child or young person may be supported at either an early help or targeted help level, where their needs are unable to be met at Level 2, relating to:
- Physical and mental health and emotional well-being
- Protection from harm and neglect
- Education, training, and recreation
- The contribution made by them to society
- Social and economic well-being
Children and young people with general developmental delay, hyperactivity, limited sleep patterns, and mobility and sight and hearing needs, which can be met by the network of targeted early help services provided as part of the graduated response by education, health, and care, may have their needs met at either Level 2 or 3.
A request made to the Council may be directed at a specific service or provision. We will carefully consider each request for targeted early help services made to Devon County Council, as one of the early help partners, to recommend the right pathway for assessment. This may mean that although a request is made for a particular service or support, we believe that an alternative service provided by the Council or its partners is better placed to undertake the assessment or provide the necessary support.
Targeted early help is a voluntary approach, requiring the family’s consent to receive support and services offered where this is considered necessary to meet an assessed unmet need. It usually follows assessment and planning provided by the lead practitioner at the early help level, where additional unmet social care needs will have been identified.
Where the lead practitioner is unsure whether targeted early help services or a social work assessment provided by Devon County Council is necessary, as identified through the early help assessment and plan, the lead practitioner can consult with Devon County Council’s:
- Front Door
- Disabled children’s teams through their consultation line or as part of the integrated pathway approach to early help triage.
In partnership with the early help lead practitioner and targeted early help, additional support may be considered where support has been provided and there remain outstanding needs as a result of the child or young person’s disability and the impact on the parent carers’ capacity to continue to meet their needs without a break. This can be considered through early help ‘triage’. We will consider your needs in partnership with our community early help network to determine if additional targeted early help planning is required and the social care outcomes necessary to achieve for your family. This is provided in conjunction with early help and targeted early help as a time-bound offer while other services and support are accessed to meet the identified social care needs.
This enables practitioners to consider if it is necessary to provide services or support under the Children Act 1989 or Section 2 of the Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Act 1970.
Pathway to request an assessment
Requests for support can be made through Children’s Services Front Door by the lead practitioner or by parent carers. It is important to remember that the nature, type, and services provided will be founded on the understanding derived from the assessment. All services are provided in partnership with education, health, and care. Therefore, when considering assessments, we will carefully consider what is accessible or provided by the Council and its partners.
Legal framework
Early help assessments, and the type and level of early help and targeted early help services, are provided under sections 10 and 11 of the Children Act 2004.
- Disabled children’s targeted support – Level 3.5
Devon’s Children’s Services benefit from having a specialist service that provides a range of support and services to disabled children, young people, and their families across Devon. This is an element of Children’s Services’ graduated response and builds on assessment and planning undertaken by those who know the family best through an early help assessment and plan where there are identified and unmet social care needs.
Early help assessment and planning may identify early help targeted support from Level 3 services such as:
- Family hubs
- Targeted early help service
- Speech and language
- Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services
- Under 5’s Pathway
- Early Years Inclusion Practitioner Team
- Learning Disability Service
- Central Government Targeted Provision
- Re/Habilitation of Visually Impaired Children (ROVIC Service)
To support our decision-making, our Integrated Front Door uses a pathway evaluation tool, considering the support provided through existing support structures or plans which the Council or our partners can provide. This does not impact the right for an assessment but helps us provide a fair and consistent approach to determining the right pathway for assessment.
Our targeted support for disabled children is provided in addition to, and in partnership with, early help and/or targeted early help. This includes several services that are accessible without the need to request an assessment and can be accessed as detailed previously. The type of support families receive depends on the individual needs of the child and family, in addition to early help assessment and planning.
Our targeted support teams undertake targeted support early help assessments with children, young people, and families where we consider, based on our pathway evaluation, that we are the right service for them.
Targeted support may be appropriate where a disabled child:
- Requires intensive help and support to meet their needs – the majority of children with complex needs will already have been receiving support through early help or have been assessed by a social worker
- Has a clinical diagnosis with complex needs that cannot be met by the range of universal and targeted early help services available
- Requires significant night-time supervision
- Has an autistic spectrum condition with severe learning disabilities or behaviour that is very challenging and associated with other impairments, for example, global development delay or health conditions
- Displays behaviour that is challenging to manage and/or self-harm linked to a chronic and enduring disability
- Has complex health conditions which are likely to be life-limiting
- Has sensory impairments which cannot be reasonably met through early help to targeted early help services impacting family stability
- Requires the provision of targeted support for parent carers to meet the needs of their child or young person and promote their safety and family stability which might be at risk
When we look at what support your child needs through the assessment, we also consider the needs of the rest of your family. For targeted support, these needs might include:
- Sibling needs – your disabled child’s needs are impacting their siblings’ opportunities
- Parent or carer needs – your disabled child’s needs are impacting your well-being and personal life
- Parenting – you are able to meet your child’s needs but may benefit from specific and time-limited advice, information, or support
Where we are the right service to undertake the assessment, in addition to Early Help Assessment and Planning, we will consider the type of assessment that is right for the family. This may be through a:
- Targeted assessment – This is a rapid assessment based on the early help assessment and plan to identify if further support is necessary. These light-touch assessments help us consider what, if any, support is necessary from the disabled children’s team to meet identified unmet social care needs. We use this approach to light-touch assessments for reviews where our focus is ensuring the planning continues to be appropriate.
- Targeted support assessment – This is a more detailed assessment often necessary at key points in children and young people’s lives. We often undertake this as the first assessment where there are areas of complexity or issues not explored sufficiently within the early help assessment and plan.
- Review assessment – This is generally the type of assessment we use when reviewing the existing assessment and plan. We work with families to build on our existing assessment and planning to identify eligible unmet social care needs and the social care outcomes.
If we identify through our assessment that the child or family have additional and unmet social care needs, we will consider how we can meet the identified outcomes, including:
- Specific needs, outcomes, and actions
- Referrals to other services and support
- Direct work or intervention through our targeted early help partners
- Additional targeted early help support or targeted help provided by our Disabled Children’s teams
Where we have assessed that it is necessary to provide short breaks, we will talk to your child and family to consider how best to access that support. This will always be provided as part of a wider early help plan and should not be provided in isolation.
When this might be the right assessment
Disabled children’s targeted support may be appropriate where a child or young person is normally resident in Devon (not placed) between 0 and 17 years of age. Children and young people will have been assessed (or currently be under assessment) as having a disability that has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on their ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities resulting in additional needs and where suitable provision cannot be accessed within their community, through natural support networks, community-based services, early help, and/or targeted early help.
A disability substantially affecting a child or young person will include one or more of the following:
- A hearing impairment
- A visual impairment
- A learning disability
- A physical disability
- A chronic or life-limiting physical illness
- A significant communication disorder (including autism, which substantially and adversely affects their ability to take part in normal day-to-day activities)
Additional needs are those considered to be above the level of support accessible through:
- Parental responsibility and family resources, networks, and targeted government support
- Advice and support provided by Devon County Council or through the range of services and support accessible as part of Devon’s graduated response including education, health and care plans
- Accessible services, clubs, and groups within the community which may be commissioned or grant-funded by Devon County Council
- Early help support with or without additional targeted services
Social care plans are provided in partnership with education and health services in Devon. The assessment will consider if the child or young person is likely to require individualized support due to the nature and impact of their needs. Without such support, which must be outside the scope of what can be provided under targeted early help support, the welfare, development, and safety of the child or young person would be significantly impacted.
Pathway to request an assessment
Requests for support can be made through Children’s Services Front Door by the lead practitioner or by parent carers. We will consider the information provided as part of the request to recommend the proposed pathway for assessment. All assessments are voluntary and therefore consent must be provided by families to access assessments and plans focused on meeting identified and unmet eligible social care needs. These plans are provided in partnership with education, health, and care. Therefore, when considering assessments, we will carefully consider what is accessible or provided by the Council and its partners.
Where plans are provided, it is important to note that these are based on the assessments undertaken to consider the specific social care needs arising as a result of a child or young person’s disability or disabilities and the impact on their family. Where consent is no longer provided to undertake further review assessments, the Council has no option but to consider the necessity to provide services based on the information accessible to them at the time of the review assessment.
Legal framework
Early help assessments, and the type and level of early help and targeted early help services, are provided under the Children Act 2004. However, planning may be provided under the Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Act 1970 and/or section 17 of the Children Act 1989.
- Statutory Social Care – Level 4
Our Statutory Social Care Team undertakes assessments under the Children Act 1989. The nature and approach to each assessment are different and based on the specific circumstances of the child or young person and their family. Each child or young person will have a lead practitioner role, which can be held by a range of people, including social workers. The lead practitioner will always be a social worker for child protection enquiries and where consideration needs to be given to the Council providing care as a corporate parent (in circumstances where a child or young person’s parents cannot continue to safely meet their needs).
The lead practitioner is identified by a qualified social worker and will coordinate assessment and planning for the child or young person and family. When undertaking an assessment of a disabled child, practitioners should recognize the additional pressures on the family and the distinct challenges they may have had to negotiate as a result of their child’s disability.
The assessment process will focus on the needs of the child and family, be strengths-based, and gather information to inform decisions on the help needed to:
- Ensure the child achieves the best possible outcomes
- Enable the child’s family to continue in their caring role where that is right for the child
- Safeguard children in cases where there is abuse, neglect, and exploitation
- Ensure that appropriate practical support is in place to enable disabled children and their families to thrive
We will consider whether it is necessary to provide support to the child under section 2 of the Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Act 1970 and offer to undertake a Parent Carer Needs Assessment under section 17ZD of the Children Act 1989. In some circumstances, we may need to undertake an assessment of a parent’s ability to provide, or to continue to provide, care for the child, under section 1 of the Carers (Recognition and Services) Act 1995. Where there are siblings in the same home and we consider that a young carer may have support needs, we may identify that an assessment under section 17ZA of the Children Act is necessary to establish how best to support the young carer and their family and seek consent in line with The Young Carers (Needs Assessment) Regulations.
When this might be the right assessment
We have statutory duties to support certain groups of children in our area, particularly disabled children, those who are unlikely to reach or maintain a satisfactory level of health or development, or whose health or development will be significantly impaired without the provision of services. Where there is reasonable cause to suspect a child is suffering or likely to suffer significant harm, we must make enquiries and decide if any action must be taken under section 47 of the Children Act 1989 (Child protection enquiries).
While the duty to deliver support and services to Children in Need lies with the Council, other safeguarding partners play a critical role in the delivery of services for children and their families as set out by Devon Safeguarding Children’s Board. This board sets out the strategic direction, vision, and culture of the local multi-agency safeguarding arrangements, including agreeing and reviewing shared priorities and the resources required to deliver services effectively.
Anyone who has concerns about a child’s welfare should consider whether a referral needs to be made to us and should do so immediately if there is a concern that the child is suffering significant harm or is likely to do so. Where a child is admitted to a mental health facility, practitioners should make a referral to us.
When practitioners or parent carers refer a child, they should include any information they have on the child’s developmental needs, the capacity of the child’s parents, carers, or family network to meet those needs, and any external factors that may be undermining their capacity to parent. This information may be included in any assessment, including an early help assessment, which may have been carried out prior to the referral. An early help assessment is not a prerequisite for a referral, but where one has been undertaken, it should be used to support the referral. Details of where we will consider that a statutory social care assessment is necessary can be found here: Devon Safeguarding Children Partnership – Indicators of need.
Where we consider, based on the information provided, that the needs identified can be met through early help or targeted services, and the indicators of need framework does not identify a need for the council to provide a statutory social care assessment, we will identify the right pathway for assessment and planning. However, there continue to be ongoing arrangements enabling lead practitioners to consult with our Front Door if they believe additional assessment by the Council is necessary.
Pathway to request an assessment
Requests are made through Children’s Services Front Door.
Legal framework
Our work with disabled children is guided by a range of legislation. The foundations of disabled children’s social care law are found in section 2 of the Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Act 1970 and section 17 of the Children Act 1989. Social Work assessments are undertaken in compliance with Working Together to Safeguard Children although there are some instances where there maybe specific needs which require an alternative assessment, such as under the Mental Capacity Act 2005.