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Contents

1. Principles
2. Eligibility
3. Social Worker's Responsibilities
4. Initial Assessment and the Child's Initial Plan
5. Core Assessment and the Child/Young Person's Plan
6. Working with a Core Assessment and the Child/Young Person's Plan
7. Reviewing the Plan
8. Updating the Core Assessment

1. Principles  

An important objective of the Children Act 1989 is to promote the upbringing of children within their families whenever this is consistent with their welfare. For most of the families that approach Children's Social Care for help the appropriate response is to assess the level of need and to provide a brief intervention where appropriate; but in most cases where there are no issues of child protection or of potential family breakdown to refer the family on to community based services for ongoing support where this is required.

Some children's needs do however require a lengthier period of involvement. This includes children with disabilities and those whose parents are disabled or affected by a serious health condition.

There are other instances: children who have behavioural problems, those who have until recently been subject to a Child Protection Plan and those where there have been difficult life experiences such as bereavement - including situations where a child is being cared for by a relative under an informal arrangement, where it is appropriate for there to be longer term involvement from Children's Social Care in order to prevent deterioration in a child's situation.

The key requirements of the Integrated Children's System are that:

• A Core Assessment is undertaken in respect of every child who is receiving ongoing services. This Core Assessment should be updated as necessary in the light of the child's growth and development - particularly when a child moves from one to another of the Core Assessment age ranges as well as of other family and social factors, such as changes to the household composition, type of accommodation etc.
• Planned work with them and their family is outlined in the Child and Young Person's Plan - linking the child's specific developmental and other needs as well as their parents' capacities to the help, support and services that are to be provided.
• This work is reviewed regularly through the Review of the Child and Young Person's Plan. This is the responsibility of the Team Manager and may take place according to circumstances as either a review meeting e.g. where there is a need to co-ordinate input from a number of agencies or as a structured and recorded discussion in supervision. The plan should then be updated in the light of the outcome of the review. The essential element is that there is an evaluation of input to date together with future planning.

Additionally, the overall principle of working in partnership with children and families means that there should be a high degree of transparency. Parents and children of appropriate age should always be provided with a copy of the Core Assessment - new or revised and of the Child's Plan. They must always be informed about the reasons for involvement but note that if a referrer has requested anonymity the family should not be informed of their identity.

2. Eligibility

Please read this section in conjunction with Children in Need Eligibility Criteria Procedure

There will always be dilemmas regarding the provision of services to children in need in the community, given the demands of child protection and looked after children. There are families where children's problems are affected by parenting issues placing them on the 'border' of child protection; there will at time be pressure from parents and from professionals for Children's Social Care to take 'responsibility' for a child who, while they may be experiencing or causing problems at home or in the community do not meet eligibility criteria for ongoing involvement.

There are of course no easy answers to these dilemmas; however it is important to consider both the impact of present input and to realistically predict the outcome of an alternative approach.

Work with children in need must therefore be purposeful and subject to regular review.

3. Social Worker's Responsibilities  

While the Social Worker for children in need does not have the same statutory responsibilities as towards looked after children, they are nonetheless likely to have a key worker role (unless agreed otherwise by the professional network) and will thus have important responsibilities  both directly towards the child and family and for the overall co-ordination and delivery of services.

As a representative of Lambeth Children and Young People's Service and of the social work profession it is important that you present a positive image.

This includes:

Promptness and reliability in your dealings with service users - this is the quality most appreciated when user feedback is given. You should avoid late or cancelled visits as this can undermine your credibility and authority.

Maintaining good communication - particularly ensuring that the child and parents know how to contact you (though NOT via your personal mobile) and who they should contact in your absence. You should inform them when you are on leave and whenever there is any transfer of worker or team. You should always make doubly sure that any agreement or plans have been understood and need to give even more attention to this whenever there are language or other communication difficulties.

Practical help - again this comes over strongly in user surveys as one of the areas most appreciated by users. Where families are receiving benefits, either Income Support, Job Seekers Allowance or work related benefits it is important to ensure they know where to get advice to ensure they are receiving the correct level. Where there are issues of disability - either child or parents - the social worker must ensure that the family are receiving all appropriate benefits.

Networking - Children living in the community will by definition have some level of involvement with a range of statutory and informal organisations as well as being part of a community network. The Social Worker's role in identifying and working with the key 'players' in a child's life is as important a part of achieving positive outcomes for that child as is direct work with them and their family. This means:

• Involving key 'players' as much as is appropriate in the process of assessment and in identifying the key issues.
• Maintaining effective communication within the network - including use the telephone and e-mail, informal face-to-face contact, as well as more structured meetings where necessary.
• Presenting a reliable and professional image at all times - returning calls is particularly important, as is keeping colleagues informed of the work you are undertaking

An Holistic Approach - While allocation of case responsibility is on the basis of individual children the social worker has an overall duty towards the family unit in which the allocated child lives. This means that where issues of unmet parental need are revealed within the Core Assessment the Social Worker is responsible for ensuring that appropriate services are accessed. This does not mean 'becoming the parents' social worker' - it does mean making or facilitating the appropriate referrals and building and maintaining an effective partnership with colleagues in adult services.

Alertness to Risk - Just because likelihood of significant harm has not been identified during the referral and assessment stages does not mean that it cannot be present. It is important for the worker to be alert to this and to seek appropriate advice whenever there is any indication of likely abuse or neglect.

4. Initial Assessment and the Child's Initial Plan

It is essential in some cases, due to the urgency of need, to provide a support package on the basis of an Initial Assessment - this is part of providing a timely and responsive service. It is important however, in order to provide the most appropriate long term response to move as quickly as possible to a plan of intervention which is based on the depth of knowledge and understanding that is gained through a Core Assessment.

Services to Children in Need and their families should therefore only be provided under the Child's Initial Plan when this is to either:

Manage a specific time-limited situation e.g. a parent's temporary incapacity

OR

Pending the completion of a Core Assessment

It is important that Children's Social Care are able to meet a family's needs at the point of crisis in order to avoid any worsening of the situation; however with this must be balanced the need to base longer term provision on a fully informed analysis.  The family must always therefore be provided with a copy of the Child's Initial Assessment and plan with the strict understanding that the services are provided on a time-limited basis.

5. Core Assessment and the Child's/Young Person's Plan  

Please read in conjunction with Referral and Assessment Procedure

It is essential, in order to promote good use of resources and effective focus on those children most in need that ongoing work with children in the community who are not in need of protection is based on comprehensive assessment and subject to regular review. While it is impossible to list all the types of situation that require involvement these will be the most common:

• Children with disabilities - some will require regular social work support, in many instances however the social work role following immediate assessment and service provision may be to periodically update the assessment and to review services.
• Children whose well-being is affected by parental issues, such as disability or physical or mental health problems. This will include both those children who require ongoing services e.g. where a parent is unable to provide physical care due to disability, as well as those where they may be 'borderline' issues of significant harm or the need for accommodation.
• Children previously accommodated who have returned to their parents' care, and the siblings of accommodated children who may need support to remain with their families.
• Children who were previously subject to a child protection plan. Both these as well as previously accommodated children may require ongoing input to prevent deterioration or to help successive children avoid problems encountered by older siblings.
• Children being cared for by relatives - children in this situation, whether under formal or informal arrangements may be more vulnerable to being accommodated that children living with their own parents and therefore may need greater support at an early stage.

Undertaking a Core Assessment; Please refer to guidance in Referral and Assessment Procedure (Section 4, Core Assessment)

The original Department of Health Practice Guidance (2000) is still extremely relevant and helpful. Please see the link below. Guidance on the assessment of Children with Disabilities is on pp. 74-108.

Please follow this link to access Framework for Assessment Practice Guidance.

6. Working With a Core Assessment and Child's Young Person's Plan      

It is the manager's responsibility to read the Core Assessment thoroughly in order that they can provide that worker with the necessary guidance and direction. This should be formally recorded in supervision notes. This applies equally whether they are continuing to work with a case they have assessed, or if the case has been transferred for following assessment.

A social worker taking on responsibility for a case is also responsible for thoroughly reading the Core Assessment and any other relevant documentation - it is important to avoid the child and family having to repeat information previously given.

The Core Assessment is however a tool for meeting the child's needs, not an end in itself and links to the development of the Child's Plan.

The structure of the Assessment and Plan promote a linkage between specific identified developmental needs of the child and the services or other resources deployed to meet them and the timescale within which this is to happen e.g.

Child's Developmental Needs: Taylor's (age 30 months) developmental needs are to be potty-trained and achieve age appropriate speech so that he will be prepared for early years education. Action:   Health Visitor to provide potty training advice and schedule - within two weeks.   Mother and Taylor to attend mother and toddler group at St. Andrew's Church-   immediate.   Health Visitor to reassess Taylor's development in 12 weeks and consider the need for a paediatric referral. Parenting Capacity: Ms. Spyman's ability to focus on Taylor's needs is affected by occasional relapses into substance abuse. Action: Vera City (Probation Officer) to continue to implement DTTO and liaise with SW as necessary. Ms. Spyman to begin treatment group. Wider Family and Environmental Factors: Ms. Spyman would like a housing transfer to distance herself from the drug using network. Action: SW and PO to liaise with Housing Association following successful   completion of the DTTO. - 3 months

While it is the Social Worker's responsibility to coordinate the Child's/Young Person's Plan the plan should draw, as the above example illustrates, on the full range of services and resources within the network and community. This includes:

• Universal services within the community such as preschool facilities that are open to all.
• Health and Education Services - which should give priority to children in need and which should form part of the professional network in complex cases.
• Voluntary Organisations that are funded to undertake specific areas of service provision - e.g.
• Adult Services - Ensuing that parents and other adults within the child's network have access to appropriate help and support is an important step towards meeting children's needs. Active liaison and partnership is particularly important given the organisational separation that now applies between adult and children's services. 

Services should only be purchased by Children's Social Care when it is not possible to meet the needs identified in the Core Assessment through the channels identified above.

Where it is necessary to purchase or commission services the appropriate procedure for panel or managerial approval must be followed and cannot be made a firm part of a plan until this has been done.

Please see Children in Need Eligibility Criteria Procedure

7. Reviewing the Plan  

ICS introduces a new requirement to review as well as to develop child in need plans. As work with children in need covers a wide range of circumstances it is not possible to lay down hard and fast rules in the same way as for looked after children. However, the following guidelines should apply.

Type of Review: It is the Team Manager's responsibility to decide whether the review should take place as a meeting involving the relevant parties or whether it should just be undertaken in supervision.

Factors that should influence this include the number of parties actively involved in support the child and family; the desirability of reinforcing the role/responsibilities/issues at stake etc. to the child and parents; the complexity of problems - particularly when there may be a number of siblings within the family; the type of decisions that may be needed e.g. to cease CSC involvement.

The review should consider overall developments since work begun or the last review, as appropriate; but the prime focus should be on the various elements of the plan and the extent to which they have been successful in addressing the areas of need as identified in the Core Assessment.  Where there have been significant shortfalls it may appropriate for the review to decide that the Core Assessment should be updated before making significant modifications to the plan. This is so that action is grounded in evidence of need and that we avoid pulling solutions 'out of the air'.

Frequency of Review: While the frequency of a child in need review is not stipulated in regulations, good practice would suggest that children in need who require an ongoing service should be reviewed either in a review meeting or in supervision at six-monthly intervals. This may need to be more frequent e.g. when working with an adolescent to keep them in school and out of accommodation; or less frequent e.g. a support package for a disabled child whose condition is stable and where there are no parenting issues.

8. Updating the Core Assessment  

Core Assessments should be updated:

• Following significant changes of circumstance within the family e.g. incapacity of a carer; step-parent joining the household.
• The child moving into a new age-band
• Whenever a significant step such as accommodating a child or initiating Care Proceedings is being considered.
• Whenever required by a Resource Panel

Core Assessment Age-bands Pre-Birth to 12 months; 1-2 years (up until the child's third birthday); 3-4 years (up until the child's fifth birthday); 5-10 years (up until the child's eleventh birthday); 11-15 years (up until the young person's sixteenth birthday); 16 years and over.

End