Who is entitled to an assessment?
Under s.17. Children Act 1989 all disabled children are
children in need and therefore are entitled to an assessment.
Under the Carers (Recognition & Services) Act 1995 and the
Carers & Disabled Children Act 2000 parents and carers have a
right to a carers assessment however Local Authorities do not have
a duty to meet any of the assessed needs.
What is an assessment?
The purpose of an assessment is to identify the child’s needs
within their family context and to use this understanding to decide
how best to address these needs. The assessment does not lead to a
provision of a service unless North Somerset Council have
determined the child is in need and that he or she meets the
Council’s eligibility criteria for a service. Where the child does
meet the eligibility criteria it is for the Local Authority to
determine how these needs will be met.
There are three types of assessment
- Common Assessment Framework (CAF):- The CAF is a shared
assessment and planning framework for use across all children’s
services and all local areas in England. It aims to help the early
identification of children and young people’s additional needs and
promote co-ordinated service provision to meet them.
- Initial assessment: - is a brief assessment of each child
referred to social care or health services with a request for
services to be provided. and should address the dimensions of the
Assessment Framework, determining whether the child is in
need,
the nature of any services required, from where and within what
timescales, and whether a further, more detailed core assessment
should be undertaken.
- Core assessment:- in complex and serious situations a more
in-depth assessment may be required. A core assessment addresses
the complexity or severity of the child’s needs and the capacity of
his or her parents or caregivers to respond appropriately to these
needs within the wider family and community context. While this
assessment is led by social care services, it will invariably
involve other agencies or independent professionals, who will
either provide information they hold about the child or parents,
contribute specialist knowledge or advice to social care
services.
How will this happen?
The person carrying out the assessment will meet with you, your
child and members of your family. An assessment cannot be made
without seeing your child, however young and whatever the
circumstances. We can help you best if you tell us about what you
do well in your family and your difficulties. The assessment will
be carried out using the DOH framework of assessment.
This will ensure we take into consideration your child’s
developmental needs, parenting capacity, and family and
environmental factors.
If other people are already helping you and your family e.g. the
health visitor, general practitioner, nursery staff or teachers we
will ask your permission to talk to them as well. Any information
you give to us will be held in confidence and would not normally be
disclosed without your consent. However, the law permits the
disclosure of confidential information if it is necessary to
safeguard a child or children in the public interest. If this is
the case, you will be told what your rights are in this new
situation.
What happens next?
Families referred to or seeking help from social care services
will have differing levels of need, many will be helped by advice
or practical services or short term intervention, through making an
assessment of your situation, it should be possible to agree with
you what help and support you and your family might need, and who
could best can give that help in a timely and effective manner. We
know that almost all parents want to do their best for their
children, and completing the assessment will help the person
completing the assessment recognise the strengths you and your
family have, as well as your difficulties
North Somerset Partnership has developed four levels of
vulnerability and need to assist practitioners to support
practitioners making decisions about service thresholds.
These levels of need can be used to prioritise and develop a
range of support and intervention strategies matched to a child or
young person’s needs and strengths. The descriptions used to
differentiate between the levels are based on the domains and
dimensions of The Framework for the Assessment of Children in Need
and their Families.
For further information see the
Short Breaks Statement - Eligibility
Critera (pdf, Dec 2011, 138KB)
