CHILDREN WITH DISABILITIES
POLICIES & PROCEDURES
2003
ROBIN WHEELER
CHILDREN WITH DISABILITIES SERVICES MANAGER
OCTOBER 2003
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The Children with Disabilities Service
Policies and Procedures
Contents
1. Policy Statement
Page
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2. Purpose and Principles
3
3. Scope
4
4. Mandatory Guidance –
Criteria for Allocation to the Children with Disabilities Service
4.1 Definition
4.2 Sibling Groups which include a Child with a Disability
4.3 Child protection and Looked After Children
4.4 Registration with the KEY (Children with Disability Register)
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5. Mandatory Guidance –
Accessing Family Support Services
5.1 The Government National Objectives for Social Services
5.2 The Child Care Strategy
5.3 The Family Support Panel
5.4 After the Panel has Allocated a Service
5.5 Decisions about other Services
5.6 Delegated Authority
5.7 Reviews
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6. Good Practice Guidance
6.1 How Services are provided
6.2 Continuum of provision
6.3 Directly Provided Short Breaks
6.4 Looked After Children Services
6.5 External contracts
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7. Use of Discretion
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8. Multi-Agency Working
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9. Implementation
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10. Monitoring and Review
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The Children with Disabilities Service
Policies and Procedures
1.
Policy Statement
Managers and frontline workers in the Children with Disabilities Services
work within the policy and procedural framework in the Children and
Families Policy and Procedures manual. The department has now created
a separate service for children with disabilities and their families and the
following policies and procedures relate to the service specific aspects of
their work.
2.
Purpose and Principles
2.1
Services for Children with Disabilities in Gloucestershire aim to
maximise resources to promote the welfare of the child, minimise the
effect of their disabilities, and give them choices about their lifestyle.
A social model of disability will be used.
2.2
Children with disabilities are first of all children, their rights are equal
to those of non-disabled children.
2.3
The focus of action is not upon the fact that these children are
disabled, rather it is upon what the children need, so that they may
have a satisfying life at all levels. In meeting these needs a variety
of public, private and voluntary organisations must work together
effectively.
2.4
Disabled children will be treated fairly and with respect for their
particular lifestyles. Supported by policies, procedures and
resources where necessary, services attempt to meet needs and
preferences with respect to race, religion, language, culture, gender
and disability. The views and wishes of children and young people,
recognising that they have special needs, will actively be sought and
contribute to any service plan that is made. A variety of formats and
communication methods should be used.
2.5
If children with disabilities are to achieve equality with other children,
they must not be isolated. There has to be a positive plan for them
to remain integrated, if this is in their best interest.
2.6
Statutory services will seek to work in partnership with parents to
provide the best possible care for their children. Unless directed by
the Court, parents retain parental responsibility at all times.
Services will not be organised in a way that undermines this
responsibility. Parents will be enabled to access information about
our services.
2.7
Where the views/interests of the child do not coincide with those of
his/her parents or carers, the Statutory Agencies will ensure that
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parents/carers are listened to and understood before making any
decisions about the provision of services.
2.8
In line with directions issued by the Government, services provided
by statutory agencies will be targeted at those in most need.
Therefore, access to these services will need an assessment of
need and a recommended service plan. Decision-making regarding
the allocation of resources will be open to scrutiny.
3.
Scope
The Children with Disabilities Service is responsible for working with many
of the children with more severe and permanent disabilities and their
families known to Social Services in Gloucestershire.
What follows is guidance to help staff identify children who, through
disability, are “Children in Need under the Children Act 1989”, and thus to
establish their eligibility for assessment and services.
This guidance is rooted in that provided by the Children Act, so that the
Department’s work is anchored to the Government’s intentions. The
Children Act guidance largely follows a medical diagnostic model. The
Department however, accepts the view that the disadvantage experienced
by a child will be determined as much by the impact of the family and
society at large as by the disability itself.
Mandatory Guidance
4.
Criteria for Allocation to the Children with Disabilities
Service
4.1
Definition
A child with a disability is a child aged between 0 and 18 who is
substantially and permanently affected in their everyday living
by one or more of the following: 
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A learning disability
A physical impairment
A sensory impairment
Chronic physical ill-health
A severe communication or language disorder
Autism (as defined by a medical practitioner)
This includes children who have a Statement of Special Educational
Need because of moderate learning difficulties where this
substantially and permanently affects their everyday life e.g.
their self-care skills or social skills are impaired.
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This definition is based on the Children Act definition, which states
that: “A child is disabled if he is blind, deaf or dumb or suffers from mental
disorder of any kind or is substantially and permanently handicapped
by illness, injury or congenital deformity or such other disability as
may be prescribed.”
The government’s intention is that local authorities should interpret
the “substantial and permanent” concepts flexibly, by taking into
account the individuals wider circumstances.
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Substantial will mean considerable or significant factors
which are life changing or limiting, and might include issues to
do with risk and dependency.
Permanent means existing indefinitely, not expected to
improve. However, there must be sufficient flexibility to take
account of intermittent or episodic conditions.
Care will need to be taken not to use the label of disability simply to
access assessment and service
4.2
Sibling Groups which include a Child with a Disability
Many referrals will concern families where only one of a group of
siblings has a disability. These families should be allocated to the
CWD Service if the child's disability is the significant issue in the
presenting problem, otherwise the allocation should be in locality
teams. Joint working is encouraged, and will need to be negotiated
between team managers.
4.3
Child Protection and Looked After Children
Ensuring that Section 47 referrals are dealt with appropriately will be
the responsibility of the locality team. If the case is already open to a
CWD social worker, it may be appropriate for that worker to make
the enquiries and/or investigation – governed by the best interests of
the child. When a child is included on the Child Protection register,
the key worker will normally be a social worker from the child care
locality team. The CWD social worker will joint work. It is possible for
the CWD social worker to be nominated as key worker, but this can
only be by negotiation with the CWD Team Manager. Looked After
Children with disabilities will normally be the responsibility of the
CWD Service. Where siblings are accommodated joint working
should be arranged.
4.4
Registration with the KEY (Children with Disability Register) is
not sufficient evidence that a child meets the allocation criteria
The KEY will include children with a wide range of special needs and
include self-diagnosis. Consequently, the fact that a child is on the
register is not in itself evidence that they meet these criteria. SSD
does not have access to personal details held by the KEY.
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5.
Guidance on Accessing Family Support Resources
The provision of family support services for children with disabilities is
based primarily on the Children Act. The associated Guidance and
Regulations still holds good as the basis of assessment and provision of
services. Other legislation concerning Carers and Chronic Sickness has
been introduced. The two current strategies informing provision are
5.1
The Government National Objectives for Social Services
The national objectives for service provision have been very clear. In
summary:
 Children’s needs must be properly assessed and reviewed to
ensure maximum life chances – living with their families or
‘other appropriate settings in the community’
 Maximise number of children who receive ‘good quality coordinated care and education in inclusive settings’
 Ensure that disabled children receive appropriate health care
 Parents and children must be given good quality, culturally
appropriate information
 Increase the number of children receiving a range of family
support services and the number of hours provided
 Increase the number of children using inclusive play, leisure
and cultural services
5.2
The Child Care Strategy
This Departmental strategy aims to reduce the number of Looked
After Children, and ‘refocus’ our services to provide more family
support so that children can stay within their family. Therefore it is
critical that family support services are targeted at those most in
need, and at those at greatest risk of being Accommodated. (Utting
Report stated that disabled children are 8 times more likely to be
accommodated than non-disabled children).
The following principles should be followed:
 Assessments will be needs led and not service led.
 Parents/carers, and young people where appropriate, will be
given full information about the decision-making process
 Services and budgets will be used to meet the objectives of
both the National Government Objectives for Social Services
and the Child Care Strategy
5.3
The Family Support Panel (Children with Disabilities)
A single County Panel has been set up to consider and make
decisions regarding the provision of:
 Residential Short Breaks (SSD and NCH)
 Family Link – overnight and day care
 Outreach services provided by SSD and NCH
 Budget commitments of over £500
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It will meet monthly, and consist of:
 Service Manager SSD (chair)
 Team Manager SSD fieldwork
 Project Managers SSD & NCH
 Family Link Manager
 Health Representative
 Education Representative
The aim of the Panel is:
 To allocate the most appropriate resources based on
assessed need for all new requests for service and for
significant increases to current provision
 To collate and monitor waiting lists
 To ensure equity of access to services
 To record unmet need and provide information for planning
purposes
Initial Assessments should be sent to the Service Manager before
the Panel meets (dates will be circulated). Decisions will be made
regarding most appropriate resource, priorities and level of service.
A manager will have signed and agreed the assessment.
Assessments should identify need, and not the service. Analysis and
Recommendations should include what outcome is intended,
whether this is a short term or long term need.
Once the Panel has agreed the resource, the social worker, the
provider, the child/young person if possible and parent(s) draw up a
service plan (daycare services) or care plan (overnight services).
Where needed, the chair of the panel will write directly to the
parent(s).
5.4
After the Panel has Allocated Services
 The social worker, carer(s) and where ever possible the child
or young person and the provider will draw up the Service/
Care Plan.
 The manager of the resource identified is responsible for
managing the frequency and level of service provided in
accordance with the Service /Care Plan.
5.5
Decisions about other Services
 To access resources to accommodate children, application
needs to be made to the Children’s Placement Panel using a
RAF1 referral form and a core assessment of need.

To access multi-agency authority to accommodate a child in
an agency placement, a referral needs to be made in the first
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instance to the Service Manager, Children with Disabilities.
The Service Manager will then present the request to the
multi-agency Panel for consideration.
5.6

To access adult service resources, liaison is required with the
appropriate adult services fieldworker who will be responsible
for applying the Community Care procedures.

Staff should always be alert that Children with Disabilities are
usually in touch with other agencies and may have needs that
could be provided for by other agencies.
Delegated Authority
Resource/Budget
Description
CWD budgets
Family Support ‘spot purchased’ –
criteria in Section 17 Children Act
Carers Grant
Family Link
Scheme
Outreach
Residential short
breaks
Crossroads &
Careshare
Assisted daycare
places
Paediatric OT
equipment
5.7
Approval
Team Manager
up to £500 then
Panel
To increase number of short breaks
Team Manager
for parents/carers and young carers
up to £500 then
Panel
Day and overnight short breaks
Family Support
based in a ‘Link’ family
Panel
Provided by SSD and NCH
Family Support
Panel
Pengwern and Trees – SSD
Family Support
Collies and Meadows – NCH
Panel
Receive some grant funding. Can
Team or Service
provide directly or purchased through manager
above budgets
Funding at £4 per hour to enable
See protocol
children with special needs to access
out of school play & leisure activity.
Can include child-minding
Primarily to cover equipment for child Paed OT
in own home
Manager
Reviews
All services provided will be reviewed regularly:

Where children/ young people are having more than 65
overnight stays per year, reviews will be chaired by the
Review and Planning Team, every 6 months.

All other services will be reviewed by the Family Support
Assessors, on an annual basis
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6.
Good Practice Guidance
The following provides information and guidance to promote good practice
6.1
How Services are Provided
There are 3 main ways that Social Services provide family support
Contracted Family Support
The Department now funds a range of family support services
through a contract or ‘service level agreement’. A number can be
accessed without a Social Services Assessment. See attached
‘Spot Purchased’ Family Support
The two main funding sources are the ‘CWD’ budgets and the
Carers Grant. An initial assessment is needed to access the former,
and a carer’s assessment the latter (although the information in the
initial assessment can be sufficient if it reflects parents and young
carers needs)
Directly Provided Services
Includes Family Link, Outreach and Residential Short Breaks. There
is an allocation panel with all providers represented. See attached.
The decisions regarding the provision of O.T. equipment will be
taken by the Paediatric O.T. manager, in consultation with the
Service Manager where necessary.
There are other services, such as Home Care and the Fostering and
Adoption Service, which are not directly managed by the CWD
Service
6.2
Continuum of Provision
Following an assessment of need, services are considered in the
following order:
Community-based Support
In the first instance, referrals should be made to universal services
such as playgroups, childminding, after school clubs, neighbourhood
projects, The KEY Information Service, playschemes etc.
If extra support is needed to access these services, Sure Start or the
Carers Grant may be accessed (see protocol).
For more complex needs there are a wide range of services,
including home care, sitting services, childminding, play support,
transport etc. Services can be organised by accessing the CWD
budgets or Carers Grant or charity application. Other agencies have
resources to contribute to family support.
Provision of Domiciliary support directly provided by the Department
but not managed by the CWD Service (e.g. Home Care) will be
negotiated separately with managers of that service.
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6.3
Directly Provided Short Breaks
Residential, Family Link and Outreach are authorised by the CWD
Family Support Panel, and need an initial assessment, which
includes a formal carers assessment as needed.
6.4
Looked After Children Services
Applications for Accommodation should be made to the Children’s
Placement Panel
6.5
External Contracts
The external contracts that directly relate to our work are: -
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Opportunity Centre, Coleford
(0-5 provision)
Contact a Family, Cinderford
(5-18 activity provision)
Carers and Families, Cheltenham (After school activity club)
The KEY Information Service
(The County Planning Register)
James Hopkins Trust
(Sitting Service by nurses)
Family Advisory Service
(MENCAP ‘Transitions’ project)
Crossroads Chelt, Forest, Careshare Cots (grant aided)
Young Carers Project
All the above can be accessed directly by parents. If referral is made
by SSD, funding will either be through the contract or additional ‘spot
purchase’. Refer to Team or Service Manager if necessary.
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The Meadows & Rendezvous, Stroud
The Collies, Coleford
(NCH short break provision)
(NCH short break provision)
Accessed only through social work assessment and Family Support
Panel.
7.
Use of Discretion
There is a balance to be struck between an overly bureaucratic system
which allows no flexibility and one which only provides token co-ordination
after events have taken place. The principles underlying decision-making
are:
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Children should be based as close to their home address as
possible
Services should be inclusive wherever possible
Equality issues are addressed and access to services for
disadvantaged groups promoted
The preferred provision for all children is community based (eg
Outreach) or family based alternatives – Childminding, Family Link.
Residential provision should be targeted at children who cannot
access other provision and where this will meet their needs – eg
older children, children with high dependency needs
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The views and wishes of children, young people, parent/carers and
siblings will be taken into account as part of the decision-making
process.
The priority matrix will be used
There will be times when managers will need to make quick decisions
when there is an emergency or urgent need. NCH managers may need to
check with an SSD manager with reference to the contract.
8.
Multi-Agency Working
Agreement has been reached between NHS, Education and Social
Services to integrate services for disabled children by September 2005. A
Project Manager has been appointed to help plan and implement change.
9.
Implementation
All aspects of this policy and guidance are implemented
10.
Monitoring and Review
This policy and these procedures will be reviewed on an annual basis and
a report submitted to the Child Care Management Team
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