Caption: The Children's Disability Service (CDS) Social Work Team
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2.1 |
The CDS social work team will work with children where the child’s disability is the presenting concern for the case to transfer to CDS and who have one of the following disabilities and where they meet the threshold for children's social care as outlined within the Pathway to Provision. |
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The child's disability must be the presenting concern for the case to transfer to CDS. Cases where one or more children have a disability but the presenting concerns are not related to their disabilities then CDS are able to provide consultancy and advice to the social worker involved as appropriate. |
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CDS social work team will also work with children when:
- A young person is detained under section 3 of the Mental Health Act, if they are not already open to a social worker, if they do they will remain in that team;
- A young person is detained under section 3 who are due to be discharged where consideration needs to be given to any social care involvement under section 117, if they are not already open to a social worker. If they are open already to a social worker, then it is best for that social worker to be part of the young person’s discharge plan. The Children’s Disability Service will offer advice and will need to know of any financial implications under section 117.
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2.2 |
The team will also provide a service to those children who are deaf and have British Sign Language (BSL) as their main means of communication if there is an assessed need. |
2.3 |
The team will process registrations for visually impaired children on receipt of referrals from health professionals. |
2.4 |
The team do not provide a service to children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). |
2.5 |
The team do not provide a service to children with emotional or behavioural difficulties; unless there has been a specific case discussion with the relevant Team Managers and acceptance of the case has been agreed based on the Children’s Disability Social Work Team being best placed to meet the child’s needs as an assessment of the child is underway and likely to meet the criteria due to disability. Any disagreements in respect of this should be escalated to the Children’s Disability Service Manager where appropriate. |
2.6 |
Children who have a degree of disability that does not fall into the above categories and who are in need of a social care intervention will be provided for by mainstream social care teams. However if relevant team managers are in agreement that the Children’s Disability Social Work Team is best placed to meet the child’s needs then the case may be accepted by the team. The final decision in respect of these cases lies with the Children’s Disability Service Manager if an agreement cannot be reached at Team Manager level. |
2.7 |
Where services are required that cannot be met through universal and early intervention/targeted services, and there is a concern regarding a child or young person or a child is considered in need of specialist support from the CDS and the threshold for children's social care is met as outlined within the Pathway to Provision, contact is to be made via the multi-agency safeguarding hub (MASH). |
2.8 |
Where in place information provided by a completed Early Help Assessment Framework (EHAF) or Education and Health Care Plan. |
2.9 |
The CDS will take a proportionate approach to assessment and ensure that services are delivered as soon as possible subject to assessment. The Child and Family Assessment may be undertaken to determine which services should be provided. |
5.1 |
The CDS team will respond to any child protection enquiries where a case is open to the CDS Social Work Team. Any Child Protection referrals on cases that are not open to the CDS Social Work Team should be made to the MASH. Child Protection referrals concerning families where the disabled child as defined above is part of a sibling group will be received directly by the MASH. The MASH will make a decision based on the criteria outlined below whether the referral will be passed to a District Child Protection Team or the CDS Team. |
5.2 |
Where there is a sibling group in which one or more child has a disability, consideration will be given to the presenting circumstance and how this impacts upon the sibling group as a whole. For example, in cases of domestic violence or neglect which affect the whole sibling group, the primary practitioner will be allocated from within mainstream children’s social care, and a secondary practitioner will be allocated from within CDS to meet the needs of the child/young person with a disability. In effect this is a co-working arrangement. |
5.3 |
There will sometimes be exceptions to this, for example it may become clear following enquiries / assessment that the concerns are specifically directed at a non-disabled sibling and there is no significant risk to the other children in the family. |
5.4 |
A typical example would be a non-disabled child who has contact with an absent parent that presents a risk to that specific child but who is not the parent of the other siblings and has no contact with them. Another example is where a non-disabled sibling is the subject of allegations against a professional who does not have contact with the rest of the sibling group. |
5.5 |
Where there is any doubt as to which team should have case responsibility, a discussion must take place between the CDS Team Manager and the Assessment Team Manager or the District Child Protection Team Manager within 24 hours of the referral being received by the MASH. If an agreement for the case to transfer is not reached within 24 hours then the team who has received the referral must complete the Child and Family Assessment or Section 47 Enquiry and then recommend the case transfers following completion of the work. Referrals should not be transferred to other teams on Framework without a discussion between Team Managers that results in an agreed outcome; if an agreement cannot be reached then the matter should be escalated to the relevant Children’s Service Manager. It is important that delay for the child does not occur while this takes place and a joint visit should be considered. |