Bath & North East Somerset Social and Housing Services, in partnership with BANES Primary Care Trust, recognise that parents who are disabled may need help with parenting tasks for their children.  They should receive a response that is prompt and well coordinated, and which is underpinned by person centred and family centred values, respecting the right to a family life and in the best interests of the children.

In this document the terms “Adult Services” and “Children and Families Services” include health colleagues.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

a)     Disabled parents who need help with parenting tasks will have those eligible needs met as part of a service to the parent is his/her own right.

b)     Disabled parents will be offered a joint assessment involving Adult and Children and Families Services from the outset as the best way of ensuring a full range of expertise and coordination of services. However there is no assumption that children of disabled parents are automatically children in need.

c)       The needs and entitlements of carers will be addressed.

d)     Eligibility criteria and budgetary procedures will remain as currently defined, but all must work towards a seamless service.

e)     Teams are expected to provide their particular expertise on a consultancy basis when requested.

f)        There will be a clear referral processes, made known to all relevant professionals.

g)     One key care manager will be identified.

h)      One joint and comprehensive careplan will be produced and given to service users in writing.

i)        Reviews should be coordinated to avoid duplication.

j)        Workers from whichever team/agency are duty bound to regard the interests of children as paramount.

k)      Inter agency training should address early identification, referral, and child protection principles.

1.  Relevant Legislation:

• Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Act 1970 S.2
• The Disabled Persons (Representations) Act 1986 – section 4
• NHS and community Care Act 1990
• Carers (Recognition and Services) Act 1995
• Carers and Disabled Children’s Act 2000
• Children Act 1989
• The Health and Social Care Act 2001
• The Children Act 2004

2.  Other Relevant Documents:

• Every Child Matters
• The Local Preventative Strategy for Bath & North East Somerset

3.  Principles and Values

We recognise that;

a)     disabled people have the right to have relationships and may become parents.

b)     disabled adults may become parents at any stage in their life and the impact of their impairment will change in accordance with the needs of their children.

c)       All parents on occasions find the task of parenting to be challenging.

d)     The needs of the child in any situation are paramount.  This principle is laid down in the Children Act 1989.

e)     The life chances for children should not be compromised by their parents’ disability.

f)        children of disabled parents are not automatically children in need.

g)     Assessments will be guided by the social model of disability.

h)      The focus should be  on the support needs of a family, rather than difficulties a family may have in their parenting role.

i)        The policy should dovetail with the Local Preventative Strategy for B&NES.

j)     The primary responsibility for parenting support services for disabled adults will be from adult services.

k)     All parents will be assessed for their own care and support needs and in relation to their parenting role.

4.  Young Carers

a)     Where a child or young person under the age of 18 years is taking on a caring role, they should be assessed as a Young Carer. This should not detract from the provision of services to the parent.

b)     The purpose of assessment of a young carer is to ensure that the life chances of a young person are not damaged by any caring role they may adopt.  Practitioners should read the guidance in the Adult Care Manual and the Childcare Manual. 

5.  Identification of Need

a)     Disabled Parents should be identified at the earliest possible stage, preferably before the child is born In practice, this may be quite difficult as not all impairments are obvious. GP’s, midwives & health visitors need training in identification & knowledge of services available & referral pathways as part of preparation for implementation of the Common Assessment Framework.

b)     Where professionals identify needs in the early stages of pregnancy, consultation with relevant services should be undertaken. 

c)      Where informed consent is an issue, advocacy should be arranged as soon as possible.  This reflects the commitment all services have to working in partnership with parents.

6.  Eligibility

a)     Disabled parents have a right to have help with parenting as a  service for themselves if they meet B&NES criteria under Fair Access to Care (FAC).  This service is generally assessed, and provided  by  Adult Care. Charging  may apply in accordance with Community Care Services charging policy.  

b)     Health staff are not bound by FAC and so might be involved with a family not considered eligible for Social Services support.

c)      Any assessment of an adult carer’s needs must take into account their need to maintain their employment or training, and need for leisure activities.

d)     The  assessment and careplan should distinguish between  what assistance the parent requires to perform tasks, and What assistance is required to help them learn new skills.

7.  Care management:

 Referrals

a)     We aim to provide a seamless service.

b)     Whenever Adult Services receive a referral for a disabled person who is a parent, the family should be offered a joint assessment by Adult and Child care practitioners.  This practice should also be followed in situations where mental health and substance mis-use is of concern. There is practice guidance available for adult and child care staff on their responsibilities regarding assessment of parents with mental health concerns. The Adult Care Community Care Manual also provides a section on drugs and alcohol risk screening for this group of parents.

c)      Whenever Children and Family Services receive a referral and recognise that the parent or parents have a disability, the family would be offered a joint assessment.

d)      Where an urgent assessment of the disabled parent’s needs is required, for example on discharge from hospital, this may need to take place before the Children and Families Service are able to respond.  In this case a fuller review/assessment, including input from Children and families, will take place later but without undue delay.

Assessment

a)     Attention must be paid to the communication needs of disabled parents prior to the assessment and the introduction of services. This could include the need for an advocate for the parents.

b)     Good assessment may well require the integral involvement of health workers.

c)      Carers needs and views must be taken into account in any assessment of the disabled person.  An independent carer’s needs assessment must be offered when ever an adult carer providing regular and substantial care is identified.  For young carers under 18, see para 3. above.

d)     Adult Care and CLDT staff have the same responsibilities to ensure the safeguarding of children as their child care colleagues, in accordance with the Area Child Protection Committee/Local Safeguarding Children Board (Children Act  1989/2004) guidelines.

e)     The case management responsibilities MUST be clarified and recorded at the earliest possible opportunity and no assumptions made.

f)        At times, families may be referred who do not fall neatly into a category. In that case, Children and Families teams should be prepared to offer specialist advice and assistance to Adult Services colleagues on a ‘consultancy’ basis, and vice versa, without regard to eligibility.   ‘Consultation’ means short term advice from one professional to another.

g)     Since a joint assessment may involve two members of staff at once, particular care must be taken to ensure the parent understands each professional’s role and responsibilities.

h)      When an assessment has been carried out a service package should be introduced with consent from the family without delay.

 Care planning and management

a)     Effective joint working is characterised by strong coordination by a single person, usually but not necessarily a social worker. Care management responsibility must be clarified from the outset and recorded on the computerised client records system (Carefirst).

b)     When reviews are planned for careplans which cross team boundaries, they should be coordinated to duplication. 

c)      Where are careplan is agreed that involves joint working, all parties must carry out their roles and tasks as agreed in the joint careplan.

d)     Care plans should make contingency plans for emergencies.

e)     Direct payments should be considered as an option when ever an assessed need has been identified.

f)        Children and Families Services recognise the need for continuing involvement in some cases. The delivery of this service may change over time to reflect the changing needs of the child and his/her resilience and capacity for independent activity. In situations where long term involvement is required the case will be reviewed every six months. In appropriate situations the support required may be delegated to another agency or service provider.

8.   Recording

a)     There should be one unified careplan which will be given in writing to the service user in an appropriate format.

b)     The careplan will identify the eligible needs of both the parent and the children and how these will be met, the cost if any to the service user, the source of funding, and the start and finish dates of services provided.  Services provided by non statutory services will also be recorded, and the input of any informal carer. 

c)      Recording will follow normal professional practice.  Professionals should be aware that parents will have the right of access to their records.

d)     Social Services:  “Parent with Disability” is a distinct classification on Carefirst the Social Services client records computer system.  Primary client group must also be recorded. Primary worker, and In joint assessments the co worker will be recorded on Carefirst.  For further guidance see Adult Community Care Manual on the B&NES intranet and Children and Families Manual, and Carefirst process manuals on the Carefirst webpage on the council’s intranet.

9.   Budgetary responsibility

a)     Requests for child care provision will be presented to the Joint Early years Allocation Panel (JEYA) by the child care social worker or other professional e.g health visitor (C9 referral form) in accordance with current procedures.

b)     Adult care provision will be from team budgets in accordance with normal authorisation procedures.

c)      Tasks in the home relating to domiciliary tasks e.g help with cooking, cleaning, laundry, shopping, etc are the responsibility of  adult care. Staff working in households with children should be appropriately CRB checked.

d)     The provision of parenting skills training will be considered on an individual basis as to how best this is delivered.  Children and Families Services will take the lead on these plans.

e)     Transport to school - All options for this need to be met from the families own resources and other informal help should be considered.  For example it may be that the parent receives mobility allowance at the higher level and can provide their own. The assistance of other parents or relatives should be considered; the child may be capable of walking if someone can accompany them.  Where there is a non disabled parent capable of taking the children to school they would be expected to do so.

f)        Playing with small children – this is should be considered within the assessment and as such will be considered by JEYA.

g)     Taking children to after school/leisure activities: The service plan should identify how best this is achieved considering all available options including informal arrangements.

10.  Quality Assurance

a)     Providers of care to households with children will be required to have the enhanced CRB checks for working with children.  Commissioning teams should check this with providers. Where Direct Payments are considered, CRB checks are strongly advised/mandatory for  any employee dealing with children.

11.  Referral Procedures

Referrals can be made in the normal way.  It is likely that referrals will enter the system in a number of ways.

Once a referral is received by Social Services or a specialist team, the following principles apply:                 

a)     The opposite service will be contacted at an early stage to engage their participation in a joint assessment.

b)     In the Community Learning Difficulties Team this will be immediately after the COD meeting.

Children’s services may contact Adult Services via Adult Duty: Tel 01225 477800, who will give the name and contact number of the relevant team manager.

Adult services will contact Children and Families services via Children and Families Referral and Assessment Team, .tel 01225 395134 who will give the name and telephone number of the relevant team.

For further numbers see Appendix 2.

12.  Training Needs

a)     Adult Care and CLDT workers should receive introductory child protection training. This includes staff from Adult Mental Health, Sensory Services, Adult Care and Drug and Alcohol workers.

b)     Area Child Protection Committee multi agency training on working with parents with learning difficulties should cover ways of identifying a potential learning difficulty and the referral process for a formal LD assessment. 

13.  Information needs

a)     An information leaflet for disabled parents with an Easy English Version to be produced by September 2005. This will be available on the B&NES and Primary Care Trust public websites and be available on request from any Social Services office.

14.  Wider Council Responsibilities

a)     All public authorities in B&NES have a responsibility to facilitate access to participation in community life for Disabled People, in accordance with the Disability Discrimination Act 1995.

b)     Under the Carers (Equal Opportunities) Act 2004, the Social Services may request any other public authority or part of the Council to consider a request for assistance to meet identified needs of carers, and the relevant authority must give due consideration to that request.

Appendix 1

Referral process :  Social Services

c)     Referrals to Social Services will be recorded as  an Initial Contact on Carefirst noting that the referral relates to a disabled parent.

d)     Referrals should be passed promptly to a Team manager or Assistant Team Manager in the receiving service, who will be aware that it is our policy to offer a joint assessment.  The Receiving Team manager will contact the Team Manager or assistant Team Manager of the opposite  team to agree:

a.  Which team worker will be Primary Worker and which Co worker on Carefirst  –

b.  Timescale for worker allocation and commencement of assessment.

e)     On allocation, the ATM s will discuss with the allocated worker that this referral will mean that a joint assessment is offered.

f)       Where different teams have different performance standards as to timescales, all will endeavour to work to the shorter timescale. However on occasions it will be necessary for Adult care to address immediate care needs of the disabled person and parenting issues can be addressed jointly later, although without undue delay.

g)     Managers will recognise that these referrals are relatively unusual and that workers are likely to need extra time and support to do quality work. Workers should be encouraged and supported in coming forward if they need to approach others for advice/consultation.

h)     When the assessment has reached a suitable stage, it may be helpful to call a meeting of both workers and both Team Managers to discuss flexible care planning and resolve any budgetary issues promptly so that the support offered is not compromised.

See 'Care Management Process for Disabled Parents' on right