The flow of assessments
Cohort of young people - any young person potentially requiring care and support will be known/be supported by any of the following teams:
- Children under Children with Disabilities Team (CWD): Disabled Person's Assessment (DPA): For children under the Children with Disabilities Team, at age 14, the DPA assessment informs future planning including transitions into adult services.
- As part of the ongoing DPA, Southend City Council (SCC) CWD Team will make a referral to the Adult Social Care Access Team (accessteam@southend.gov.uk) that a young person has the appearance of need for care and support at the age of 18, at the appropriate age (approximately from age 16).
- Children Looked After (CLA): Pathway Plan: For all other children who are not supported by the CWD Team or without an Education Health and Care Plan, such as children supported by 16+ Team or the Child Protection Teams, it is for these teams to identify these children at the earliest opportunity (pre 17th birthday). It is for these teams to identify within the Pathway Plan if these children will have needs for care and support post-18 and to commence transition planning. If a child appears to have needs for care and support in line with the Care Act 2014, then the relevant Children's Services team will refer to the Access Team accessteam@southend.gov.uk
- For children with the legal status of Children Looked After (CLA), these needs should be considered as early as possible but definitely by the age of 16 and then all subsequent CLA reviews after this age. The Independent Reviewing Officer (IRO) should capture this referral action within the minutes of the CLA review meetings and will ensure that the action is taken to refer formally to Adult Social Care at this time.
- Children in Need/Child Protection: For children with the legal status of Children in Need or Child Protection who it is thought will have a need for care and support under the Care Act 2014, post-18, referral to Adult Social Care is required at the earliest opportunity but preferably at age 16. SCC Children's Services will undertake a Child and Family Assessment to identify needs for care and support post-18, which will then inform any referral to Adult Social Care accessteam@southend.gov.uk