Children in Need Practice Guidance

Section 17 of the Children Act 1989 imposes a general duty on Children's Social Care (CSC) to safeguard and promote the welfare of children in Barnet who are 'in need' and to promote the upbringing of children in need by their families by providing a range and level of services to meet those children's needs. Section 17 of the Children Act defines a child in need as a child:

• Who is unlikely to achieve or maintain, or to have the opportunity of achieving or maintaining, a reasonable standard of health or development without the provision for him/her of services;
• Or a child whose health or development is likely to be significantly impaired, or further impaired, without the provision of services;
• Or a child who is disabled.

Other agencies have a duty to co-operate with CSC in carrying out this duty to assess the needs of children and to provide services as necessary.

In order to determine the needs of a child and the support that they and their family may require, CSC will carry out an assessment by a qualified social worker. The assessment will involve finding out and giving due regard to the child's wishes and feelings regarding the provision of those services (as age and understanding appropriate). The assessment will also involve talking to parents, other family members where relevant, and professionals involved in the child's life such as health visitor or school. In Barnet, the assessment is guided by the principles of the Resilience Model. The Resilience Model is Barnet Family Services approach to working with children, young people and families. The model is a strength based approach looking for opportunities to build on in children, young people and their families.

All child in need work begins with an assessment. Barnet has developed a Children and Family (C&F) assessment which should be completed with the child and family. In most circumstances the C&F assessment should be completed, written up and signed off by a manager (in line with appropriate timescale agreed by the manager and the social worker – ranging from 10 days, 25 days or 45 days). The C&F assessment should involve seeing the child/children and observing and talking to them depending on their age and listening to the family's story. The C&F assessment also involves reviewing historical information and getting information from/talking to other professionals involved (with parental consent) to get a rounded picture of the child's needs and the support needed for parents. The completed C&F assessment should be shared with the family and, where support is required, lead to a child in need plan.

When a (C&F) assessment is in progress or has been completed and a child and their family have identified needs that require support, either through continued social work intervention or through the provision of services, a child in need plan should be developed with the family and with any other relevant agency. This can sometimes be done by holding a child in need planning meeting with family members and professionals, agreeing with the family who else might be invited, such as school, health visitor etc. Where needed, the first CIN meeting should be chaired by a team manager. The first CIN meeting is often critical and extra attention needs to be paid to developing a realistic and achievable plan for the child and the family as a base for intervention. At the first meeting, the reasons and timeframe for intervention should be set and agreed by the family, together with the agreed outcomes.

The child in need plan should be SMART, in other words it should state what the purpose of the plan is – what it is setting out to achieve; what intervention and/or services will be provided and by whom; what the child and/or family agree to do; what the time frame for the plan is and when it will be reviewed. It should be clear about the frequency of social work visits which should be a minimum of 6 weekly. Depending on the level of need identified for the child and or family, visits may be undertaken at a greater frequency. There is a separate reviewing system for children with a disability on a Children with Disabilities Plan (under the Chronically Sick and Disabled Children's Act, 1970), who are not open to social care.

The purpose of child in need plans is to provide support and/or services in such a way that enhances the ability of parents to meet the developmental needs of their child. Social work interventions and interventions commissioned from the early intervention and prevention (EIP) menu can begin and services can be provided as soon as a need is identified, without waiting for the assessment to be completed. In Intervention and Planning teams, short-term, focussed social work and/or EIP interventions that help parents make changes and link them up with community support are often the best way of responding to children in need, but these interventions and what they are seeking to achieve should always be set out in an agreed child in need plan.

Where a child has been subject to a child protection (CP) plan and improvements have been made so that the plan ends, and where a child in care returns home to their family, it is expected that most children will move to a Child in Need (CiN) plan, unless there are exceptional circumstances. In these circumstances a CAF may be initiated. In a very limited number of cases i.e. where a family has moved abroad, a case may be closed. The duration of the plan will be agreed with the family and closed if the family does not agree to continuing the work, or does not engage. This plan should be reviewed before it is closed.

Child in need (CiN) plans should also be put in place where S.47 enquiries have not proceeded to child protection, but the child and family's need for support has been identified.

Children and young people with a disability, aged under 18, should have an up-to-date child in need plan if they are receiving a service such as a direct payment and/or overnight respite or a social work intervention.

Where children are in care or subject to a child protection plan, any child in need plan should be ended and the child in care/ CP plan becomes the key plan.

The frequency of Child in Need Reviews will depend on the level of support and services that have been identified to meet need. However, the first review should be held within 3 months of the start of the Child in Need plan and further reviews should take place at least 6 monthly thereafter. Children who have been identified as at some level of risk and/or needing a high level of support and services may need to be reviewed more often than those who require a minimum level of intervention.

A CiN plan is best reviewed by meeting with the family and any key professionals (teacher, health visitor e.g.) to discuss and record what has been achieved, what has gone well and not so well, and what, if anything still needs to be done. The review should listen to and record child and family feedback about the impact the intervention or service has made. Every review should use a strengths-based approach, in line with the resilience mode, by asking everyone to state what they think has gone well, what worries or concerns they still have and what, if anything, still needs to be achieved.

Each review should lead to an up-dating of the CiN plan, unless the review concludes that the plan can end. Where child protection/S.47 enquiries arise resulting in a CP plan, or if a child comes into care, the CiN plan must be ended.

CiN reviews should take place at a minimum of every 6 months. This includes reviews for children and young people with disabilities on a CIN plan. In preparing for a review, it is best to update the C&F assessment and use that as the review report to be considered at the meeting.

The CiN planning meeting held following or as part of the first C&F assessment will generally be chaired by the manager. For subsequent CiN meetings, where there are difficult or contentious issues, they can ask for support from a more senior team member to chair.

The review meeting should be fairly informal. The social worker may chair, but where there is likely to be disagreement or difficult issues, a senior or team manager will chair. The intention is to give space for all present to voice their views and be listened to. For children with disabilities on a CiN plan the allocated social worker will chair the meeting. For children with disabilities who are not on a CiN plan, Section 2 of the Chronically Sick and Disabled Act 1970 applies.

Families should be asked where they want the review to be held, in line with the resilience-based model. Many will take place in the family home, but others may be in local community settings such as school or children's centre.

The chair will make notes at or immediately after the review, especially of actions agreed and changes needed to the CiN plan, or will request that another professional present do so. The review notes will be entered into the CiN Review Meeting minutes on LCS. Notes of what was decided at the review will be circulated to all who attended.

Where a parent or carer or young person has been identified as having specific learning difficulties or mental health needs they should be asked if they would like to be supported by an advocate. Where English is not the first language of one or more of the family members attending, they should be asked if they want an interpreter. Similarly where parents or children have communication difficulties, thought should be given to enable their participation in the review.

In most cases (leaving aside where children come into care or are made subject to a CP plan) child in need plans should end following a meeting with the family and key professionals where it is agreed that the objectives of the plan have been met and the plan and social work intervention can be ended. This is best done at a CiN Review meeting, but it is recognised that for some short-term plans a formal review meeting might not be practicable. In ending a child in need plan the child and family and any professionals involved should be consulted. When the plan ends all those involved should be informed in writing that the plan has ended and the reasons why.

When the plan ends and the case is closed to CSC, the case summary and chronology of significant events, as well as all case recording, must be completed and up to date. The record should evaluate the success and impact of the CiN plan, including the views of the child and parents on how helpful the social work intervention was to them. Child and parent views should be recorded as a case note and referenced in the closure summary.