Assessments and Support

Under the Children Act 1989, local authorities undertake assessments of the needs of individual children to determine what services to provide and what action to take:

• A Child in Need is defined under the Children Act 1989 as a child who is unlikely to achieve or maintain a satisfactory level of health or development, or their health and development will be significantly impaired, without the provision of services; or a child who is disabled. In these cases, assessments by a social worker are carried out under Section 17 of the Children Act 1989. Children in Need may be assessed under section 17 of the Children Act 1989, in relation to their Special Educational Needs, disabilities, or as a carer, or because they have committed a crime. The process for assessment should also be used for children whose parents are in prison and for unaccompanied migrant children and child victims of modern slavery. When assessing Children in Need and providing services, specialist assessments may be required and, where possible, should be coordinated so that the child and family experience a coherent process and a single plan of action.
  
  The need to assess can also include pre-birth situations when a mother's own circumstances would give cause for concern that the pre-birth, and then born, child would come within the definition of being a 'Child in Need'. (See Section 12.1, Pre-birth 'Good Practice Steps');

• Concerns about maltreatment may be the reason for a Referral to local authority children's social care or concerns may arise during the course of providing services to the child and family. In these circumstances, local authority children's social care must initiate enquiries to find out what is happening to the child and whether protective action is required. Local authorities, with the help of other organisations as appropriate, also have a duty to make enquiries under Section 47 of the Children Act 1989 if they have reasonable cause to suspect that a child is suffering, or is likely to suffer, Significant Harm, to enable them to decide whether they should take any action to safeguard and promote the child's welfare. Such enquiries, supported by other organisations and agencies as appropriate, should be initiated where there are concerns about all forms of abuse and neglect. This includes female genital mutilation and other honour- based violence, and extra-familial threats including radicalisation and sexual or criminal exploitation;
• There may be a need for immediate protection whilst the assessment is carried out;
• Some Children in Need may require accommodation because there is no one who has Parental Responsibility for them, or because they are alone or abandoned. Under Section 20 of the Children Act 1989, the local authority has a duty to accommodate such Children in Need in their area. Following an application under section 31A, where a child is the subject of a Care Order, the local authority, as a corporate parent, must assess the child's needs and draw up a Care Plan which sets out the services which will be provided to meet the child's identified needs.

See the child and family assessment template recorded on the child's record system - Mosaic.

A good quality social work assessment is central to the understanding of what is happening to a child and family, and to informing decisions about action to be taken or services to be provided. An assessment is also an intervention in itself, and the process of assessment may create change and lead to help from the extended family and/or the provision of services.

The social work assessment has a particular contribution to make to a holistic understanding of a child's needs, taking account of other professional assessments from health colleagues, psychologists, or educationalists.

A good assessment will include the child's history, current behaviours and view of the world, and indications of what the future holds. Good quality assessments will show evidence that they:

• Are child centred;
• Are rooted in child development;
• Are ecological in their approach (an understanding of the child is located within the context of the family, community and culture);
• Take account of a child's religious, cultural or racial background;
• Involve working with children and their families;
• Take account of individual and family strengths as well as identify difficulties;
• Identify risk factors and preventative factors;
• Take account of parent's own childhood experiences and the impact that this may have on their own parenting capacity, experience and knowledge of support services;
• Are interagency in their approach to assessment and the provision of services;
• Are a continuing process, not a single event;
• Separate out facts from opinions;
• Are carried out in parallel with other actions and provide a service; and
• Are grounded in evidence-based knowledge.

Once a contact about a child and their family has been progressed through to a referral and decision has been made that statutory intervention and support is required the social worker will make a brief first Child and Family Assessment (CAFA) that should take no more than 10 working days. If they already have an Early Help Assessment this will be used to inform the CAFA to start with. At the 10 day checkpoint the team manager will make a decision about any further assessment needed which may take up to a further 35 working days. A Team Manager could decide that the family needs a full assessment (up to 45 working days) from the outset. If the child or the family require help immediately and can't wait for the assessment to be completed, we will always work to provide support during the assessment process, we should not be waiting until the assessment is completed before we offer help and support.

Once the full Assessment is completed, a plan will be drawn up setting out what help and support will be provided and by whom.

The assessment will always be led by a qualified and experienced social worker regularly supervised by a qualified social work manager. Principal social workers should support social workers, the local authority and partners to develop their assessment practice and decision making skills, and the practice methodology that underpins this.

The date of the commencement of the assessment will be recorded in the electronic database.

The qualified social worker should carefully plan that the following are carried out:

• See/interview the child;
• Interview the parents and any other relevant family members;
• Consider whether to see the child with their parents;
• The child should be seen by the lead social worker without their caregivers when appropriate and this should be recorded in the Assessment Record;
• Determine what the parents should be told of any concerns;
• Consult with and consider contributions from all relevant agencies, including agencies covering previous addresses in the UK and abroad.

If it is determined that a child should not be seen as part of the assessment, this should be recorded by the manager with reasons.

Before a Referral is discussed with other agencies, the parent's consent should usually be sought, unless to do so may place the child at risk of Significant Harm, in which case the manager should authorise the discussion of the Referral with other agencies without parental knowledge or consent. The authorisation should be recorded with reasons.

If during the course of the assessment, it is discovered that a school age child is not attending an educational establishment, the social worker should contact the local education service to establish a reason for this.

If there is suspicion that a crime may have been committed including sexual or physical assault or neglect of the child, the Police must be notified immediately.

The way in which we communicate with children and their families within the assessment process is important, a restorative relationship, one which is open and honest and built on mutual respect and trust, allows both high support and high challenge and provides a foundation to ensure that professionals are working in partnership "with" parents, carers and families to appropriately meet their needs, and that this is taking place in a safe way.

It will support a change in language from one which potentially blames the child, young person or family for example "un-cooperative or disguised compliance" to that which is more partnership orientated and places an onus of social work practitioners to work positively "with" families to build effective partnerships.

In order to work effectively with children and their families in achieving positive outcomes all contact must be a meaningful experience for the child and their family and it must be undertaken with thought and sensitivity.

In planning the assessment and in providing the parent and child with feedback, the social worker will need to consider and address any communication issues, for example language or impairment.

Where a child or parent speaks a language other than that spoken by the social worker, such as those who are unaccompanied children, and those children who are victims of modern slavery and/or trafficking, an interpreter should be provided. Any decision not to use an interpreter in such circumstances must be approved by the Team Manager and recorded.

Where a child or parent with disabilities has communication difficulties it may be necessary to use alternatives to speech. In communicating with a child with such an impairment, it may be particularly useful to involve a person who knows the child well and is familiar with the child's communication methods. However, caution should be given in using family members to facilitate communication. Where the child has had a communication assessment, its conclusions and recommendations should be observed.

NOTE: Where the parents have learning disabilities, it may be necessary to adapt communications to meet their needs – for further information, see the Blackburn with Darwen, Blackpool and Lancashire Children's Safeguarding Assurance Partnership (CSAP) Procedures Manual, Learning Difficulties and Disabilities of a Parent/Carer Procedure.

If we are to help vulnerable children and young people, and provide a caring and nurturing environment for them to be able to grow and develop, we need to understand what has happened to make them vulnerable, what sense of the world they have, and what the future holds for them.

'The child should not be lost or unseen by the enmeshed interaction between overwhelmed families and overwhelmed professionals. If using strength based approaches do not preclude weighing up the risks of harm to the child'. (Brandon, 2009).

Children should to be seen and listened to and included throughout the assessment process. Their ways of communicating should be understood in the context of their family and community as well as their behaviour and developmental stage. It is important that the impact of what is happening to a child is clearly identified and that information is gathered, recorded and checked systematically, and discussed with the child and their parents/carers where appropriate.

Assessments, service provision and decision making should regularly review the impact of the assessment process and the services provided on the child so that the best outcomes for the child can be achieved. Any services provided should be based on a clear analysis of the child's needs, and the changes that are required to improve the outcomes for the child.

Children should be actively involved in all parts of the process based upon their age, developmental stage and identity. Direct work with the child and family should include observations of the interactions between the child and the parents/care givers.

All agencies involved with the child, the parents and the wider family have a duty to collaborate and share information to safeguard and promote the welfare of the child.

All Assessments should be planned and coordinated by a social worker and the purpose of the assessment should be transparent, understood and agreed by all participants. There should be an agreed statement setting out the aims of the assessment process.

Referrals may include siblings or a single child within a sibling group. Where the initial focus for a referral is on one child, other children in the household or family should be equally considered, and the individual circumstances of each assessed and evaluated separately.

Planning should identify the different elements of the assessment including who should be involved. It is good practice to hold a planning meeting to clarify roles and timescales as well as services to be provided during the assessment where there are a number of family members and agencies likely to play a part in the process.

Questions to be considered in planning assessments include:

• Who will undertake the assessment and what resources will be needed?
• Who in the family will be included and how will they be involved (including absent or wider family and others significant to the child)?
• In what grouping will the child and family members be seen and in what order and where?
• What services are to be provided during the assessment?
• Are there communication needs? If so, what are the specific needs and how they will be met?
• How will the assessment take into account the particular issues faced by black and minority ethnic children and their families, and disabled children and their families?
• What method of collecting information will be used? Are there any tools / questionnaires available?
• What information is already available?
• What other sources of knowledge about the child and family are available and how will other agencies and professionals who know the family be informed and involved?
• How will the consent of family members be obtained?
• What will be the timescales?
• How will the information be recorded?
• How will it be analysed and who will be involved?
• When will the outcomes be discussed and service planning take place.

The assessment process can be summarised as follows:

• Gathering relevant information;
• Analysing the information and reaching professional judgments;
• Making decisions and planning interventions;
• Intervening, service delivery and/or further assessment;
• Evaluating and reviewing progress.

Assessment should be a dynamic process, which analyses and responds to the changing nature and level of need and/or risk faced by the child from within and outside their family. A good assessment will monitor and record the impact of any services delivered to the child and family and review the help being delivered. Whilst services may be delivered to a parent or carer, the assessment should be focused on the needs of the child and on the impact any services are having on the child.

In undertaking a risk analysis practitioners need to establish what the risk and protective factors in the child's situation are and should consider the child's developmental needs, family and environmental factors, and parenting capacity from the Assessment Framework domains. The risk factors, if not balanced by adequate protective factors, are difficult to manage and are likely to lead to harmful and damaging outcomes for the child.

Practitioners must identify the factors most likely to be significant in terms of reducing/increasing the probability of harm to the child, and to estimate the level of risk of future harm. Through the assessment, practitioners must reflect and analyse different hypotheses, and be aware of their and other professionals' unique lens perspective to determine any professional bias. This will help inform their analysis of the child's daily lived experience; what is going well within the family; what are we worried about; what do we want the child's life to be like; and what then needs to happen.

The Social Discipline Window describes four basic approaches to working; represented as different combinations of high or low challenge and high or low support. The Restorative domain that we are committed to combines both high challenge and high support and is characterised by doing things WITH people, rather than to them or for them.

The "Blackpool Families Rock" way of practice encapsulates working WITH people rather than doing things to or for them as we recognise that co-produced service and care plans are ultimately more successful in achieving the most positive outcomes for our children and families in Blackpool. In doing so we will ensure that we understand the child's lived experience, ensure that the most effective support is available at the earliest opportunity to enable families to develop sustainable solutions, to then empower families to make the changes that then improve outcomes for their children.

A restorative relationship, one which is open and honest and built on mutual respect and trust, allows both high support and high challenge. It provides a foundation to ensure that professionals are working in partnership "with" parents, carers and families to appropriately meet their needs, and that this is taking place in a safe way.

The principles of restorative practice, doing with, not to or for, allow families to work alongside professionals to honestly identify areas of strength and weakness, areas which may need change, and to develop plans which the family are supportive of, and willing to engage with.

Assessments undertaken with families will allow for families to self-identify where they see there may be need for change or support, as well as areas where they consider their strengths to be. Alongside this practitioners should challenge families if they don't agree with their assessment of their strengths and weaknesses. This will allow for an agreed assessment of the family and any potential risks for children and young people.

Social Workers need to have the skill, courage and personal resources to ask really hard questions. Within the assessment process social workers must adopt 'professional curiosity' and remain sceptical of the explanations, justifications or excuses they may hear in connection with the apparent maltreatment of children.

However, practitioners need also to be aware that their own communication may be misunderstood and may lead to misinterpretation around compliance; behaviour may seem to be non-compliant but the issue may be the way in which workers are communicating.

There will be times when families can present as hostile or hard to engage practitioners must ensure they do not develop low expectations of what can be achieved (Laming, 2009:23). Hostile behaviour is often a distraction technique to create barriers to engagement. Sometimes getting through the door can feel like a major achievement with little energy left to use the time with the child, we must also consider that some reactions from families can also be a direct result of the fear they may be feeling, however we must be mindful that this can be the family creating barriers to engagement.

Families may be more reluctant to work with professionals if they perceive the professional as disrespectful and unreliable or if they believe confidentiality has been breached outside the agreed parameters. Professionals should acknowledge and apologise for any mistakes.

If social workers became fearful during a visit you should discuss this with your manager. It is really important in these circumstances to reflect on how this is making you feel as a practitioner and consider how a child or young person may feel in this situation. 'A seen child is not necessarily a Safe child'. It is completely appropriate to ask yourself: 'if I am feeling like this, how must the child be feeling?'. It is really important that you explore this with them when you do get to see them alone.

Working Together to Safeguard Children sets out sound principles and procedures for collaborative working. All agencies and professionals working with a child should understand their responsibilities in order to achieve the positive outcomes that keep children safe, and complement the support that other professionals may be providing.

Statutory guidance and good practice dictate that there must be joint working between police, health and children's services to ensure that the risk of harm to children is well understood, assessed and acted upon as appropriate.

It is vitally important to build strong links with other agencies at both practitioner and manager level to improve relationships and the quality of agency involvement within assessments to inform outcomes for children.

All agencies and professionals involved with the child, and the family, have a responsibility to contribute to the assessment process. This might take the form of providing information in a timely manner and direct or joint work. Differences of opinion between professionals should be resolved speedily but where this is not possible, the local arrangements for resolving professional disagreements should be implemented.

All agencies must work together to ensure that the welfare of the child is maintained with clear lines of communication and joint working where appropriate. Where there is the presence of a contributing factor relating to another agency, joint visiting must be considered.

It is possible that professionals have different experiences of the child and family and understanding these differences will actively contribute to the understanding of the child / family. The different unique perspectives of agencies involved with different members of the family must always be given balanced consideration and be taken into account in the practioner's analysis. Only by doing this, do we gain a clear and true understanding of what is going on within the child's household and wider family eco-system.

The professionals should be involved from the outset and through the agreed, regular process of review.

The social worker's supervisor will have a key role in supporting the practitioner to ensure all relevant agencies are involved.

Agencies providing services to adults, who are parents, carers or who have regular contact with children must consider the impact on the child of the particular needs of the adult in question.

Every assessment should be focused on outcomes, deciding which services and support to provide to deliver improved welfare for the child and reflect the child's best interests. In the course of the assessment, the social worker and their line manager should determine:

• Is this a Child in Need? (Section 17 Children Act 1989);
• Is there reasonable cause to suspect that this child is suffering, or is likely to suffer, Significant Harm? (Section 47 Children Act 1989);
• Is this a child in need of accommodation? (Section 20 or Section 31A Children Act 1989).

The possible outcomes of the assessment should be decided on by the social worker and their line manager, who should agree a plan of action setting out the services to be delivered how and by whom in discussion with the child and family and the professionals involved.

The outcomes may be as follows:

• No further action;
• Additional support which can be provided through universal services and single service provision or the early help process;
• The development of a multi-agency Child in Need plan for the provision of child in need services to promote the child's health and development;
• Specialist assessment for a more in-depth understanding of the child's needs and circumstances;
• Undertaking a Strategy Discussion/Meeting, a Section 47 child protection enquiry;
• Emergency action to protect a child.

Consideration must be given to undertaking a Families Together Meeting to identify strengths in the wider family network in those situations where a child may need an alternative permanency plan or contingency plans for care to be provided to them by wider family members (see also Families Together Meetings Procedure).

The outcome of the assessment should be:

• Discussed with the child and family and provided to them in written form. Exceptions to this are where this might place a child at risk of harm or jeopardise an enquiry or Police investigation;
• Taking account of confidentiality, provided to professional referrers;
• Given in writing to agencies involved in providing services to the child with the action points, review dates and intended outcomes for the child stated.

For families in need of longer term support due to complex family support issues, practitioners need to have knowledge of community services so that they can refer and signpost families to alternative support. Referrals to support services may prevent re-referrals and an escalation of concerns in the future. Practitioners must refer to the FYI Directory for up to date information on services available.

The maximum time frame for the assessment to conclude, such that it is possible to reach a decision on next steps, should be no longer than 45 working days from the point of Referral. If, in discussion with a child and their family and other professionals, an assessment exceeds 45 working days, the social worker and professionals involved should record the reasons for exceeding the time limit. There are checkpoints at 10, 30 and 45 days with managers to ensure that cases are progressing in a timely way. Timeliness of assessment will be determined by need.

Child and Family Assessments (CAFA) must be reviewed and updated at least annually.

A new child and family assessment will be required when there is a significant event in a child life, for example, where a recommendation has been made by a core group to cease a child protection plan or issue pre-proceedings / PLO, a child is at risk of coming into our care, is moving onto a Pathway Plan; prior to a return home to their parents / family, prior to discharging a child's Care Order, prior placing a child with their parents under Placement with Parents Regulations (PPR), or any other significant change in the child's circumstances.

The assessment plan must set out timescales for the actions to be met and stages of the assessment to progress, which should include regular points to review the assessment. The work with the child and family should ensure that the agreed points are achieved through regular reviews. Where delays or obstacles occur these must be acted on and the assessment plan must be reviewed if any circumstances change for the child.

The social worker's line manager must review the assessment plan regularly with the social worker and ensure that actions such as those below have been met:

• There has been direct communication with the child alone and their views and wishes have been recorded and taken into account when providing services;
• All the children in the household have been seen and their needs considered;
• The child's home address has been visited and the child's bedroom has been seen;
• The parents have been seen and their views and wishes have been recorded and taken into account;
• The analysis and evaluation has been completed;
• The assessment provides clear evidence for decisions on what types of services are needed to provide good outcomes for the child and family.

'Working Together to Safeguard Children' reminds all professionals of the importance of reviewing progress and that A high quality assessment is one in which evidence is built and revised throughout the process and takes account of family history and the child's experience of cumulative abuse. A social worker may arrive at a judgement early in the case but this may need to be revised as the case progresses and further information comes to light. It is a characteristic of skilled practice that social workers revisit their assumptions in the light of new evidence and take action to revise their decisions in the best interests of the individual child. Decision points and review points involving the child and family and relevant practitioners should be used to keep the assessment on track. This is to ensure that help is given in a timely and appropriate way and that the impact of this help is analysed and evaluated in terms of the improved outcomes and welfare of the child.

Recording by all professionals should include information on the child's development so that progress can be monitored to ensure their outcomes are improving. This is particularly significant in circumstances where neglect is an issue.

Records should be kept of the progress of the assessment on the individual child's record and in their Chronology to monitor any patterns of concerns.

Assessment plans and action points arising from plans and meetings should be circulated to the participants including the child, if appropriate, and the parents.

The recording should be such that a child, requesting to access their records, could easily understand the process taking place and the reasons for decisions and actions taken.

Supervision records should reflect the reasoning for decisions and actions taken.

Assessments must be completed using the Common Assessment Framework assessment template on the children's record system - Mosaic.

The assessment triangle in Working Together to Safeguard Children provides a model, which should be used to examine how the different aspects of the child's life and context interact and impact on the child. It notes that it is important that:

"Assessment should be a dynamic process, which analyses and responds to the changing nature and level of need and/or risk faced by the child from within and outside their family. It is important that the impact of what is happening to a child is clearly identified and that information is gathered, recorded and checked systematically, and discussed with the child and their parents/carers where appropriate."

The assessment must consider the assessment triangle domains:

• The child's developmental needs;
• Parenting capacity;
• Family and environmental factors.

Child and Family assessments are a multi-agency responsibility and other appropriate agencies must contribute.

Working Together to Safeguard Children 2018 sets out sound principles and procedures for collaborative working. All professionals working with a child should understand their responsibilities in order to achieve the positive outcomes that keep children safe, and complement the support that other professionals may be providing.

Statutory guidance and good practice dictate that there must be joint working between police, health and children's services to ensure that the risk of harm to children is well understood, assessed and acted upon as appropriate.

It is good practice to hold a multiagency assessment planning meeting where requests are made to partner agencies for chronologies and reports of any previous/current involvement with the family. This allows the social worker to have a clear understanding of the history of the family and previous interventions, therefore reducing the risk of 'start again syndrome' or uninformed analysis.

Reference should also be made to any appropriate theoretical bases for multi-agency planning.

Key theories include:

• Blackpool Families Rock Theory Base;
• Attachment theory;
• Resilience theory;
• Permanence planning;
• Child development;
• Child abuse and family adversity theories;
• Risk assessment and risk management theories;
• Anti-discriminatory practice theories.

Practitioners should look to using other tools in order to inform their analysis and decision-making. Tools are available on Blackpool Children's Social Care Online Library.

Where a 16 or 17 year old seeks help from local authority children's services, or is referred to children's services by some other person or agency as appearing to be homeless or threatened with homelessness, children's services must carry out an assessment of what duties, if any, are owed to them. This includes 17 year olds who are approaching their 18th birthday, and young people who are pregnant or have children in their care.

If there is an imminent threat of homelessness, or if the young person is actually homeless, a child in need assessment must be carried out and the child accommodated under section 20 Children Act 1989, (although this can be refused by the child) (see Prevention of Homelessness and Provision of Accommodation for 16 and 17 year olds who may be Homeless and/or require Accommodation; and Duty to Refer).

Intentional Homelessness see: Homelessness Guidance for local authorities.

An increasing number of cases involve families from abroad, necessitating assessments of family members in other countries. However, the Court of Appeal has pointed out that it might not be professional, permissible or lawful for a social worker to undertake an assessment in another jurisdiction. Children and Families Across Borders (CFAB) advise that enquiries should be made as to whether the assessment can be undertaken by the authorities in the overseas jurisdiction. UK social workers should not routinely travel overseas to undertake assessments in countries where they have no knowledge of legislative frameworks, cultural expectations or resources available to a child placed there.

See also: Cross-border child protection cases: the 1996 Hague Convention (DfE) and The International Child Abduction and Contact Unit.

As well as threats to the welfare of children from within their families, children may be vulnerable to abuse or exploitation from outside their families. These extra-familial threats might arise at school and other educational establishments, from within peer groups, or more widely from within the wider community and/or online.

These threats can take a variety of different forms and children can be vulnerable to multiple threats, including: exploitation by criminal gangs and organised crime groups such as county lines; trafficking, online abuse; teenage relationship abuse (including controlling or coercive behaviour); sexual exploitation and the influences of extremism leading to radicalisation.

Assessments of children in such cases should consider whether wider environmental factors are undermining effective intervention being undertaken to reduce risk with the child and family. Parents and carers have little influence over the contexts in which the abuse takes place and the young person's experiences of this extra-familial abuse can undermine parent-child relationships.

Where this is the case, the social worker should:

• Refer the child's circumstances to relevant Multi-Agency work which addresses the concerns and risks in the neighbourhood or local authority;
• Identify the issues with their line-manager with a view to the local authority establishing a multi-agency intervention programme to meet community needs; or
• In specific circumstances, through their line-manager, seek to convene a Child in Need strategy/planning meeting with relevant partner agencies (e.g. school, police, relevant voluntary bodies, etc.) to explore specific interventions to address the safeguarding issues.

Within this context, children who may be alleged perpetrators should also be assessed to understand the impact of contextual issues on their safety and welfare.

Assessments of children in such cases should consider the individual needs and vulnerabilities of each child. They should look at the parental capacity to support the child, including helping the parents and carers to understand any risks and support them to keep children safe and assess potential risk of harm to the child.

These interventions should focus on addressing both child and family and these wider environmental factors, which are likely to be a threat to the safety and welfare of a number of different children who may or may not be known to local authority Children's Social Care. Effective information sharing and intelligence gathering is crucial in developing effective coordinated multi-agency responses.