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Contents

1. Introduction
2. Child in Need Planning Meetings
3. Reviewing Child in Need Cases
4. Financial Assistance to Children in Need Under s.17
5. Procedures for Accessing Day Care Services
6. Children with Speech and Language Difficulties
7. Haringey Contact Service
8. Breathing Space
9. Young Carers’ Service
10. Ezer Leyoldos
11. Directory

1. Introduction

The part of the manual that refers to Family Support is being re-written, further updates will available as from March 2012. If you have any questions regarding the information in this section please contact Iain Low - Head of Service Safeguarding and Support on 0208 489 5430 or Iain.Low@haringey.gov.uk.

These procedures follow those relating to Referral and Assessment, which explain the initial and core assessments, which should form the basis of any family support services, provided for Children in Need.

• They provide the framework for the planning and review of the provision of family support services to children in need, after a full s.47 assessment, an initial and/or core assessment has recommended that services are needed;
• The aim of the planning and reviewing process is to ensure that the services provided are those best suited to the child’s assessed needs;
• The CiN Planning Meeting involves the family, The Children and Families Service and any other agencies involved in making plans and reviewing progress;
• In circumstances where there is concern about the nature, severity or likelihood of significant harm to a child, Child Protection Procedures should be used rather than the CiN Planning Meetings;
• The remainder of this Chapter outlines the resources available to provide support for the child in need and their family;
• Financial assistance to children in need under s.17;
• Family Group Conferences;
• Younger Children’s Assessment Team (YCAT);
• Contact Services;
• Residence Order Allowances;
• The NCH Teenage Intervention Service;
• The NCH Young Carers’ Project;
• The NCH Children’s Rights Service;
• Ezer Leyoldos Orthodox Jewish Family Support;
• Breathing Space;
• SPACE;
• Sure Start;
• Young Carer’s Service;
• Haringey Contact Service;
• Homestart Haringey.

Information on specialist family support services for the disabled child is given below.

2. Child in Need Planning Meetings

Children in Need Planning Meetings provide the framework for case planning and reviewing of family support provision for children in need; The aim of family support case planning is to ensure:
	Partnership between service users and all professionals involved with the family; Co-ordinated services are provided by Health, The Children and Families Service and any other agencies involved, including the voluntary sector; Clear, specific, time-limited plans are made to provide support to children in need.
A Child in Need (CiN) Planning Meeting is an opportunity for family members and professionals to meet to discuss the problems or difficulties a family may be experiencing, what effect these are having and what extra help may be needed; The aim of a CiN Meeting is to produce a clear, specific plan of how professionals and family members can work together to reduce these difficulties or problems; The Meeting should:
	Bring together all persons and agencies, including the young person where appropriate, to promote the young person’s welfare and to achieve the best outcomes possible for them; Plan a core assessment in order to establish whether the child is in need and how to respond to those needs (where this has not already been completed); Identify the impact of what is happening on the child and the likely impact of any intervention on that child and on other family members; Consider what is known about the dimensions of the child’s developmental needs and how best to ensure that he/she has the opportunity to achieve his/her potential; Produce a CiN plan incorporating clearly defined tasks and the anticipated outcomes, with specific timescales.

Criteria for holding a Child in Need Planning Meeting

The CiN Planning Meeting should be arranged for those children in need who require:
	Intensive; or Ongoing; or Multi-agency services.
Examples of these are where the child:
	Already receives a range of services that need co-ordinating; Has needs that require multi-agency service provision; Has been brought to notice because of a specific event, which highlights a range of concerns and identifies them as needing services, e.g. youth offending, stranger abuse, bereavement; Has not been identified as needing Child Protection Procedures but for whom there are concerns just below the threshold of child protection; May need to be looked after either as respite or because of breakdown in their current arrangement; Has needs that may require co-ordination arising from their parent/s’ own needs but where concerns are below the threshold for child protection; Is leaving the “looked after” system and it is considered that a high or co-ordinated level of services will be necessary to maintain them in their family.
Consideration should be given to holding a Child in Need Planning Meeting on all open cases where:
	New information has led to another assessment, which indicates that the case falls within the eligibility criteria for Leaving Care Services; The case has been open for more than 12 months and there are no plans for closure and there are no alternative reviews occurring, such as LAC or Child Protection Conference.
A CiN Planning Meeting should not be held instead of a strategy meeting where there are concerns about child protection. The concerns should be dealt with first through a s.47 enquiry. The outcome of this may be to hold a CiN planning Meeting; A CiN Planning Meeting is not appropriate:
	Where suspected sexual abuse is a factor; For children about whom there are concerns arising from induced illness by parents/carers.

Arranging the Meeting

• CiN Planning Meetings can be called at any time in the process of working with a child and family, but are usually arranged during the initial assessment;
• The Social Worker should consult the Practice/Team Manager regarding the appropriateness of holding a CiN Planning Meeting, the date and the availability of a manager to chair the meeting;
• Consideration should be given as to any assistance that may be necessary to enable the family to attend or participate, for example; timing, transport and disabled access arrangements.

Family Involvement

• The meeting should always involve family members, unless doing so would jeopardise the child’s wellbeing or that of another family member (as in cases involving domestic violence or forced marriage);
• The Social Worker should consult and seek permission from a person with parental responsibility for the child, regarding any other family members and representatives of other agencies who may usefully attend;
• Consideration should be given to involving interpreters or someone with specific cultural or religious knowledge;
• A decision not to involve family members must be made by a Practice or Team Manager and recorded formally;
• The Social Worker should advise parents and any children attending that they can bring an advocate or supporter with them. Solicitors may be brought by family members as supporters, but the Chair should be given notice that they are attending.

Information Required

• The Social Worker should produce a report or provide a copy of the summary and analysis of the core assessment, if completed. This must be shared with parents/carers and the child, if appropriate, before the meeting;
• Other agencies should be asked to contribute, preferably in writing;
• The child/young person and family should be provided with the opportunity to prepare a contribution, if they wish to do so.

The Meeting

The CiN Planning Meeting must be chaired by a Practice or Team Manager; The Meeting must consider the needs of the family and work toward formulating a clear plan. The family should play a key role in this; Decisions will be made, where possible, with agreement (reflecting a desire to work in partnership), be based on negotiation (not imposition) and be respectful of family views; If no agreement can be reached, disagreements should be noted, along with any action proposed. The record must be provided to all attendees, and translated as appropriate; The Meeting should always consider whether a family group conference would be helpful; The record of the Planning Meeting should cover:
	The reason for the meeting; The main points of the meeting and decisions made; A Child in Need Care Plan detailing:
		Services identified; Timescale for the provision of the service and person responsible; Desired outcomes and timescale; A Review Planning Meeting date.
	The CiN Meeting must be recorded on Frameworki with a review date.

Review of Child in Need Planning Meetings

• An initial review Planning Meeting should usually be held after the initial meeting;
• The Social Worker should write a report for the review Planning Meeting, addressing the progress made on the Action Plan from the previous meeting;
• The purpose of the review Planning Meeting is to decide either that;
• There are increased strengths or diminished difficulties in the family so that either a lower level of services can now be offered (or possibly no continuing need for Children and Families input); or
• The current services are meeting needs and these should continue;

or

• The current services are not meeting needs and alternative services should be planned;

or

• There remain complex or serious difficulties that require a high level of intervention or service within current working arrangements but calling for frequent review; or
• There has been no change within the current working arrangements and that the situation for the child is deteriorating, such that Child Protection Procedures should be followed or the child be looked after.

A record of the review CiN Planning Meetings must be made and distributed to those invited to attend, using the same format as that outlined for the initial CiN Planning Meeting.

Further review Planning Meetings will be held at a minimum of 6 monthly, or more frequently as necessary.

3. Reviewing Child in Need Cases

Who are ‘Children in Need’

Children and young people are deemed ‘children in need’ following a range of interventions from Children’s Social Care; this could be on the granting of a S31 Supervision Order (Children Act 1989), following the de-registration from a Child Protection Plan or following a Core Assessment with an outcome that the child or young person requires additional services in order to reach or keep up a reasonable standard of health and development

Cases in Safeguarding and Support

Many of our children and young people who are ‘children in need’ are the most vulnerable in the Borough and any notion that as they are not subject to a CP Plan, they have low level needs to be challenged. These children and young people are subject to monthly visits and regular multi-agency reviews to manage and review the package of support they are receiving.

Child in Need cases move into Safeguarding and Support from:

First Response:

• Following a Core Assessment;
• Following an ICPCC where the child or young person is not made subject to a CP Plan;
• Following Care Proceedings being initiated and an Interim Supervision order is granted to the Local Authority.

Children in Care:

• Following the granting of a S38 Supervision Order (Children Act 1989).

Other:

• Where a Supervision Order is granted to the LB Haringey as part of Care Proceedings initiated by another Local authority;
• Following a RCPCC and a CP Plan is ended, but there is still a need for social work support.

Cases in Safeguarding and Support

On cases transferring into Safeguarding and Support, Deputy Heads of Service (DHoS) reviews the cases to ensure the appropriate thresholds are met and to ensure appropriate allocation within the Service.

The Team Manager is responsible to ensure social workers set up a ‘Child in Need Review’ within 4 weeks of the case being allocated.

The case should then be reviewed at a minimum of every two months (eight weeks), with some cases needing more regular review.

Depending on how the case became ‘Child in Need’, there may not be triggers on FW-I to prompt CIN Reviews. If this is the case it is the responsibility of the Team Manager to contact Framework I Support Team to set up a CIN event on the client file.

Business Support

The Business Support Officer (BSO) in Safeguarding and Support will distribute a monthly list of all new CIN cases to Team Managers, during the first week of each month.

This list will detail all new CIN cases allocated within the previous month. Managers will use this list in supervision with workers and agree the review schedule for the case, based on the above standards and the particular needs of the child or young person.

The agreed review schedule needs to be added as a Case Note on the child or young person’s file with a heading of:

CIN Review Schedule

This entry will detail the agreed timescales for reviewing the case.

4. Financial Assistance to Children in Need Under s.17

S.17 provides that the Local Authority may, in exceptional circumstances, assist family of children in need by making cash payments.

All payments must be made to the person caring for the child.

Cash payments can only be made in the event of an emergency.

Where there is no emergency situation, assistance will be given in kind.

Budget

The budget for s.17 is held by the Head of Service.

The delegated limit for approval of financial payments is as follows:

Head of Service £1000.00

Team Manager £250.00

Practice Manager £100.00

All payments are per family per year.

Where any payment is likely to exceed the delegated limit, approval must be sought from the Head of Service.

Procedures

Except where a payment forms part of an agreed Care Plan, the Social Worker or Social Services Officer must first complete an initial assessment of the child’s needs.

The assessment must detail enquiries conducted with the family and DSS to ensure the family is in receipt of their full benefit entitlement.

The assessment must also take into account any other resource available to the family to meet the identified need and the urgency of the situation.

The assessment must include a recommendation about the level of payment.

Where a payment is agreed, the Social Worker or Social Services

Officer must complete a CL2 Form.

The CL2 Form is used to claim money on behalf of a client.

The Form must detail the amount requested, the recipient’s full name and address and whether the payment is to be made by cash or cheque.

Where a travel warrant is requested, the Social Worker/Social Services Officer must detail the name of the parties travelling, date of journey and departing and alighting stations.

Where the amount requested exceeds the Team Manager’s level of delegated authority, the Form must include an explanation of reason for the payment and indicate whether this is a one-off or recurring payment.

The Form must be signed by the Social Worker/Social Services Officer requesting the payment and approving budget holder.

The CL2 Form must then be passed to the Finance Officer for payment together with the client’s Payment Record Sheet.

A copy of the CL2 must be placed on the social work file.

The file must be made available to the Finance Officer should he/she so request.

The Finance Officer will issue a green receipt with all payments. This must be signed by the recipient and returned promptly to the Finance Officer.

The Finance Officer will update the Payment Record Sheet and return it to the Social Worker/Social Services Officer.

The Finance Officer will notify the Team and Head of Service where the accumulated amount of money paid to any one client exceeds £500.00.

Where such a notification is received, the Team Manager in conjunction with the Practice Manager must conduct a management review of the case.

5. Procedures for Accessing Day Care Services

This section covers the procedures in relation to day care resources for children in need generally.

Children in Need

There are two major day care resources which children in need can access. These are:

• The Haringey Education Under 5 centres and nursery centres;
• The Day Care Budget (formerly the Sponsorship Budget).

Haringey Education Under 5 Centres and Nursery Centres

There are 25 full time equivalent places in Haringey Under 5’s Centres and Nursery Centres. A full time place is approximately 9.30 am – 3.00 pm.

However, it is likely that the young child will be allocated a part time place, generally either mornings or afternoons only.

The 25 children in need places are allocated by Social Services, and will follow on from a child in need assessment. The distribution of places is described in the directory (see Section 15, Directory).

There are currently no Social Services places at Stonecroft or Park Lane Under 5’s Centres. The two Nursery Centres take children from the age of 3, whilst the Under 5’s Centres will take children from about 18 months. There are some places available to children in need at Woodlands Park Nursery Centre, which also has the occasional baby place available for very young children.

The Head of Service must first approve any request for a place for an individual child in need.

When approved, the Social Worker must contact the resource directly to see if a place is available. Most places follow the school timetable, so the major turnover occurs in September.

Review of Placements

Payments from the Day Care Budget and the allocation of a place at an Under 5’s Centre are resources allocated to an individual child, whose needs will change over time.

The placement will need to be reviewed, both to confirm the placement is meeting the child’s needs, and to see whether alternative and/or cheaper arrangements can be made.

Nursery School Provision

Any Haringey child who is aged 3 and over at the beginning of a school year (September 1st ) , should be entitled to a place in a nursery class.

Standard allocation will be a part time, morning or afternoon place.

Although the schools themselves allocate these places, they must use the following criteria, which will cover many Social Service users:

• Children with SEN;
• Children from families with particular social or medical needs (factors will include looked after children and children subject a Child Protection Plan;
• Other children in need;
• Housed in temporary accommodation;
• Triplets, twins;
• Children from families with several pre-school aged children;
• Children from refugee or asylum seeking families;
• Children entitled to free school meals (i.e. families in receipt of income support)
• Children for whom English is a second language.

Parents need to apply to the individual school in good time – probably around the Easter preceding the September entry.

If deadlines have been missed, it is worth checking for possible vacancies as some nurseries have a high turnover.

6. Children with Speech and Language Difficulties

Groups are run within two of the Under 5’s Centres (Park Lane and Stonecroft) for children with significant speech and language problems.

The groups are full time and run from September to February and from February to July. However, it is unlikely that a child will have a place on two successive groups, so a parent must avoid becoming reliant on the place for day care.

The places are allocated primarily on professional assessment of the degree of language delay, so any potential referrals must be discussed with the speech and language therapist involved with the child.

If children appear to have difficulties with speech or language, it is always worth discussing this with the speech and language therapist, as it can often be indicative of a range of other problems.

7. Haringey Contact Service

The Haringey Contact Service (HCS) is located at:

Haringey Contact Centre,
Keston Road,
Tottenham, London
N17 6PW

Tel. No. 020 8489 8400.

HCS delivers a supervised contact service for all our Looked After children and young people. There are a range of facilities for contact at the Centre and the service also uses other facilities at Pulford Road Centre, off Seven Sisters Road and across our Children’s Centres.

The service is not able to offer supervised contact to children and young people subject to Child Protection Plans, Supervision Orders or Special Guardianship Orders.

“There is a Contact Protocol and Referral Forms are available in the Supervised Contact section of the Forms Library.

8. Breathing Space

This is a project offering respite to children with a disability for 2 hours per week per child. The project is funded by a Carers Grant from the Department of Health; the Home Sitting Service is a joint run project between Social Services, AFASIC and Markfield Project.

Respite will either be offered in the child’s home or the child may be taken out to local amenities.

Review meetings are held every 3 months.

Eligibility Criteria

• The child has a substantial disability that has been assessed by the Disabled Children’s Team;
• The child received little or no other respite service;
• There is very limited support available in the family for the child with a disability;
• The service is provided for children up to the age of 18 years.

Referral

Referrals can be received from Family Link, Disabled Children’s Team and Haslemere Road.

The Home Sitting Co-ordinators will review applications with a view to deciding who will be offered the service. Where possible, please provide a copy of the child portrait.

Families will be matched to the Childcare Respite Workers (CRW).

The CRW will have extensive experience of working with children with a disability.

Support/Respite

Service Description

CSCS will also offer some respite care when necessary and this service cannot be found elsewhere, e.g. to enable a parent to attend an appointment or engage in a programme of counselling.

The service can also be accessed when a parent or carer is ill or recovering from an illness and is unable to care for his/her child/ren or take them to or from school.

Referrals

Referrals can only be accepted for children under 11 years of age.

This should be seen as a one-off/short term limited piece of work.

Referral Procedures

Referrals will be accepted over the telephone. Information required is as follows:

• Basic Information Sheet;
• Aims and objective of the service;
• Signed agreement from an appropriate budget holder;
• Evidence of a risk assessment to determine any health and safety issues with regards to the placement, e.g. vicious pets, violent partners etc.

The service usually requires at least 5 working days notice from receipt of the information requested.

Review Procedures

Reviews take place every 8 – 10 weeks and will be co-ordinated by the Contact and Support Officer. This can be over the telephone or as part of the statutory or professionals network meeting. Where appropriate, an independent meeting will be set up.

9. Young Carers’ Service

The Young Carers’ Service provides support to children and young people aged 5 to 18 years, who have significant caring responsibilities for family members and who live in the Borough of Haringey. The aim is to provide a number of services based on the needs of young carers and provide opportunities for them to lead normal social, educational and emotional lives.

The service also aims to raise awareness of the particular needs of young carers, and help them access other appropriate services.

Office hours – Monday to Friday 9.30am to 5.30pm and an evening service for group work/ activity programmes.

Office space - The Council will provide office space at the Red Gables Family Centre in Crouch End. The project will also be given use of rooms within the Red Gables Family Centre in Crouch End and the Pulford Road Family Centre in Tottenham for group activity.

Expected Capacity – approximately 40 users at any one time

Eligibility Criteria

Young Carers aged 5-18 years, living in the London Borough of Haringey.

Referrals

Self-referrals from young carers and their families should also be accepted by the service.

10. Ezer Leyoldos

Ezer Leyoldos provides a culturally appropriate support service to large numbers of families under demanding circumstances within the Jewish Orthodox community. The organisation provides a structured family support service by qualified staff from within the Jewish Orthodox community, whilst liasing with other healthcare professionals.

The service provider will explore practical activities that will enable parents to meet their children’s physical and emotional needs and develop and maintain a safe environment.

The services, which are provided in Yiddish and Hebrew, consist of a wide range of emotional and physical support services for mothers and growing families, which are not in conflict with the Jewish Orthodox culture. These include ante- and post-natal care, emotional support for parents at stressful or tragic times, assistance with the care of siblings and domestic duties, provision of family meals and the availability of parenting classes.

Eligibility criteria

Families within the Jewish Orthodox Community within the environs of the London Borough of Haringey who are experiencing acute difficulties and who would benefit from short-term support with domestic activities.

Referral Procedure

Mrs. Sternlicht
Ezer Leyoldos
136 Stamford Hill,
London
N16 6QT

Tel: 020 8880 2488
Email: ezerleyoldos@hotmail.com

11. Directory

A number of schools have full time childcare places available. They are as follows:

• St. Francis de Sales;
• St. Paul’s and All Hallows;
• The Green;
• Welbourne;
• Crowland;
• Seven Sisters;
• Stamford Hill;
• Tiverton;
• Broadwater Farm;
• Devonshire Hill;
• Risley Avenue;
• Lordship Lane;
• North Harringay;
• Alexandra;
• Bounds Green;
• Nightingale;
• Campsbourne;
• St. Aidans;
• Stroud Green;
• Coldfall;
• St. James.

Information can be faxed to the team on 020 8489 4592 or sent by post to: Childcare Support Service, Room 11, Tottenham Town Hall, Approach Road, London N15 4RY.

Haringey’s Special Needs Toy Library and Drop-in is held every first Friday of each month from 12.30 pm to 2.00 pm at Red Gables Family Centre, 113 Crouch Hill, Crouch End, London N8 9QN.

CiN nursery places - distribution

• Rowland Hill Nursery Centre 7;
• Pembury Nursery Centre 7;
• Plevna Under 5’s Centre 4;
• White Hart Lane 7.

The YCAT is currently located at 14A Willoughby Road, London N8 0JJ.

End