Minutes:
The following questions were put to the Chairman of the
Children and Families Overview and Scrutiny Committee.
Questions by Miss
Karen O’Reardon, resident:
Could the Chairman please advise:-
(a) What standard procedures are in place within children’s social care for children and teenagers with mental health problems who are unmanageable at home in a crisis on a weekend or after 5pm;
(b) Is there a clear defined link on the website for families, professionals, schools or other care givers to access a crisis team which includes mental health trained social workers?
(c) How many mental health trained social workers work within children’s social care?
(d) What respite care is provided for children and teenagers with mental health problems within Leicestershire?
(e) What out of hours services and support is available for a child on a child protection plan?
(f) Are parents still penalised for poor attendance if a child or teenager displaying mental health issues misses school because of anxiety or depression?
Reply by the
Chairman:
(a) Children’s Social Care provides an out of hour’s service covering key out of normal office hours: after 5pm during the week and all day at weekends. The on call social worker provides a proportionate response to emergency situations that require Social Worker involvement that cannot wait until the daytime service is next available.
If the Out of Hours Service is contacted, in the circumstances outlined in the question above, it will assess from the information shared what action needs to be taken to ensure that the young person and their family have any immediate support in place. This will include liaison with Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) on call officers where appropriate. A Social Worker may contact the family over the phone or complete a home visit. Depending upon the assessed circumstances the Out of Hours Social Worker will consider with the young person, the family and, if appropriate, CAMHS what support needs to be in place.
(b) Better Care Together, the Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland wide five year plan to transform health and care services, is currently working on strengthening the offer to young people with mental health issues and their families. The contact point for any young person with mental health issues is via their GP or the Children’s Emergency Department. They will assess the young person’s mental health and refer the young person to the appropriate service.
The Young Minds website provides supportive guides to both child and parents. Immediate online counselling is available through kooth.com.
(c) All children’s social workers are trained to assess and provide direct work with young people and families dealing with a number of challenging circumstances including mental/emotional wellbeing.
Leicestershire Children’s Social Care currently commissions Leicester City Social Care to provide Approved Mental Health Social Workers to complete the Mental Health Assessments Out of Hours. During office hours, Approved Mental Health Social Workers are provided by the County’s Adult Social Care Service. Leicestershire Children’s Social Care Service will ensure appropriate information is shared with the social worker completing the assessment. All assessments of a child/young person’s mental health are completed by appropriately qualified staff- the assessment is undertaken by the Approved Mental Health Social Worker and qualified medical staff.
(d) The circumstances of each individual child/young person referred to Children’s Social Care are carefully considered and a decision made whether they require an assessment from Children’s Social Care or whether their needs can best be met by another service.
If it is determined that the child/young person requires an assessment of their needs, this is completed in conjunction with the child, their family and other significant family members and professionals. The assessment will consider what, if any, ongoing support package is required and the level of intervention.
Resources, including any respite arrangements are always based on the assessed needs of the young person. The primary aim is to always to meet a child/young person’s needs within their family and community network but if this cannot be achieved then the Local Authority will seek to secure appropriate resources to provide respite.
(e) When a child/young person becomes subject to a child protection plan a core group of professionals, who will work with the child and family to reduce the assessed risks is established. This group will work together to agree the contents of the child protection plan and will agree the frequency of visits/ contact with the family by all involved.
Support identified as the result of a Child Protection Plan would be provided on a planned basis, although depending on the level and nature of the risks to the child this can include unannounced visits.
Out of Hours is an emergency service which deals with crisis at the time of the call: telephone support is available for a child/young person or family of children subject to a child protection plan and the nature of the call will determine the course of action taken by the Out of Hours Service. If there is an immediate or significant risk to a child this would be actioned accordingly whether or not the child was subject to a Child Protection Plan. A Social Worker may complete a visit to the child/family on their own, or with the assistance of the police or the police may visit on their own. Therefore they would only visit a child subject to a plan if particular circumstances required a “safe and well” visit to be completed outside of the agreed child protection plan.
(f) The decision about prosecution rests initially with the school. The school refers cases to the Local Authority. Where a parent or carer is able to provide sufficient proof and supporting evidence that there is medical/mental health need the case will always be assessed before the County Council proceeds to prosecution. In order to have a level of consistency officers would need at the very least a GP’s letter supporting the parent’s case or better still a range of lead professionals’ evidence supporting the case.
Often there is also significant dialogue with the school in order to establish what package of support has already been put in and whether additional support is/will be put in before the Local Authority decides to consider prosecuting.