What is Assessment?

Either you or someone else on your behalf, has asked for help with some difficulties you or your child are having which affects your child (or children). Before we can help you, we need to know more about you and your family. This will involve collecting information, talking the issues through with you and agreeing what needs to be done. We call this an assessment. The assessment will help us to look at your situation and see what help and support you and your family need, and who could give that help.

In a very small number of cases, there will be serious concerns about a child’s safety. Making sure that the child is safe is our first concern. Please ask your Social Worker to explain this to you. You have a right to know.

Where does the information for an assessment come from?

Information is gathered from:

You and your family
the worker will talk to you and your partner, and to your child(ren) and perhaps to other members of your family.
Other professionals and those who know you and your child this will include teachers, health visitors, doctors, housing officers and voluntary groups.
Records which are already held by Social Services and Housing.

Types of assessment

The amount of information gathered by the worker depends on the kind of help being asked for and the nature of the concerns.

Initial assessments are brief assessments, usually done by a worker in the duty team. They will usually involve a face to face meeting with you and your child, and telephone contact with any other professionals who are involved. At the end of this it will be decided whether to offer further services.

If it is decided that your child (or children) is in need and further services are to be offered, then a core assessment may take place. Core assessments are also carried out when there are child protection concerns.

Core assessments are more indepth assessments where more detailed information is gathered looking at the wider picture and the child’s needs in the context of their family and wider community. A core assessment will involve a number of meetings with you and your child, as well as contacts with other people who know you and your family.

What will happen during my assessment?

During your assessment, information will be gathered and written down by the social worker and other professionals. You will always be encouraged to take part and have the opportunity to say what you think is best for yourself and your family.

We know that almost all parents want to do the best for their children, and completing the assessment will help the social worker to see the strengths you and your family have, as well as some of the difficulties you and your family may be experiencing.

When children are old enough to take part in the assessment, the social worker will encourage and help them to do so.

The assessment will take into consideration your ethnic and cultural background. If required, help will be provided in your first language.

What will the assessment cover?

When completing the assessment the social worker will look at a number of issues that may be affecting your child (or children) and family. The worker will find about the strengths and difficulties in the family by asking questions about:

Your family’s situation:- including who is employed, money issues, housing, relationships within the family and those who support the family.
How your children are including their health, behaviour, school and friends, as well as their social and emotional wellbeing.
The care of the children including how well parent(s) or carer(s) are offering basic care, keeping the children safe, helping them learn, offering guidance and a stable home.

Are my views taken into account?

Yes. It is important that we know what your views and wishes are. Your views will be considered in deciding how help is to be provided, but because of the demand for services, it may not always be possible to meet your preferences.

We also want to know the views of your child or children. This is an important part of the assessment.

What can I expect?

When you or someone on your behalf contacts our department, a decision about whether or not to offer an initial assessment will be made within 24 hours.

A professional contacting our department on your behalf will have talked to you and obtained your agreement to involve us, unless the professional has serious concerns about your child.

We will seek your consent before talking to other people and sharing information about you and your child, unless we have concerns about the safety of your child.

A worker will be identified to do the assessment and you will be given the

name of the worker.
An initial assessment will be completed within 7 working days.
A core assessment will be completed within 35 working days.
A copy of the initial and/or core assessment will be sent to you.

What if I do not agree with what the social worker says?

You will be able to correct any factual errors, and, if you do not agree with what the social worker says in the assessment, there will be an opportunity for you to record your point of view on the assessment record.

What happens next?

Following the initial assessment if it is decided that services should be offered, then a new worker will be allocated to your family from one of the other teams: Children with Disability, Over 11s, Under 11s, Family Centre, Family and Adolescent Support Team (FAST).

Care Planning

The purpose of the assessment is to draw up a plan of action to address the needs of your child (or children) and how you might need to respond to these. This is called care planning. The care plan will set out what services are to be provided and who is responsible for providing them. It will also say what changes are expected and how long this will take.

Reviews

The care plan and how it is working will be reviewed at a minimum of 6 monthly intervals. For some types of care plan, the review may be more frequent than 6 monthly.

What can I expect?

You will be involved in putting together the care plan this might happen at a meeting to which you (and your children if old enough) will be invited along with professionals.

You will be given a copy of the care plan which explains what services are
to be provided and what the plan is expected to achieve.
You will be invited to attend any reviews of the plan.
You will get a copy of the review.

Concluding our involvement

At each point in the assessment, care planning and review process, we will consider whether you and your family need help by considering your needs against ‘eligibility criteria’. If we consider that you are not eligible for help from our department, we may refer you to another agency, or provide you with information about further help and assistance and cease our involvement. For further information about the council’s eligibility criteria for social services, please refer to our leaflet ‘Your Guide to Social Services Eligibility Criteria’.

What can I expect?

You will be told when our involvement has ceased and the reasons for this. You will be told what other sources of help and assistance might be available.