1.2.13 Implementing the Common Assessment Framework (CAF) - Guidance for Children and Young People's Social Care

SCOPE OF THIS CHAPTER

This guidance is for social workers, managers and support staff in the use of the Common Assessment Framework (CAF)

This chapter should be read in conjunction with Levels of Need and the Common Assessment Framework (CAF) and CAF and Safeguarding - Guidance for Child Care Professionals

1. Introduction

This practice guidance is for use by social workers, managers and support staff city wide in the use of the Common Assessment Framework (CAF).

The guidance is intended to be read alongside Children and Young People's Social Care online Children's Service Procedures. This guidance replaces any existing CAF procedures and takes precedence over them.

This guidance, for Children and Young People's Social Care, supports the implementation of common assessment being undertaken under the umbrella of the Children Leeds Executive. For a brief overview of the CAF please refer to the introduction to the Common Assessment Process on the CAF Toolkit on the Children Leeds Website.

Implementation of the Common Assessment (CA) is an opportunity to further develop joint working. Though these procedures detail that social workers will not be directly responsible for undertaking Common Assessments, where appropriate the input and use of Social Workers and Social Work Assistants skills and experiences will benefit the development of the CAF process and enhance Integrated Working. This should be encouraged where at all possible. This is of course reliant on capacity and resources available.

Click here to view Diagram 1

2. Professional making a Request for Service to Children and Young People's Social Care (CYPSC) when a Common Assessment (CAF) is in Place

A Practitioner will have completed the common assessment (CA) with a child or young person and their family. Through the CAF process the Practitioner, in some cases, will have identified that the child or young person will need to be referred to a 'Specialist Agency'.

If Children and Young People's Social Care involvement is required; the Practitioner should make a Request For Service (Rfs) to the Contact Centre. The Contact Centre will take the basic details as per requirement, name, age, ethnicity, relationships and the narrative of the issues/concerns and pass request onto The Screening Team.

The Screening Team will make a decision as to whether the threshold has been met for CYPSC involvement. If threshold is met the case will be forwarded to the appropriate Area Assessment Team for the completion of a S17 assessment or S47 assessment. If Threshold is not met advice will be given to the professional who has made the Rfs and further advice can be sought at any point via Integrated Processes Team.

If the case is forwarded to the Area Assessment Team the Team Manager or social Worker involved can access a copy of the CAF by contacting the Integrated Processes Team on 0113 2476830.

If the Rfs is accepted then becomes a Referral to CYPSC. The CA will inform the assessment to be undertaken. This will either be a S17 or Section 47 Assessment / Enquiry. As is usual practice the child will have to be seen and an assessment of risk completed.

If further assessment is required Our usual Children's Procedures will be adhered to when completing this work.

The outcome of some Initial Assessment and Core Assessments will be a Child or Young Person has additional needs; however it does not require ongoing CYPSC involvement. In this situation the case should return back to the CAF processes and to the responsibility of the CAF assessor.

The Team Manager will need to evidence their analysis and decision making process. They should also ensure the CAF assessor is clear why social care are not continuing their involvement.

Letters recommending a CA or continuation of a CA should be sent to the family and to the referrer in addition the CAF Team should be copied in so they can follow up any recommendations. The letter templates to be used are found on the 'G' drive in the 'Everyone' folder and 'CAF' folder.

Children and Young People's Social Care maybe invited to attend a CA meeting if the needs of a child or family are unclear. Attendance at such a meeting will be in an advisory or consultative capacity and will not be any guarantee of Children and Young People's Social Care taking on lead responsibility for a case. Where attendance at a multi-agency meeting is requested, each request should be considered on merit. The team manager will need to decide whether they, or a social worker from their team, attend such a meeting. Reasons for attending include, for example, previous involvement with the child or their family, repeat referrals made to Social Care or because the concerns raised by the CAF assessor are borderline child protection or child in need issues.

Click here to view Diagram 2

3. Request for Service from a Non Professional or Professional not Accessing the CAF

Requests for Services will be made via the Contact Centre where a CA is not in place.

The Screening Team will make a decision as to whether the threshold has been met for CYPSC involvement. If threshold is met the case will be forwarded to the appropriate Area Assessment Team for the completion of a S17 assessment or S47 assessment. If Threshold is not met advice will be given to the professional / member of the public who has made the Rfs and further advice can be sought at any point via Integrated Processes Team.

If the Rfs is accepted then becomes a Referral to CYPSC. Either a S17 or S47 Assessment / enquiry will be undertaken. If further assessment is required Our usual Children's Procedures will be adhered to when completing this work.

The outcome of some Initial and Core Assessments will be a Child or Young Person has additional needs; however it does not require ongoing CYPSC involvement. In this situation advice / guidance can be given and or recommendation of a CAF can be made.

If recommending a CA the Social Worker should discuss this with the family to obtain consent, discuss with professionals involved and ideally identify a professional able to undertake the CA. If an appropriately trained professional cannot be identified support can be sought from the Integrated Processes Team 0113 2476830

Letters recommending a CA or continuation of a CA should be sent to the family and to the referrer in addition the CAF / Integrated Processes Team should be copied in so they can follow up any recommendations. The letter templates to be used are found on the 'G' drive in the 'Everyone' folder and 'CAF' folder.

The Team Manager will need to evidence their analysis and decision making process. They should also ensure the professional or member of the public are clear why social care are not continuing their involvement.

Children and Young People's Social Care maybe invited to attend a CA meeting if the needs of a child or family are unclear. Attendance at such a meeting will be in an advisory or consultative capacity and will not be any guarantee of Children and Young People's Social Care taking on lead responsibility for a case. Where attendance at a multi-agency meeting is requested, each request should be considered on merit. The team manager will need to decide whether they, or a social worker from their team, attend such a meeting. Reasons for attending include, for example, previous and or recent involvement with the child or their family, repeat referrals made to Social Care.

4. De-escalation of CYPSC Involvement to the Common Assessment Process

There will also be opportunity to use the CAF process when closing long term Child Protection and Family support cases. If there is no longer a risk of Significant Harm to the child(ren) and Social Care involvement is no longer required but the child and family would benefit from and agree to continuous multi-agency support then a transition to the CAF process can take place.

At a Child Protection Conference where the decision is made that the risk to a child is no longer present and a Child Protection Plan is no longer needed and Social Care involvement will be ceasing, a lead professional from an agency involved should be identified. It should be made clear that the risk does not warrant a Child Protection Plan and Family Support can be provided via a CA. The support needs should be clearly identified.
At the final Social Care Family Support Meeting it should be clearly identified who will register the CAF and if possible identify the Lead Professional. It should be made clear that the risk does not warrant CYPSC involvement and Family Support can be provided via a CA. The support needs should be clearly identified.
The lead professional will use the information obtained at the relevant meeting to complete a CA and an Action Plan. Please note that families will not be expected to undergo another assessment, but that information gathered by CYPSC and next steps identified at the last CYPSC meeting will be transferred into the CAF assessment and Action Plan. The Lead Professional identified may require SW support to do this.
Social Care's involvement will cease at this meeting.

If the procedure above has been followed but an agency to undertake the CA has not been identified then advice can be sought from the Integrated Processes Team.

Where a social worker or team manager attends a CA multi-agency meeting, the fact that they have undertaken this activity will be recorded as an activity in ESCR (under the relevant Request For Service or case closing).

Social workers attending meetings should discuss the outcome from the meeting with their manager and this will also be recorded in ESCR.

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