+++ Note this consultation closes on 6th September so don’t delay ++
A strong sense of despair and hopelessness comes over me whenever I am asked to respond to (yet another) Government Consultation. So please forgive me for urging you to complete the Government’s consultation on proposed reforms to its Assessment and Safeguarding procedures.
All I can promise is that it need only take a few minutes.
Government guidance (called ‘Working Together’) describes the process to be followed when practitioners are undertaking assessments that concern ‘children in need’. There is a general consensus that – in so far as this applies to the social care needs of disabled children and their families – the existing guidance is not fit for purpose. It is guidance that has an overwhelming focus on children considered to be at risk of abuse – and fails to require a different approach when the assessment concerns a disabled child for whom there is no evidence of such a risk.
Reforming the assessment process to ensure that it is disabled child and family-friendly’, is a relatively simple ‘ask’. ‘Incredibly simple’ when compared to the massive challenges the Government faces in properly funding SEND provision and in reforming the staggeringly expensive ‘looked after children’ care market.
Start with the assessment process
A reform of the assessment process could start with the assessors being ‘kind’; with assessors thinking and acting differently compared to when they are undertaking an assessment in the context of a ‘safeguarding’ investigation; and much else. Several Parent Carer Groups have recently come together to produce a blueprint (pdf) for how such assessments should be undertaken.
Responding to the consultation is, I believe, really important and need take no more than a few minutes. You don’t have to answer all the questions it asks.
A guide to responding to the consultation
What follows is a step-by-step guide to responding but – of course – it is essential that anyone who responds does so expressing their own views in their own words.
- Click here for a link to the consultation;
- Questions 1, 2, 3, 4. 5 and 6 need to be answered. They don’t require you to give any private or personal information – they are simple and should only take a minute or two at most.
- You can then choose which questions you want to answer.
If you only answer two questions – I strongly suggest that they be questions 26 and 29 – namely question 26:
“Do you agree with the proposed changes to strengthen assessment and support for disabled children?”
For what it is worth here are a few thoughts. My basic answer will be:
No –
I would then skip to question 29 and in the comment box state words to the effect:
In relation to my answer to question 26 above, the proposed changes will not result in any practical change in the way disabled children and their families are assessed.
The ‘Working Together’ guidance needs be revised to:
- require councils to develop separate assessment procedures for disabled children and their families in cases where there is no evidence to suggest neglect / abuse. The current ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach to assessments adopted by most Children’s Services departments is unacceptable (an approach that treats parents of disabled children who seek support, in the same way that it treats parents suspected of neglect / abuse);
- ensure that the separate local disabled children’s assessment procedures are co-produced with local parent carers and local parent carer support groups / forums;
- incorporate the blueprint guidance developed by Parent Carer Groups namely ‘Draft Guidance Assessing the Needs of Disabled Children and their Families (2023).
For my more detailed commentary on the Consultation, click here.
Luke Clements is the Cerebra Professor of Law & Social Justice at the School of Law. The University of Leeds.
Also read:
- Urgent change is needed to stop the institutional culture of parent-carer blaming
- Parent-blaming to avoid professional accountability is a human rights issue
- Protecting Parents from False Allegations of Fabricated or Induced Illness (FII)
- Can you legislate for love? The Government’s plans for children’s social care aims to
- Invest More in Social Care Support for Disabled Children: A Mother’s Open Letter to the Chancellor
- Challenging opaque, illegal social care plans for disabled adults
- Know your child’s rights to social care support
- The worrying trend of social care tactics to target SEND ‘problem parents’
- The Care Act when transitioning from children’s to adult social care
- How social class deepens inequalities experienced by disabled young people in England’s mainstream schools
Don’t miss a thing!
Don’t miss any posts from SNJ - simply add your email address below. You must click the link in the confirmation email you’ll receive to activate your free subscription.
Want more? Be an SNJ Patron!
SNJ is a non-profit company and everyone who writes here does so voluntarily. We need your support to help us with costs by donating once or as a regular patron. Regular donors get an exclusive SEND update newsletter as thanks! Find out more here
Luke is also a solicitor with Scott-Moncrieff & Associates Ltd. He has had conduct of many cases before the European Commission and Court of Human Rights.In 1996 he was the solicitor who took the first Roma case to reach the Strasbourg Court Buckley v. UK (1996)
Luke’s academic research and litigation experience is primarily concerned with the rights of people who experience social exclusion, including disabled people and their carers.
He has helped draft and promote a number of Parliamentary Bills aimed at improving the rights of people experiencing social exclusion – including Bills that became the Carers (Recognition and Services) Act 1995 and the Carers (Equal Opportunities) Act 2004.
Luke’s Chair in Law is funded by the disabled children’s charity Cerebra
You must log in to post a comment.