Children and Adult Social Services Flashcards
Services that may/must be provided for children
General duty of care to keep a child safe and well.
Provide support to help a child remain with families.
Have to establish safeguarding arrangements suited to local needs.
Children’s homes
Perform needs assessments
Since 2017 have duty to care leavers - pastoral support until age 25.
Services that may/must be provided for adults
Social workers must be provided to assess the needs of the elderly person; residential accommodation must be arranged for those in poor health.
(Some authorities have been accused of raising the eligibility criteria owing to budgetary concerns, but courts have ruled it ok to take financial resources into account.)
The following may be provided – domiciliary care services; adaptations to the home; meals on wheels; luncheon clubs; social clubs, advocacy, free and accessible parking, day trips care.
Safeguarding adults boards since Care Act 2014 to protect adults with mental health issues
Child protection
Court orders: section 8 orders. Emergency protection order, interim care order, supervision order (if a child is suffering or likely to suffer significant harm, and the harm is attributable to care given: council must advise, assist and befriend the child), education supervision order, care order
Protection of Children Act 1999 keeps list of all people unsuitable to work with children; childcare orgs need to inform gov if they dismiss/resign someone who harmed a child
Safeguarding
2004 Act tried to shake up overall culture of child protection to improve early intervention. Local safeguarding new principle.
Local safeguarding partners are responsible for child protection policy, procedure and guidance at a local level.
The local safeguarding arrangements are led by three statutory safeguarding partners:
the local authority
the integrated care board (ICB, previously clinical commissioning group or ‘CCG’)
the police.
Adoption
Through adoption agencies - open to singles, unmarried couples, gay couples.
Stage One preliminary checks on suitability, Stage Two serious matching up with a child.
Where natural parents object to their children being adopted, agencies apply for a freeing order.
Long waiting times: Cameron made a faster process to make it easier for white parents to adopt black kids.
2014 Act ditched requirement for due consideration to ethnic match.
Fostering
National shortage of foster parents.
Fosterers qualify for allowances to cover basic costs of clothing, feeding etc.
Income tax allowance allowing up to £10k a year tax free from foster payments
Community care for adults
Since the Community Care Act 1990, greater emphasis placed on community care - caring in home and reducing pressure on acute wards and care homes, and improve cost-effectiveness of social care and increase choice by involving private and voluntary providers.
Though this initially resulted in NHS closing loads of mental health wards and returning patients home too early.
Councils were rationing home care visits by demanding they be completed within half an hour, 2012.
Ageing population has meant many more carers, who feel isolated, depressed and undervalued.
Responsibilities of local authorities
As enablers the local authority is required to perform ‘needs assessments’: assesses the needs of the individual but does not necessarily provide the services required.
Assessments for children should take into account the parent’s needs e.g. financial, respite care, care at home, aids and adaptations, holiday play schemes.
Services may be provided by private companies, voluntary bodies or indeed the local authority.
A direct payment is where, rather than receiving a service, the client may opt to be given a sum of money by the local authority and to use the money to arrange his / her own care.
Have access to non-ringfenced early intervention grant, though this has been eroded due to gov cuts.
Which services are chargeable?
Means-tested charges may be levied for accommodation; domiciliary care services; adaptations to the home; meals on wheels; luncheon clubs; social clubs.
OFSTED’s role here
Inspects children’s homes
Questions raised in 2012 after 9 men jailed for grooming girls in Rochdale, including one girl in care - high turnover.
Also revealed children placed in care homes hundred of miles away from native communities
Ofsted condemned this.
CQC’s role here
The Care Quality Commission is the regulator of adult social care. It inspects local authority adult social services to ensure that the authority meets its responsibilities and to determine its effectiveness. It sets standards for, and registers and inspects, care homes and domiciliary services.
Rates from no stars to three, and can demand conditions to improve, special measures, or order closure.
Which authorities are responsible?
County councils, metropolitan districts, London boroughs and unitaries are responsible for adult social care. Sheltered housing is the responsibility of local authority housing departments (district councils, metropolitan districts, London boroughs or unitaries) or housing associations.
Legislation for child protection
Children Act 2004, a response to the Climbie case: introduced children’s trusts
Local child protection registers were replaced with child protection plans drawn up after initial assessment of a child’s risk.
All services related to children in England, from schooling to social care, combined under children’s services departments, headed by directors of children’s services.
Children and Social Work Act 2017 localised child safeguarding even more but centralised the process to review the most serious cases.
Children’s Commissioner for England
‘Every Child Matters’ campaign. The Commissioner promotes awareness of children’s interests, protects children’s rights, can enter premises other than private dwellings to interview children or inspect - in the wake of Savile
Residential care for adults
Residential care, and nursing homes for those with more severe needs. They’re assessed and placed in a home suited to their needs.
If a private home, their ability to pay the full cost is assessed, taking into account value of their property.
Increase in residential care by private company instead of councils; almost no councils maintain homes.
Everyone with £16k or more expected to pay for themselves until money exhausted. Cameron tried to put a £75k cap on it, but it didn’t happen.
Social care precept allows councils to raise council tax by 2% without needed a local referendum if used for adult social services.
