Surrey Continuum of Children and Young People’s Needs

1. Surrey Continuum of Children and Young People’s Needs DRAFT May 2013

2. Why do we need a Levels of Need Document? • Establish a common language of early help and the levels of need in Surrey. • Develop a shared commitment to deliver and implement early help services • Support professionals to identify an individual child’s, young person’s and/or family’s level of need and to enable the most appropriate referrals to access provision.

3. What is early help? “Early Help means providing services as soon as possible to tackle issues which are emerging for children, young people and families with the aim of stopping these issues escalating or becoming entrenched.” Professor Eileen Munro (2012)

4. Our Ambition • Children and young people and their families receive support as soon as possible to tackle issues which are emerging for them, with the aim of topping these issues escalating or becoming entrenched. • Children and young people at risk have their needs identified and met early by professionals working together to offer early help, and where appropriate, managing this without any unnecessary need for formal referral to children’s social care services • Children and young people within the social care system have their needs met and receive timely, ‘step-down’ support.

5. Principles • Early help and timely intervention: partnership resource is directed at preventing problems before they arise • Integrated working: children and young people and families receive support for all of their needs through a single service offer • Flexible pathway and tools that recognises children and young people will move between different levels of need as their needs and circumstances change. • Participation and co-design with children and young people and their families. • Early Help is everyone’s responsibility: it requires everyone to work together to put the child or young person at the centre of everything they do to meet their needs and improve outcomes. • Children and young people are supported in the community. Early Help is delivered at the earliest possible point. Appropriate partners deliver early help. • “Child in Need” is viewed as a continuum of need • Child protection does not begin at the point of referral to children’s social care. Equally, early identification and early help are firmly within the scope of child protection services. • Ensure children and young people are effectively safeguarded by all agencies and staff that work with them • Work together to reduce duplication • Use evidence-based practice to inform planning for future service provision • Adopt a whole family approach, whilst keeping the child or young person firmly at the centre of any intervention

6. Assessment Framework [This section will be updated to reflect proposals to strengthen and review the CAF. To be agreed on Day 2] In Surrey, the Common Assessment Framework (CAF) is the agreed way of assessing the additional needs of children and young people. It is consent based assessment and builds on the strengths and needs of children, young people and families. It supports the sharing of information between agencies and improves joint working and communication. Using the assessment framework provides a way to gather and analyse relevant information within three domains: • The development needs of the child • The parental capacity to meet the child’s need • The impact of the wider family and environmental factors on both parenting capacity and the child’s development Each domain has a number of dimensions which are consistent with the CAF process and are used as the headings on the CAF Form.

8. Children and young people will move between different levels of need as their needs and circumstances change. A “flexible pathway” is required to respond to these changing needs...

9. Surrey Continuum of Children and Young People in Need Secondary Prevention Secondary Prevention Tertiary Help / Prevention Timely Intervention Quarternary Help / Prevention Selective Primary Prevention Early Help Specialist Services Children and Young People and Families in Need of… Step up / Step Down according to Need Community and Universal Services Universal and Selective Primary Prevention

10. Universal Primary Prevention – Addressing the entire population and aiming to reduce later incidences or problems, e.g. universal services of health, education and income support. • Selective Primary Prevention –Focussing on groups which research has indicated are at higher than average risk of developing problems, e.g. offering additional support to teenage mothers. • Secondary Prevention –Focus on individual children, young people and families aiming to respond quickly when problems arise in order to prevent them getting worse. • Tertiary Help / Prevention –Involving a response when the problem has become serious, e.g. Child Protection, hospital care, criminal justice • Quarternary Help / Prevention –providing therapy to victims so that they do not suffer long term harm, e.g. therapy for victims of sexual abuse.

11. Universal (Level 1)Children in Need of Universal Services • Children and young people are achieving expected outcomes and have their needs met within universal service provision without any additional support. • Agencies provide Universal Primary Prevention and address the entire population with the aim of reducing later incidences or problems.

13. Early Help (Level 2) Children in Need of Early Help 2a. Children and young people at risk of diverting from expected outcomes and likely to require additional support for a time limited time. Agencies provide Selective Primary Prevention and focus on groups which research has indicated are at higher than average risk of developing problems 2b. Children and young people who are starting to divert from expected outcomes and require additional support for a time limited time. Agencies provide Secondary Prevention aiming to respond quickly when problems arise in order to prevent them getting worse.

15. Timely Intervention (Level 3)Children in Need of Timely Intervention • Children and Young People who are not achieving the expected outcomes, and require more intensive but time limited support. • Agencies provide Secondary Prevention Tertiary Help when the problem becomes serious.

17. Specialist (Level 4)Children in Need of Specialist Help • Children and Young People who require intensive help and support from a limited range of specialist services including Children’s Social Care. • Agencies provide Specialist Services that are underpinned by Tertiary and Quarternary Help and Prevention.