Some children and young people with SEND who live in Warwickshire will need social care support.
Social care covers a range of services that help people with day-to-day living. For children and young people with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) this may mean help with personal or physical care due to a disability. Or it may mean respite or a short break activity for the child or young person to enable them to spend regular time away from the family home.
If you feel your child may need social care support, your first point of contact will be to discuss your concerns with an early help professional who can advise you on the support available.
Early Help
Early help is a graduated approach to meeting children’s needs. The purpose of early help is to put in the right support at the right time to support families as early as possible. It ranges from information, advice and support that families can access themselves through to more individualised or targeted support.
Family Information Service
The family information service will help you discuss your concerns and identify the right pathways of support. They offer advice and guidance on a wide range of services and support. They can work with you to help you access the services that provide this support.
Early Help Family Support
Early help family support workers offer advice and support to families who are seeking help with parenting concerns such as challenging behaviour or sleep issues. The service is a spectrum of support from a freely available telephone helpline and parenting workshops right through to a more targeted and personalised approach provided through the early help pathway.
Children and Family Social Care Assessment
Whilst we can support most children through early help, some children will also need a children and family social care assessment. You can ask for a children and family social care assessment through the children and families front door. They will ask a member of the children’s social care team to contact you.
Please be aware that the children and families front door deals with all social care requests, including ‘children in need’ and child protection. Children with disabilities are defined as ‘children in need’ under Section 17 of the Children Act 1989.
Where children have disabilities considered to be severe or profound, it is recognised that a specialist service is likely to be required. These children and young people will be referred to the Children with Disabilities Team (CWDT) if they require a social work service.
The CWDT work alongside the wider social care service and provide support where a child or young person is considered to have a disability. They also support parents and carers through the carer support pathway and offer bookable advice sessions to parents and carers.
If you are a carer, you can request carers support through the parent carer support pathway.
- More information on children and family social care assessments
- Find information on the Parent Carer Support Pathway
- Book a 30-minute consultation with CWDT
What help is available after a children and family social care assessment?
Social care support covers the following services for children with SEND:
- SEND social workers
- Equipment and adaptations to housing (only provided following an occupational therapist assessment)
- Home care
- Overnight respite and short breaks
- Help with transport
- Volunteers
- Direct payments
The level of support we can offer will depend on your assessment.
Safeguarding
If you have concerns for the safety and wellbeing of a child, whether your own or another child, the first point of contact is the children and families front door. The children and families front door brings social care and early help together in one place to help ensure your concerns are dealt with quickly and through the right service.