Community Care, Parenting Responsibilities and School

By John Keep

The Social Services Inspectorate report 'Jigsaw of Services' published in April 2000 highlighted the community care responsibilities of Social Services Departments to disabled parents.

The report also sets out six Standards:

1. PRINCIPALS - The Social Services Department promotes the policy that disabled adults should receive appropriate support to meet their needs as parents.

2 RESPONSIVE SERVICES (OUTCOMES) ' Disabled adults receive services which are responsive to their assessed needs and choice to enable them to fulfil their role as parents.

3. IDENTIFICATION, ASSESSMENT AND CARE MANAGEMENT (PROCESS) ' Disabled adults are involved with all the relevant professionals in identifying and assessing their needs as parents, and then deciding what services will be provided, who will arrange them and how changes can be made.

4. EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES - the Social Services Department aims to meet the needs of disabled adults in their parenting role in respect of race, religion, language, culture, sexuality, gender and disability.

5. INFORMATION & COMMUNICATION ' Disabled parents and staff in relevant agencies have clear and understandable information about the Social Services Department's and other agencies services that support disabled adults in their parenting role.

6. MANAGEMENT ARRANGEMENTS ' The Social Services Department plans and organises its resources and expertise in a manner which ensures that the needs of disabled adults arising from their parenting role are met effectively. This includes arrangements for the supervision, support, development and training of its staff.

Criteria to meet standard six include:

The SSD has an organisational structure which provides clear leadership for co-ordinating and managing inter-divisional issues.
SSD procedures, practice and budgets are organised in ways which facilitate adults, and children's services to work together to support disabled adults in their parenting role from joint assessment, to joint service delivery and review.

The Fair Access to Care Services 2002 Policy Guidance states that 'in the course of assessing individuals needs, councils should recognise that adults, who have parenting responsibilities for a child less than 18 years, may require help with these responsibilities'

The Fair Access to Care Services 2003 Practice Guidance provides additional detail on the social services obligation, including that the assessment process must cover the assistance required to carry out 'family and other social roles and responsibilities' and that 'family responsibilities' include 'parenting roles and responsibilities'

Eligibility for a disabled person to receive support from Social Services should be determined following an assessment of need. As part of the assessment, information about the disabled persons individual needs and related circumstances should be established and should be recorded.

Disabled Parents Network (DPN) argues and will continue to argue that 'taking' their child to school or nursery is a parenting responsibility. Then there is the very important matter of choice. How the child is taken is a matter of parental choice.

It may be that disabled parents choose for their child to be taken to and from school by taxi but other disabled parents may see that as taking over their responsibility. This is just one of the matters that should be taken into account during the assessment and agreeing with the parent how the assessed need will be met.

Once eligible needs are identified, Councils should meet them. The identified needs should be recorded in a care plan which clearly states how the need will be met and by whom.

Most, if not all of, the issues concerning taking children to school or nursery brought to DPN's attention appear to be about which part of the Councils services pays for the support to meet the need rather than eligibility of need. That is an internal matter for the Council. (NOTE: Council is used here as the Council which has corporate responsibility)

It is nonsense that social workers, team mangers or others in Social Services should complain about the lack of specific and clear guidance on this issue. They should be asking for guidance within their own department. If Social Services Departments had written protocols - as recommended in Jigsaw of Services and trained all the staff before implementing the protocol, there would be less likelihood of the problems arising. Unfortunately even if there is a protocol, it is probably gathering dusts on someone's office shelf.

Whenever a social worker raises the issue, DPN should challenge them to find the protocol within their department. If the Local Authority is known, DPN could and should take up the matter with the director of social services of that authority.

It is doubtful that Central Government will ever issue guidance regarding which part of the Social Services pays. From past experience and unless there has been a change of heart, it is also doubtful if the Court would intervene apart from instructing that the issue be sorted out locally.

19th May 2006

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last updated: 06 Jun 07

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