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Medway Council has defined eligibility criteria that will help professionals decide whether a child’s situation is complex or acute enough to justify referral to its children’s care service. Children that do not meet these criteria will be expected to receive a service from elsewhere, with another professional leading the delivery of support to the child and their family.
The criteria are well established, having been updated with multi-agency support in May 2005. They set out the range of children who may be in need of the specialist assessment, support or intervention offered by the children’s social care team.
The Children Act 2004 (the Every Child Matters agenda) now places responsibility on professionals in different settings to support children in need and to intervene early to help stop children’s needs becoming more severe. In most cases, this will mean providing or helping to gain access to a targeted service to the child on a short-term basis: e.g. a school counsellor, Connexions adviser or other professional. However, if someone working with children thinks that a child is at risk of immediate significant harm, they must follow their own agency’s child protection procedures or contact one of the emergency services if the matter cannot wait.
If a child or young person’s needs are complex or acute, it is likely that they will meet the eligibility criteria for assessment by a practitioner from the council's children’s care service.
The different levels of need expressed by children and their families are captured in the following diagram, which depicts the range of vulnerability and clearly identifies the point at which the children’s care service will be the main source of support (the eligibility criteria).
Children and families in need below level 3 will receive support from elsewhere, in the health service, voluntary sector, youth service or at school.
This approach, referred to as a model of prevention, encapsulates the philosophy of early identification of vulnerability and need, leading to the provision of timely and targeted support. Assessments will be undertaken jointly, using a common assessment framework (CAF). However there are some situations that cannot be prevented or foreseen and may require a more urgent and high-level response.
How to make a referral
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If you are a resident or members of the public and have a concern about a child or young person, please contact the council using the details at the foot of this page.
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If you are a professional, e.g. a health visitor, teacher etc. and would like to refer a child to social care services; you need to decide whether you think the child is at immediate risk or is a child in need. If you are referring a child at risk you should complete: and send them to the email address at the foot of this page. If you are referring a child in need you must provide: - a completed referral form (rtf, 548KB) and
- as much of the CAF form (rtf, 2,297KB) as possible (or a completed form if you have been trained in the use of the form).
and send them to the email address at the foot of this page.
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The document describing Medway Council’s eligibility criteria for children’s social care services (pdf, 552KB) is also available for download. To use this file you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader. If you do not have it on your computer, please use our advice page.
Where to go for advice if you do not meet the council's criteria
If you select the diagram of the preventative model above it will take you to the website of the Positive Parenting Network (PPN) in Medway (www.medwayppn.org). The PPN is an electronic directory of services in Medway that provides help and advice for children, young people and their families in a variety of situations or circumstances. This is a good place to try and find an organisation that might be able to help you if you think the council will not be able to help.
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