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Supporting Children who have Disabilities

Introduction

WELCOME to the web page for Children with Disabilities and their families living in Worcestershire

While many services work with children with disabilities and their families this page gives details of the specialist services provided within Children's services see who do we help below.

As well as Children's Services in the County Council there are also a wide range of Voluntary organisations across the County providing advice, help and support to children with disabilities and their carers.

Please click on the relevant links for further information about these services and organisations.

Please consider joining SCROLL our register of children with disabilities. If you do you will receive a free directory of services and help in our service planning for the future.

Worcestershire Children's Services is committed to supporting families and to keeping families together we work with parents and carers to enable this to happen. Our Early Years and Parent Partnership services also provide a lot of support so please visit their pages on the Children's Services website.

We also work closely with other statutory and voluntary agencies to organise and provide a range of services for children, including those with disabilities. One of our partners is Worcestershire PCT

We recognise the additional supports that families often need because of their child’s disability. As a result we have worked hard to improve and increase our range of provision during the past few years and we will continue to do this.

We cannot meet everyone’s needs but we will strive to do our best and to be open and honest about what we can and cannot do.

In November 2007 the Children & Young Peopl's Strategic Partnership signed off our 3 year strategy. Here you can download The Strategy  (312.28 KB) the version for Children & Young People and The Action Plan  (51.10 KB)

A guide to social care services for those who have a child with disabilities

This guide is for parents and carers of children with disabilities who want to know more about the social care services available from the Children's Services Directorate in Worcestershire.

The services outlined are available to children below the age of 18 years and to parents and carers of these children.

A separate guide for those wanting more information about services for Carers is available from local Hubs. For information about the specialist teaching services - Integrated Specialsist Support Services (ISSS)

Who can receive a service from specialist social Care services ?

Specialist resources have to be used for those in greatest need.

This means we give priority to helping those children with permanent and substantial disabilities, including those with :-

• severe learning disabilities
• severe physical disabilities
• profound multiple disabilities
• severe sensory impairment
• complex and severe health problems

Where resources allow, we will consider help to children with less severe disabilities if :-

• a parent has a disability or chronic illness
• the impact on the family is severe
• there are other factors affecting the family’s ability to care
• a sibling also has moderate disabilities

Other Difficulties

We may refer you on to others who can help such as a Health Visitor, GP, Education Officer or a Voluntary Organisation if your child has any of the following :-

moderate learning disabilities minor physical disabilities specific learning difficulties speech and language difficulties minor sensory impairments educational problems emotional and behavioural problems health problems

We will also usually refer you on to other agencies if your problem is about housing or benefits.

What sort of help can we provide ?

The Children's Services Directorate in Worcestershire has specialist social work teams located in Bromsgrove and Pershore. They work with the Health and Education Services and other agencies to meet the needs of children with disabilities.

Some of the services we might be able to provide or organise include :-

• Advice
• Information via the Family Information Service
• Signposting to services
• Counselling
• Family Support
• Domicillary help
• Short Breaks (respite care)
• Aids and Equipment  (91.42 KB)
• Links with other agencies
• Direct Payments

These services can only be provided following an assessment of your child’s needs and those of your family.

Transition process

This process clarifies responsibilities and timescales in transition. It also aims to:

• Improve the information to young people with learning disabilities and their families about the opportunities and supports provided by Worcestershire Adult Learning Disability Service
• Improve the information about and planning with young people with learning disabilities who are likely to be eligible for support from Worcestershire Adult Learning Disability Service in the future

Please see the following documents:

• Transition process for young people with learning disabilities(Age 14-25)  (31.27 KB)
• Transition process for young people with physical disabilities/sensory impairment.(Age 14-25)  (48.38 KB)

How to get Help

You can ask for help yourself or you may ask someone else such as a friend, teacher, health visitor or doctor to contact us on your behalf.

In the first instance contact should be made with the Access Centre on 0845 607 2000

We may need to know more before we can decide if it is possible to offer you a service and with your permission we may want to contact other people who know your child.

This is called an Initial Assessment and is usually undertaken by one of our Family Assessment and Support Teams. We aim to finish this within 7 working days.

In complex situations we may need to undertake further assessment and where appropriate this may be done by one of our specialist Children With Disability Teams. We will want you and your family to be involved in this as well as other professionals who know your child well.

This is called a Core Assessment and we aim to finish this within 7 working weeks.  

Feedback

We welcome feedback on our services from service users and families.
Your comments are welcome at any time and should be sent to :-

Chris Parker, Service Development Manager,
County Hall
Worcester WR5 2NP
Tel: 01905 7228845  
Email  cparker@worcestershire.gov.uk

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Get in touch with our Contact Centre:
Call: 0845 607 2000  or  Email: socialcare@worcestershire.gov.uk
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