The Disabled Children and Young People Service
This service provides Specialist Early Help and Social Work support for disabled children, young people and their families, with a range of support to meet assessed needs. Support is intended to enable disabled children to have the same range of opportunities as non-disabled children, and with their families to be able to experience the ‘ordinary’ things of life that others take for granted.
We are committed to working in partnership with young people and families in everything that we do. Our aim is to support disabled children and young people to be fully participating and included in their families and communities, developing the skills and experiences needed to live as independently as possible.
*REVIEWED JUNE 2023*
What do we mean by ‘disabled’?
In the Regulations, the word “disabled” has the meaning given in Section 17(11) of the Children Act 1989.
That is, that a child is disabled “if s/he is blind, deaf or dumb or suffers from mental disorder of any kind or is substantially and permanently handicapped by illness, injury or congenital deformity or such other disability as may be prescribed”. That language of course, is now very outdated.
The more recent Equality Act 2010 says “a person has a disability if they have a physical or mental impairment and the impairment has a substantial and long term adverse effect on their ability to perform normal day to day activities”. The Disabled Children and Young People service provides assessments and support plans for children and young people who:
- have a substantial and permanent disability and
- appear to have needs arising from their disability that can only be met by accessing specialist support,
- or where there is a need for additional funding to enable short breaks to take place.
More detail on eligibility can be seen in our Eligibility Criteria *
GCC recognises that there are other children who are not in this group who are also Children In Need under the Children Act 1989. They are also entitled to an assessment of their needs, but they will receive their assessment and support from Targeted Support Teams or Children and Family Teams rather than from specialist Disabled Children practitioners.
How do I find additional support?
Support for Families with SEND, Gloucestershire’s Local Offer provides easy to access information on a wide range of support for children and young people aged 0-25
The Key is Gloucestershire’s disabled children and young people’s register for families and children and young people aged 0-18. For more information and to join The Key click here
Future Me Gloucestershire helps you share your views and feedback about being a young person with additional needs or disabilities in Gloucestershire. There are many ways to get involved and have your say. We also put together information that will help you prepare for adulthood
Gloucestershire Parent Carer Forum provide a wealth of information and opportunity to meet other parent carers, share your views and help shape services in Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire Carers Hub provide support to parent carers and opportunities for contact with other parent carers
What is available if we need more support?
Contact with Gloucestershire’s Children’s Social Care can be made via the Children’s single point of access or C-SPA, otherwise known as Gloucestershire Children's Social Care
Phone: 01452 426565 or email: childrenshelpdesk@gloucestershie.gov.uk
What happens when I contact Gloucestershire Children's Social Care?
They will ask you a few questions. This will help them understand the needs of your child or young person and the support you may need as a family. They will then be able to direct you to the right team for support. This could be either a social work assessment or an Early Help Assessment.
It respects every family's right to information to help manage their own lives successfully and asks for consent to work with your family.
The they will be able to provide advice about what support is available and how to get it. You may want early help support or social work support depending on your personal circumstances.
The 'Offer' is for all children at any point in a child or young person's life. It includes both universal (for everyone) and targeted /specialist services (for those with a particular need), to reduce or prevent concerns from growing or becoming fixed.
The Team may also give you advice and/or information about the sort of support available for you and your family.
This conversation may tell us that more information is needed for us to understand your child’s needs and find the right support. This could be via the Early Help Service who will contact you and visit you to complete a My Plan or My Plan plus or the social work service who will be able to visit you and complete a single assessment. We will listen and understand your personal circumstances and make some recommendations and may offer support for your child or young person and family.
If your child or young person’s needs are more complex and severe or concerning a Social Worker may be allocated to talk to you about this and gather more information to understand your child and your situation better (we call this a Single Assessment).
Your assessment may lead to support or services provided through the Disabled Children and Young People Service. The support may include:
- help with personal care for your child at difficult times of day e.g. getting ready for school, mealtime, bedtime
- help with working out how to manage sleep problems or behaviours that are difficult to deal with.
- support for brothers and sisters
- support for you as a parent carer
- short breaks - sports or arts activities in the community
- specialist short breaks in the community with voluntary organisations focused on disabled children
- specialist short breaks with foster carers (Family Link)
- specialist short breaks in a children’s home if this is the only way of meeting your child’s need for time safely away from the family home.