Children's services
Children's services offer a range of support to families to meet their additional needs. Including support with health, learning and development.
We also offer services for children and young people with additional needs or disabilities. We have a dedicated service working with the most severely disabled children.
You can find information on local and national services for children, young people and families in our Directory of Services. This sits on our Family Information Service, which has lots of useful information for families across Surrey.
We offer support to families at all stages of our Continuum of Support. We have a legal duty to provide extra help to children and families who may be or are at risk of harm, but this is just part of the help we offer.
What support is available?
Click on the links for the services below to find out more:
- Surrey Short Breaks are respite services, provided mostly by voluntary organisations. Families can access these directly. Though some services are arranged by our Social Care Teams for eligible families.
- Transition Planning and Preparation for Adulthood is available for young people aged 14 to 18. The transition team support young people with disabilities, who also have an Education and Health Care Plan (EHCP). Transition is when you start planning for life as an adult, and moving from services for children to services for adults.
- Early Help Services are available to children and families with emerging support needs. Support is offered to try and help prevent children and families deal with issues, before they get worse. Early help services work with all children and young people. Including those with additional needs such as physical disability, autism, learning disabilities and learning difficulties.
- Surrey Early Support Service for young children with additional needs and disabilities provides support to families of children aged 0 to 5 who have disabilities or complex medical needs. Sometimes these children do not have a school placement. The service supports families who need intensive help on the Continuum of Support.
- Assessment, Family Safeguarding (FST) and Adolescent Safeguarding Teams (AST) offer assessment and support for children and young people who need statutory services on the Continuum of Support. As well as safeguarding assessments, the Assessment team can undertake parent carer assessments. FST and AST will also support children and families who have additional needs. Particularly where parents need extra support to deal with behaviours that challenge and to enhance parenting capacity.
- Children with Disabilities Team (CWD) work alongside families to support children with disabilities to remain living at home where possible. The CWD Service works with children and young people aged 0-18 who have severe and profound disabilities that have a significant, substantial, and long-term adverse effect on their ability to perform normal day to day activities.
How can I request an assessment/ support from Children's Services?
If you, or a professional working with you, feel that your family would benefit from help from Children's Services, contact the Children's Single Point of Access (C-SPA) and tell them why.
What happens next?
The C-SPA will review your referral and allocate your family to the most helpful service. If the team feel your family need additional help from Children's Services support, then a 'needs assessment' will be carried out by the relevant team (Early Help, Assessment, FST/AST or CWD).
A needs assessment aims to find out what your strengths are as a family and what you would like to change. It will include all members of your family, focusing on all your needs. If you are a parent carer, your needs will be considered as part of this process with those of your child or children.
What can I expect during a needs assessment?
A qualified Social Worker (SW), Family Support Worker (FSW) or Occupational Therapist (OT) will visit you at home. They will ask for details of professionals who already work with your family, like a teacher or GP, and ask for your consent to speak to them.
The social worker or family support worker will use our family safeguarding approach. They will ask what your child can do for themselves, what they do well and what their future goals are. They will also ask about strengths within the family and network, what is working well and what needs to happen to achieve change. We want you to be fully involved in your assessment and you will be able to comment on it before it is completed.
When the assessment is complete, you will receive a copy of the final version and the recommendations. The outcome of this assessment may be that you can then receive support from Children's Services. Social workers will look first at local community-based resources and universal services to see if they can meet your family's needs.
What type of support may be offered if my child is eligible after an assessment?
Together we will develop a strengths-based plan, to look at the needs of your child and focus on outcomes. It should show what the child is going to do, what the parents are going to do, and what universal and community services, specialist services and Children's Services will do. A good plan will help everyone know what is expected and tells us how we will know if the plan is working. There are many types of support, and suitability will depend on the child and family needs. Some support options include:
- A short break. This is a temporary break from your caring role. Some services offered do not need a social care assessment to access.
- Direct Payments from the local authority (Surrey County Council). Available to people who have parental responsibility for a disabled child who has a severe and profound disability. Direct Payments are to meet the specific outcomes agreed in your child's care plan.
- Occupational Therapy (OT) assessments are undertaken to provide adaptations to the home environment, which will assist a child with a disability. You can ask for an OT assessment by contacting the Children's Single Point of Access. If you have an existing social worker then you can discuss this with them.
- The Children's Crisis Intensive Support Service (CCISS) is a service being launched to help children aged 4-18, with a learning disability and/or autism to stay in their homes or communities.
- Residential Care can include a range of options. We may consider overnight respite care, or more significant packages including full time residential care. This service is something we only consider when all other options have been explored and we work with families to prevent this from being necessary. Overnight care is an assessed need and is normally only considered when a child presents significant challenges during the night-time impacting on theirs and their carer's sleep. Other options would include short breaks and personal assistant support, together with exploring all members of a child's wider network such as family and friends.
- Referrals to other agencies. For example, advocacy, interpreting, carers support, family voice, action for carers, and other Local Authorities.
What if my family do not meet the threshold for Children's Services support?
If your family do not meet the threshold for support, you will be signposted to the most appropriate service to meet your family's needs. This may be your child's school or nursery, health professionals such as a paediatrician or services from the voluntary sector such as Action for Carers or Home-Start.
Transition from Children's Services to Adult Social Care
Surrey County Council's Transition team support young people from the age of 14 to 25 with disabilities and their families, as they move from children's social care services to social care services for adults.
The Transition team have produced Preparing for Adulthood Booklet to support young people and their families.
You can contact the Transitions Team using the email transitionteam@surreycc.gov.uk.
Can I complain about a decision Children's Services have made or about a Social Worker?
Yes, we have a children's services complaints procedure.
SEND Advice Surrey can also support with making SEND-related social care complaints.