6.3 Children with Disabilities and Unborn Babies Assessment Protocol

Key Principles

There is a 24 hour period from when a referral is received to when a decision on whether to open an Initial Assessment or not needs to be made
All Initial Assessments must be completed within seven days of the original referral being accepted
All Core Assessments must be completed within thirty-five days of when they were opened
There is no time limit between when an Initial Assessment is closed, and when a Core Assessment is opened
Specialist Assessments can be completed and added to the Core Assessment after the Core Assessment has been closed
All cases eligible for support from the Children with Disabilities Team will receive a Core Assessment

All referrals for Children with Disabilities and unborn babies will be made via the Intake and Assessment Team.
In the case of Children with Disabilities, the Intake and Assessment Team will utilise the 24 hour period to decide whether the referral is eligible for the Children with Disabilities Team. Telephone or email liaison with the Children with Disabilities Team will be acceptable in cases of doubt but a decision must be made within 24 hours of referral. If no decision can be made an Initial assessment will be opened.
All referrals for Children with Disabilities that have been accepted and all referrals for unborn babies will have an Initial Assessment completed within seven days by the Intake and Assessment Team. This Initial Assessment will be a basic assessment, collecting essential data and need only obtained via the referral.
Once closed the Initial Assessment will be passed to the relevant team as an open case via RAISE.
The Children with Disabilities Team or Children in Need Team will complete a full and comprehensive Core Assessment for all cases within thirty-five days of opening the Core Assessment.
If any specialist assessments are needed they will be requested at the earliest opportunity.
All Core Assessments will be completed and closed within thirty-five days. Any outstanding specialist assessments will be added to the Core Assessment after it has been closed.

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