The final section of the assessment outlines the support plan, which must be agreed with the family. This is based on the conclusions of the assessment. Practitioners must ensure that the plan is SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time bound).
Conclusions, solutions and actions section of the assessment
Once the assessment and conclusions/solutions/actions have been completed the family should be asked to sign the document and they should also be provided with their own copy. When signing the document, they can also add any comments in relation to information they may disagree with or particular agencies they do not wish to share their information with.
- With the child or young person, or parent/ carer, record your overall conclusions and the evidence behind them.
- Agree what you say with the child or young person, or parent/carer, and record any major differences of opinion.
- With the child or young person and parent/carer identify what changes are wanted, what is going well, how change can happen and what actions the family and practitioners supporting them need to undertake.
- Focus on what the child or young person and family can do for themselves.
- If they need more support, think about where they could find it; if it is appropriate to your role, see if you can provide it. Or see if targeted support is provided within your service.
- If the child or young person and family would benefit from support from other agencies, use The Sefton Directory or Sefton CVS Service Directory to see what is on offer, and try to broker this support by engaging these agencies as part of the TAF.
- Agree a review date with the family.
- Share the assessment with the TAF.
Note: The assessment includes an action plan. This is an initial action plan which identifies the immediate actions that people present at the assessment will take (including the child or young person and family). Where a multi-agency response is required, a TAF will be formed and a delivery plan will be agreed by the TAF members. Both the initial action plan and final delivery plan should be agreed to by all those involved, including the child or young person, family and partners. The consent statement should also be signed by the child or young person or parent/carer on the final version of the assessment.
- Do not make any promises of support on behalf of other services.
- Agree who will do what, and when you will review progress.
- Record the child or young person’s or parent/carer’s consent to record the assessment information and to share the assessment information with other agencies. Record any agencies that are specifically included or excluded as agreed with the child/family or young person.
- Make sure they understand what is proposed.
- Use your own judgement to define what should be recorded and who should see it, within the limits of the consent given.
Give a copy of the assessment to the child or young person or their parent/ carer and explain that they can show it to other services if they wish to, so they don’t have to keep repeating their stories.