Your Child’s Plan
Once you have had an assessment of your child’s needs, this may lead to a plan being put together.
The plan will set out what help and support is needed, and how the support will be provided. The plan is called a Child’s Plan.
How will the Child’s Plan be put together?
In Scotland, there is a national approach to make sure all children are able to reach their full potential.
This way of working is called Getting it Right for Every Child – also known as GIRFEC. This is the Scottish Government’s commitment to provide children, young people and their families with the right support at the right time.
The Child’s Plan is a central part of the GIRFEC way of working. It means there is a consistent way across Scotland of helping children and their families think about what they need support with.
A professional involved with your family will work with you and your child to put together your Child’s Plan.
Together, you will look at seven areas of needs. You will discuss what it would take to make sure your child is:
- Safe
- Healthy
- Active
- Nurtured
- Achieving
- Respected
- Responsible
- Included.
You might sometimes hear these called the SHANARRI indicators, named after the first letters of the words.
If it is decided that there is a need for support, whoever is working with you will ask these questions:
- What is getting in the way of this child or young person’s wellbeing?
- Do I have all the information I need to help this child or young person?
- What can I do now to help this child or young person?
- What can my agency do to help this child or young person?
- What additional help, if any, may be needed from others?
The answers to these questions will form the basis of the Child’s Plan.
The Child’s Plan will include what actions need to happen, and who will do what. The plan could be made by a single organisation or different organisations working together.
Everyone involved should use all their skills and experience to meet the child or young person’s needs.
If children, young people, and families need support from different organisations, this means making what is known as a multi-agency child’s plan. This is where a Lead Professional is needed.
A Lead Professional is an identified person that will be the main contact with the family. They will take responsibility for bringing everyone together.
All decisions made about a Child’s Plan should be based on the views of the child or young person, and their family. The plan should be in their best interests and respect their rights.
Where does Self-directed Support fit into my Child’s Plan?
Self-directed Support is the way that social care support is organised in Scotland. It is designed to give people as much choice, control and flexibility as they want when it comes to arranging their support.
Once you have agreed what your child needs support with and made a Child’s Plan, a decision is needed for how this support will be put in place.
Some supports may only be provided by statutory services (school, the NHS or services provided by local councils). Or if your child’s support needs have been decided by a Children’s Panel, they may impose certain types of support.
You and your child have a choice in how any other support is provided.
Self-directed Support is often seen as only applying to children with a disability, but the law says it is open to all children.
Find out more about the options available to you and your child in this article: Deciding how much control and responsibility you and your child want around their support
Next steps
Take a look at the Resources section below to find out more about the GIRFEC way of working and the Child’s Plan.
Read the next page: Self-directed Support budget as part of your child’s support
The SDS Statutory Guidance is legal guidance written for local councils to tell them how social care support (Self-directed Support) should work.
It says:
- The law around Self-directed Support means that a child and their family are able to have choice and flexibility around support to meet the child’s needs.
- If a child is 16 or older they have the right to make decisions about their own support and to choose how they wish to arrange this support.
- If the child is under 16 then the person with parental responsibilities and rights should usually make decisions about the child’s support – unless there are reasons why this would not be appropriate.
- There are some situations where a child and their family may not be offered the four Self-directed Support options. For example if there are safeguarding and wellbeing concerns for the child. In this case the council may need to decide on the best care for the child.
You can find the part of the guidance that talks about this here.
Gemma's story
Gemma was 14 and lived with her great grandmother as her mother was not able to care for her. Gemma was not attending school and there were concerns about her behaviour.
Find out how professionals worked with Gemma and her family to look at what support she needed and put this in place. This included a small Self-directed Support budget to help Gemma’s family continue to look after her. You can read the full case study here.