Information Sharing and Assessment
Information Sharing - Government Guidance
Sharing information is vital for early intervention to ensure that children and young people with additional needs get the services they require.
Practitioners and support staff working within Children's Services and partner organisations have a duty to ensure that relevant and accurate information is shared between them in a timely and secure manner with the consent of young people and their families when appropriate.
Background
Improving information sharing practice is a cornerstone of the Every Child Matters strategy to improve outcomes for children and young people. Statutory guidance on the Children Act 2004 (S10 interagency co-operation and S11 safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children), set out clear expectations for local action to improve information sharing. The Children Act 2004 provides the statutory basis for these changes.
At its simplest ISA is:
- a common approach to assessing the needs of babies, children and young people: the Common Assessment Framework (CAF) used across services and disciplines
- a new role of Lead Professional to be the focal point of contact for the child, the family and the network, and to improve co-ordination and liaison across services
- a national contact point with very basic identifying information about all children 0-18 years
- improving information about services for families through a service directory
It is important that practitioners understand when, why and how they should share information so that they can do so confidently and appropriately as part of their day-to-day practice.
A lot of guidance exists which is specific to sharing information within particular settings. However, as Children's Services move towards more multi-agency working, practitioners felt that clear guidance was needed in order to support this integrated approach. That is why we are developing an information sharing and assessment practitioners toolkit for the region. We are hoping this pack will be ready very shortly together with an on line training programme and flowcharts to help guide decision making. In the meantime it is possible to access information from the ISA section of the ECM government website (link below). Alternatively you can contact the ISA team by telephone or email (below).
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For further information, please contact The ISA Team on (01472) 323439 or by email |
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