Services who actively encourage partnerships with carers and give information, support and advice in a considered manner all underpin the duties with the Carers (Scotland) Act.
Practitioners must listen to young people and take their views seriously. They must also include young people in key decisions and communicate.
The key to change is the development of a whole-family approach and for all agencies – including children’s and adult’s services – to work together to offer coordinated assessments and services to the child and the whole family. There may be differences of view between children and parents about what constitutes appropriate levels of care, and these may be out in the open or concealed. Resolution requires a whole-family approach and good partnership working.
Intended to assist practitioners to consider how to develop whole-family approaches in line with the new requirements of the Care Act. It also considers how the Act works in tandem with the provisions of the Children and Families Act to create a cohesive legislative framework that allows assessment and support for families to be combined where appropriate.
To help practitioners to implement the changes in legislation for young carers and their families outlined in the Care Act 2014 and Children and Families Act 2014. Both pieces of legislation promote a whole family approach.
Developing a whole family approach is successful and key benefits from this report include young carers being identified earlier, more personalised support for families and young carers being lifted out of inappropriate caring roles. Carried out an evaluation of a pathfinder which reported on the efficacy of a whole family approach for young carers. Practitioners had worked with 114 families across 18 Local Authorites in England.