Children and Community Care
The care needs of children under the age of 18, or of those over 18 who are leaving care, may be the responsibility of Social Services under the Children Act 1989. The Children Act provides for a range of services and support to be made available to the children and their families.
Community Care services are also available to children. In some cases, the services required are so specialist that Social Services are unable or unwilling to provide them because they should really be provided by the National Health Service. For example, even where an assessment shows that all of a child’s needs are for personal care which may be provided by Social Services, some Social Services staff are unwilling to take on caring duties which they may feel should be taken on by trained health care staff. In such a case, the carers or parents of the child should ask for a Community Care assessment, which would need to involve health services staff. It might be that provision of care services is actually the responsibility of the National Health Service.
Parents who are the Carers of disabled and sick children are also entitled to services, both in their own right as carers and also on behalf of the children. They can receive direct payments to pay for services to be provided to the child.
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