SUBMISSION BY THE CHILDREN’S LAW CENTRE TO PROPOSALS FOR A CARER’S AND DISABLED CHILDREN’S BILL

Thank you for affording the Children’s Law Centre the opportunity of commenting on these proposals.

The framework for our response is The United Nations Convention On the Rights of the Child. We believe that a rights based approach must be taken to the provision of services to children and young people. It is essential that all assessment procedures are grounded on the best interests of the child and that pursuant to Article 12 UNCRC all children and young people are involved in a supportive manner in decision - making processes, which affect their lives.

It must be recognised that young carers needs are wide ranging and must be integrated with the needs of the family as a whole, including the need for respite care, educational help, health issues, transport help, counselling, advice, social and leisure pursuits etc. As a starting point we need to ensure that there is a wide range of projects available to help young carers and that these are informed by the voices of young carers themselves in terms of their needs. These services are at present geographically uneven.

We are broadly supportive of the introduction of this Bill, but have several comments to make in relation to the provision of services to young carers. We believe that the issues we have raised need to be addressed if progress is to be made in respect of services for young carers.

1 This Bill is not resource neutral and must be backed by adequate finance. There needs to be ring-fenced budgets available to meet the needs of young carers. This applies to those aged 16 and over who would be entitled to an assessment under this proposed Bill and also to young carers who are assessed as children in need under The Children (NI) Order1995.

2 The Explanatory Document makes it clear that 16 & 17 year olds will be entitled to request a carer’s assessment and to receive direct payments. This is welcomed and hopefully will lead to more flexibility and choice for young people.

However, in relation to direct payments for services, there are child protection issues, which need to be addressed in relation to vetting of services purchased by young people. The Care Standards Act 2000, which is not in force in N Ireland, enables a person who is considering employing an individual to care for their child, where that care is funded by a direct payment to ask the local authority to carry out checks under the Protection Of Children Act. It is important that such checks are incorporated into Guidance here.

In relation to direct payments we believe that it would be extremely important for young carers to be able to access a proper support mechanism to manage these payments and to help negotiate terms etc.

Provision must always safeguard and promote the best interests of children. We note from the Policy Guidance issued in England by The Department of Health that direct payments for people with parental responsibility for children with a disability will be provided within the framework of Part 111 of The Children Act 1989. Cross-reference is persistently made to The Framework For The Assessment of Children In Need and their Families. This is a matter, which we have addressed below.

In terms of the purchase of residential accommodation, we note that this is again linked to the Arrangement Of Placement of Children Regulations and clarification is sought in relation to the proposals in this jurisdiction in this regard, which would also have to address whether such accommodation falls within the LAC procedures or not.

3 The Bill only provides for a power to be given to Social Services to provide services. We would recommend that there should be a duty to provide services or direct payments to purchase services in accordance with the need defined in the assessment.

4 There needs to be clarification in respect of the responsibility for carrying out assessments. In the case of 16 & 17 year olds will this be children’s or adult’s services? The DH Guidance suggests that 16 & 17 year olds will only rarely be assessed under these provisions and that again the assessment framework would be used under the children in need provisions of The Children Act. Will this be the position here?

5 There also needs to be clarification as to the responsibility for identifying young carers under 16 and providing for their needs. Any Guidance accompanying this legislation needs to emphasise the multidisciplinary nature of providing for the needs of young carers and should set out clear protocols between education, health and social services authorities. There needs to be flexibility in relation to providing services to younger carers.

6 Whilst we support the notion that young carers aged 16 and 17 and under 16 should be assessed as children in need pursuant to Articles 17 & 18 Children (NI) Order 1995, there are several crucial points which we believe need to be addressed in this regard.

a) Detailed discussion needs to take place between The Elderly & Community Care Unit and the Childcare Unit about the provision for young carers under 16 and for 16 and 17-year-old carers.

b) There needs to be guidance in respect of carrying out assessments for young carers and the responsibility for this.

c) The relationship between the children in need provisions of The Children (NI) Order 1995 (Articles 17 & 18) and the provisions of the current Bill need to be dealt with in detail in the Bill and in the associated Guidance.

d) Potentially in appropriate circumstances 16 and 17 year olds should be entitled to an assessment under these provisions, perhaps in conjunction with an assessment under The Children (NI) Order 1995 children in need provisions.

e) The DH Guidance to The Carer’s & Disabled Children’s Act 2000 states that young carers under18 should normally be assessed under The Assessment Framework For Children In Need, but that there will be circumstances for certain 16 and 17 year olds where it will be appropriate for an assessment under the Carers and Disabled Children legislation to take place in line with the Assessment Framework Guidance.

The Assessment Framework For Children In Need has the status of Guidance in England. This Guidance has not been implemented in N Ireland.

In the absence of Guidance in relation to the assessment of children in need, we have concern that young carers will fall through a gap in legislative provision.

It is essential that a fully comprehensive system to support young carers is in place. Given that the legal basis for provision of services to young carers will cross two pieces of legislation, it is essential that care is taken to ensure that Guidance makes it quite clear who is responsible to provide services and fund support for young carers.

We recommend that formal guidance be implemented in N Ireland in relation to the assessment of children in need. There needs to be a clear direction from the DHSS PS on the status of The Assessment Framework For Children In Need.

7 We recommend that a leaflet for young carers should be produced clearly outlining how they can get help, together with a list of services available within their area.

8 The Impact Assessment does not appear to recognise the fact that public authorities must have due regard to the need to promote equality of opportunity between, inter alia, those of different ages and that age includes young as well as old.

Care needs to be taken to ensure that young people are consulted directly about these proposals. It is only in this way that legislative change and funding for services can be moulded around the genuine needs and experiences of young people.[1]

9 The provision of services for young people who are carers is a multidisciplinary issue and consideration should be given when drawing up Guidance to look at ways in which this issue could be incorporated into, for example pastoral care policies in schools to ensure that children and young people who are carers can get access to information from pastoral care teachers about how to access services. A multi disciplinary task force should be set up to develop

clear protocols between agencies so that children’s rights in this area can be protected.

10 Young carers should be entitled to appoint an independent advocate on their behalf to negotiate services in the Trust area in which they reside.

11 Guidance should indicate that young people should be consulted about their views on direct payments and on the services available. They will need support and guidance in this process.

We note that extensive Policy and Practice Guidance and a Practitioner’s Guide to Carers Assessments has been issued in England in conjunction with this legislation and we would welcome further discussion in relation to the drafting of Guidance in Northern Ireland. In particular we feel it is important that such Guidance is very clear about the relationship between the assessment of children in need under the Children (NI) Order 1995 and this current Bill. This will inevitably involve discussion about the status of The Framework For the Assessment Of Children In Need in N Ireland.

We would welcome a meeting with your Department to discuss issues raised in this response. We have consulted with a number of other agencies working with young carers in the preparation of this response. Many of these agencies will forward their own separate response, but the above comments have been endorsed by the agencies named in our covering letter.

Children’s Law Centre

21 05 01

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[1] See Northern Ireland Young Carers; The Open University; An Exploration of Their Needs And of The Response by Crossroads Caring For Carers where consultation took place with Young Carers