Indicators of need

Indicators of need

Level 1 – UNIVERSAL

Children and young people who make good overall progress in most areas of development and receive appropriate universal services, such as health care and education. They may also use leisure and play facilities, housing or voluntary sector services.

Health

  • Physically well
  • Nutritious diet
  • Adequate hygiene & dress
  • Developmental & health checks / immunisations up to date
  • Developmental milestones & motor skills appropriate
  • Sexual activity age-appropriate
  • Good mental health

Emotional Development

  • Good quality early attachments
  • Able to adapt to change
  • Able to understand others’ feelings

Behavioural Development

  • Takes responsibility for behaviour
  • Responds appropriately to boundaries and constructive guidance

Identity and Self-Esteem

  • Can discriminate between safe and unsafe contacts

Family and Social Relationships

  • Stable and affectionate relationships with family
  • Is able to make and maintain friendships

Learning

  • Access to books and toys
  • Enjoys and participates in learning activities
  • Has experiences of success and achievement
  • Makes age-related, appropriate progress
  • Sound links between home and school
  • Planning for career and adult life

Basic care, ensuring safety and protection

  • Provide for child’s physical needs, e.g. food, drink, appropriate clothing, medical and dental care
  • Protection from danger or significant harm

Emotional warmth and stability

  • Shows warm regard, praise and encouragement
  • Ensures stable relationships

Guidance, boundaries and stimulation

  • Ensure the child can develop a sense of right and wrong
  • Child / young person accesses leisure facilities as appropriate to age and interests

Family functioning and well-being

  • Good relationships within family, including when parents are separated

Housing, work and income

  • Accommodation has basic amenities and appropriate facilities, and can meet family needs
  • Managing budget to meet individual needs

Social and community including education

  • They have friendships and are able to access local services and amenities
  • Family feels part of the community

Level 2 – EARLY HELP

Children and young people whose needs require some extra support. A single universal or targeted service or two services are likely to be involved; these services should work together.  A Team Around the Family meeting to share information and agree an Early Help Plan to support the child and family is helpful. No need for specialist services.

Health

  • Inadequate, limited or restricted diet; e.g. no breakfast, no lunch money; being under or overweight
  • Missing immunisations / checks
  • Child is continually slow in reaching developmental milestones
  • Minor concerns re: diet, hygiene, clothing
  • Dental problems untreated / decay
  • Missing routine and non-routine health appointments
  • Concerns about developmental progress: e.g. bedwetting / soiling; speech impediment
  • Vulnerable to emotional problems, perhaps in response to life events such as parental separation e.g. child seems unduly anxious, angry or defiant for their age
  • Experimenting with tobacco, alcohol or illegal drugs
  • Frequent accidents
  • Emerging risk of child exploitation.  Current knowledge / information of a key risk

Emotional Development

  • Some difficulties with family relationships
  • Some difficulties with peer group relationships and with adults, e.g. ‘clingy’, anxious or withdrawn
  • Some evidence of inappropriate responses and actions
  • Limited engagement in play with others / has few or no friends

Identity and Self-Esteem

  • Some insecurities around identity expressed e.g. low self-esteem, sexuality, gender identity
  • May experience bullying
  • May be perpetrating bullying behaviour
  • Lack of confidence is incapacitating
  • Child subject to persistent discrimination, e.g. racial, sexual or due to disabilities
  • Victim of crime or bullying

Family and Social Relationships

  • Lack of positive role models
  • Child has some difficulties sustaining relationships
  • Low levels of parental conflict / infrequent incidents of domestic dispute
  • Unresolved issues arising from parents’
  • separation, step-parenting or bereavement
  • Occasional low level domestic  abuse
  • Children affected by parental imprisonment

Self-care skills and independence

  • Disability limits amount of self-care possible
  • Periods of inadequate self-care, e.g. poor hygiene
  • Child is continually slow to develop age appropriate self-care skills

Learning

  • Have some identified specific learning needs with targeted support and / or special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) Support Plan
  • Language and communication difficulties
  • Regular underachievement or not reaching education potential
  • Poor punctuality / pattern  of regular school absences
  • Not always engaged in play / learning, e.g. poor concentration
  • No access to books / toys
  • Some fixed term exclusions

 

 

 

 

 

 

Behavioural Development

  • Not always able to understand how own actions impact on others
  • Finds accepting responsibility for own actions difficult
  • Responds inappropriately to boundaries / constructive guidance
  • Finds positive interaction difficult with peers in unstructured contexts
  • Additional needs from Emotional Well Being and Mental Health Services
  • One-off / occasional short period missing from home

Basic care, ensuring safety and protection

  • Basic care is not provided consistently
  • Parent / carer requires advice on parenting issues
  • Some concerns around child’s physical needs being met
  • Young, inexperienced parents
  • Teenage pregnancy
  • Inappropriate child care arrangements and / or too many carers
  • Some exposure to dangerous situations in the home or community
  • Unnecessary or frequent visits to GP or unplanned care settings e.g. Emergency Department
  • Parent / carer stresses starting to affect ability to ensure child’s safety

Emotional warmth and stability

  • Inconsistent responses to child / young person by parent / carer
  • Parents struggling to have their own emotional needs met
  • Child / young person not able to develop other positive relationships
  • Starting to show difficulties with attachments

Housing, work and income

  • Family seeking asylum or refugees
  • Periods of unemployment of parent / carer
  • Parents / carers have limited formal education
  • Low income
  • Financial / debt problems
  • Poor state of repair, temporary or overcrowded, or unsafe housing
  • Intentionally homeless
  • Serious debts / poverty impact on ability to have basic needs met
  • Rent arrears put family at risk of eviction or proceedings initiated
  • Not in Education, Employment or Training post-16

Social and community including education

  • Some social exclusion or conflict experiences; low tolerance
  • Community characterised by negativity towards children / young people
  • Difficulty accessing community facilities

Family functioning  and well-being

  • A child / young person is taking on a caring role in relation to their parent / carer, or is looking after younger siblings
  • No effective support from extended family
  • Adopted

Guidance, boundaries and stimulation

  • Parent / carer offers inconsistent boundaries
  • Lack of routine in the home
  • Child / young person spends considerable time alone, e.g. watching television
  • Child / young person is not often exposed to new experiences; has limited access to leisure activities
  • Child / young person can behave in an anti-social way in the neighbourhood, e.g. petty crime

Level 3 – TARGETED HELP

 Vulnerable Children. Children and young people whose needs are more complex. This refers to the range, depth or significance of the needs. A number of these indicators would need to be present to indicate need at Level 3. More than one service is involved, using a Team Around the Family approach, Early Help Plan and a Lead Practitioner to co-ordinate multi-agency support. Targeted Help can support at this level.

Health

  • Child has some chronic / recurring health problems; not treated, or badly managed
  • Regularly misses appointments for serious medical condition
  • Developmental milestones are not being met due to parental care
  • Regular substance misuse
  • Lack of food
  • ‘Unsafe’ sexual activity
  • Self-harming behaviours
  • Child has significant disability
  • Mental health issues emerging e.g. conduct disorder; ADHD; anxiety; depression; eating disorder; self-harming
  • Significant risk of child exploitation.  Knowledge of a key risk that the child is currently being targeted but not actively involved / exploited

Emotional Development

  • Sexualised behaviour
  • Child appears regularly anxious, angry or phobic and demonstrates a mental health condition
  • Young carer affecting development of self

Behavioural Development

  • Persistent disruptive / challenging behaviour at school, home or in the neighbourhood
  • Starting to commit offences / re-offend
  • Additional needs met by Emotional Wellbeing and Mental Health Services
  • Prosecution of offences resulting in court orders, custodial sentences or Anti-Social Behaviour Orders or Youth Offending early intervention
  • Repeated short incidents of missing from home (less than 3 incidents in 90 days)

Identity and Self-Esteem

  • Presentation (including hygiene) significantly impacts on all relationships
  • Child / young person experiences persistent discrimination; internalised and reflected in poor self-image
  • Alienates self from others

Guidance, boundaries and stimulation

  • Parents struggle / refuse to set effective boundaries e.g. too loose / tight / physical chastisement
  • Child  /young person behaves in anti-social way in the neighbourhood

Family and Social Relationships

  • Relationships with carers characterised by unpredictability
  • Misses school consistently
  • Previously had periods of Local Authority accommodation
  • Young person is main carer for family member

Self-care skills and independence

  • Disability prevents self-care in a significant range of tasks
  • Child lacks a sense of safety and often puts him / herself in danger

Learning

  • Consistently poor nursery / school attendance and punctuality
  • Young child with few, if any, achievements
  • Not in education (under 16)

Basic care, ensuring safety and protection

  • Parent / carer is failing to provide adequate care
  • Parents have found it difficult to care for previous child / young person
  • Domestic abuse, coercion or control in the home
  • The care and support needs of parents has a significant affect their care of child / young person. This might include mental health problems, substance misuse issues, learning disability, physical disability or physical illness
  • Non-compliance of parents / carers with services

Housing, work and income

  • Chronic unemployment that has severely affected parents’ own identities
  • Family unable to gain employment due to significant lack of basic skills or long-term substance misuse neglect
  • Child has no positive relationships
  • Child has multiple carers; may have no significant relationship to any of them
  • Child at risk of female genital mutilation (FGM) and other harmful traditional / cultural practices, forced marriage or honour based abuse where a protective parent is engaging with targeted services to seek protection
  • Child at risk of modern slavery and / or human trafficking but parents are accessing support and services

Family functioning and well-being

  • Family have serious physical and mental health difficulties impacting on their child
  • Community are hostile to family
  • Emerging involvement in gang or other activities which risks future exploitation
  • Young person displays regular physical violence towards parents

Level 4 – SPECIALIST

Children and young people whose needs are complex and enduring and cross many domains. More than one service is normally involved, with a co-ordinated multi-agency approach and a Lead Professional, commonly in a non-statutory role. At times statutory intervention may be required.

Health

  • Child / young person has severe/chronic health problems
  • Faltering growth with no identified medical cause
  • Refusing medical care endangering life / development
  • Seriously obese / seriously underweight
  • Serious dental decay requiring removal of multiple teeth through persistent lack of dental care
  • Persistent and high risk substance misuse
  • Dangerous sexual activity and / or early teenage pregnancy
  • Sexual abuse
  • Evidence of significant harm or neglect
  • Non-accidental injury
  • Unexplained significant injuries
  • Acute mental health problems e.g. severe depression; threat of suicide / overdose / self-harm resulting in serious injury; psychotic episode
  • Physical / learning disability requiring constant supervision
  • Disclosure of abuse from child / young person
  • Disclosure of abuse / physical injury caused by a professional
  • Experiencing child exploitation.  Knowledge of a key risk that recognises the child is currently experiencing  being exploited

Emotional Development

  • Situation or location could reduce the child’s safety.  The child is at an increased vulnerability to being abused / exploited e.g. missing from home or care
  • Severe emotional / behavioural challenges
  • Puts self or others at risk through aggressive behaviour

Behavioural Development

  • Persistent disruptive / challenging at school, home or in the neighbourhood resulting in repeated school placement breakdown and / or family breakdown
  • Regular and persistent offending and re- offending behaviour for serious offences resulting in custodial sentences or high risk public protection concerns
  • Mental health needs resulting in high risk self-harming behaviours, suicidal ideation and in-patient admissions

Basic care, ensuring safety and protection

  • Instability and violence in the home continually
  • Parents / carers involved in violent or serious crime, or crime against children
  • Parents / carers own needs mean they are unable to keep child / young person safe
  • Severe disability – child / young person relies totally on other people to meet care needs
  • Chronic and serious domestic abuse involving child / young person
  • Disclosure from parent of abuse to child / young person
  • Suspected / evidence of fabricated or induced illness
  • Young person at risk of female genital mutilation (FGM) and other harmful traditional / cultural practices, forced marriage or honour based abuse with family who lack willingness to protect
  • Significant risk or experiencing child exploitation and knowledge that parent / carer unable to or lack willingness to protect

Identity and Self-Esteem

  • Failed Education Supervision Order – three prosecutions for non-attendance: family refusing to engage
  • Evident mental health needs
  • Young person exhibiting extremist views, threats, suggestions or behaviour which meets PREVENT criteria
  • Young person involved / closely associating with gangs

Family and Social Relationships

  • Relationships with family experienced as negative (‘low warmth, high criticism’)
  • Rejection by a parent / carer; family no longer want to care for – or have abandoned child / young person
  • Periods accommodated by local authority
  • Family breakdown related to child’s behavioural difficulties
  • Subject to physical, emotional or sexual abuse or neglect
  • Younger child main carer for family member

Learning

  • No school placement due to parental neglect
  • Child / young person is out of school due to parental neglect

Other indicators

  • Professional concerns – but difficulty accessing child / young person
  • Unaccompanied refuge / asylum seeker
  • Privately fostered
  • Abusing other children
  • Young sex offenders
  • Serious or persistent offending behaviour likely to lead to custody / remand in secure unit/ prison
  • Trafficked child with no family support or protection
  • Forced labour
  • Exploitation by criminals (e.g. criminal gangs or organised crime groups )
  • Sexual Exploitation
  • Extremism related activity

Guidance, boundaries and stimulation

  • No effective boundaries set by parents / carers
  • Multiple carers
  • Child beyond parental control
  • Persistent and regular incidents of missing from home (three or more incidents in 90 days)
  • Missing from home for long periods of time

Family functioning and well-being

  • Significant parental / carer discord and persistent domestic violence and discord between family members
  • Child / young person in need where there are child protection concerns
  • Individual posing a risk to children in, or known to, household
  • Family home used for drug taking, prostitution, illegal activities

Housing, work and income

  • Homeless – or imminent if not accepted by housing department
  • Housing dangerous or seriously threatening to health
  • Physical accommodation places child in danger
  • Extreme poverty / debt impacting on ability to care for child

Emotional warmth and stability

  • Parent’s own emotional experiences impacting on their ability to meet child / young person’s needs
  • Child has no-one to care for him / her
  • Requesting young child be accommodated by local authority
  • Parent / carers mental health or substance misuse, learning disability, physical disability or physical illness significantly affect care of child
  • Parents / carers unable to care for previous children