The Children and Families Act 2014 and Care Act 2014 set out legal requirements for the local authority to assess the needs of parents who care for a child or young person aged under 18 (parent carer) and parents caring for a young person aged over 18 (adult carer) if they request it or appear to need support
Parent/carers assessment
If you're an adult who is caring for a child or young person with SEND you will be eligible for a carer's assessment.
The carer’s needs are usually included within the child or young person’s social care assessment.
As a parent or carer of a child or young person with SEND you have the right to ask for an assessment of your own needs.
The assessment will consider your needs, circumstances, and how your caring responsibilities impact the rest of your life. These will cover your caring role, your feelings about caring, your physical, mental and emotional health, and how caring affects your work, leisure, education, wider family and relationships.
Outcome of the parent/carers assessment
The assessment should work out how you can continue your caring role whilst also being supported to do the things that are important to you and your family. Because assessments are needs based, support will be tailored to suit you. This might include:
- Information and advice about the support and services available in your community to help with your wellbeing and caring role.
- Advice on how to prevent or delay things becoming more difficult in the future.
- Working with you to develop a contingency plan to help you think about times when you might not be available to care and when plans change at short notice.
- If the assessment identifies any unmet needs, you may be referred on to other services that can help. This could include gaining access to short break hours to provide respite, or being advised of any additional financial help you may be eligible for.
Learn more about the parents/carers assessment
Request an assessment
Contact the children’s disability service, or speak directly to your social worker if you already have one.