Stage 1
At the level of universal services, education and health
work to support children and young people and their
families, intervening early when necessary to prevent
unmet needs escalating. This includes an element
of personalised support but is provided within the
service. The agency will co-ordinate and monitor the
support to overcome the barrier to flourishing.
Stage 2
Sometimes children and young people need extra
support within universal services. This additional
support should be determined by a wellbeing
assessment and informed by the views and wishes of
the child or young person and their parent or carer.
The universal service practitioner will initiate a single
agency Child’s Plan and chronology.
Stage 3
Stage 3 supports are not needed by most children
and young people. Targeted supports at this level go
beyond what is available via universal provision and
involve at least one other agency. With the agreement
of the child or young person and their parent or
carer, a wellbeing assessment will be undertaken
to identify needs and specify additional supports
required to overcome these. A multi-agency Child’s
Plan is necessary at stage 3 to co-ordinate supports
and clarify professional roles and responsibilities. A
multi-agency Child’s Plan meeting will be convened
involving the parents or carers, the child or young
person (if appropriate), the universal service and
partner agencies and will agree who should be the
‘Lead Professional’ for the child (see below).
In some circumstances, the multi-agency meeting will
identify a need for statutory measures to support the
child or young person.
Stage 4
For some children and young people, highly specialist
support is required from two or more agencies to
address their wellbeing needs. At stage 4, the Lead
Professional will almost always be a social worker.
If the child or young person is involved in a child
protection process and/or is Care Experienced (looked
after at home or away from home) or subject to a
Compulsory Supervision Order, the Lead Professional
will always be from Social Work.
Support at stage 4 is intensive and applied because
the child or young person is experiencing significant
risk. For these reasons, it is expected that support at
this stage will be time limited. The Child’s Plan must
be SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic
and time-limited) and should be reviewed regularly
and amended as necessary to maximise impact upon
positive outcomes for the child or young person.
At stage 4, the ultimate aim of the Child’s Plan is to
intervene minimally in the child or young person’s
life to reduce or remove barriers to the child or young
person’s happy and healthy development and to
strengthen family capacity.
