Referral and Initial Information Record
The
Referral and Initial Information Record gathers together
the essential information about a child or young person.
It includes information on the child or young person's ethnicity,
the composition of their household, who has parental responsibility
for the child or young person, as well as details of other
agencies currently involved with the child.
The Referral and Initial Information Record records the
reason the child or young person has been referred to social
services, or the service being requested for the child or
young person as well as social services response to the
referral or request for services.
The Government's Objectives for Children's Social Services
(1999) sets a time scale of one day for social services
to make a decision on referrals.
Using the Referral and Initial Information Record
A Referral and Initial Information Record should be completed,
within one working day, for all referrals or request for
services. Where more than one child is referred a Referral
and Initial Information Record is required for each child.
In cases where it is not clear whether the referral or
request for service applies to all children in a family
attempts should be made to clarify this with the referrer
before proceeding. A Referral or Initial Information Record
should be completed on each child referred, or where this
information is not clear the Referral or Initial Information
Record should be completed on the youngest child in the
family, pending the gathering of further information about
other children in the household.
If during the course of gathering further information it
is likely that other children in the family may be children
in need, a separate Referral and Initial Information Record
should be completed for each child. The date of the referral
on these children will be the date the decision is made
that they may be children in need. It may therefore vary
from the date the referral on the first child was received.
All sections of the Referral and Information Records should
be completed, where information is available. Basic information
such as the spelling of names and dates of birth should
be checked with the parent or main carer.
The ethnicity of the child should always be recorded. It
is the child's, or in the case of young children their parent
or main carer's, definition of their ethnicity that should
be recorded. Ethnicity should never be assumed or attributed.
This information will be important in providing appropriate
services to the child and family and for planning services
for the community.
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