Liberi Practice Guidance for Catch 22 service

Introduction

The pathway plan is a critical document for young people. It should capture the assessed needs of the young person, the agreed plan for meeting those needs, and the young person’s wishes and feelings about their situation and pathway plan.

Arrangements for the completion of Part 1 of the Pathway Plan (the needs assessment) should be discussed and agreed at the young person’s statutory review prior to their 16th birthday. The assessment should be completed no later than 3 months after their 16th birthday.

‘The participation of care leavers is fundamental to effective pathway planning. Young people should be central to discussions and plans for their futures and it will be exceptional for decisions about their futures to be made without their full participation. They must be active participants in building their future, based on their hopes and aspirations.’

Planning Transition to Adulthood for Care Leavers 2010

The needs assessment and subsequent pathway planning, must take account of the young person’s communication skills and any requirements arising from a disability or impairment. Where a young person requires additional assistance to fully involve them in the assessment process this must be offered.

Assessments must take account of any needs arising from the young person’s ethnicity,language,religion,culture and sexuality.

Process for Pathway Planning

  1. As soon as the young person’s case is transferred to Catch 22 the pathway plan needs to be manually opened. To do this the SW needs to click on the ‘start pathway plan’button.
  1. Complete Part 1 of the Pathway Plan-the needs assessment,ensuring that the voice of the young person is heard throughout the needs assessment.
  1. Once completed, finalise the Pathway Plan Part 1 and send to relevant team manager’s worktray for authorisation. The authorisation process is an important quality assurance tool for managers, and allows for assessments/reports to be read and quality assured before being authorised.
  1. The team manager reviews the Pathway Plan Part 1, and if further work is required on the pathway plan they will select ‘request further information’, which will return the form to the social worker. If no further work is required then the manager can authorise the form.
  1. The SW now needs to complete the Pathway Plan Part 2. In the ‘planning’ section a ‘need’ and ‘outcomes’ table will appear. These need to be completed, and then they have to be moved as they are ‘uncategorised needs’. To do this click on the icon in the right hand box ‘move row’. Two choices will appear-choose ‘Child and Young Person Developmental needs Pathway Plan only’. Then click on subdimensions and choose the most appropriate option from the 3 drop down choices.
  2. Once this has been done, the ‘reason for update’ and ‘revision notes’ fields under the Planning section, will now show up in red. They are mandatory and must be completed, otherwise the form can’t be finalised.
  1. Once the pathway plan part 2 is completed, it is sent to the manager for authorisation.
  1. The SW then needs to organise the CLA review in consultation with the young person and IRO.
  1. The SW will be required to complete a pre meeting report for the CLA review-the CLA Pathway Plan review form. Complete in consultation with the young person, and send for authorisation. I don’t know why, but in this instance the manager has to ‘approve’ the form, as there is no authorise button. If a CLA review is already booked within one month of transfer, the previous SW is responsible for preparing the pre meeting report.
  1. CLA review will be held. IRO will complete the meeting outcomes form, and the review minutes form.
  1. Once the IRO has completed their tasks a message will appear in the SW’s tray ‘update CLA Care Plan’. You will see CLA Care Plan, and Pathway Plan Parts 1 & 2. Click on CLA Care Plan first, and go into the CLA Care Plan. This doesn’t need to be completed, but it does need to be finalised, and sent for authorisation.
  1. Then open Part 1 of the pathway plan, and enter the date the needs assessment was completed. Finalise and send for authorisation.
  1. Depending what happened at the review the SW may need to update the Pathway Plan Part 2- if no changes are needed, click on ‘no changes to the plan’. If changes are needed, update and send for authorisation.