CHILDREN’S SOCIAL CARE

DARLINGTON ACCESS TO RESOURCES PANEL (D.A.R.P)

TERMS OF REFERENCE

PURPOSE OF DARP

  • To consider all children’s placement moves and requests
  • To consider retrospective placement decisions made in an emergency situation
  • To consider resource requests where there is a financial cost between £2500 - £5000
  • To consider placement requests where the weekly fee is no more than £5000
  • To consider all allowances and series of ongoing payments

ROLE OF DARP

  • To approve or reject children’s placement requests and to provide rationale
  • To ensure decisions made are in line with those recommendations and decisions made at the weekly Legal Gateway Panel held each Wednesday
  • To agree to an in-house placement search initially if approval has been given for a placement request
  • To receive updates following in-house placement searches if unsuccessful
  • To approve placement searches for external provision if sufficient evidence has been provided following an unsuccessful in-house search.In an emergency this decision to be made by a Head of Service, the Family Placement Service Manager or the Assistant Director to prevent delay. These cases to be presented to DARP in retrospect within 2 weeks.
  • To approve identified external placement provision prior to any decision being made to proceed with a placement. In an emergency this decision to be made by a Head of Service, the Family Placement Service Manager or the Assistant Director to prevent delay. Evidence of discussion with the Virtual Head-teacher and child’s Independent Reviewing Officer (if one is allocated) must be sought to ensure their views have been taken into account
  • If an external placement is identified and approved, a timescale to be agreed for review of provision within the External Placements meeting chaired by the Head of Assessment, Care Planning and Looked After Through Care
  • To consider proposals to change a child’s placement if there is a significant cost change and/or placement type
  • To refer children’s placement requests to Complex Needs Panel if it is evident the child may require educational input outside of their current setting and/or if the child may be eligible for Continuing Health Care funding. In cases such as these DARP will not make any decisions regarding resource requests, instead it will refer directly to Complex Needs
  • To approve or reject resource requests. If a resource request is rejected, DARP must provide the rationale why this decision has been reached and provide alternative suggestions if appropriate to support care planning

MEMBERSHIP

  • Head of Assessment, Care Planning and Looked After Through Care - Chair
  • Service Manager, Safeguarding and Assessment – Vice-Chair
  • Service Manager, Safeguarding and LAC – Vice-Chair
  • Service Manager, Family Placement – Vice-Chair
  • Virtual School Head/SEND representative
  • Family Placement Service Team Manager or representative
  • Residential Care Manager
  • Children’s Commissioning Manager
  • Family Placement Officer
  • LAC Health Nurse
  • Housing representative – if available
  • Early Help representative – if available

FREQUENCY

DARP will meet each week on a Thursday from 10am – 12noon at Central House, Gladstone Street, Darlington.

OPERATIONAL ARRANGEMENTS

Referrals to DARP

The child’s Social Worker must contact the DARP co-coordinator to book a time slot at: .

The child’s Social Worker must complete a DARP referral form attached at appendix 1. The completed referral form and any other relevant documents that will support decision-making to be sent to the DARP co-ordinator by 12 noon on the Wednesday before Panel. Late referrals will be considered but it will remain the decision of DARP whether the referral should be heard or deferred until the next Panel.

The referrals to be forwarded by e-mail to all DARP members by close of play each Wednesday.

Attendance at DARP

The child’s Social Worker must attend DARP to present their case. If the child’s Social Worker is not available a representative must attend on their behalf. The representative must have detailed knowledge of the case to enable decision-making to take place and to prevent unnecessary delay.

For those cases where there is a child who has either a disability or an Education Health Care Plan (EHCP), a representative from SEND or the Life Stages teamwill be required to attend DARP to support the child’s Social Worker and to inform decision-making.

Recording of decisions

All decisions made at DARP will be reflected on the referral form attached at appendix 1.

The referral form including decisions made at DARP to be uploaded onto the child’s electronic file (Care Store) and a case note added to signpost to the DARP record.

APPENDIX 1

DARP/Complex Needs REFERRAL FORM *

PART ONE – TO BE COMPLETED BY THE SOCIAL WORKER/CONTINUING HEALTH CARE NURSE (CHCN)
IF THE RESOURCE REQUEST IS UNDER £2500 THIS DOES NOT NEED TO BE PRESENTED TO DARP – A HEAD OF SERVICE IS ABLE TO MAKE A DECISION FOR UNDER THIS AMOUNT.
Date of DARP/CNF
Childs Name
ID Number
Date of Birth
Legal Status
Social Worker/CHCN
Social Work Team
School
School Year
GP
EHCP in place?
Has agreement to present this matter to DARP been ratified with the Team Manager?
If no, please discuss the matter prior to submission to the DARP administrator.
State succinctly what is being requested (no more than one sentence):
What are we worried about?
What is working well?
What needs to happen?
Danger Statement:
Option(s) & Recommendations:
Cost/funding split (if applicable):
PART TWO – TO BE COMPLETED BY DARP/Complex Needs Forum
Panel Members:
Decision of Panel:
Reasons for Decision:
Recommendations made if request for placement/resource is not approved:
Date for Review by Panel:

*NB this form is a generic form to be used for both DARP and Complex Needs

DARP TOR – updated 14 February 2018 – v 9

Page | 1