Isle of Anglesey County Council

In order to access the support that a child or young person needs, the people offering that support need to understand what each individual’s needs are.

Some services only work with children and young people with very complex needs and will have an ‘eligibility criteria’ that anyone seeking their service must meet.

If a service is unable to support you, they should suggest alternative providers that could meet your needs.

Each service such as social workers, community nurses or physiotherapists will have their own way of doing things which should be fully explained to you when you first apply. Always ask if you need more information.

Some will visit you at home and for others you will need to visit them. There will be many questions about the child or young person’s needs and sometimes about the rest of the family as well. This is so that the person or service providing support gets the full picture of how you live your life - a holistic assessment. It allows them to work with you in coming up with the best ideas and approaches for making things better.

If the difficulty requiring support is physical, an assessment can involve observation of carrying out daily tasks.

It might take a few visits to complete an assessment.

If eligibility criteria is met...

Once an assessment is complete, the service provider will discuss options with you to provide ongoing support or how to address any current difficulties.

If a child or young person needs help from more than one service, they may ask for your permission to discuss your needs together. You can also request that services supporting you/your child meet up to discuss issues and work with you to come up with one joined-up support plan.

This is called Multi-Agency working. It saves time and ensures that all support needs are addressed, that services aren’t duplicating provision nor pulling in opposite directions.

If eligibility criteria is not met...

The assessing service should provide you with alternative sources of support.

If you are unhappy with or are unclear about the outcome of an assessment you should discuss this firstly with the person who has carried out the assessment. Should you still be unhappy, you can ask to speak with their line manager.