Please note: All of the current seminars are now fully booked. Notices of any further dates we are able to run will appear here, so please check back.

Disabled children and their transition into adulthood: the law and good practice.

The session, facilitated by Luke Clements, aims to provide attendees with an overview of the legal responsibilities of local authorities and NHS bodies to ensure that the social care, education and health care needs of disabled children are fully addressed – and sustained – as they move into adulthood. This session will also provide attendees with updates concerning relevant legal and policy developments and a forum where attendees can:

• bring practical problems that have cropped up in their lives and obtain legal and practical advice on how best to resolve these
• clarify any issues of uncertainty they have concerning carers’ social care rights.
• contribute their experiences and expertise to assist in developing a strategy that improves the chances of disabled children and their carers successfully managing the transitional process.

Objectives/outcomes

By the end of the session, attendees should have a better understanding of:

• The need to plan adult transitions early, starting in year 9 (aged 14);
• The legal obligations of local authorities and health bodies to manage the transition process and to cooperate;
• The legal responsibilities of local authorities and NHS bodies to provide support services before and after a disabled young person’s 18th birthday.
• The differences between the social care assessment obligations and eligibility criteria of disabled children and disabled adults;
• The extent to which the duty to provide direct payments changes when a young person becomes 18;
• The nature of local authority ‘children leaving care duties’ in relation to children who have been ‘looked after’;
• The post 18 education rights of disabled people;
• The differences between the NHS’s responsibilities to provide support for disabled children and for disabled adults;
• The assessment of a person’s mental capacity to make decision and their ‘best interests’ and how this differs for adults and young people.

Dates and locations

• Wednesday 8th February - Future Inns Cardiff Bay Hotel, Hemingway Road, Cardiff Bay, Cardiff, CF10 4JY - Fully booked
• Tuesday 27^th March – Neurosupport Centre, Norton Street, Liverpool, L3 8LR - Fully booked
• Wednesday 28^th March – Exchange Chambers, Oxford House, Oxford Row, Leeds LS1 3BE - Fully booked
• Wednesday 25^th April – The Business Centre, 100 Longwater Avenue, Green Park, Reading, RG2 6GP - Fully booked

Seminar Programme

9.30am - Registration – Tea/coffee and biscuits
10.00 am - Introductions
10.10 am - The legal and the organisational frontiers
10.30 am - Frequently encountered problems
10.45 am - The legal obligations of local authorities and health bodies to manage the transition process and to cooperate
11.15am - Tea/coffee break
11.30 am - The assessment obligation and differing eligibility criteria
12.10 pm - Direct payments and Independent User Trusts
12.30 pm - Looked after children and the ‘children leaving care’ duties
1.00 pm- Educational rights after the end of a SEN statement.
1.30 pm - Buffet lunch
2.15 pm - The continuing responsibilities of the NHS
2.30 pm - Mental capacity and best interests decision making
3.00 pm – Strategies to ensure a successful transition into adulthood
3.30 pm - Evaluations & Close

Cost

It's free for parents and carers. £30 (non-returnable) for professionals.

Interested?

Please email Melanie Dean at melanied@cerebra.org.uk or telephone 01267 242 556 for further information or to reserve a place.