The Ealing Looked After Children service is an integral part of the care provided by Ealing Community Partners, which integrates health, social care and educational services for children.
The service aims to help Looked After Children with any problems with health and emotional wellbeing.
The term Looked After Children (LAC) refers to all children and young people aged under 18 who are:
- In care as result of a court order under Part IV of the Children Act. In this case, the local authority has legal parental responsibility along with the parent, or
- Accommodated in a placement under Part III of the Children Act. In this case, the local authority doesn’t have legal parental responsibility
These children and young people live both in and out of Ealing and are looked after by Ealing Council. There are also children and young people resident in Ealing who are looked after by other local authorities.
Looked After Children often have greater health needs than their peers yet may have more difficulty accessing adequate health care. They’re entitled to statutory annual health assessments (twice yearly if aged under five). We aim for the first health assessment to be carried out in time for the child's first review after becoming looked after.
The aim of the Looked after Children service is to help with any problems with health and emotional wellbeing. Our service helps young people across Ealing to receive the right health care to meet their needs.
Our specialist team consists of:
- Named nurse for Looked after Children
- Specialist nurse for Looked after Children
- Specialist nurse advisor for Looked after Children
- Consultant paediatricians and specialist registrars
- Administrator.
We work with young people, their carers, health professionals and social worker to assess, identify and address unmet health needs and promote healthy lifestyles. We help with all areas of health, including physical, social, emotional and mental health.
To deliver this, we:
- Carry out your health assessments
- Write care plans as part of your health assessments
- Make sure your health is considered and supported so that you can achieve healthy outcomes
- Provide you with advice and support with any issues relating to your health
- We can talk to other professionals involved in your care, and refer you to other services who can offer you extra support, if you’re happy for us to do so.
We take referrals from social care professionals. We’re also happy for children and young people, care leavers, carers, parents and other professionals to get in touch with us. We maintain appropriate confidentiality.