Looked after Children

Child Looked After (CLA)/ Care Leaver (CL)

If an MHST has a Child Looked After (CLA) or Care Leaver (CL) referred (details to be included on online referral form to PCMIS) to them they:

• Ensure the details page is edited on PCMIS with relevant contact details of the CLA/CL team involved, allocated worker, etc.

• Complete a PCMIS appointment note to say that the CLA/CL Health Team Hertfordshire ([e-mail]) and the Allocated CLA/CL worker have been informed with a copy of the email in the appointment notes.

• Ensure that any recent CLA/CL review is uploaded onto the PCMIS.

• Upload a most recent strengths and difficulties questionnaire, if there is one, onto the PCMIS.

For CLA

HPFT policy states ‘Please inform the child/young person that a copy of all risk assessments and consultation reports will be shared with the CLA health team, social worker & GP (and other appropriate professionals) as part of direct care. If there is risk involved, they should also be shared with the foster carer/placement/parent as appropriate’.

For CL

Please inform the service user that it is best practice to share risk assessments and consultations with the GP and personal advisor (and other appropriate professionals) as part of direct care. It is the child/young person’s choice, and their decision must be recorded in PCMIS.

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In addition to this, there are financial issues if a child/young person is ‘CLA/CL Out of County’, as the financial cost of the child/young person is the responsibility of the lead Local Authority and health department, i.e. the local authority is Essex, but the child/young person is accommodated in Herts. In this case this needs to be recorded on the system as ‘CLA – Other Authority’ and [e-mail] need to be contacted to start the financial process for that child/young person’s care. You will need to provide the child/young person’s name, DOB and PCMIS ID.