Can anyone please explain to me what a CAF meeting involves?

soupdragon10

You might find it useful to see if there is a Parent Partnership in your area www.parentpartnership.org.uk they would know if there is a parent support worker in your area and also be able to support you during the CAF process.

School Action Plus is a significant category within school, and they should be talking to you regularly about support your DD needs. Unlike a statemented young person someone on SA+ doesn't always have termly reviews where parents are invited. Which is not to say you can't ask to meet the SENCO to discuss the IEP.

It may also be worth asking for a review to see if the LEA would give your DD a statement, as you can then have things like transport written as part of the statement.

If you have time and stamina you might find it useful to have a look at the SEN Code of practise for parents http://media.education.gov.uk/assets/files/pdf/s/sen_%20a%20guide%20for%20parents%20and%20carers.pdf

jog

Hi teabag,

Have you ever seen / spoken to your school health nurse? They should be able to offer you some support and should know what is available in your area, they may also be at the CAF meeting.

Has your daughter ever been refered to a Community Paediatrician? It would be worth talking to the school nurse about it, especially if you get no joy with CAMHS I would ask for an assessment with a community paediatrician. Really hope you get some joy with CAMHS.

Jog

elisamoose

A CAF 'team around the child' meeting usually takes place once a CAF form has been completed by a professional involved In conjunction with you.A CAF is not something done to you but with you.Some CAMH will not now take a referral without one being done.Find out who in school is CAF trained( likely to be senco or other pastoral staff). In my area each locality has a caf co- ordinator who holds a central database of CAF and makes sure that meetings are held.
If a caf has already been completed then there should be a Lead professional appointed to chair meetings etc.
HTH

teabag29

peachyprice wrote: »

Did she have a IEP at primary school?
You should have had a meeting before she left primary to discuss her IEP going forward into seconday and all her paperwork should have gone with her.

If she didn't have an IEP in primary and she's only been put on the SEN register at this school you should have had a meeting with the senco to discuss her needs and what you felt she needed help with and you should have had to sign the IEP to say you agree with the steps the school are taking to help her.

Yes she had an IEP at primary but we moved house to be near family (different county) at the end of May last year and the primary school assured me they would pass the paperwork on asap. She was only at the primary school in this county for a few months then secondary school so its only just been established by her teacher shes on the register. I have been badgering them for ages about it though.

teabag29

Allegra wrote: »

I haven't got the answer to the question you pose in the title - in fact, today was the first time I ever heard of CAF, which is why I was reading your thread, in hope of finding out what it is - but I didn't want to read and run; and I also wanted to let you know that you are not the only one at your wits' end with a child. My DD is 14, and has Asperger's syndrome and dyspraxia, and has been going through a period after period of horrendous difficulties since she started secondary school. She recieves no DLA (apparently not disabled enough); I recieve no practical help; and she has been on a waiting list for one-to-one and family counselling since 20th of January, which for a child with serious eating and self-harm issues is an absolute age.

She was hospitalised last Friday after taking an overdose of pills, and even though I was relieved when she was seen by a CAMHS person on call and discharged into my care, I am now wondering if it was the right decision. I am exhausted, sick with worry, and totally confused as to what to for the best. I have had the importance of not allowing access to pills and sharps impressed on me very strongly, which I have certainly taken to heart, but that does clash rather badly with the usual advice on self-harm, which is not to remove self-harming implements as that allows no channel of release for all the pressure they feel under. So it's been a week of hell so far.... And today I recieved a letter from the County Council (I assume that would be social services, but do not really know), advising me that they have been informed by the ambulance services of concerns about DD's self harm and overdose, and suggesting, in a poorly spelled way, that the school fill in a CAF ("leaflet enclosed", only they didn't!), and also states that they "Request that [DD's name, misspelt] engages with CAMHS to ensure that she recieves the support that she requires".

Well, a chance would be a fine thing, innit !

So if that's any comfort, you are not alone.... And I am sure that there must be help out there somewhere, for us both, and anyone else in a similar situation, as the alternative just does not bear thinking about !

My thoughts will be with you, please keep us updated. xx

I can completely relate to most of what you are going through. I'm constantly worried and I cant sleep properly. DD seems to be getting worse week after week and i'm always thinking to myself 'where's it going to end, what next'? I'm scared she will get ran over or develop an eating disorder due to her binge eating. Other children bully her and I know its not acceptable but she often puts herself in these positions by stealing from them or something similar. My husband works 60+ hours a week so I feel as though i'm trying to cope with it all alone and my 3 other children are getting less and less attention which is causing other problems.

If your daughter is self harming (my dd does this but not with knives she headbutts things mostly) and eating issues and you cant dla then theres not much hope for me. Can you not appeal the decision, thats terrible. I hear they are turning down alot of cases though so I dont hold out much hope they will award dd which means I still wont get help with transport. It seems nobody wants to help, they just push it to someone else who then tell me to try someone else who then tell me to try the first person again. By the sounds of others it seems camhs aren't that good either

teabag29

soupdragon10 wrote: »

It may also be worth asking for a review to see if the LEA would give your DD a statement, as you can then have things like transport written as part of the statement.

This is probablly going to sound silly but what exactly does statemented mean? I hear people saying this but not sure what it is. I know the sen register identifies children with educational needs and there is school action and school action plus depending on how much help they need but what is a statement, is that the next level up? I know my dd is bottom group in all her lessons and has a reading age of 7 and maths age of 8 (she is 12). She finds it very hard to get on with other children and has never really stayed friends with 1 child for very long as she is dominant and can be quite nasty and because of this she gets bullied alot

teabag29

jog wrote: »

Hi teabag,

Have you ever seen / spoken to your school health nurse? They should be able to offer you some support and should know what is available in your area, they may also be at the CAF meeting.

Has your daughter ever been refered to a Community Paediatrician? It would be worth talking to the school nurse about it, especially if you get no joy with CAMHS I would ask for an assessment with a community paediatrician. Really hope you get some joy with CAMHS.

Jog

Hi. No i've not spoken to the school nurse, hadnt thought of this but will try and find her details tomorrow and see if she can help/advise in any way. I'm also going to contact the senco as a previous poster suggested.

My dd did see someone between 2006-2008 but i'm not sure what her title was. My doctor seems to think she was a family therapist but she never saw the family only my dd and myself to ask me about her. She went to see her at school and did a report on her. dd also seen a child psychologist at the age of 3 who said she had the characteristics of a child with adhd but was too young to diagnose.

jackieglasgow

That sounds like it was an Educational Psychologist she saw then, or possibly a paediatric psychiatrist. Do you still have a copy of the report?

puddy

teabag - you need copies of all assessments and reports and you need to start shouting

a statement means that a child has a statement of special educational need, meaning that they qualify for specific extra support in school. i do know that schools and parents both feel let down by this process, parents feel schools obstruct them and schools feel the LEA obstructs them. she has to see an edcuational psychologist for this. if she is on SA+, and nothing is improving then there seems to be no excuse for not getting a statement but i am not an education worker so someone may correct me

get the primary school to send you a copy of her IEP

teabag29

The doctor wrote to the school requesting a education psychologist report but they wrote back saying although dd is in low sets for attainment they have more problematic children that take priority and basically said most of her problems are emotional not educational so its not the schools job its the doctors and they refused the education psychologist report