1.3.2 Joint Agency Placement Planning Group (JAPLAG)

Purpose and Function
Context
Principles
Aims/Objectives of JAPLAG
Membership
Referrals to JAPLAG:
Process

1. Purpose and Function

JAPLAG (Joint agency placement planning group) meets every two months to discuss specific children/young people who may be looked after, may have disabilities and in almost all cases have complex needs. These meetings are the means by which a joint agency placement may be agreed. JAPLAG is also concerned with the review of placement arrangements and quality of services provided and planning for the return of children back to local arrangements when appropriate.

2. Context

JAPLAG is accountable to the Assistant Directors of both Education and Social Care.

3. Principles

All agencies in the city share a commitment to inclusion and the perspective from which JAPLAG starts is not whether a young person’s needs can be met locally, but how they can be met locally. Too many multi professional-meetings reinforce established ways of thinking, often leading to the conclusion that a placement in an agency setting is required, where it is believed that specific expertise exists which is not available locally, or that special conditions exists which will benefit the child. The view is sometimes communicated to other parties, including Parents, and quickly becomes the accepted wisdom.

The view of JAPLAG is that this is true in only a very small minority of cases, and it is rarely the case that agencies have worked together from the above perspective before reaching this conclusion. Evidence questions the effectiveness of some agency placements, young people also rarely return from these placements into inclusive settings and these placements tend to be more about removing problems rather than solving them.

The concept of partnership is central to the JAPLAG, with an underlying assumption that agencies working together in a co-ordinated way can achieve more than they do when working independently, even when there is an exchange of information.

4. Aims/Objectives of JAPLAG

Aims

To ensure that local packages of provision are put in place for children who otherwise would face the possibility of an agency placement
To identify, and take steps to fill gaps in local provision that may precipitate agency placements
To agree joint agency placements when local packages of provision are not able to meet a young persons’ needs
To ensure that all decisions about packages of provision or joint agency placements are made on the basis of comprehensive assessment of need

Objectives

To establish and agree criteria and processes for local joint working in the establishment of local packages of provision
To ensure inter agency planning in the establishment of local packages of provision
To ensure that review processes have been rigorously adhered to and carried out jointly for children in agency placements

5. Membership

JAPLAG consists of Managers from education and children’s social care branches of CFS who are (or represent) budget holders for agency placements.

The current membership of JAPLAG is:-

Yvonne Ely, Head of Service for Special Educational Needs
Andy Pallas, Manager High Cost Agency Placements
Jenny Brickell, Head Of Service Children’s Disability Services

6. Referrals to JAPLAG:

If you are considering a child whose needs fit with the aims and objectives above, you should discuss with your Line Manager and with their agreement, contact the Agency Placements Manager.

7. Process

The JAPLAG meeting is only one part of a comprehensive multi-agency assessment process and its role is to review and endorse the decisions that are reached by professionals who have close involvement with the families and children. A description of the activities and remit for the various levels of the JAPLAG process is listed below:

Level 1

At this level, practitioners in various agencies carry out their tasks with minimal interaction with other agencies. These tasks will include teaching children including those with special educational needs, working with children and families in social care and assessing and treating families within CAMHS. Liaison at this level will consist mainly of obtaining reports and information from other agencies/professionals.

Level 2

At this level, there will be more active joint work between two or more different agency/professional groupings working with children and families. There will be more regular liaison including occasional meetings of those involved with the child and its family.

Level 3a

At this level, one or more agency/professional grouping will have decided that the problems of an individual child will have reached such a level of complexity or severity that it is essential all above become involved in discussions about how this child’s needs may best be met.

One agency/professional grouping may be designated lead agency and may call a joint agency meeting (JAM) involving colleagues from all above. The JAM will undertake a joint agency assessment of the child in need and prepare a needs assessment and plan (NAP), which should address how these needs can be best met from within community resources in the city. It is expected whenever possible such resources will be used.

JAMS may occur alongside other inter agency meetings i.e. Child Protection Case Conferences and formal reviews of Statements of Educational Needs. In some circumstances these meetings may meet the requirements of a JAM; however a NAP should always be produced.

Joint Agency Meetings

The JAM is a concept born out of the work of JAPLAG and is intended to provide a vehicle for effective joint agency working formalising existing good practise. It is based on experience that effective working between agencies has been successful in dealing with problems that have otherwise appeared insoluble.

Different agencies generally work in isolation from one another, within their statutory frameworks. Whilst these frameworks may require the involvement of other agencies the process is led and owned by the agency to which the legislation applies. Information may be exchanged about individual cases in the course of each agencies work but no existing models helped agencies come together to devise joint solutions driven by the needs of the child concerned.

The JAM provides a framework that is not owned by any single agency, which encourages this process.

At the JAM information is shared concerning agency involvement to date:-

The problem is identified form each agencies perspective, including a description of what would constitute a successful resolution
Core Needs are then agreed jointly, expressed as needs and not solutions
Local resources already in place are then identified
The way in which these can be reconfigured to meet the core needs is agreed
If additional resources are required these are commissioned locally
The agreed strategy the needs to be implemented and reviewed after an agreed period

The process should be recorded (a suggested format is attached) and only when there is documentary evidence that such a process has taken place and been ineffective should any case be passed to JAPLAG for further consideration.

Level 3b

The JAM having endeavoured to use local resources will have formed the opinion that the child may require placement in an agency placement resource. The JAM will then need to prepare a NAP detailing the reasons for the recommendation of the use for an agency placement.

The nature of the problems exhibited by the child and the family
What efforts have been made by local agencies to address these problems using local community based resources
A description of what needs are not being adequately met by existing resources and a view on what additional resources might significantly improve the welfare and future development of the child including, if it is the only option, details of the agency resource required.

The NAP agreed at by practitioners of agencies must have been discussed with supervisors/Managers of those professionals involved in JAMS.

The NAP will be sent to JAPLAG who will consider the recommendations and:

Remit the proposal back to the JAM with suggestions about how the child’s needs could be best met using local community based resources
Agree the use of an agency placement and attend to funding implications

End