Part II Promotion of Children’s Welfare by Local Authorities and by Children’s Hearings etc.
C1 Chapter 1 Support for Children and Their Families
Provision of services
23 Children affected by disability.
1
Without prejudice to the generality of subsection (1) of section 22 of this Act, services provided by a local authority under that subsection shall be designed—
a
to minimise the effect on any—
i
disabled child who is within the authority’s area, of his disability; and
ii
child who is within that area and is affected adversely by the disability of any other person in his family, of that other person’s disability; and
b
to give those children the opportunity to lead lives which are as normal as possible.
2
For the purposes of this Chapter of this Part a person is disabled if he is chronically sick or disabled or F1has a mental disorder (as defined in section 328(1) of the Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003 (asp 13)).
3
Where requested to do so by F2—
a
a child’s parent or guardian F3; or
b
a mental health officer (as defined in section 329 of the Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003 (asp 13)) who—
i
has responsibility under that Act or the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995 (c. 46) for a child’s case; and
ii
makes the request for the purposes of either of those Acts,
a local authority shall, for the purpose of facilitating the discharge of such duties as the authority may have under section 22(1) of this Act (whether or not by virtue of subsection (1) above) as respects the child, carry out an assessment of the child, or of any other person in the child’s family, to determine the needs of the child in so far as attributable to his disability or to that of the other person.
F44
In determining the needs of a child under subsection (3) above, the local authority shall take account—
F6a
if an adult carer provides, or intends to provide, care for the child, of the care provided by that carer,
aa
if a young carer provides, or intends to provide, care for the child, of the care provided by that carer,
b
in so far as it is reasonable and practicable to do so, of—
i
the views of the parent or guardian of the child, and the child; F7...
F7ii
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
provided that the parent, guardian, F8or child in question has a wish, or as the case may be, a capacity, to express a view.
F55
In subsection (4)(a) and (aa), the reference to the care provided by a carer means—
a
in the case of an adult carer who has an adult carer support plan, the information about that care set out in that plan,
b
in the case of a young carer who has a young carer statement, the information about that care set out in that statement.
6
In—
a
determining the needs of a child under subsection (3),
b
deciding whether to provide any services under section 22(1), and
c
deciding how any such services are to be provided,
a local authority must take account of the views of the carer, in so far as it is reasonable and practicable to do so.
7
In this section—
“adult carer” and “adult carer support plan” have the meanings given by the Carers (Scotland) Act 2016,
“young carer” and “young carer statement” have the meanings given by the Carers (Scotland) Act 2016.
Pt. II Ch. 1 (ss. 16-38) modifed (1.4.1997) by S.I. 1996/3255, reg. 7(1)