The Integrated Children's System and disabled children

The Integrated Children's System (ICS) is premised on a single approach to assessment/review, ideally providing a more coherent, comprehensive and efficient system of electronic information recording and sharing among different groups of practitioners. Despite its holistic aims for all children in need, questions have been raised about the use of ICS with certain groups of children, especially those who do not follow normative patterns, such as disabled children. This paper explores the introduction of ICS with disabled children and their families within four pilot authorities in England and Wales. Drawing on interviews and questionnaires with 16 social workers and 22 families experiencing assessment/reviews under the new ICS, this paper suggests that important questions and concerns regarding the appropriateness and usefulness for disabled children of the ICS remain, especially the use of 'standardized' exemplars. Five disability-specific areas of concern are identified, and their implications are considered.