Case Management Guidance: Registration and Consent

What is the point of registering children? Why isn’t the goal case management? Why just register children if you can’t provide case management?

If you register a case you are going to do case management. But in some places, registration can allow you to do only referral (which is not case management), but could be relevant to make linkages to the right services.

Is there any reason you would start a case and then mark consent to receive case management services as “no”?

If you mark the consent as no then the case can’t be registered, but a case can also decide if they want to receive services or not. It would also depend on the case – if a child does not give consent, depending on their age, the service may need to be given anyway, so a careful assessment of the child’s situation and whether it’s in the child’s best interest to receive case management, or if alternative services would still be OK, would need to be done. The CW has a responsibility to make that assessment, ideally with the child and caregivers if appropriate, to come to a decision together that all agree with.

Why do you start a case if you’re just registering a child?

If you are registering a child it means that they are eligible for case management.