Assessing Capacity

What is your responsibility ?

How do you do it ?Carly Houghton Team Leader

Deprivation of Liberty Team LCC Helen Pearson Board Officer Safeguarding

Boards (LSCB/SAB)

Capacity to do what?! Understand risk to a child Understand a Protection Plan Sustain change Be fit for interview Be criminally responsible Make decisions about where you live Understand that what is happening to them is

harmful Refuse services

What affects decision making? Alcohol Drugs Learning Disability Alzheimer's/Dementia Mental Health diagnosis Domestic Abuse (coercion) Lack of empathy/egotism Personality disorders Cycles of abuse /Learnt behaviour

What ever the reason ! What is the impact ?

On a person’s ability to understand, retain and act on information

On a person’s ability to protect themselves and others

Look beyond a diagnosis and consider how thinking and behaviour impacts

What do these statements mean?

They lack capacity ! They have a Learning Disability so don’t

understand They do not have a mental health

diagnosis so there is nothing we can do I can’t assess capacity because I know

nothing about mental health.

Who assesses capacity

YOU

We can all contribute Expertise in a particular area of work-

Mental Health, Learning Disability, Child Development, Drugs and Alcohol

Knowledge of the child or adult and their day to day experience – ‘What they wake up to’; Walking with them through the day

Creative communication techniques Joint working

Not going into detail of Mental Capacity Act but use the principles as a guide to best practice how we might consider a

persons capacity

Mental Capacity Act 2005

The key principles of the Mental Capacity Act are: Every adult assumed to have capacity unless

demonstrated otherwise Person not to be treated as unable to make a

decision simply because his or her decision is an unwise one

Person must be empowered as far as possible to help them reach capacity

Any act done for a person who lacks capacity must be done in that person’s “best interests”

Must consider if there is a less restrictive option

Adults can make decisions( they may be unwise)

The test for capacity

MCA s2 A person lacks capacity if he is unable to

make a decision because of an impairment of or a disturbance in function of the mind or brain

Impairment can be temporary Lack of capacity cannot be determined

either by a person’s age or appearance

Inability to make decisions

MCA s3 A person is “unable to make a decision

for himself” if he is unable:- To understand the information relevant to

the decision To retain that information To use or weigh that information in the

decision making process Communicate his decision

Asking the right questions

Break it down Isolate decision Is it understood Test it out – Evidence through observations

actions

Building confidence in Capacity assessments Use professional judgement Ask for assistance/expertise Think Whole Family Adult workers think child Children’s workers think adult Multi Agency decision making