Request social care support for your child or young person
We can offer help to 0 to 18 year olds with:
- severe and profound learning disabilities
- physical and sensory disabilities
- a combination of disabilities.
We recommend that you follow these steps if you feel that your child or young person may require additional support.
For children without disabilities, contact an Early Help service and for young adults over 18, contact adult social services.
1. Request social care support
To find out what care and support you need, you will need to contact us either by phone or email:
- call: 03000 41 11 11 (Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm)
- call: 03000 41 91 91 (outside of office hours - for emergencies only)
- email: social.services@kent.gov.uk
- text relay: 18001 03000 41 11 11.
Let us know what your concerns are, and how you need support from Disabled Children's or Young People's Team.
Professional referral
If you are a professional working with a disabled child or young person, and you need to make a referral and either the child or young person is either known or not known to us complete our child referral form.
2. We will assess your request
A member of our Disabled Children's or Young People's Team will assess your child's and family's needs. This means we will talk to you about your situation and find out what you are worried about or what changes you would like to make in your life.
After the assessment, we'll agree what kind of care and support you need. This could include:
- services that can offer you or your child support
- direct payments
- help at home
- local support groups so you have people to talk to
- short breaks, including specialised social activities, play schemes and overnight residential short breaks.
If we can't offer you any support because your assessment shows you're not eligible for our specialist disability services, we will always tell you about other organisations that could help you.