Children's Social Care

The Children’s Social Care Branch is responsible for assessing the help and support needed for children and their families, including Child Protection and Youth Offending. They decide if a child 'is in need' as defined in the Children Act 1989 and make arrangements to provide services appropriate to meet those needs. It is also responsible for planning and developing and commissioning new services to meet changing needs.

Services:

Assessment of Need and Allocation of Resources

These functions are carried out by the Children’s Social Care Social Work Teams. They consist of Social Workers and Social Work Assistants based at the Time Square offices or community based locations.

The Duty and Assessment Team:

Undertake Initial Assessments and Child Protection (Section 47) enquiries
Provide crisis intervention in the form of family support
Plan short term support strategies to enable families to care for their children
Identify the need for a core assessment. (These cases are then transferred to the fieldwork teams)

The Fieldwork Teams:

Undertake core assessments
Plan and review the needs of looked after children in medium to long term foster care or residential placements
Monitor and review children who are included on the Child Protection Register
Work with children who are subject to civil proceedings in the courts regarding their welfare
Place children for adoption subject to an assessment of their need
Provide longer term support to children, young people and families through allocation of continuing social work support and the provision of other community based services
Work closely with other statutory agencies and voluntary sector organisations in order to promote and protect children’s welfare

The fieldwork Teams are structured as follows:

Under 11’s providing services to children under 11 years and their families. This team also includes the Family Centre who have a role in carrying out more detailed assessments and supporting families

Over 11’s working with children over the age of 11 years and their family. This team also includes the Family and Adolescent Support Team (FAST) who provide intensive support to prevent teenagers coming into the care system and the After Care Team (ACT) who provide after care support to young people who have left care.

Disabled Children Team provide services to children and young people and their families from 0 to 18 years who need additional support due to a disability or complex medical/health need. This team may also help with equipment where this is specifically needed to help a disabled child. This team works closely with Larchwood Short Break unit (see below), the local Special School and the voluntary, community sector

The Family Placement Team:

The Family Placement Team deals with all aspects of Fostering and Adoption. The team undertakes recruitment, training, assessment and the supervision of foster carers and adopters. The Team deal with a range of functions. A full post adoption support service is offered to young people who have been adopted (birth relative of adopted children and adoptive parents can also access the service). There is also a Short Break Scheme offering respite support to children and their families who might require help during a difficult period or to support families who are dealing with issues of disability. The team is also responsible for helping families in private fostering arrangements, providing information, advice and guidance.

The Youth Offending Team:

This is a community based multi agency service for young people aged 10-17 whose offending behaviour has caused them to become involved in the Criminal Justice System. The team is made up of a range of professionals from the Police Service, Children’s Social Care Services, Education, Health, and Youth Justice. The YOT also provides services for those young people aged 8 - 13 years who are at risk of offending and can offer a parenting service for families/carers. The Youth Offending team aims to reduce offending behaviours and encourage young people to live law abiding lives.

Other Services:

Other services located within the Children’s Social Care Branch are:

Child Protection Co-ordinator – Chairs Child Protection Conferences and can provide advice on child protection issues. (NB. All requests for consultation about a case should initially be directed to the Duty Team). Family Group Conference Co-ordinator – Organising Family Group Conferences to assist families in resolving difficulties.

Child Participation and Development Officer – Responsible for ensuring children and young people are listened to and engaged in the planning and development of services.

Education Co-ordinator - who works with Looked After Children to ensure that children are integrated into their schools and obtain maximum benefit from their education.

Teenage Pregnancy Co-ordinator – works with other agencies, particularly Health and Schools to reduce teenage pregnancy and to support young parents.

The Children’s Fund Programme Manager – works with the Children’s Fund Partnership Board and Service Providers to deliver the Bracknell Forest Children’s Fund programme.

Larchwood – Larchwood Short Break Unit provides residential short breaks and out of school care for severely disabled children. The unit also helps co-ordinate activity and holiday schemes.

* The Independent Reviewing Officer who chairs Statutory Child Care Reviews and makes recommendations regarding children’s care planning and resources is managed in another part of the department but works closely with practitioners and managers within Children’s Social Care.