Your contact with the Children's Social Work Teams

What happens when you contact one of the Children's Social Work Teams

• Who are we?
• What happens when you contact us?
• Do we always carry out an assessment?
• Who do we want to help?
• What is an initial assessment?
• What about confidentiality?
• How can we help?
• What happens if you need immediate help?
• What standards do the teams work to?
• How can we work with you?
• How to contact the appropriate Children's Social Work Teams
• Complaints, compliments or comments?

Who are we?

Welcome to Services for Children and Young People, Children's Social Work. We realise that contacting the service usually comes at a difficult time and often when families are experiencing problems. Our staff recognise this and offer support to children, young people and parents in the most sensitive way possible.

We are a professional team who can offer support for a short period or will arrange for longer term support when necessary, either from ourselves or by arranging appropriate help from our other teams in Services for Children and Young People or other agencies.

What happens when you contact us?

Either you, or someone else on your behalf, may contact us to ask for help with some difficulty you are having which affects your child (or children). We will listen to your problem and where possible offer immediate advice about which agency or service may be able to assist you.

In some cases we may decide we need to find out more information and we will undertake what is called an initial assessment, so that we can look at what your child needs in more detail. We can then decide, and agree with you, what action should be taken to help support you and your child/ren.

Do we always carry out an assessment?

Sometimes we may refer you to another more appropriate agency or service for advice and support and there is no need to carry out an assessment.

Please note that although we can put you in contact with welfare benefits agencies, we cannot offer welfare benefits advice ourselves.

We are here to listen and help as much as possible.

Why do we want to help?

We are a service that is here to support children and their families where children are identified to be Children in Need. We always seek to offer preventative support to children and their families, in partnership with parents to promote the child's welfare and ensure parents and where necessary the wider families, are able to meet their children's needs.

The Children Act 1989 lays a duty on the Local Authority to make enquiries into any allegations concerning children of:

• Physical abuse
• Neglect
• Emotional abuse
• Sexual abuse

We work together with children, young people and their families to ensure that we have a complete picture of the problem so that we can offer the right support. We aim to keep families together by providing back-up and support to prevent problems getting too big. We realise everyone has strengths and skills and we will help children, young people and families build on these.

What is an initial assessment?

An assessment involves collecting information about your child and your family's strengths and difficulties from various sources. We will ask other professionals such as Teachers, Doctors and Health Visitors for information so that we have a full picture of your situation. We will want to find out more about:

• The developmental needs of the child
• The parenting capacity of the child's carers
• Support that is available to the family including consideration of the family environment.

We believe that every family has strengths and the assessment will look at these as well as the difficulties. We will work with you, involving you in our discussions and in any decisions which need to be made. There will be very few exceptions to this. You will usually be given a copy of your assessment when it is completed.

An Initial Assessment will usually take between 1 - 7 working days to complete.

If it is felt you need support following this Initial Assessment, we will agree an Initial Child's Plan with you - this will detail clearly how all the agencies involved with you and your child will work with you to help you address any difficulties you may be experiencing.

What about confidentiality?

Sometimes it is necessary to share personal information with other organisations to allow us to work together to provide the best service for you.

We follow strict rules about confidentiality. These tells us about what personal information we can collect and how and when we can share this information with other organisations.

We will usually speak to you and ask your permission to the sharing of necessary personal information as part of our work with you.

How can we help?

We may be able to help in a number of ways:

• Put people in touch with other helping agencies
• Ensure children, young people and families have access to the most appropriate services available.
• Offer support and advice in times of difficulty, where it is felt that child/ren need such support, or where parents need additional support to ensure they are able to meet their children's needs
• Provide access to services for children with disabilities and their families
• Provide access to support for young carers
• Provide access to support for private foster carers
• Provide accommodation support to homeless young people

What happens if you need immediate help?

You do not have to wait for the end of the Initial Assessment for us to help. If it is appropriate we will help immediately.

What standards do the Teams work to?

The Government sets standards that Children's Social Work has to meet. These include:

• The initial assessment must be completed within 7 working days.
• In more complex cases a more detailed or core assessment must be completed.
• You are usually entitled to have a copy of your assessment.
• You will be given clear information about the services which are available as a result of your assessment.

How can we work with you?

We want to work in partnership with children, young people and families. Listening to your views is very important. User groups, questionnaires, focus groups are ways of helping us to find out what you want. We will then try to take in to consideration your views when planning services.

How to contact the appropriate Children's Social Work Team

Please do not hesitate to contact Children's Social Care if you are concerned about the welfare of any child or young person. Contact us by phone, fax or minicom. No appointment is necessary. However, you can book a specific time to come to see a member of staff.

The quickest way to contact us is to telephone or call into our offices (please see below for details). However, you can use the online form to leave your details and we will contact you.

Ashton Children's Social Work Team, 56 Warrington Street, Ashton-under-Lyne OL6 7JX
0161 342 4150  0161 342 4152 Send a Message to Children's Customer Services

Denton Children's Social Work Team, Denton Centre, Acre Street, Denton M34 2BW
0161 342 4477  Send a Message to Children's Customer Services

Hyde Children's Social Work Team, Victoria Street, Hyde SK14 4AA
0161 367 7873  Send a Message to Children's Customer Services

Stalybridge Children's Social Work Team, 56 Warrington Street, Ashton-under-Lyne OL6 7JX
0161 342 4150  0161 342 4152 Send a Message to Children's Customer Services

Open: Monday to Wednesday 8.30am - 5.00pm, Thursday 8.30am - 4.30pm, Friday 8.30am - 4.00pm.