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Your local Social Services Department in Brighton & Hove is now a part of an organisation called the Children & Young People’s Trust (CYPT); an organisation that also includes Education (i.e. schools) and some Community Health Services (i.e. Health Visitors). The CYPT have key responsibilities for children and young people to promote their wellbeing, keep them safe and encourage each child or young person to reach their potential in life. Social Services in Brighton & Hove understand that issues to do with protecting children are always best looked at within the context of the whole family. As such Social Services and the Police will do all they can to support families and keep them together. Very few adults deliberately harm children, and most often, when any harm happens, the families need support, not punishment or the removal of their children into care. Types of support for families There is a wide range of support and practical solutions which can be found to help families and minimise any risk to children’s safety. These include parent support, help with housing needs, benefits, childcare, restbite for families, additional advice and information and access to services like children’s centres, health agencies or family support groups etc. In fact, a whole range of different types of things which can be developed to suit the particular need of any family and help that family solve any issues they might have and help to protect children. For example, the families may choose to call a ‘Family Group Conference’; the aim of these conferences is for families to sit down with professionals to discuss any problems or issues and identify what help, solutions and support a family may need in order to prevent any risk to the children. Any plan which gets discussed has to be agreed by the family before it can go ahead. Therefore the family is treated as equal members of the discussions and has to agree any solutions which are put forward. This way everyone is equal in the process and no professional ever makes the final decision about someone else’s life. For more information contact the Daybreak Family Group Conference Project at (01273) 718021 or see the link below. Children in need of support Children and young people may be referred to Social Services for a number of reasons; they may have a disability or special need, be in need of care and protection or experiencing difficulties in relationships at home. If a child is in need of services a careful assessment is made to find out what has happened and what support will best suit the family. A social worker will need to understand what has happened and ask the family questions about their circumstances, work, income, house etc, consider the frequency and the seriousness of any incidents and the effect these have had on the child. All of these will help professionals and the family decide what should happen next to support and protect the child and family. Social workers and the Police have a duty (something they have to do) under the law, Children’s Act 1989, to investigate all concerns of child abuse. Whenever it is known or believed that a crime has been committed against a child, officers from the Police will investigate together with Social Services. (See the links below for more information). Reporting child abuse rarely results in a child being taken into care Taking children into care and away from their home is not the main aim of child protection investigations. Social workers can only remove children from home with a court order, having confirmed that there is a serious and immediate risk. In emergency situation the Police have power to remove a child for 72 hours. In fact Social Services or the Police don’t want to take children away from home if they can help it, because they understand that the best thing for children is to be with their families. Therefore, children are only taken into care when there is a serious risk to them and there is no other alternative left to help protect them. Links The Brighton & Hove City Council website can provide you with more information about the cities social services, what they do and how yu can contact them. The Children’s Legal Centre has lots of useful information about child protection and child protection procedures. They give information about children’s rights and the rights of parents in any child protection investigation. The aims of the Family Rights Group are to develop and promote services that help secure the best possible futures for children and families and to support families involved with Social Services. To promote full participation by families in planning and decision making about their own children;To promote full participation by service users and potential service users in the design, delivery and evaluation of local child and family welfare services; To develop and improve practices by lawyers, social workers and other relevant groups; and to campaign for improvements in relevant policy and legislation. www.communigate.co.uk/sussex/daybreakfgc |
