Why might you have a social worker and how do referrals work?
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Assessments
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Support for children looked after who have SEND
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Early Help
What is ‘Early Help’ in Hartlepool?
It is really important to us that you can get help at the time that you and your family need it, when you are trying hard to manage but not knowing what to do, or who to go to.
Some organisations, like schools and health visitors, for example, call support ‘early help’ and this is because this is the support that you and your family may have when your worries or problems first start.
This help is not only when your child is young, but at any point in your child’s life when you all need help. We want, like you, to help your family, before problems or worries get bigger and then harder to manage and where they may become hurt, struggle to learn, feel sad, angry or frightened.
Help can come in different ways and for lots of different reasons. You might need some extra support from someone that you already know or from someone you haven’t met yet, heard of or see much of, like:
Doctor, midwife, health visitor, school nurse
Family Support Worker from a Family Hub or a Locality Team.
Teacher, Youth Worker, CAMHS, Harbour, Nursery, Changing Futures North East or Hartlepool Carers etc
If you have something you feel that you need help with, the best people to speak to are those people that you already know, like your child’s school/teacher or health visitor etc. They may say they can help you themselves, and that’s great, or that they need to talk to someone else who can help, that’s also great. When this happens, they will talk to you about the things that worry you, and what you think might help. They could ask you if it’s ok to talk to others who know you, like a teacher, mental health support worker or health visitor and add this to an Early Help Assessment (EHA, we’ll explain more on that later).
You can ring the Children’s Hub or a Family Hub to ask for help with any of the above. However, if you have already spoken to a professional, please talk to them about starting your Early Help Assessment with you. If you haven’t, please call….
Children’s Hub Telephone:
Civic Centre: – 01429 284284
Family Hubs Addresses and Telephone:
Rossmere Family Hub – Rossmere Way, Hartlepool, TS24 5EB
Hindpool Close Family Hub, Hindpool Close, Hartlepool, TS24 0TB
Miers Avenue Family Hub, Miers Avenue, Hartlepool, TS24 9JQ
Middleton Grange Family Hub, Middleton Grange, Hartlepool, TS24 7RZ
The Early Help Assessment (EHA) and Family Plan
The person who is writing your information down on the EHA will talk to you about all the things that are good in your family and all of the things that are not so good that you are worried about. Once you have done this with the worker you and your family will end up with a Family Plan – which means, who is going to do what, when this will happen and that people do what they say they are going to do, including you. Our joint goal will be that things will get better for you all. When the EHA and family plan are agreed, the people who are working with you, might meet with you as a group so that you can all share how things are going, this is called a Team Around the Child.
Team Around the Child Meeting
If the Early Help Assessment and family plan has something in it that the other people are stuck with and can’t do on their own, they will ask you if they can send your EHA to a Family Support Locality Team. When this happens, a Family Support Worker may be introduced to you and your family, they will come to your home, see your children in school or home, and work closely with you to help you with your family plan.
When a Family Support Worker is working with you, they will set up meetings where everyone gets together to talk about how things are going or if people needs to try something different, maybe because something isn’t working so well. These meetings happen every 6 weeks until you no longer need a Family Support Worker. At the last meeting, everyone might agree that the meetings will continue, and someone will agree to arrange them in the future, like the teacher or the health visitor.
Locality Teams
There are 2 Locality Teams in Hartlepool that can offer help and advice to you and your family.
We hear you say…What types of things can you help us with?…here goes, pretty much anything, things like…
- Your relationship with your children of all ages.
- Help to manage your money better or help to come to arrangements with people that you might have borrowed money from, even loan sharks!
- Your relationship with your partner or ex-partner, family members or even professionals.
- Ideas about how to put rules and boundaries in place for you and your children that are fair.
- Help you to get the help from the right services that you might not know are there, like help with emotional support or groups that you and your children can go to.
- We talk to other professionals who know you, we meet with them too.
- If your child is running away from home often and ideas to help stop would help.
- Times when your child is struggling with your rules, they might be disruptive in school, try alcohol or drugs and become cheeky or try to hurt you.
- If you are unwell and don’t have many close people that can help you and your family.
- If you have a partner or close family member in prison and don’t know whether to visit or let your children visit.
- Help you to build your confidence with your children and your family.
- Settle into Hartlepool if you are from another town/country.
- Apply to charities for help with furniture and other equipment (if this is available to you).
- You are worried about your child’s development/wellbeing.
- If you have little or no family or friends to support you.
- We also, where you have asked for support yourself, can write the Early Help Assessment with you.
Family Hubs
These are where Family Support Workers, Family Hub Workers, Health Visitors and Community Nursery Nurses are based.
The Family Hubs offer groups, support for parents, health visitor clinics, development reviews when your child is aged 9-12 months and 2-2.5 years old and advice and guidance on things like feeding your baby/child, toilet training, routines, safe sleeping, weaning and breastfeeding.
Groups that are offered for anyone who cares for a child or teenager and are called:
Being A Parent & Talking Teens
Please call your local Family Hub to take part. You do not need to have a Family Support Worker to join us but you will need to let us know how old your child is so that we can involve you in the right group.
We are on Facebook: Hartlepool Family Hubs. Join us.
Children’s Disability Team
The Children with Disability team works with those children and young people aged between 0-18 years of age who have a disability and may require specialist services as a result of their additional needs.
There are two key areas to the function of the team. Firstly, it is to assess the needs of the children, young people and their family and secondly it is to ensure that where needs have been identified, the appropriate services are in place and meeting the needs which have been identified.
This could involve specific pieces of work being carried out with the child/young person or family by the social worker or a family support worker or a more specialist or bespoke service being put in place.
The Social Worker has up to 45 days to complete the CIN assessment which looks carefully at the child’s development needs, the parents’/carers’ specific needs, any parenting issues and the wider family circumstances and environment. They will also gather relevant information from professionals involved with your child.
A support plan is devised following the assessment which includes the services and short breaks that may be appropriate to be provided and how this will meet the child’s/families’ needs. The plan is considered by a panel before the short break is approved.
All plans are reviewed at least 6 monthly to make sure they respond to the needs of a child and family. Examples of a specialist short breaks package may include: day placements/ overnight stays within a residential or foster placement, the provision of a Direct Payment in order to fund specific activities to meet the identified needs of your child such as accessing a specialist group or club or to fund 1:1 support to enable attendance and participation at a specific activity.
