Family Support
All families need support from time to time, however some parents and carers live in circumstances that have, or had, a significant impact on their ability to meet their children’s needs due to their own vulnerabilities, circumstances or experiences. Our family support team play a critical role in working with children, young people and their families as a ‘whole family’ response approach, understanding the core issues within the family, and work with them to build their capacity, resilience and confidence to make the changes required. The two key concepts which underpin the day-to-day practice of our family support service are:
- Whole family working – Sometimes expressed as ‘think family’ is an understanding of the holistic needs of individual family members and responding to them. It requires thinking beyond traditional ways of working, agency boundaries and focus
- Multi agency integrated working – is bringing together different sectors and professions to provide an integrated and collective response to support children, young people and families.
We work with families on a 1-1 basis, you can find out more about our support assessment process below, if you would like to self-refer for support or you are a professional looking to refer, the links and information can be found at the bottom of this page.
Support assessment
We are committed to building positive relationships with children, young people and families, recognising that families are the ‘experts of their own lives’, but still allowing for robust assessment of risks, strengths and supporting families to identify their own networks of support.
Our assessment is used to set goals and agree the next steps in order to access appropriate support and coordinate services for the whole family, ensuring that the family are getting the right support at the right time.
Our assessment process is a dynamic one, not a ‘one off’ event; it is a continuous process through observation, information gathering/ sharing, feedback and reflection in practice. Supporting the family to adopt a self-determining, solution focussed approach. Working alongside children and families and avoiding ‘doing to’ as this disempowers families. We work in a multi agency manner by liaising with all professionals involved with the family. For example, educational professionals, healthcare professionals and any specialist services working with the family. Being transparent with families so that the purpose of the assessment is clear, the discussion is open and honest and there is no hidden agenda.
