Introduction
Bury Metropolitan Borough Council is committed to improving the life chances for all its citizens. We aim to support families so that, wherever possible, children can stay in their own homes. We are also here to help when things go wrong or children are at risk. We recognise that families sometimes need support because of the needs of parents or because of the particular needs of their children. Support may also be required in times of family crisis. It is our aim to provide a range of services to help families in such situations.
Our duty
The duties of local authorities to provide services are outlined in part III of the Children Act 1989.
It is our primary duty to promote the welfare of all children and young people considered to be in need and to ensure that they are protected from harm by providing appropriate services.
Services provided must be sensitively service user oriented and reflect and promote the following fundamental values, beliefs and standards:-
Ensuring the welfare of the child/young person is paramount
Privacy
from unnecessary intrusion and the safeguarding of confidentiality.
Dignity & Respect
for the intrinsic worth, dignity and individuality of the person and his/her racial and ethnic identity and cultural heritage.
Fulfilment
of personal aspirations and support to care for the service users health and well being by offering training, health promotion and personal development opportunities responsive to individual needs.
Choice, Involvement, Partnership and Equality
in the formation of policies, plans and decisions affecting the way of life of the service user(s):
Support
in achieving potential; living in a safe environment protected from harm.
Information
must be timely, comprehensive, accurate, appropriate and accessible and responsive to individual needs.
Rights
of the service user(s)
are to be taken into consideration at all times and not to be infringed upon in anyway
Children's rights
The united nation convention on the rights of the child sets out clearly all the principles involved in meeting the many needs of children. Bury are committed to working within these principles.
Parents/carers responsibilities
We believe it is the responsibility of all parents and carers to provide an acceptable standard of care that affords their children a good enough quality of life. Parents and carers remain responsible for their children in partnership with the LA, even when their children are no longer living with them.
How do you know if you are eligible for a service?
Parents
You or your children may be entitled to a service from the children's services department if your child is under 18 years of age and your circumstances involve one or more of the following;
- You are struggling to care for your children because you are seriously ill
- One of your children is disabled or has other special needs and you believe you require assistance with their care.
- A particular event has caused a family crisis making it difficult for you to care for your children. (e.g. death of a family member, relationship difficulties).
- Certain aspects of your child's behaviour may be causing you some concern.
- Your child's behaviour is such that you feel you are unable to ensure that she/he is adequately cared for and protected.
- you are homeless
Children/young people
You may be entitled to a service if;
- You are being harmed or feel threatened in any way.
- You are homeless.
- You were previously in care and are now struggling to live on your own. If you were previously in care you may be entitled to services up to the age of 24 years old.
- You have special needs.
- You do not have anyone to care for you.
- You are caring for a family member and this is preventing you from making the most out of your education or relationships with your friends.
How do you contact us?
You can contact us direct by contacting our Childrens Advice and Assessment Team enquiry referral officers (ERO) between 8.45am and 5.00pm at either:
- Athenaeum House, 0161 253 5454, fax 0161 253 6011
An ERO will take basic details from you regarding your particular concern. If it's clear that another agency can best address your enquiry (e.g. Health, Housing) the ERO will link you to those services. If your concern is best addressed by Children's Services the ERO will pass your details to the duty social worker who will contact you as soon as practical.
If your concern is of a serious child protection nature it will be dealt with immediately.
If you believe you require support you may find it useful to discuss your needs with your GP, health visitor or a teacher at your child's school. They will be aware of the services we offer.
How will we respond?
In order to decide upon the best way we can help you, a social worker will meet with you to carry out an initial assessment . This should be completed within seven working days following your initial contact with us. (An assessment is about gathering information about your family, about things that your family do well as well as the difficulties that there are)
Sometimes it will be necessary to take more time to decide on the best way of helping you and your family. As long as you agree, your social worker will complete a core assessment within 35 working days. This will involve your commitment and agreement to regular meetings with the social worker and possibly other professionals. It may also be necessary for social services to obtain information from other agencies (e.g. schools and health services) to help us meet your child's needs.
We will always ask your permission before we contact other professionals except when we have serious concerns about a child's welfare.
Following assessment we may offer a support package consisting of a service or range of services aimed at meeting the needs of you and your child. If the needs of your child are urgent we will provide services during the assessment. Together we will describe our responsibilities in a child in need plan clearly stating when and how we are to help you and your family. We will also decide together when we are to review the plan. The purpose of a review is to examine if the services you receive are successful in meeting your child's needs, and amend the plan as required.
How do we decide who gets a service?
The children's department has a range of services e.g. group work, individual work and respite care. We need to ensure that those families in greatest need receive the more intensive level of support. All packages of support are regularly reviewed to ensure they meet changing levels of need. We also need to ensure that families with similar levels of need receive a comparable service and that it is not dependent on where they live. Completing the assessment of your needs with you enables us to decide on the level of your family's needs and how we can best support you.
What services will you get?
A list of the types of services we currently offer listed in the section types of services provided below. If you or your child needs a service, which we do not currently, provide we will make every effort to provide the best possible alternative within our available resources.
How do you comment or complain about our services?
A copy of our Comments, Compliments and Complaints leaflet is available to you in our reception areas. Alternatively you can contact our Customer Care Officer at any time:
Address: Customer Care Officer
Social Services
Castle Buildings
Market Street
Bury BL9 0LT
The telephone number is: 0161 253 5488
For Further Information see also Comments
Child protection
Sometimes other people including professionals contact us because they are concerned about a child. We believe that all parents have a right to know the nature of any information we receive about their immediate family. We will always contact you to discuss information we receive and decide if there is any way of helping you if your child is in need or is at risk of harm. The same assessment process is used in such circumstances.
We have a duty to make enquiries about a child/young person's situation if we have reasonable cause to believe that he/she is suffering, or is likely to suffer significant harm.
We will not share some information with parents or carers if we believe that to do so would place a child or young person in their care at greater risk. In some circumstances it may not be possible to share information because of existing criminal investigations by the police.
We expect that in most circumstances, other professionals will have already shared their concerns with you before they refer to us.
Childrens social care services works closely with other agencies such as health, schools, police, probation and housing in planning and providing services. We also work alongside various voluntary agencies that already contribute valuable services in response to the needs of the local community. Most important to us is working in partnership with you in helping you deal with the difficulties you and your family may be experiencing.
What will services cost?
If any of the services we provide involve costs this will be explained to you in advance.
Children in need in Bury
The following is a summary of the groups of children we consider to be in need. This will help you decide if you or your child is in need.
- Children at risk of harm or neglect.
- Children with disabilities.
- Children in families where a parent has a long-term illness or has a disability.
- Children in families who are experiencing a crisis e.g. homelessness, loss of employment, death of a family member.
- Children in families where parents lack caring skills.
- Children whose behaviour is considered to be socially unacceptable.
- Children in families who are on low income i.e. income that is below standard state entitlements.
- Children or young people who have no parents or other family members to care for them.
- Children who have previously been looked after by the local authority and are moving on to live independently.
Bury children's social care workers provide a range of services to support children and families. These include the following:
- Advice and assessment -
advice and information for people when they first approach Children's social care services. If a child and family's needs meet our criteria for services, social workers will complete an assessment with you and decide what services we can offer. They also carry out investigations where there are concerns about child abuse. Services may be provided during an assessment if it is agreed that they are necessary to protect you and your child's welfare.
- Family support services -
these services include individual work with families around behaviour management or parenting skills; group work with parents and with children; supervision of contact between children looked after in foster homes and their parents; practical support; short-term intensive support to young people whose placement at home is in danger of breaking down; respite day care for pre-school children. The team is able to provide some crisis response work, and some services are offered over evenings and weekends.
- Child and family teams -
some children and families' difficulties are very serious and take time to sort out. We have teams of social workers who work with families over a longer term and this might include children on the child protection register, children who are looked after by the Local Authority, and other families with complex levels of need.
- Services for children with disabilities
- this includes support for families, respite care, residential care and provision of aids and adaptations. See also Children with disabilities
- Fostering and residential services
- providing respite, short-term and long-term care for children who cannot be looked after by their own families.
- Family Placement Services
this includes preparing and placing children who cannot return to their own families with suitable adopters or permanent carers. It also includes services for adults interested in fostering Foster care or adopting children Adoption A range of services are available for children who have been or are being adopted.
- Support for young people leaving care
this consists of a range of support services for young people who have been previously looked after by the local authority. It also includes those who are already looked after and are moving on to live independently in the community.
- Support for young offenders or young people who are likely to offend
the council has a Youth offending team that is made up of a group of professionals who provide a range of services to young offenders and those at risk of re-offending.
- Support for young homeless people
we work closely with our housing department in order to provide effective services to homeless young people
- The Safeguarding unit
provide independent workers to review all work with looked after children and children on the child protection register. See also The Safeguarding unit
- Emergency duty service
this consists of a group of social workers who provide emergency assistance to children and families outside of normal office hours. See also Emergency duty team
You can receive further information about any of our services by contacting our children's advice and assessment team - Enquiry referral officers on 0161 253 5454. Useful telephone numbers
- Emergency Duty Team 0161 253 6606
- Advice & Assessment Team 0161 253 5454
- Safeguarding Teams 0161 253 7333
- Family Advice & Support Team 0161 253 5200
- Victoria Children and Family Centre 0161 253 7166
- Family Placement Team 0161 253 5457
- Children's Disability Team 0161 253 5957
- Customer Care Officer 0161 253 5488
- Safeguarding Unit 0161 253 5465
