Independent Social Work Services

Visits to Children who are Looked after outside the Council boundary

Children who are Voluntary Accommodated under S20, CA89.
Children who are subject to Interim Care Order or Care Order.
Children in adoption placements prior to the adoption.
Children in hospital - may need regular visiting which may not be possible at a distance.
Children in Secure Units -
NB: There are only 19 secure units operating in England, therefore most placements will inevitably be outside the Council Boundary.

Attend schools for Personal Education Planning meetings

All children who are looked after should have Personal Education Plans (PEPs) that should be monitored and updated, along with the Care Plan.
Social Workers have the responsibility for taking the lead in the initiation of PEPs and to liaise with designated teachers, the carer(s), the child and their family, to create a meaningful and working document for the child. This should be done in addition to an IEP. Grandon will regularly attend PEP meetings and send the completed and updated PEPs to your team.

Attend Statutory Reviews

It is a statutory requirement that children who are Looked After have regular reviews within timescales. The timescales depend upon a number of factors, i.e. the length of time a child has been in placement and if there are any likely changes to the Care Plans. Statutory reviews are one of the National Indicators.
Further it is good practice that a Child's care and Care Plans are independently reviewed regularly. This should ensure that a child, their families and their carers are given a forum to express their views and for those views is to be taken into account in the care planning.

Undertake Viability Assessments

Children who may become, or are, looked after may have extended family or friends who are out of county and have put themselves forward to care for the child. It is resource expensive for a social worker to undertake a Viability Assessment if the potential carer is out of county.
Grandon will undertake quality viability assessments which may be used in court proceedings, to reduce your expenses and provide quality of information about potential carers.

Undertake Social Work Assessments

Grandon will undertake full assessments for Court Hearings and will attend the court hearing or meetings during proceedings as required in your area.

Preparing Local Authority files for adults who were previously looked after & have requested to see their old file

When an ex-service user requests to see their archived file, the local authority has a duty to prepare the file for viewing within 14 days. File preparation is often the bottom of the priority list as other events and staff absences prevents the completion of the task on time.
Further, "old" archived files are often requested by the courts for criminal and family proceedings. This task can present great difficulties in today's strained and pressured social work teams.

Preparing file chronologies

Many children's Services IT systems have introduced a facility to develop a chronology of the electronic file. However, even where this facility is available, it is not being used due to lack of training etc. If it is used, it is only providing scope for current information. It can be a very tedious task to provide an accurate, relevant chronology when commencing proceedings. A good chronology can be informative and a very helpful tool when making decisions as to whether a Public Law Outline meeting is required. Grandon will assist you, or undertake this task for you.

Visiting friends and family members outside the Council boundary for specific reasons

Family and friends who live out of area may need to be consulted or informed about a variety of issues relating to a child. This task is often overlooked as it is time consuming if the family member or friend lives a long way from the local authority and and may be reduced to an unsatisfactory telephone call. We will visit where required for your convenience.