Questions and answers

Q

I’ve done an assessment on a teenage girl whose brother recently beat her up (he has some mental health problems that can make him angry). Because she was able to make herself safe and her brother is getting support and hasn’t been violent since, my manager says her case is not serious enough for social services to stay involved. I have to write to her to explain to her that we have closed her case, but I’m not sure how to tell her in a way that doesn’t make her feel like we don’t care and there’s no point in telling social services anything.

A

She needs to know that she can get in contact with you in the future if anything goes wrong, and that you care. When you write to her, hand write the letter or at least put it into a nice font and coloured type if you can – that way she will know that you have made the effort for her, and she’s not getting sent the letter that everyone gets when they close your case. Tell her just because you are closing the case it doesn’t mean you think what happened to her is ok. Tell her what she can do if she is beaten up again and what social services would do if things get worse.

Q

I am currently undertaking my statutory placement with 'The Looked After Children' Team, and I have been assigned to do a pathway plan assessment with a young aduld, 16 years old. How can I complete the pathway assessment with out making it seem boring? example, I would like some advice on how to approach the plan. Thank you!

A

Here's a list of do's and don'ts:

• DO explain what a pathway plan is and how important it is to the young person. No social worker told us how important pathway plans are. No-one told us that when something is in our pathway plan it means that the local authority have to deliver it.
• DO try to help the young person get what they want and need and not just automatically say no because it might cost money.
• DO take your time with the young person to explain it, but also to listen to their situation and what they want for my future e.g. if they say they're not going to drugs counselling anymore, take time to learn why so you can learn from that and help get them the support they need.
• DON’T start to fill it in without the young person, they should be involved from the beginning.
• DON’T complete them without the young person and just ask them to sign it.
• DON’T lie or guess about what the young person wants.
• DON’T look like you are in a rush when you talk to them about it. We don't like it when social workers always look busy!

Q

I am currently working with a young male who is very difficult to engage. He is not currently attending education and is out on the streets with friends at night (not at home). We carried out an unannounced visit to carry out our assessment and he consented to working with us. We have made various appointments and he has cancelled. We have also made lots of phonecalls and sent texts but not been getting a response. Any ideas on how we can engage him better?

A

One of the greatest difficulties in working with children in care is that they are not the most willing people to engage with a system they do not like. It might be helpful to see what his school life is like, and what his education is also trying to do to get him engaged.

I don't know quite how young this guy is, but the problem is that he needs to think about his future. No child aspires to do nothing for the rest of their life, living on benefits or something like that. He needs to see the reason why he WANTS your help, as opposed to just agreeing to receive it.

It might be helpful just to familiarise yourself with him. Do you know where he goes when he's not at home? Do you know why he goes there? It's really difficult to pin someone down when you can't contact them, but there has to be at least some time he's at home, when you can ask him where he's going to be at a certain time, if he's free for lunch or whatever (free food is a pretty tempting offer) and ask him about himself before you plan anything to do. If someone is not keen on meeting you, if you manage to get them to agree, the way to do it is not by intimidating them in the first meeting.

There might be incentive schemes that you could try to organise. Keep pointing out what good thing can happen next time if he actually turns up for his meeting. Ultimately, he has to want to help himself, and depending on his age, that can be a very difficult message to get across. Just try to figure out if he's happy, and let him know you are there to try and make his life better. People tend not to fight care workers and such if they come at them with honest and open intentions of wanting to help them. I hope this helps! Good luck with the whole thing :)

Another young person’s top tip:

Be patient.
Trust – you need to build trust so that you trust him and he trusts you
Promises – offer support but don’t make promises you cant keep 
 
And another:

The young person might have a problem with the social worker and it can be very difficult to help someone if they don’t like you. How about offering to use someone else as a “mediator” so he can get any frustrations off his chest? Maybe someone who isn’t from social services, like an advocate or a youth worker? You need to be careful not to come across like you’re pestering the young person.

News

• Government policies on access to further and higher education abandon care leavers to the whims of localism, says report - 16-Mar-2012
• The Trust calls for Government to look wider than adoption - 14-Mar-2012
• Care leaves most looked-after children better off, study finds - 12-Mar-2012

The Who Cares? Trust is a registered charity (No. 1010518). A Company limited by guarantee. Registered in London (No. 2700693). VAT Reg. No. 577853091
Charity web design by Fat Beehive - Main photo by epidemya