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To
help parents cope with stressful family problems, an innovative
new service has been launched by Gloucestershire County Council.
It
is hoped the Family and Placement Support Service, launched by Social
Services in January 2004, will help keep more children with their
families - a key aspect of the county councilÂ’s childcare strategy.
Councillor Maureen Rutter, portfolio holder for childrenÂ’s
services, said: "Gloucestershire is taking a real step forward
in developing services to support the care of children in family
settings.
"This
new service brings together more than 60 experienced, enthusiastic
and knowledgeable professionals. They
will provide struggling parents and children with a range of creative
and imaginative services designed to iron out difficult family problems.
This
new service brings together more than 60 experienced, enthusiastic
and knowledgeable professionals. They will provide struggling
parents and children with a range of creative and imaginative
services designed to iron out difficult family problems.
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| Maureen
Rutter |
"Preventative
services are already working well to help parents take control of
their problems before situations get out of hand.
"This
has helped Gloucestershire Social Services keep more than 90 children
out of care and save £3 million which has been re-invested
into childrenÂ’s services."
A key part of this new service is also ensuring stable care for
children who are in the councilÂ’s care by providing ongoing
support in their placements with foster carers or at residential
units.
This
includes creating packages of support for foster carers or organising
activities for children to give foster carers some respite.
Weekend
activities
The Family and Placement Support Service is made up of teams who
work with children and parents to assess problems and organise appropriate
solutions.
Locality Teams based in Cheltenham, Gloucester and Stroud
work with children and parents in all parts of the county. Each
team will consist of family support workers who will work with children
and families referred to Social Services and organise appropriate
services, and in some cases utilising the skills of staff from the
following teams.
The Activities Team organise breaks for children and provide
respite for foster carers or support to parents.
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| Help
is at hand when family communication breaks down |
It
organises weekend activities like camping in the Forest of Dean
or water-based activities at the Cotswold Water Park in South Cerney.
It also organises evening activities.
Staff
also encourage young people to participate in community based activities
in their own area.
The Parenting Assessment Centre at Russet House offers help
and support to parents in difficult situations and offers relevant
support.
The
Parenting Skills Group is on hand to offer help where relationships
between parents and their offspring are nearing breaking point.
The
Parenting Puzzle project enables parents to take part in creative
workshops to identify ways of improving troubled family life.
Mums
and dads are use role-play and interactive theatre to work through
problems including communication and dealing with challenging behaviour.
A further project, called the Family Group Conference scheme, is
based on a successful initiative developed in New Zealand.
The
council works closely with BarnardoÂ’s to enable parents and
children to iron out their problems and plan their own solutions
away from their home environment.
Alan Barton, manager of the service, said: "The service which
is new to Gloucestershire will provide support to children and carers
as well as supporting social workers to carry out specific plans
for young people."
»The
Family and Placement Support Service can be contacted on 01452 418659.
Did
YOU grow up in care? Have you been a foster carer or adopted a child?
Share your experiences, good or bad, with ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Gloucestershire. (NB
email addresses will not be published)
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|
As
the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½'s Taking Care season explores what it is like to grow up in
care, Gloucestershire County Council is playing its part in keeping
children out of care. 
