CYPS N`letter Edn 5 Apr 12 - Neath Port Talbot County Borough

April 2012
Edition 5
As the bank holiday weekend arrives it is a good time to update everyone on some of the things that are
progressing in our service:
ŸManagement Arrangements – a full list of the management changes made
recently is included for information
ŸRecruitment campaign – an early preview of the posts we will be
advertising after Easter
ŸCommissioning and Partnership Support – some new faces joining the
service on 23rd April to help review, remodel and change the services we
need to help children, young people and families;
ŸCurrent activity levels – the latest LAC and CPR statistics
ŸSpotlight on…the excellent work that is being done with older teenagers to
prevent family breakdown
Karen Jones
Interim Head of Children and Young People Services
Recruitment Campaign
In recent weeks we have been finalising the
detail of the posts we will be seeking to recruit to
next. We want to continue to build on the work
that was done before Christmas to strengthen
capacity in the front line assessment and case
management teams.
We are introducing ten new consultant social
worker posts to develop expertise in the areas
which are creating the greatest risk for
children. We are particularly interested
in recruiting experienced practitioners
who are prepared to develop their
research and practice in parental
substance misuse, parental mental
health, adults whose parenting
capacity is affected by a learning
disability and domestic violence.
We will also be placing a clear focus on
permanency planning. Jo Blake is working with a
number of senior officers to identify cohorts of
children and young people who are ready to
move on quickly to permanent non-care, but
appropriate alternatives to being looked after by
the Council.
Janet Kirk will head the new Permanency
Project Team (PPT) from July onwards. In the
meantime we are seeking to recruit three LAC
specialists to work in the team to improve
outcomes for many of our looked after children.
There will be strengthening of the workforce in
other areas too, including an additional adoption
social worker and business support.
The Conference and Review Service will see an
expansion of posts as well with two
additional new Independent Reviewing
Officer posts created. This is a vital
service and we need to ensure it is a
strong position to provide the
challenge and quality assurance that is
needed.
All being well, the first advertisements
will be placed on 16th April 2012 and there will
be a dedicated website for candidates to access
more detailed information about the career
opportunities.
Once the outcome of the exercise is know, we
will then consider what the next phase of work
should focus upon, and this will include other
parts of the service, including the leaving care
service.
Commissioning and Partnership Support
I am delighted to announce that Deborah Smith will be joining the service as the Commissioning
and Partnership Support Manager on 23rd April 2012.
An experienced social worker, Deborah has considerable experience in
commissioning and developing services. She has also led the Health,
Social Care and Wellbeing Partnership in this Council and will be an
asset to the service.
Deborah will be joined by Lisa Morgan who has been appointed as the
Commissioning and Partnership Support Officer.
Lisa is currently working in the Business Support
Division and has worked for the council for many
years. Lisa is currently managing the Park House project which will
provide local, residential respite facilities for disabled children.
Lisa has also worked with Julia Knight on putting better arrangements in
place for therapeutic services. Both Deborah and Lisa will be based at
Neath Civic Centre.
Accommodation Changes
Since my last newsletter, the Cwrt Sart Team and
senior management team have settled in well at
Neath Civic Centre.
We have signed off the plans for the Dyffryn
accommodation that will provide the operational
base for the Port Talbot Children's Community Team
and the construction work on the site is underway.
There will be a small delay in getting the facilities
ready for the service, so the planned move date is
now the end of April 2012. This will mean that there
will be a small delay in settling the accommodation changes for fostering, adoption, conference
and review teams also.
However, the space planning for the services can still start after Easter so that everyone can get
a clear picture of how their areas of the service will benefit.
Alongside these changes, IT workshops have been held with the front line teams to make sure
we are exploiting the technology available, using the right mix of flexible working options.
Remember, if there are any other accommodation and ICT issues that need to be resolved,
please contact Jayne Woodman Ralph j.woodman-ralph@npt.gov.uk
Activity Levels
I said I'd start to include some performance information with these newsletters.
This time I have included the activity on looked after children and the child protection register. We look at
this information every week in the Children Services Management Group meeting (CSMG).
We are currently assessing what this activity means for resourcing levels in teams, caseloads and
practice. We are also carefully monitoring the financial impact of this activity.
Total LAC (excluding respite) as at 2nd April 2012 = 472
Total CPR as at 2nd April 2012 = 262
Spotlight on.....
There's been a lot of focus on pressures in the
service – quite rightly. But, it is also important
that we highlight the good things that are
happening across our service as well. And there
are lots of good things happening.
Neath Civic Centre. Already in the Team was
Helen, a Llamau Mediation Worker, who
specialises in helping families remain together or
who assists young people to move to suitable
accommodation with support in a planned way.
In this newsletter, I am shining a spotlight on the
excellent mediation work that is going on with
older teenagers.
Chris and Helen have received over 45 referrals
since November. The support they provide has
enabled several young people to access
training/benefits, to return to education, access
counselling and support and when necessary
suitable temporary accommodation.
Joint working between the Housing Options and
Children's Services in response to the
Southwark Judgement has seen great success.
Following external training and consultancy
work, improvements in how the Services
responded to approaches for help from
homeless and potentially homeless 16/17 year
olds were introduced.
A dedicated Social Worker, Chris Rees, was
relocated to the Housing Options Service at
Owing to the success of this initiative a Practice
Support Worker has now been identified to work
with Helen and Chris. Dale will be joining the
Team in April, and in his own words is 'looking
forward to the experience'.
Please let me know about the good things
happening in your part of the service so I can
include those details in future newsletters.
Management Changes
Following the two appointments I made to
principal officer level to cover existing vacancies,
changes have been made across the service to
cover the gaps left by Tracy and Helen's
temporary promotions. Here is a definitive list of
current management arrangements at the time
this newsletter went to print:
Delyth Berni, Principal Officer - Safeguarding
Janet Kirk, Principal Officer - Family Support &
Looked After Children
Helen Sinclair, Acting Principal Officer - First
Response & Child Disability
Tracy Hughes, Acting Principal Officer –
Fostering & Adoption
Colin Davies, Manager - Hillside Secure Centre
Linda Llewellyn, Team Manager - Route 16
Bev Ridings, Team Manager - Emergency Duty
Team
Sian Baglow, Team Manager - Childcare
Disability
Anna Marie Fawsitt, Team Manager – Adoption
Pam Smith, Team Manager - Conference &
Review
Jo Goodwin / Helen Jarvis, Team Manager(s) Fostering
Einir Thomas, Team Manager – Llangatwg CCT
Vicky Thomas, Team Manager – Dyffryn CCT
Rachel Holt, Acting Team Manager – Sandfields
CCT
Lynne Reece, Acting Team Manager – Cwrt
Sart CCT
And Finally......
I would like to extend a warm
welcome to Councillor Peter Rees
who will be looking after the
children's social services portfolio
this side of the local government
elections.
For those of you who are taking time off over the
bank holiday, have a good break.
For those of you who are covering the service
over the weekend, a big thank you.
To contact me with any comments, questions or feedback please email
karenj.cyps@npt.gov.uk or call me on (01639) 763327