2.7 CDT Outreach Service |
Contents
- Statement of Purpose
- Entering and Leaving a Clients Home
- Handling Client's Money
- Maintaining Client Records
1. Statement of Purpose
Introduction
The Children's Disability Team works with children and young people aged 0-18 with severe disabilities. Services available include short-term care, family support and the outreach service.
The team takes referrals from professionals in health, education and the voluntary sector but families and young people can refer themselves directly via the team's duty desk.
A child or young person will be accepted by the team if
- They have a substantial and permanent disability and are normally resident in the London Borough of Bromley.
- They are aged 0-18 years and in full time education.
- The child / young person has physical or social care needs.
- The child young person has high behavioural management needs, but not those that require constant and repeated physical interventions to ensure the safety of persons or property.
The outreach service aims to
Provide flexible home/community based short-term breaks for disabled children and young people. The service works with children and young people from birth until their eighteenth birthday, who have a range of disabilities, including Autism, sensory impairments, learning and/or physical disabilities or any combination of these. The service is expected to provide a consistent, regular and flexible source of short-term breaks which aim to enhance the child / young person's development as well as offering practical support to the family.
The outreach Service Will
- Work in partnership with parents, carers and professionals to best meet the needs of the children and young people using the service.
- Involve the child or young person in all aspects of their care, promoting their strengths, and encouraging their independence
- Ensure the safety and protection of each child or young person using the service.
- Operate in a manner that promotes equality, challenges discrimination, and aims to address the cultural needs of service users.
- Supervise, manage, support and train staff so that they are able to offer safe and effective care to the children and young people using the service.
The interests and welfare of the individual child are paramount at all times even when these interests conflict with those of other people.
All work undertaken with disabled children will be in partnership with their parents, whose views should be ascertained, respected and taken into account at all times.
Children's Disability Team Outreach Service, Responsible Person
David Roberts
David Roberts has had extensive experience of managing domiciliary care services as well as managing a family aid service, before which he gained wide-ranging experience as a practitioner.
Qualifications: M.A, CQSW.
Outreach Service Registered Manager
Melanie Temporal
Melanie Temporal is the Outreach Co-ordinator who is responsible for the day to day running of the outreach service. She has extensive experience of working with children and families initially as a Nanny and more recently in her work on the Transitional Care Unit at Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital, where she worked as part of a multi-disciplinary team looking after children requiring long term mechanical respiratory support.
Qualifications: BA (Hons) Social Sciences Open University.
Staffing Policy and Organisational Structure of the Children's Disability Team
Principal Services Manager |
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Group Manager |
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Manager out reach Service |
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Outreach Workers |
The Manager of the Outreach Service is responsible for the day-to-day running of the service, supervising the Outreach workers, and reporting to the Group Manager.
The amount of time allocated to each family varies dependant on need and is specified in the child's individual care plan.
The on-call service is be provided by the Emergency Duty Team.
Staff Supervision, Training and Development
The workers employed by the casual bank scheme come from diverse backgrounds and range from older people who have brought up their own children to young workers who have only recently left education themselves.
All of our carers have some basic knowledge of the issues surrounding the care of disabled children and many have a vast wealth of knowledge and experience. The skills they bring to the team range from basic sign language/Makaton, through training in Autism/ADHD to Risk Assessment and training in Special Needs Education.
A properly managed and trained staff team are essential to meeting the aims and objectives of the Outreach Service. All staff will receive regular supervision in line with the London Borough of Bromley Supervision and Personal Development Policy. As part of their development they will also receive regular and on going training to ensure that we meet appropriate standards of care.
Quality Assurance
Services will be regularly monitored against appropriate quality standards and consideration given to making changes or improvements. Best practice dictates that parents will be involved in the evaluation of services.
Service users will be encouraged to make comments and give feedback on services provided and will be given information on the procedure for making complaint
Complaints and Suggestions
The Outreach Service is subject to the Bromley Social Services Department Complaints and Suggestions procedure. This procedure is set out in detail in the leaflet "Getting It Right" a copy of which is provided to all parents and carers. A separate leaflet "Be Heard" is available to children using the service.
The Outreach Service recognises that in any organisation things do sometimes go wrong, and welcomes all comments that help improve the service offered. In the first instance it is usually best to speak with the outreach worker, or their manager, who will attempt to solve the problem. Most problems can be sorted out in this way. Alternatively a complainant can write to:
FREEPOST
Director Children and Young Peoples Department
Civic Centre
Stockwell Close
Bromley
BR1 3UH
If someone is particularly pleased or impressed with any aspect of their child's care then comments can be forwarded to the Outreach Service either verbally or in writing.
2. Entering and Leaving a Clients Home
Arriving at a Clients Home
- Don't be late or very early, arrive at the time you have agreed with the family.
- If you are unavoidably late then notify the family at the earliest opportunity.
- Show the client your ID badge and allow them to take as long as they need to examine it.
- If you are refused entry you should leave the client's property and contact the office or out-of-hours service as appropriate.
Leaving a Clients Home
- When you leave you should say good-bye to the client and tell them when you are next scheduled to work with them.
- Before you leave, fill out the outreach communication sheet in the child / young person's user information folder. This should be filled out at the end of every session and not at the end of the month.
Remember that when providing domiciliary care you are a guest in the family's home. When entering and leaving you should act in a way that would make someone comfortable and happy to have you in their home.
3. Handling Client's Money
The purpose of this Policy and Procedure is to provide clear guidelines to safeguard the interests of the child/young person, their family and the outreach worker.
Policy for Handling Child/Young Persons Money during an Outreach Session
If a staff member undertakes any financial transaction with the service user (i.e. shopping, paying for activities etc.) an accurate record must be kept of it. The financial transactions should be recorded in the outreach service record on the Client Contact Sheet.
Make sure the child/young person and their relatives and representatives are informed, and consent to your writing this record and understand where it is stored.
If the child/young person is unable to take responsibility for his or her own finances, this should be recorded on the risk assessment and will be taken into consideration when creating the care plan. Before each outreach session it is important that you set a spending limit with the child/young persons parent or representative.
Procedure for Handling Child/young Persons Money during an Outreach Session
Key points for Handling Money during an Outreach Session
- Do not mix up your personal money with that of the child/young person. Keep their money entirely separate from your own. Always ensure that it is kept in a safe and secure place and never loose in a pocket or bag.
- Always keep a careful record of money given to you.
- Always get receipts for anything you buy on behalf of the child/young person in your care
- "Settle up" the account and record it as soon as possible giving the child/young person (or their family as appropriate) all receipts. Itemise all transactions undertaken on behalf of the child/young person in the service users guide. It is essential that all transactions are recorded so that there is a clear audit trail.
- When buying shopping for a child/young person do not use any loyalty or reward cards other that the child/young person's to gain points or money back.
Please also remember
- Do not borrow money or anything else from your child/young person (or their family) or lend them money, and don't talk about your own financial affairs.
- Do not buy from or sell anything to the child/young person or their family.
- Do not help the child/young person to buy or sell any of their (or their families) property to anyone else.
- Do not help to dispose of goods belonging to the child/young person or their families.
- Do not take responsibility for looking after any valuables for the child/young person.
- Do not accept gifts (beyond a very minimal value) or money from child/young person or their family. (Please see code of conduct on acceptance of gifts and hospitality)
- Do not accepts any offer of private work from the child/young person's family.
- Never accept money for your work from the child/young person or their family.
- Do not make use of the families phone apart from the times in which you must contact the office (or the Emergency Services) and you are not able to use your own mobile phone.
- Do not make use of the families property such as the internet or excessive use of kitchen facilities for personal use.
- report to the outreach Co-ordinator immediately if you are accused by the child/young person or their family or friends of stealing money or any other item.
- Do not incur a liability on behalf of the child/young person.
- Exercise strict confidentiality about everything you might know about a client or their families financial affairs.
4. Maintaining Client Records
A key part of your responsibility is to keep accurate records of your work with a child / young person. Every child / young person (or their family) has the right to see any recorded information, so what is written must be respectful and sensitive.
Communication Sheets
- Every time you go into a child / young persons home you must fill out the outreach communication sheet. You will find them in the child / young persons service user information folder. If a child / young person does not have communication sheets remaining, please contact the office and we will supply more.
- The communication sheet should be used to record any information about the child / young person. This should include details of your outreach session, the activities you did, and any incidents that occurred during the outreach session or any accident, however small. You should also detail any changes in the child / young person's circumstances that have occurred during your session.
- Before you start keeping records you should make sure that the child / young person (or their family as appropriate) knows what you are doing and that you have gained their consent. If they do not agree you should respect their wishes. Inform the outreach co-ordinator who will deal with the issue. Never tell a client that you have to keep records on them, they are entitled to request that you don't.
Make sure that all your records are dated and signed by you, (and the client, as appropriate). It is important that they are written clearly.
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