Family Safeguarding Model
About our Family Safeguarding Service and how we work
Our Vision
As the Family Safeguarding Service, our contribution to West Berkshire Children and Family Services vision is to build positive relationships with children and families, whilst making sure that the voices of children and young people are heard and acted upon.
We aim to empower and promote sustainable change within families. When this is not possible, we ensure that children have more timely and improved outcomes in relation to their placements and overall wellbeing.
Multi-agency working
Our Family Safeguarding Teams are multi-disciplinary in order to address the issues that place children at risk of harm.
These teams include:
- Children and Family Team Managers and Assistant Team Managers
- Social Workers and Family Support Workers
- Substance Misuse Workers
- Domestic Abuse Workers
- Mental Health Workers
- access to Clinical Psychologists
The Family Safeguarding Teams work with the children and families of West Berkshire who are in need of support or who are at risk.
What do the Family Safeguarding Team do?
The Family Safeguarding Service supports families using a technique called Motivational Interviewing, which is designed to empower parents to accept the help on offer to overcome their challenges and achieve better outcomes for their children.
The Family Safeguarding Teams are statutory social work teams. They work with children, young people and their families who are:
- in need of support
- in need of protection
- subject to legal proceedings
- in need of being cared for by an alternative carer
Within Care Proceedings, supervised family time is sometimes required, and this is also managed by the team.