DISC Family Intervention Project who we are and what we do

DISC Family Intervention Project who we are and what we do

PICTURE

If you and your family are facing lots of problems it can be hard to know where to turn for the support you need. The Family Intervention Project - FIP can help you get your family back on track. You will already have talked about needing extra support with someone you know, such as a teacher from school or your health visitor. Their request for extra support for you was sent to the Early Help Access Team who have decided that the best support service for your family is the Family Intervention Project us! We can help you if you are: Worried about being evicted because of debt or anti-social behaviour Wanting support to get back in to work or training Struggling to get your child to school on time or to attend every day Worried about the impact your lifestyle or health may be having on your children Struggling to manage your child s behaviour Need support to put boundaries and routines in place Having difficulties managing debts, benefits and housing issues. Step In! For the first 12 weeks we will spend lots of time with you and your family, usually three times every week. You will be assigned a project worker who will want to find out about your strengths as a family as well as the things you are finding difficult. Your project worker will speak with you, your children, family members, schools and other agencies working with you to understand about the help you need. This is called an assessment and will help you to see what is going well and what still needs to be done. We will discuss your assessment with you and you will be adding your comments too. 2

We will sit down with you and the other agencies that support you to look at some of the reasons behind what is working or not working and make a plan for all of us. We will review things regularly to make sure we keep tackling the issues that are important for you. Review meetings take place regularly, usually every 6 8 weeks and you can see the progress your family is making. If you decide you want to have a meeting before the due date all you need to do is ask. Some Goals that could be included in your plan: Children are going to school every day and are not late Family relationships are better You are more confident about managing your money and debts Getting you or your partner into training or back to work No more arguments with neighbours We are here to take you step by step through complicated problems and make sure you get the help you need. Your project worker may do one2one work with you or your children or work with your family as a whole. We can also invite you to join one of our groups where you can meet other parents who are experiencing the same worries. 3

What about your children? We want to get to know your children too and one of the best ways to do this is by involving them in activities. There is an activity consent form for you to read and sign to allow us to do this. We often arrange group activities during school holidays to build children s confidence to join in with local community events. We can also arrange individual activities according to their own interests. Parents are welcome to join their children on some of our organised activities. We may also see your child in school but will always let you know when this will happen and by arranging these in advance the school visits will not disrupt their lessons. Step Up At the end of the first 12 weeks you and your project worker will review the progress you ve made. You will be able to see the changes that have taken place since you started working with us and together you and your project worker will decide on the next stage. Over the next 12 weeks we want to help you take the lead on changes and put you back in control. You and your family will still receive support but your project worker may only visit once or twice a week. We will still hold regular reviews and can offer extra support if it s needed. Step Forward When the work is finished and we say goodbye.. We will always speak with you and the other people working with you before we end our work with you and then confirm the closure plans in writing and ask for your comments. Whenever possible we will talk about this at a review meeting before we make a decision. If you have any concerns or worries about this please talk to your project worker or to their lead practitioner. Once our work is finished, we will contact you again by telephone in another 12 weeks just to make sure you are still on track. 4

The workers have helped to try and get some order in my life and family life...really appreciated - Parent 5

Keeping everyone safe If you tell us that a child has been harmed or is in danger of being harmed, or we are worried that your child might be harmed, we will take steps to protect them. This may include talking to Social Care or the Police. Whatever we decide we will try to tell you first what we are going to do. We will carry on supporting you to try to prevent or resolve the situation that has caused the concerns. We also have a duty of care to vulnerable adults, such as elderly people and people with mental health problems so if we have concerns, we will consult with the adult safeguarding service. Information sharing and confidentiality Please give us your consent to share information with other professionals who work with your family so that we can provide you with a better service. We will also share information with other members of the FIP team so that when your worker is unavailable someone else is able to support you and your family. Without your consent to share information we may not be able to help you and your family to sort out your problems. Please be aware that we can share information without your agreement if we think that someone is at risk of being harmed or a crime is being committed. We will treat anything that is said, written or held on computers as confidential, in line with the Data Protection Acts. You have the right to see your file at any time and this can be arranged by speaking with your project worker. Making a complaint If you are unhappy about the service you are being offered, please talk to your project worker about your concerns. We will try to sort things out for you straightaway. You can also contact the office to 6

speak to your worker s supervisor or the project manager to talk things through. If you are still unhappy your complaint will be passed onto a more senior manager who will try to resolve it. More details of our complaints service are on the complaints postcard you have received today. Working together We believe that everyone should be treated fairly and with dignity and respect. You have the right to have the service fully explained to you and what you can expect from us. We understand that everyone s cultural and religious preferences are important. We will provide interpreters and other support services to families when needed. If you need information presented in another format or in a different language, please ask your project worker for further information. We can supply this booklet in audio format. You can also find an electronic version of this leaflet on the DISC website, where you can increase the font size if required. You have the right to have an individual support plan, agreed by you and your project worker. We will support you to achieve the objectives on your support plan. Where we identify an issue that we cannot support you with, we will help you to find and contact organisations that can help you. 7

In return, we ask you to treat our staff with respect and understand that unacceptable behaviour (violence, aggression, swearing etc) will not be tolerated. We will not continue our appointment with you if you are under the visible influence of any drugs or alcohol. Please try to ensure that friends and family are not visiting during our appointments unless we ve agreed before that they should be part of the work. You and your project worker are both responsible for ensuring that we keep to our pre-arranged appointments and will try to let each other know at least one day in advance if either of us cannot attend. Talking about safety We will talk to you about the things that may cause harm to you and your family, or the people who visit you. This could range from possible hazards in your home and emergency planning, to people who might have threatened members of your family. We can help you manage risks and make your home a safer place, providing advice and information about other services who can support you. All children being transported by project workers will use the correct car seats for their age and size. This is a legal requirement to keep children safe. We can provide car seats but we ask you to make sure that young babies and toddlers are fastened in correctly before the project worker drives away. All children will be transported in the back seats of cars. Older children and adults must also fasten their seat belts before the project worker can drive them anywhere. Have your say It is important to us that you share your thoughts on our service and from time to time we may contact you to ask if you would like to join a focus group/service user group. This may help us to run our service better. We would also like to involve families in the organisation of family activities and occasionally in the recruitment of new members of staff. If you would like to be part of any consultation process or take part in an interview panel please talk to your project worker. 8

You know the FIP is a safe service because: Staff All our staff have Disclosure and Barring (DBS) checks completed before joining the staff team. These are renewed every 3 years by law. Visit www.gov.uk/disclosure-barring-service-check/overview for more details. All our staff have professional qualifications and are required to attend training courses to keep their knowledge and skills up to date. Project Workers have supervision every month with their line managers to talk about the families they are supporting and the progress being made. Line managers regularly speak to or visit families to make sure families are happy with the support being provided by their project worker. You can contact the managers at the FIP on 01484 451868 Service Quality DISC ensures that individual project provide a good quality service. The quality of Kirklees FIP is assessed by: DISC Internal Quality Framework Care Quality Commission Framework Quality Assessment Framework every 2 years Kirklees Local Authority Auditors every month 9

About Us Your key workers name is... Your key workers number... Contact Us Address: DISC Kirklees Family Intervention Project Ground Floor, Pennine House, Longbow Close, Huddersfield, HD2 1GQ FIP Office Number: 01484 451868 Office hours are Monday to Friday 8:45am 5:00pm Out of hours advice For emergency services - police, fire, ambulance...999 CAMHS...01422 261332 Care Management Service...01484 222001 Council house repairs out of hours service...01924 324700 or 01484 414850 Family lives (parenting helpline)...0808 800 2222 Emergency duty service...01924 326489 Environment agency Floodline...0845 988 1188 National Gas Emergency Service...0800 111999 NHS direct www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk...111 Night time noise service...01484 416600 Northern Power Grid electrical emergency...0800 375675 Police non emergency...101 Refer and Repsonse...01484 456848 Samaritans National...0845 790 9090 Huddersfield...01484 533388 Single Point of Access (Mental Health)...01924 284555 Yorkshire water...0800 573553 DISC - Developing Initiatives Supporting Communities is a charity that has supported families, young people and children in the North of England for over 30 years. We work in partnership with Kirklees Council to deliver their Family Intervention Project. Visit www.disc-vol.org.uk for details. 10

DISC is based at Sapphire House, Unit 2, IES Centre, Horndale Avenue, Newton Aycliffe, Durham, DL5 6DS T: 01325 731 160 www.disc-vol.org.uk 11