Social Services help?

alexandrajj

I'm wondering if anyone can tell me exactly what type of help Social Services can offer?

The background is that the family of 5. Dad disabled (mobility & some depression) mum has some mental health probs but is main carer for the family. 3 children aged 10, 8, 6. The 10 year old has ASD and 6 year old is suspected ASD. 8 year old is fine & helps look after her younger & older brothers (young carer??). There is an adult Social Worker for the parents and a Child Social Worker involved. The children are considered "children in need". There's no proceedings against the family nor threats of taking the kids away. They do look after the kids but are clearly a family under pressure.

I've been present when the Social Workers have been visiting and they ask what help the family need. The problem is that the family are used to just "getting on with it" & not asking for help. The problem is they don't really know what help Social Services offer so how do you know what to ask for? The family did ask the SW's what help is on offer but the SW said it's up to the family to ask for what they need. They keep being asked if they need more help but they don't know what to ask for as they don't know what's on offer and the SWs won't tell them what sort of things can be funded.

The family have a cleaner paid by SS on a regular basis. The eldest child went on a 2-week playscheme last summer holidays which was funded by SS but only because it cropped up in conversation with the SW & she said they could probably fund it. They never thought to ask for funding!! The youngest child also went to extra nursery sessions paid for by SS when he was 4 but that was short-term (6 months) while his mum was particularly poorly.

So my question is, what sorts of things will SS pay for?

danielle1977

Sometimes it seems like social services will pretty much fund anything for a family in need.
-community childminding (eg on a saturday for a few hours, 1st Satudrday youngest 2 go, 2nd saturday-youngest and eldest go, 3rd saturday oldest 2 go, 4th saturday all 3 go, or something like that to allow parents to have qualitly time with the child left at home)
-support worker (or occupational therapy support) one for mum and one for dad to get them to engage in activities independently and develop routines within the house
-play scheme for all 3 this summer (assuming they all want to go)
-support to help them manage asd-particulary techniques, routines etc

Its hard to say not knowing the family but these are just some suggestions that some of the families got whose children I community childminded.

Do they struggle with anything specifically? ie getting children up fed and to school in the morning?

danielle1977

Also may be able to get befrienders for children with ASD(to spend a few hours with each child, I used to do one afternoon after school with a little boy, again gives parents a break, someone to talk to etc)-look for any local autisitic charities or national autistic service
http://www.autism.org.uk/our-services/residential-community-and-social-support/social-support.aspx

alexandrajj

Thank you for the reply. I think the family's attitude of "just getting on with it" is a hinderance rather than a help. I think they're doing themselves out of help they could have if they were the sort of family that whinged at Social Services about every one of life's difficulties.

Getting kids to school is difficult as the 2 boys resist time pressures - yet like routine. Getting to school is difficult.

Children can't do out of school activities As getting them to school and back is hard work enough. They don't go out in an evening & weekends are home-based. Dad can't take them & mum is often not well enough to. Can a carer be arranged & paid for by SS so the kids can do activities/ clubs? Do SS help cover the cost of the activities for kids too?

Are weekend breaks available? (both boys wake up in the night & need supervision or else they open windows & play with plugsockets. Mum gets very tired & I know this affects her health. They disturb their sister at night too with noise.

I particularly worry about the 8 year old. She has no health problem but is very much a support for her brothers & mother. I don't mean that they make her take on adult responsibilities but just.... Well she does some caring, fetching & carrying, keeping an eye on brothers, stopping them doing dangerous things. Is she a "young carer" what does this mean? Can any "time off" be provided for her?

pigpen

barnardos have a siblings group which the 8 y/o might benefit from.
Charities like kids do trips for the whole family. There seem to be a lot of charities about for children with ASD's.

I don't ask for help either.. you just get by so I know where they are coming from.. it is a matter of pride and avoiding all those who have no idea and say thing like 'why should they get that when I have to struggle?'... We'd rather struggle without than see our children 'singled out'

Summer playschemes, after school kids club/breakfast clubs at school, you say they get free school meals do they clain the clothing grants too? and what about bus passes? they might be able to get funding to have a taxi take the children to school.

Js_Other_Half

Charity for siblings http://www.sibs.org.uk/

alexandrajj

pigpen wrote: »

I don't ask for help either.. you just get by so I know where they are coming from.. it is a matter of pride and avoiding all those who have no idea and say thing like 'why should they get that when I have to struggle?'... We'd rather struggle without than see our children 'singled out'l.

I can imagine those very words coming from the mother's mouth! Pigpen you are so right- but it shouldn't have to be like that though.

But what gets me is the SW keep repeatedly asking what help the family need (so indicating there's help they could access) but when asked directly about what sort of help is available to families like them, the SWs clam up & say that the family have to request specific help!

danielle1977

a support worker in the home could help set up routines etc for in the morning to help get the kids up and out on time, also do simple things like put reward charts in place to help with motivating the kids.

a community childminder or family support worker could provide the break for the 8 year old, also could provide a break for the other kids at other times.

social services will help with tansport if it means benefitting the family, I used to pick a child up take them to takewando (spelt wrong) and take them back to my house for tea and then take them home (paid for by social services, to give the child a chance to have a balanced family life or something)

young carer-never really had experience of this but tell the social worker what she does, that she needs a break

you just have to tell the social worker what the problems are (I know sometimes people think they are coping and don't realise or don't want to admit that it isn't going so well), the worst the social worker can say is no, but sometimes if they are saying we can't do that they will say what they can do.

tell the social worker how it is on a bad day

Nicki

Every local authority is supposed to have a directory of services which is open to inspection by parents. My sister is a social worker and she says this is a statutory requirement but my local authority took years to produce theirs, though they do now have one! A call to the children with disabilities team to ask for it might be more helpful than asking the assigned social worker.

Different authorities will provide different things, and social services, whether they publicly admit it or not see themselves as the gatekeepers to services not the providers. There is a certain logic in not offering services to families unless they can show the need for them, as demand far outstrips supply, and some families get everything going, and others with just as great a need get nothing at all.

Typically though, local authorities can help with respite provision, either overnight or a few hours a week, help with physical care if needed, direct payments for respite carers, leisure activities, play schemes in summer holidays, support for young carers.

pigpen

alexandrajj wrote: »

I can imagine those very words coming from the mother's mouth! Pigpen you are so right- but it shouldn't have to be like that though.

But what gets me is the SW keep repeatedly asking what help the family need (so indicating there's help they could access) but when asked directly about what sort of help is available to families like them, the SWs clam up & say that the family have to request specific help!

I've had similar situations TBH.. and when I said i needed this, that and the other I was told sorry we can't do those.. so why ask what we need then say we can't have it?

Then you get the pitchfork brigade.. 'they shouldn't have the children if they can't cope/afford them/stand on their head and juggle 12 balls with their feet'..

Why don't they comprise a list of all the things DD helps them with, all the things that are left undone because there are not enough hours in the day and things they would like to learn.. and say those are the things they need help with first.. Would a dishwasher make their life easier? A cleaner? A bit of decorating or building an extension? Days out with a carer so there was someone to look after everyone? I find it vey difficult to take all mine out, I have 2 with physical disabilities and 2 with ASD and the baby.. I need at least 4 adults to keep tabs on just those 5 so for us having a couple of extra people come out with us could mean we could ALL go out.

I'd be tempted to ask for crazy things just to see what they actually said yes to.

gizmo111

The 8 year old will probably get support and activities from here http://www.youngcarers.net/?gclid=CMmc5qqC0acCFQoa4Qod2G3HDQ

To be honest the family sound like they are getting what is available generally - for holidays and days out etc ss will normally look to local charities. School and nursery should be at CIN Review and they are usually quite up on local activities. A Family Support Worker may be offered to help with routines etc but this is ususally a time limited piece of work. The family need to sit and have a think what they actually need to improve thier life and then ask rather than just thinking of random irrelevant things. Eg does the garden need sorting for the children? Clothing, bedding etc is all basic stuff and should be funded by the family - any requests for this I would be thinking where is the benefit going - am I missing some neglect issues here? Think carefully before requesting just for the sake of it - it could have unwanted and uneccasssary repurcussions