Children and Young People Social Care Fieldwork Service
The Children and Young People (CYP) Social Care Fieldwork Service is made up of 13 locality-based children’s social care teams who undertake s17 and s47 assessments, and work with children subject to Child in Need and Child Protection Plans. There are 4 child in care teams, working with children subject to care proceedings and long-term children in care. Alongside these, there are several countywide teams; our Disabled Children’s Team, the Make A Change Team (working with children at risk of exploitation), and the Family Solutions Team (working with children on the edge of care). These teams come under one service, and work together to keep children safe and supported at home and in their communities.
See some of the key roles within the Children and Young People Social Care Fieldwork service below.
Residential Care
Every child in our care has a positive experience, feeling loved, cared for, and happy in a place that they can call home. When children leave us, they have grown individually and achieved socially, emotionally and educationally with skills to move on successfully.
Our 6 homes across Suffolk provide care for young people aged 11-17 with social, emotional, and mental health difficulties. We create a nurturing environment where each child feels safe, cared for, and empowered. We work closely with children, families, and professionals to address challenges and build self-esteem and self-determination through tailored placement plans. Our goal is to equip children with tools to overcome challenges and realise their potential.
We offer robust training and qualification opportunities. New staff complete a shadowing phase before working independently. We provide in-house training for Level 3 and 5 Diplomas in Residential Childcare to develop key skills in caring for and managing homes. Our professional development enables staff to gain skills and knowledge to nurture children.
Roles in our residential care service focus on providing and overseeing the trauma informed care and welfare of children in children's homes, acting as corporate parents and role models.
Leaving care
The Leaving Care service is responsible for children who have entitlement under the Children (Leaving Care) Act 2000, which may extend up to the age of 25. There are 3 teams across the county. They support young people who are over the age of 16 years old, through pathway planning, to acquire the skills and abilities needed to successfully move into adulthood and independent living.
Some of the key roles within the Leaving Care service include:
- Social Worker,
- Duty Coordinator,
- Quality Assurance Leads,
- Young Person Advisors.
Fostering and Adoption
The Fostering and Adoption service teams work together as one team with specific identifiable areas of responsibility. Our Permanence Support team offer support to children and their families that are living away from their birth parents in either, adoption, special guardianship, permanent fostering or link care.
The Fostering Changes for Children team are responsible for delivering services to Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children; Privately Fostered children and their carers; and all Connected Person/Kinship Foster Carers. Short-term and Intensive Fostering Team provides support and supervision to mainstream fostering households who are caring for children in emergencies, short term and short break placements.
The team also comprises of ‘Zipwire’ which is a therapeutic intensive support programme enabling children with a very high level of need to remain in a family foster placement. Each team is led by a Practice Manager and consists of Consultant Social Workers, Experienced Social Workers, Social Workers and Family Support Practitioners.
Youth Justice
Suffolk’s Youth Justice team has an approach of working together with families, agencies and charities to make sure each child gets access to the help that they need.
The combination of experts, activities, and support programmes that one child needs will be different to other children.
See some of the key roles within the Youth Justice service below.
Strategic Commissioning
The Strategic Commissioning team is a small, diverse and dynamic team that supports good practice in commissioning and contract management across the Children and Young People (CYP) directorate. Strategic Commissioning also has a focus on services that support children in care and care leavers – this includes development of strategic plans to support sufficiency of accommodation and support for children in care and care leavers; commissioning and contract management of those services, as well as a team dedicated to placing children in appropriate accommodation on their pathway throughout care and leaving care.
Some key roles within our Commissioning service include:
- Service Contracts and Development Officers,
- Housing Development Strategic Lead,
- Strategic Commissioning Lead,
- Placement Managers.
All of our Social Workers are qualified social workers, registered with Social Work England. They are responsible for case holding statutory cases, including children in care and child protection cases.