Children in trouble project worker's blog
Meet Natalie. She is a project worker at one of Barnardo’s Leaving Care project. This project offers support to children who might otherwise be at risk of criminality or engaging in antisocial behaviour. Working with care leavers aged 16-21, it offers help in the transition period from being in care to independent living. The project provides support emotionally as well as offering practical assistance and guidance in the skills that young people need to live independently.
Read Natalie’s blog and get a real understanding of how Barnardo’s helps vulnerable children and young people.
Natalie's blog
19 December 2008
Today I attended the Christmas task group; this is a group of project workers who have volunteered from each office to plan the Christmas period for our young people. We are extremely busy with this as with over 300 young people in the service it takes some planning!
We have organised 3 Christmas events, a bowling party, a meal and a party at a supported lodgings provider which are at various parts of the county. Each young person is invited to an event dependant on where they live. Staff will also be in attendance and assist with transport where possible.
Obviously there are other essential parts of the Christmas planning, such as prezzies! Each of our young people will be bought a Christmas present, this will be bought by their leaving care worker which will help to personalise the gift they receive. Children of our young people will also receive a present and any long term partners will receive a token gift.
For some of our young people who are not in settled accommodation a Christmas food hamper will be given, for this we have applied to local supermarkets, however the majority of it will be paid by Children’s Services and Barnardo’s.
There are invites to go out, transport to be arranged, presents to be bought and wrapped, cards to be written and sent, and partying to be done by all (including staff!) -lots and lots going on.
Everyone has the right to a happy Christmas and a gift to open. For many of our young people Christmas is the loneliest time of the year, we, I feel have a professional and moral duty towards ensuring that we can make that happen for as many of our young people as possible!
So, we are in the final stages of planning and it’s all very busy - will update on how the parties went next time!
18 December 2008
I visited another of our offices today in order to conduct The C-Card training. The C-Card training is a toll which enables me to issue condoms to young people who I work with and also conduct pregnancy tests. The training enabled me to understand the importance of sexual health, which will enable me to discuss sexual health with my young people and to discuss the impact of STI’s and pregnancy on their lives. I now have another valuable tool to assist me when working with all my young people.
17 December 2008
Today I conducted a Pathway Plan review with Amy who is currently in foster care (Pathway Plans fulfil the requirements both for assessing the young person's needs and planning services). Amy has been settled in foster care for some time, however turns 18 at the end of December. Once a young person turns 18, financial responsibility ceases to lie with Children’s Services and the leaving care team - therefore the young person will usually have to approach the local authority for housing. However in Amy’s case she is currently undertaking the CLAS scheme (Care Leavers Apprenticeship Scheme). Through this scheme Amy is currently engaging in a NVQ and is on placement at a primary school. Due to these circumstances, financial responsibility remains with us until it has been completed. Therefore the foster placement will change to a supported lodgings scheme. This enables Amy to remain in her placement. Some financial responsibility does change and will be more of a rented room agreement. The foster carer will no longer be required to pay for clothes and other essential items. Amy will also be expected to contribute to her accommodation; this is around £30-40.00 per week as Amy has a full time wage.
In order to change the foster placement to a supported lodgings agreement Amy’s social worker has negotiated the weekly payment of rent to the accommodation provider from Children’s Services and a supported lodgings contract will be drawn up between myself, Amy and the accommodation provider. The contract will set out what is expected of Amy, the accommodation provider and the leaving care service. This is tailored to meet everyone’s needs and essentially will be the glue the holds the arrangement in place. The contract will include house rules, ending the agreement and all parties’ sign. I have no concerns at this time that the placement will break down as Amy has been so settled. As this is an extremely important time for Amy in regards to her apprenticeship it is essential for her home life to remain as settled as possible.
16 December 2008
Today I conducted a home visit with Sally. Sally is recently a new mum and she is living in a very rural part of the county. She has a partner who works full time and often finds herself at home alone all day. The village in which she lives is quite affluent and this in turn means that the local mums group is attended by no one any where close to Sally’s age. Sally attended once and felt uncomfortable. There is limited public transport and the logistics of actually getting on the bus with a pram can often prove too much.
The house in which she lives is via the local council and is in need of modernisation. The only source of heat is via a coal fire which heats the radiators and the hot water.
Even though Sally’s partner is in full time work, finances are extremely tight. This has meant that Sally and her partner have been unable to afford the coal to heat the house. This is obviously of great concern even more so as she has a young baby.
Sally is feeling very low about her social isolation and the cold in the house. During my visit we devised an action plan of how these difficulties were going to be managed. Initially we discussed whether there was the possibility of being moved; however this will take some time due to lack of housing within her area, therefore is more of a long term goal. We looked at what we could do immediately to assist sally and her family. I discussed this with my manager and was authorised to purchase a lump delivery of coal to see her through the winter months. This could not be delivered until a later date therefore I again spoke to my manager and arranged funding in order for Sally to run electric heaters until the coal could be delivered.
In relation to her social isolation Sally and I visited a Sure Start centre which is ten miles away from her home. The centre is a fantastic resource and even has a teenage mum club! There are lots of activities that Sally can get involved in and it will give the opportunity for her baby to socialise with other children. We have applied for funding to assist with transport.
In her long term plans we have arranged a meeting with the local council to voice her concerns around her tenancy, gaining a supporting letter from her GP to state how this is affecting her emotionally. We have also applied for a provisional drivers licence with the view to begin lessons after Christmas. Sally now has a clear plan of support put in place and this has assisted in developing our working relationship.
12 December 2008
Today I had arranged to visit a partner agency. The agency provides accommodation advice to young people within Lincoln. The agency has a number of houses in which they can accommodate young people, which has changed recently from hostels.
On speaking to the workers at the agency they feel that since the shared houses have taken over they are in a much better position to meet the needs of the young people.
Young people are specifically placed in order to meet their needs. House dynamics can now be taken into account and therefore the young people have a much better chance of success. It is essential that we have good working relationships with, not only accommodation providers, but a whole range of professionals to enable us to deliver a service to our young people.
When building the working relationship it is also important for everyone to gain an understanding of other job roles. To understand the roles of others assists in effective partnership working and opens up routes of communication which I feel is an essential tool. Without successful partnership working my job could not be carried out.
9 December 2008
I have been working with a young person who is currently at Sheffield College. Accommodation is paid for by children’s services but usually when a young person turns 18, the financial responsibility is taken away from social services as they are then eligible for state benefits. There is often some difficulty when young people over the age of 18, who are attending college, leave care and look for accommodation. They are eligible for housing benefit, however many student accommodation providers do not accept it. This means that they often have to look for a shared house. When moving to a new town this can be an exceptionally daunting prospect. I also believe that anyone who goes to college or university should have the opportunity to experience living in halls, this gives the young person the ability to settle into college/university and make friendships that will in many cases last a life time.
The role of the leaving care service is to parent any eligible young person who has been in care and give them the ability to have the same opportunity as they would give their own children - it is on this ethos that children’s services pay for her accommodation. This will continue until she has left college or moves into a shard house where housing benefit is accepted.
4 December 2008
Today I have arranged a planning meeting for two sisters who we are working with.
The girls are currently living apart but within an extended family unit. To explain a little further one sister is living with a couple, and the other is living with their daughter and son-in-law. The need for a planning meeting has been identified by the accommodation providers. As there are many people involved with the two young people often there can be some difficulties being consistent.
The planning meeting is an excellent way of bringing everyone together in order to discuss current goings on. It provides a forum for the girls and all other people involved to review how things are going. It also provides the ideal opportunity to iron out any difficulties we may be facing and create an action plan of how we are going to undertake future work. This will continue to happen and will hopefully assist in the sisters maintaining and succeeding in their accommodation.
2 December 2008
Today I accompanied a worker from another office to meet jointly with one of her young people. The need for this meeting was as I was allocated to her sister who had disengaged from the service and was causing me concern. The young person was involved in a relationship with an older male who had a drug addiction and in order to fund this he was putting her out to shop lift, there are also some concerns about domestic violence within the relationship. As a result of this my young person had been prosecuted and received a community supervision order. My young person has some learning disabilities and this makes her extremely vulnerable to a range of perpetrators, the boyfriend being one. The young person believes that the boyfriend has a true interest in her wellbeing and is unable to understand my concerns.
The young person had fled from the town where she was living and had gone to stay with her sister; this was as her boyfriend owed money in the town where they lived to drug dealers. However when she went to stay at her sisters, trouble followed and her boyfriend was beaten up very badly.
The young person is extremely chaotic, with no fixed abode and no contact telephone number. Therefore attempting to track her down was difficult. I also knew that the young person would not speak to me about her circumstances and what had happened - therefore I spoke to her sister, who disclosed the incident. I ensured however that the disclosure was lead by the young person and I made no comment or disclosed anything about my young person to her sister.
This may seem an underhand way of getting information however the difficulty when young people don’t engage is that concerns do not go away and still need acting on regardless. The risk to my young person is increasing and I needed to gain information in order to decide with my manager on the next course of action.
From this I will then arrange a meeting with the probation worker and share information in order to attempt to reduce risk and re-engage my young person with support that I feel she desperately needs.
1 December 2008
Today was spent in the office on duty. Each team has a worker on duty daily; this is to ensure that there is always an available member of staff if an emergency occurs. Where possible if an emergency occurs the allocated worker will deal with it. However as each worker holds a case load of 19+ young people it often isn’t possible for this worker to respond hence the reason for the duty worker.
28 November 2008
Today I spent the day in the office updating my caseload. This is a day which I take monthly at a minimum. Due to the nature of the Leaving Care Workers job, much of the role is conducting visits and meetings with young people and other professionals. This, coupled with the size of Lincolnshire, means that ongoing recording and file updates can sometimes be difficult to keep on top of and can become difficult to manage.
27 November 2008
Today, I attended a meeting with other workers from projects in our region. We were given a very interesting presentation from the Speaking Up service in Cambridgeshire, which works with young people with learning difficulties. They have recently gained funding to bring three projects to Lincolnshire, which is fantastic. The aim of the project is to develop the skills and confidence in young people to self advocate. It is also involved in Youth Parliament aimed at 14-18 year olds to create a place where young people can meet and bring about change within local services and the final project is young people next steps. This is a series of programmes planned for young people by young people aged 16-25 who want to develop a community based lifestyle, offering a variety of courses such as life skills, work skills and confidence skills. I am really excited about such a project coming to our area.
During our meeting we also discussed planning for Christmas. Feels as though it comes around earlier every year! We always buy presents, and we discussed whether we should buy for our young people’s children, long term partners and also tried to identify any young people who might benefit from a Christmas hamper. Each young person who receives a leaving care service is eligible for a gift - this also includes children of young people. In regards to allocation of hampers, this is a difficult task as it is at workers discretion. The guidelines are the people most in need such as in unsettled accommodation such as B&Bs or people who have a transient housing lifestyle. It was a good meeting and we all felt very positive at the end of it.
25 November 2008
We have a new, recently referred young person at the service, Wayne. He is currently residing in a youth offending institution. The details around the Wayne’s eligibility for a Leaving Care Service are a little out of the ordinary. This is because he was classed as ‘Looked After’ because he was originally remanded in custody for over 13 weeks. Therefore, this classification makes him eligible for our service. The dynamics of the service he is to receive will continue to be limited due to his situation; the role will mostly be to provide an advocate service (which is about making sure the young person’s voice is heard and representing their views). However, this will change, as when he becomes eligible for parole, the service will then be implemented fully to incorporate all aspects under the Leaving Care Act (2000). I am looking forward to getting to know Wayne, and seeing how he develops in our service.
21 November 2008
Today I worked with Paula. During our last meeting she had explained to me that she had met a new boyfriend and was planning to have her implant taken out to try for a baby. I felt that the implications of having a baby were not real to the young person, and felt that gaining a realistic view of looking after a baby would benefit her decision making. Therefore, I have provided her virtual ‘Baby Think It Over’ tool. This is a fantastic resource we use with young girls, to make them aware of what is involved with raising a baby. The virtual baby can be programmed to respond to a certain person only, and cries for food, a new nappy, and tiredness, just a real baby would. The young person therefore gets first hand experience of dealing with a new baby. We watched the accompanying video which explains how to care for the ‘baby’, and we programmed it to recognise her as the care giver. We set it to medium level (it can be programmed to varying levels of difficulty); I didn’t want to make it impossible for her to succeed but also wanted to make it realistic. Once we were sure she understood exactly what was expected of her, she was allowed to take the virtual baby home for the weekend. I really hope she feels positive about her capabilities as a mother following this exercise. I’m really looking forward to seeing her after the weekend and seeing how she got on.
20 November 2008
Today I had a home visit planned, to see one of our young people, James. This was to do a pathway plan review. The Pathway Plan fulfils the requirements both for assessing the young person's needs and planning services, and is updated every six months minimum or as significant changes occur. Even though I had confirmed this with James the day before, when I arrived at the house there was no answer when I knocked the door. On trying his mobile, there was no answer either. I waited for twenty minutes; trying both the door and phone again several times to no avail. This can be a frustrating aspect of the job. However, I know that James can be fairly chaotic, and I’m aware of how this impacts on him and his reliability. I therefore popped a note through the door, asking him to contact the office to arrange another date. Later on that day, I spoke to James and he was very apologetic. He explained he had a family emergency and so I reassured him and told him not to worry. We planned another meeting. However, I re-enforced that while I understand that sometimes things happen that can not be avoided, I also asked if where possible he could let me know by phoning or text. As a project worker, it’s important to avoid making the young people feel that they are in trouble, or that I am unhappy with them. This would not be a constructive was of working with them, or building a trusting relationship. However, it’s equally important that the young people know the implications of their actions and how it could be avoided in the future.
19 November 2008
One of our young people, Claire, had her driving theory test today. She has been learning to drive for a while, and we were able to provide the lessons for Claire by making a grant application. It’s important for Claire to learn to drive to provide her with further independence and widen her career prospects. As the county is so rural it is even more important as public transport can be sparse. When I picked Claire up from her house, I realised immediately that she was very nervous! I tried to keep her calm by chatting generally about her day and her birthday plans – she is soon to turn 18. On arrival at the test centre we had a general discussion about what to expect from the test, so she was fully prepared. Claire said she felt ready but hoped not to fail. I had taken my test fairly recently (two years ago) and explained that I failed a few times before passing, so reassured her that even if she did fail it was not the end of the world. I asked her to text me after she had taken the test. Unfortunately she didn’t pass on this occasion. She was understandably upset, but felt that now she had been through the experience she would be more prepared next time. It’s good to see her keeping positive and I’ll keep on encouraging her until she passes – hopefully next time!
18 November 2008
We have two siblings at our service, Sarah and Louise. They unfortunately lost their father some time ago. As it was the anniversary of his death, they had asked to be taken to visit his grave. We of course agreed, and so today, along with a colleague, we took the girls to see the grave. We used the pool car, which is an invaluable resource for the project.
On arrival, it was clear that Sarah was still very much grieving for her dad. She was very upset, and so, noting the privacy of the event, we gave her some space and time on her own. Of course, we ensured we could see her in case she needed our support, and made sure she knew where we would be waiting. In comparison, Louise seemed much calmer, and felt that she had come to terms with her father’s death. When the girls had spent enough time at the grave, we had some discussions about how people grieve in different ways and how this should be respected. The day ended on a good note. It was an important exercise and the girls thanked us for taking them.
17 November 2008
I am currently working with Lisa, who is due to give birth in November. I am really proud of Lisa’s development during her time with us. When I first started working with her she was living in extremely poor accommodation and had no income. She had also disengaged with the service for a period of time. After a few initial teething problems, we began to build a positive working relationship.
We are currently working on getting Lisa suitable accommodation so she is settled when the baby arrives. With the support of my manager she was allocated a flat from the local council. This took some time as initially I was informed by the council that the young person was not in priority need despite her circumstances and inadequate accommodation. However, eventually she was offered a flat, and needed to arrange a viewing. I asked Lisa to let me know of the viewing date so that I could attend with her. This is important so that I could not only support her, but also ensure the accommodation was suitable. However, Lisa viewed and accepted the property on her own, and I was only made aware of this when she called me a week later to ask me to call the council – she had been waiting for two days for water and heating to be switched on!
As a project worker, this kind of thing can be frustrating. Not only because Lisa has no carpet, curtains, cooker or other essential items, which I could have arranged for her had I known, but also that I was not able to fill in the financial paperwork necessary. However, the good news is that this has all been arranged for Lisa, so she has a comfortable home for when the baby arrives.
