M ur Rights ey on O Work Our F a Friends ly mi ing Saf ay e S St He Information for families n it y mu th al ool ch Family Solutions Com Who are we? Family Solutions is a service that has been set up by Essex County Council, working together with a range of other agencies and organisations including district councils, Job Centre Plus, police, housing providers and charities. We currently have four teams based around the county in Basildon, Harlow, Clacton and Braintree; however we offer a countywide service and are happy to travel to where you are in order to support you and your family. Our teams are made up of employees from a range of backgrounds with experience in health, education, probation service, mental health, substance misuse services, housing providers, district councils and youth offending teams. What do we do? Our focus is to help you to identify areas in your life that you would like to improve and support you to do this. What we do will depend very much on the needs identified by you and your family. We are not here to judge you, to tell you what to do or pretend we can solve all the challenges that you face. We will however work alongside you, support you and do whatever we can to help you and your family achieve the best possible outcomes. This doesn’t mean that we will not challenge or push you to achieve your full potential, but we strongly believe that only by working together can we move forward. So what will actually happen? If you are nominated or nominate yourself to the Family Solutions we will identify a key worker who will be the main link for you and 2 your family. We will arrange with you a time to come and meet with you and your family and get to know you. If you are happy for us to visit you we can come to your home, or you can come to our office. We will explain clearly what we can and cannot do and over the first month we will listen to you and your family and work together to identify how we can support you to improve how things are going. What this means in reality is that we will spend time with you and your family, getting to know you and, if you agree, we will talk with other agencies and organisations that you may be receiving support from. This is to help us build a better picture of how we can best support you. Once we have done this we will then help you to arrange a ‘family meeting’, this might just be you and us, but we would like to include everyone that is working with your family at that time, so this may include other organisations such as schools or health professionals. Together we will develop a plan to address the issues that you and your family identify and we will ask you and any other agency working with your family to sign up to it. When we are all agreed on a plan together, we will support you to act on it. This may mean that we offer you practical support to overcome the issues and problems you have identified. It may mean that we act as a co-ordinator to ensure that different agencies work together in a joined up way to get the best outcome for your family, or that we support you to get your needs met. We are committed to providing the package of support that your family needs and we recognise that not all families are the same so what we do and what you do, needs to be designed to meet your specific needs. 3 I am fed up with people interfering in my family life. We understand that having lots of agencies involved in your life can at best be frustrating, but more likely infuriating. What we hope to do is help you navigate ‘the system’ and ensure that your rights are met, but perhaps most importantly help you get to a position where you don’t need us anymore. The reality of working with Family Solutions is that we will be involved in your life, but we aim to have an approach which is about listening to you, working alongside you and supporting you, rather than making you feel you are being forced or told what to do. We guarantee that we will always listen, be fair and work in what we believe is the best interest of you and your family. Why do you ask for so much personal information? There are several reasons why we may ask you for personal information. The first is that it is our view that you are the expert in what your family needs and we want you to be fully involved in identifying the most appropriate plan for your family. The second is that we want to be able to co-ordinate services your family receive to avoid duplicating things that may already be in place or making you repeat things that you may have already told other people. We also need to make sure that you, your family and our staff are safe. You will be asked to sign a ‘consent to share’ information form. This is so that we can gather information to ensure that you get the most comprehensive and co-ordinated service that we can provide. However you have the right at any time to withdraw consent and if you do this we will respect your wishes. 4 The only exceptions to this would be if we believe someone is at risk of being harmed, if we believe you may be involved in a crime or if we are ordered to share information by a court of law. Can I change my mind about working with Family Solutions? Working with Family Solutions is your choice, at any point you can choose to end your contact with our service. We obviously hope that you won’t and would ask that if at any time you are unhappy with the service that we are providing, you let us know. What to do if I am not happy with the service that I receive? We welcome your feedback both positive and negative about the service that you receive from us. In the first instance we would ask that you discuss any concerns you have with the key worker working with your family or alternatively their manager as often problems can be resolved quickly this way. However should you not be happy with this approach you can take your concerns further through the Essex County Council complaints process and we can provide you with details on request. How do I contact you? If you have been nominated to receive support from our service, your key worker will contact you and provide you with contact details for both themselves and the office. If you want to find out more information about the service you can find the contact details for your local office at www.essex.gov.uk/ familysolutions. 5 This information is issued by Essex County Council, Family Solutions. You can contact us in the following ways: North Essex Family Solutions Team manager Louise Dunstan Green Lodge 180 Old Road Clacton CO15 3AY Tel: 01255 433 800 familysolutionsnorth@essex.gov.uk West Essex Family Solutions Team manager Emma Cotton C/O Registry Office Harlow Watergardens College Square The High Harlow CM20 1AG Tel: 01279 691 108 familysolutionswest@essex.gov.uk Mid Essex Family Solutions Team manager Simon Morris Carousel Children’s Centre Chapel Hill Braintree, Essex CM7 3QZ Tel: 01206 222 390 familysolutionsmid@essex.gov.uk South Essex Family Solutions Team manager Andrew Ling The Rainbow Centre 14 Quendon Road Basildon Essex SS14 3PD Tel: 01268 530 222 familysolutionssouth@essex.gov.uk Visit our website: www.essex.gov.uk/familysolutions Read our online magazine at essex.gov.uk/youressex Find us on facebook.com/essexcountycouncil The information contained in this document can be translated, and/or made available in alternative formats, on request. Published March 2013 DS12 4082 on Essex_CC Follow us
