Specialists in supporting families to provide a positive, healthy and safe environment for both children and their parents.

Family Assessments: Information for professionals

Our Family Centres offer Residential and Non-Residential Family Assessments for parents with behaviour or lifestyle concerns which may present a risk to children in their care. This includes:

• Working with parents who misused drugs and alcohol
• Parents or families with a history of domestic abuse
• Young and inexperienced parents and young care leavers who may be first time parents
• Parents with a learning disability or difficulty
• Parents with mental health needs
• Parents with relationship difficulties
• Emergency placements as a result of a Court Hearing
• Pregnant mothers can be admitted prior to the birth of their child and interpreters can be arranged for parents who do not speak English as their first language.

Pregnant mothers can be admitted prior to the birth of their child and interpreters can be arranged for parents who do not speak English as their first language.

PAMS & Parent Assess for parents with Learning Difficulties

We have a wealth of experience in working with parents who have learning difficulties. The PAMS Assessment (Parent Assessment Manual) was developed by Dr Sue McGaw, a nationally renowned Clinical Psychologist in the field of working with parents with learning disabilities. Several of our Social Workers are PAMS trained and staff are experienced in using it. Most recently, PAMS has been phased out and Parent Assess if being more widely used in the assessment and support of parents with learning difficulties. We have Social Worker trained at each of the Family Centre sites who are Parent Assess qualified, and who attend regular update training sessions on the use of the assessment tool. Read more about our approach to assessing parents with learning disabilities.

Our Family Assessment Process

Our family assessment centres offer thorough, robust, evidence-based assessments within a nurturing environment. Our centres in Barnsley and Birmingham were rated ‘good’ overall in the their Ofsted inspections. Our assessment process is a supportive yet rigorous one. We aim to identify and build on existing strengths and support the acquisition of new skills.

Our Family Assessment Centres afford staff the opportunity for detailed and sustained observation. Day and community assessments can also be facilitated by our team of independent social workers.

Experienced Social Workers ensure that the assessments and the support offered are tailored to the individual needs of each family. Our Support Workers will help to support and guide each family to ensure that they understand the process, develop their parenting skills and have the best opportunity to demonstrate their parenting ability.

We provide tailor made Parenting Assessments which are family-centred and take account of each family’s individual learning needs. The team have developed creative ways of helping parents to learn and develop and are experienced in working with parents who have a range of needs, including varying degrees of learning difficulties.

Safeguarding and child welfare

Our Parenting Assessments are individually tailored according to the needs of the family, with a focus upon ‘the Framework for the Assessment of Children in Need and their Families’ and the parents’ ability to safeguard and promote the welfare of their child. The well-being of the children is our primary and paramount focus throughout the placement and assessment. We ensure that the baby or child’s needs are met throughout and that the baby or child’s welfare is promoted and safeguarded.

Dedicated Assessment Centres

Our parenting assessments are carried out at our Family Assessment Centres and can be done either on a residential or day-assessment basis, depending on the individual circumstances of the family. Each centre offers high quality accommodation, being situated within a residential area and close to the respective town centre. Each Family Assessment Centre has a wide range of local amenities including good transport links and a range of other services.

Our Social Workers and support team work together to support parents and provide thorough, evidenced based assessments. However, the safety and needs of the baby or child remain our paramount focus.

In addition to community assessments, Twenty Four-Seven can undertake outreach work to help facilitate a smooth transition for families moving from our Centres into the community.

Independent Social Worker Service

As a leading provider of social care and family assessment services for children and families in the West Midlands and Yorkshire, we are pleased to offer an independent social worker service. We have experience in partnering with Local Authorities to investigate child protection concerns.

Our Assessments Team deliver robust, evidence based independent social work assessments that fill resource gaps, represent value for money, and enable out-of-hours and weekend observations.

Stakeholder Communication and Reporting

We ensure we maintain regular and thorough communication with professionals. Summaries are prepared on a weekly basis, documenting observations and events. Progress review meetings take place on a monthly basis and reports are prepared for each meeting. The Final Report follows the Framework for the Assessment of Children in Need and their Families’ and draws all information regarding the assessment together.

Team Experience and Multi-disciplinary working

Outstanding Quality of Care and Assessment

We are registered with Ofsted and our assessment centre in Barnsley, South Yorkshire and Kings Heath, Birmingham have achieved the rating of ‘good’ in their last inspections. Some comments from the Inspectors over the years include:

“Robust, fair and in-depth evidence-based parenting assessments are undertaken; these prioritise the needs and safety of children within a nurturing and supportive environment.”

“The staff team has a wealth of experience and works closely with parents to safeguard them and their children.”

“Parents and children’s life experiences improve tremendously through the direct work, advice and guidance and new opportunities provided during their assessment.”

“Parents are consulted every day about their parenting assessment. They are given the opportunity to express their views through a range of approaches that include verbal and written feedback, residents’ meetings, exit questionnaires and their evaluation of the staff team.”

“The manager’s inspirational style creates a culture of continuous improvement. This makes the parenting assessments individually tailored to each family’s needs.”

“Staff research new ways of working that are then incorporated into their practice. This improves the quality of their parenting assessments. Additional training for staff in the exploration of the influence of gender in assessment, new approaches to domestic abuse and motivational interviewing further enhance an already well-trained, diverse and stable staff team.”

“The staff recognise the importance of multi-agency working with health, social care and the judiciary. These close working relationships provide parents and children with an abundance of expertise to ensure that their children are kept safe from harm.”