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Children and Family Services

Denbighshire’s Children and Family Service’s primary purpose is to carry out a range of statutory duties towards children and their families. These duties include promoting the child’s welfare, health and protection; so our direct work involves:

• investigation of allegations of abuse;
• child protection visits;
• support to care leavers;
• recording and monitoring private fostering;
• fostering, adoption and post adoption services;
• providing accommodation for children who have to be looked after;
• taking child care proceedings and providing reports for the Family Court;
• the recruitment and approval of foster carers and adoptive families and their support;
• management of standards of residential, fostering and adoption provision;
• quality and review of placement and child protection plans;
• services to children in need;
• provision of advice and information services (signposting) to potentially vulnerable families i.e. directing them to universal or voluntary agencies that can provide the support they may need;
• promotional work to help children and families access community resources; for example, youth services, welfare benefit services etc.

National and local policy and objectives influence the priorities and shape of all services.

A range of Teams within the Children and Family Service ensure the delivery of these services

The core improvement priorities for Children and Family Services are:

1. Improve placement choice and quality of provision for Children Looked After;
2. Improve the timeliness, quantity and quality of initial and core assessments to Children in Need;
3. Deliver an effective, well used, preventative service which reduces the risk of harm, promotes social inclusion and reduces the number of children who need to be looked after;
4. Continue to improve the quality of care planning and improve the life chances for Children Looked After;
5. Introduce a commissioned approach to the development and delivery of services underpinned by improved contracting arrangements;
6. Maintain staff retention and develop/ skill-up staff within Children’s Services to promote their future development;
7. Improve communication and the way Children’s Services work both with partners and within the department
       
   As a Directorate we will also take forward the development of the first Single Plan for Children & Young People in 2007/2008.