Intensive Family Support - does anyone have any experience?

[toodizzyizzy]

Does anyone have experience of Intensive Family Support? This has been arranged following a safeguarding referral. There's a wait list of 6 weeks, so they can't be that concerned...I'm happy to engage with. I'm not sure my so-called partner will!

Why does your so- called partner not want to engage? Is he the children’s father? I take it that he may be the reason for the referral? Basically the local authority believe with intense support you can avoid ending up needing statutory services. But you will both need to work with the intense family support Workers. Ultimately you need to think and act on what’s best for you and your kids with this support.

The 6 weeks wait doesn't mean that they are not concerned . Just that there are more families who meet the referral threshold than there are workers in the Intensive Family Support Team.

Whatever the concerns that were raised were, you maybe need to ask yourself (1) honestly - were the concerns valid? (2) is it something you can improve on without the support? (3) are you and your partner prepared to put the work in to do this ? (4) if the concerns are not resolved is this likely to result in things being raised at a higher level in future ?

Curious as to why you refer to him as your so-called partner? Is there a problem in your relationship (be honest here ) ? Is this the reason behind the concerns ? Would you be better off without him/her ?

Thank you for taking the time to respond.

@Blanca87 - He is the father and the reason for the referral. It was my understanding too that we will both need to work with services. I wrote “so-called” out of sheer frustration that he's still refusing to ask for help with his mental health. He could be using the next six weeks to actively demonstrate that he is working to improve his mental health. I have told him clearly that there will be consequences for not cooperating. I just don't think he has the capacity to understand anyone else's needs, nevermind meet them.

@ShinyAppleDreamingOfTheSea.
1 - Yes the concerns are valid.
2 - We need support with his mental health
3 - I am definitely prepared to put work into this and have been cooperating honestly and openly with the social worker. However, this is not true of my partner who is still refusing mental health support.
4 - I think this could happen because of above..

I wrote “so called” out of frustration. He has autism, which causes problems in communication anyway but there are deeper (undiagnosed) mental health issues at play.
I don't know how to disentangle my life from him. My preferred option is for him to leave the family home, but he won't. I have no family nearby and have no financial independence due to my disability. I am working on an exit plan with a family member, but this is going to take time.

Be honest with them like you have on here, they will really try and help you if you want to untangle yourself from him. It sounds like such a tricky situation for you and the kids but it also sounds very unhealthy. This will be hard but we are all rooting for you and the kids. There is a better life out there.

@Blanca87 Thank you for your words of reassurance and support. I'm constantly daydreaming now about life away from all this anxiety and stress.