Children with disabilities team

[frustratedpants]

I'm feeling a bit thick today, I've someone from here involved, we have a ton of people involved but not entirely sure who exactly they are or what they do. Do they go by any other name? Can anyone explain to me in laymans terms who they are please?
Thank you

I 'might' condsider homestart when baby is on the move, but only with self-referral.

We have found our social workers from rife Children with Disabilities team to be fantastic to be honest, but then we are 'lucky' as DSD's needs are so severe there was no debate about her qualifying for a SW. They have sorted direct payments, school transport and a children's advocate for us, and been a very kind listening ear too. They have got DSS into the Sibs project and put us in direct contact with the Adaptation team. They chased up the referrals to wheelchair services, physio and OT that had gone missing. We only referred ourselves to them after it was suggested to me on MN. I hate to think what state we'd be in without them.

I'm not too sure as to why a number of you have turned this into a SW bashing thread.
I asked for clarification as to whether children with disabilities team were SW, not to be scared by cp issues.
Fwiw I self referred because as a family we need help, and every other idiot professional involved are useless. We need things chased, we need things done, and we've tried every other flipping dead end avenue.
Yes they did question dds bruises, (which thanks to your comments on here has worried me slightly) but they also witnessed dd walking into things, throwing herself about in a tantrum and her attacking me; but quite honestly for somebody to actually see what we are up against every day I am willing to take that risk chance.
And it is hard enough to make that call without and admit that you can't cope without people implying you shouldn't have.

They are social work department here and we have found ours very helpful indeed, in fact I was gutted when she left to have a baby and am hoping our next one we are allocated is as nice :)

Those of us who have turned to the profession for help and been bullied and threatened and made to jump scared half to death through abusive hoops are bitter. But also are keen that others behind ARE wary, because it DOES happen.

It's not SW bashing for the sheer sake of it. It's cheaper to slate parents, (no matter the damage that causes) than it is to SUPPORT families. Several of us on here have been very badly burned sadly.

I have been told to ask for exactly the same help by the NHS this year from social services, (strong stair gates etc for a sleep walker & access to leisure activities) that I already requested last year with no joy. It was a hand grenade thrown right into the centre of my family unit last time they came round. It's a special kind of hell you may never come back from fully.

I'm terrified to go anywhere near them to ask a second time yet I know it'll be counted as a "black mark" against me when I go into school next term and say I didn't pick up the phone to SS and ask for the equipment DS needs. I've learnt the hard way that it's better to "go it alone", as we just wouldn't survive round 2.

Why not write to them and ask them exactly how they can help you.

Another here, who has been burnt by SS.

Ah, frustrated, I think it's a good thing and I was in the same position as you BUT some people have been burned.

Would you complain about people parent partnership bashing if the shared their negative experiences and pointed out some of the things to be cautious of to ensure a better outcome!?

i agree be wary, we loved our SW but then had a community OT from council who really scared us as she didn't seem that intelligent or understanding and was very hot on CP issues which were not at all relevant to us but we could see it was the sort of thing she could easily misunderstand and see where it did not exist, we were glad when she discharged us.

I have applied to the local SS Disabled Childrens Team for Direct Paymnets and the SW is coming round this afternoon to see DS (ASD, 3 years old), they are taking it to a funding panel next week.

TBH I think she sounds good and understanding, although who knows whether I will still think that next week! DS is on a home ABA programme but she said she is not even going to mention that to the funding panel (I am making separate application for statementing by the LEA for some funding for that). She says that this will be about childcare and "support for the parents" (not sure exactly what that means, all I really want is to get my hands on some money, however little, if I can, to help offset the vast cost of DS's programme and care).

DH had a bit of a panic when he heard a social worker was coming, hid all the wine bottles and cleaned the floor before he left this morning!

PS my job involves me working with soocial workers daily and also with SS in the family courts, so perhaps I have a different perspective. I have seen a lot of examples of really excellent practice by very dedicated and intelligent SWs. (Yes, have also seen poor practice too)

starlight no I would not complain if that was what the thread was about.

When a thread asking about which department they were is turned into one, then yeah I'm a little miffed although that might have more to do with only having 3 hours sleep last night courtesy of dd

I understand that people have been burnt by them, but when there really is nowhere else to turn, and going it alone is not an option, and they're the only flipping people who return a phone call when you have made hundreds and seem tolisten to you when you explain how desperate you are for help, that others have offered and not delivered on.
Then despite the warnings from people who have been burnt, it is the only calculated, and don't think it isn't truely the last resort risk left to take.
in my sleep deprived exhausted state, I am not I'm the right place mentally I really don't need scaring when I asked for clarification.

That's fine Frustrated, and you mental state can be taken into account if we know about it, but so often on these boards people don't know what they don't know, and sharing experiences can help.

Frustrated from your OP seems you have approached these people without really understanding how they can help and what it is they do.

Without meaning to scare you, people have told you what they CAN do. I thought this is what you were asking. Some have had bad experiences, some good.

Why not speak to the team and find out exactly what help they can give to you.

I'm sure you are not alone in being sleep deprived :)

I think people were not trying to scare you, and were suggesting (well I was) merely that you be a bit cautious and suss them out and think about what you say.

But at the same time don't hold back in fear like I did first time as I got no help until I blubbed on the woman.

I think initially I was confused as they are referred to as disabled children's team and SW team, every one seems to call them something different
They keep being suggested to us at our more often than not uselessTAC meetings, on that point is a CAF and a TAC the same thing? I get confused easily, everybody seems to do a lot of nothing and every department seems to go by more than 1 name. Which confused the hell out of me. (eg HVSS = TOD)

Did see them since original post; although didn't update as have been up to my eyeballs this week They did say they could do things like finding out about funding, both for dd and her older sibling, refer to OT, chase things up check people who said they would do things at TAC and make sure that they were being done they also suggested a crelling harness for escape artist expert dd. And said they would look into financial help towards that.

I think I was originally asking what else they could offered in the way of support.

Sorry to sound offish. I don't mean to, I'm usually capable of squashing this stuff out, but the complete lack of being able to function think normally these holidays has hit me hard over the head with a huge plank of wood

Frustrated, its understandable and confusing, especially if you have lots of professionals involved and no one seems to be clear of what their role actual is.

I am going through a similar thing myself with SS, CAF or TAC or whatever they like to call it amounts to the same thing. Loads of professionals sitting in a room telling other professionals what a good job they are doing or 'passing the buck'.

I have written and spoken to SS several times, asking them to clarify their role ie what can they do and how can they help, they seem reluctant to actually define their role.

If they can genuinely help and are not just another professional to enlist to make it easier for everyone else to 'pass the buck' ie blame the parent, they will not mind clarifying their role and exactly what help for you and your child they plan on achieving.

What Claw said.

I'm sorry you're being sent into a labyrinth of fog, but it is fairly common. What is worse, it is completely different depending on which LA you are in. Worse still, that two people from the same LA can have completely different experiences.

Worse even still, provision is fluid, and funding streams disappear and then reappear somewhere else in the form of a pilot which the people supporting you may or may not know about.

And finally, many LA's are in a permenant state of reorganisation and cuts and with the justification for redundancies comes the redefining of the remit of departments, with just not enough staff to train the remaining staff in other departments about the changes.

Confused?

With all of this comes quite severe and often agressive defensiveness, both of roles, jobs and above all funding.

In that context, often, social workers come to you with the remit of finding justification for nothing, or perhaps something that already exists but has nothing to do with their own budgets so they can pass the buck, or better for them, something that costs no-one anything but for which they can take credit for some kind of improvement i.e. 'I supported x family in keeping up with their bill payment by threatening them encouraging them not to keep unopened post in their porch - can I have a tick and keep my job please?'

Sometimes, social workers are used by LAs/schools to bully parents out of complaining about education provision. Usually, social workers see through this and close the file as quickly as it has been opened. Sometimes, social workers see it as a quick win, as in the example above. They get a family on and off their books quickly which they take the credit for to justify themselves/their departments. Sometimes, with lack of time/resources, the social worker will instead take the side of the 'reporting' agency i.e. school as they just don't have the time, inclination or are too risk adverse to fully investigate a parents story, or any implication that reporting agency is in the wrong.

There are a lot of us that have an incredible amount of experience in dealing with agencies, including social services, both on the receiving end and in delivery/within LAs. I'm sorry some of these posts scared you, however, reading them back I thought the posts were very tame considering the experiences of some and more cautionary than scaremongering.

Use the experiences and expertise here. Where there are commonalities in the systems and pitfalls they'll be known and many of us me anyway need to feel our experiences and tough times haven't been for nothing if others can benefit.

You also said it was confusing as they were referred to as disabled team and also SW team. Its a very good idea to establish exactly what team is involved in your case.

For example it was 'sold' to me as disabled team, who could help, but it turned out to be CP team, who in fact 'investigate' child protection cases. Even after establishing that my case was NOT a child protection case, they are still insisting on being involved, even though they cannot define their role, other than my child is 'a child in need' which translated means someone needs to help him, now lets all sit in a room and decide who.

After sitting in a room with professionals who will say they are doing all that they can to help, they will then decided 'its mum' who needs help, lets send her on a parenting course or such like. Job done.

I've not been "burnt" my bitterness only comes from being told for fourteen years that ds didn't qualify for support despite paed confirming he will need lifelong care and on top of having a ds with severe autism (who hasn't slept through the night since birth and manages quite happily on less than 20 hours sleep per week) and dd with autism and a husband on chemo.
After shelling out an absolute fortune to force the LA to provide an independent specialist school for ds which has made an enormous difference to life at home suddenly without even assessing ds we are told we are entitled to support from the CWD team the same team that have refused for 14 years even when I was on my knees and despite paed and school support to the request.
It makes me sick tbh to think that the team that could happily leave us to sink under the strain now, purely due to a change in school provision, think I'd be happy for them to waltz into our lives doling out platitudes [anger].

We have SS involvement - although unfortunately have never been able to hang onto a SW (which I think is where a lot of the problems with SS lie tbh - we're constantly having to deal with people who don't have any power to actually do anything).

We did have a very good SW once who set up a very good care package 'I believe in putting in support before families reach crisis' she said (very rare attitude in SS ime). She was excellent.

What I will say - and not as bashing but for practical reasons - is that you do need to know what you are entitled to with SS. I have had to point out to them on more than one occasion that what they are suggesting is illegal (the latest - last year - was a blanket ban on a particular service - they're not allowed to introduce blanket bans, case law is against them). I have never felt threatened by them. In fact one time when I ended up covered in bruises I emailed them and told them it was their fault (they'd cut our support) and they sent someone round in 12 hours. BUT I have found them very reluctant to spend any money, and often pretty incompetent - requests going to the wong dept then being lost etc etc. they're very difficult to deal with ime, but more because there seems to be SN institutional incompetence and inability to listen so everything takes forever to sort.

Having said that we did get a DFG and we do have a good care package now (couldn't survive without it) but it was painful reaching this point (and they did try to suddenly cut it last year).

'an' institutional incompetence not 'SN'

We have a good DCT SW.
We get:
2 hours per week direct payments, 3 hours in school holidays - we hire someone from a specialist care agency (although we have had to pay for some extra ABA training for her) and she looks after DS while we spend time with our other children. It took 2 years to find someone and in the end the SW agreed to double the hourly rate so we could get someone good.

DS siblings go to a group at local carers charity - needed SW referral - they run a fortnightly youth club and activities in holidays - they have had a fab free 3 day activity weekend and are off bowling today.

We get 3 hours free specialist babysitter a month and as we volunteer for a local autism charity we get an extra 15 hours a year to go to meetings etc. All funded by social care.

I know some families who get 10 hours DP payments per week.

DS could get a 1:1 worker to go to school holiday clubs but they aren't very good so we prefer to stick with ABA 1:1.

From 8 children can go to overnight respite but DS probably not challenging enough to qualify

The OT attached to DCT was useless though!