MASH is a multi-agency team made up of representatives from a range of services (including health, education, police etc) that provide advice, support and protection as needed. It provides a single point of access to the services that help keep children safe, ensuring a secure environment for these services to share information and improve decision-making whenever there are concerns for a child.

Bexley operates an out-of-hours emergency service evenings and weekends to ensure help and support is always available. Social workers in the Out of Hours Team work Monday-Thursday 6pm-8am and Friday 6pm-Monday 8am.

Bexley’s five referral and assessment teams are responsible for undertaking child and family assessments and initial child protection enquiries. These teams utilise the Signs of Safety model working together with children, young people and their families from the beginning of their involvement with us, to gather information, undertake analysis and make judgements regarding the best course of action to be undertaken. This also involves working in partnership with multi-agency partners such as police, health, and education, alongside collaboration with the families' own networks of support.

Staying Together is a specialist crisis intervention service, working with young people aged 11-17 years old and their families and/or carers, who are receiving a statutory social work service. The team offer short term intervention (between 12-18 sessions), working alongside the allocated social worker, to help parents/carers build capacity to manage, develop coping mechanisms and problem-solving skills and strengthen family relationships.

Bexley’s five family support and child protection (FSCP) teams work with children, young people and their families across geographical localities. Children, young people, and their families transfer to FSCP following assessment being undertaken and identification that they would benefit from ongoing help and support from a social worker. FSCP teams work with children in need, children subject to child protection plans and, where there is insufficient safety in the family, children and young people who require the Public Law Outline or court proceedings to be initiated.

The Children with Disabilities Service is a specialist service responsible for the assessment and support of children with disabilities up to the age of 18. The team provides services to children who are able to be registered as disabled children under the following categories: significant learning disability, physical disability, chronic ill health. They work with children and young people who require social work advice and support or a care package provision and have statutory responsibilities for safeguarding including child protection and children and young people who cannot reside with their families and instead require Local Authority care. In addition to social workers, there are specialist social work assistants and a Paediatric Occupational Therapist in the team who can provide advice/support regarding adaptations and for specialist children’s equipment at home.
 

Nil Recourse to Public Funds works with children and families who have no entitlement to welfare benefits, social housing or asylum support and are subject to immigration control. The team comprises of a team leader, assistant team manager, housing case workers, social workers and an on-site Home Office immigration official.

The Family Wellbeing Service aims to provide help to families early, to prevent difficulties from becoming worse. The service is formed of keyworkers who work directly with children from 0-18 years old and families for up to six months, providing advice, help and support, where there is one or more of the following:

• the permanent exclusion of a child from school 
• the risk of school exclusion and school attendance issues 
• parental or carer mental ill-health 
• parental learning disability 
• parental domestic abuse 
• parental drug or alcohol misuse 
• low-level neglect 
• physical chastisement 
   

Children Looked After, Permanence and Specialist Services

In Bexley we believe that where it is in children’s best interests, they should grow up living with their families. Sometimes, however, children cannot remain with their families, because they have been harmed or the risk of harm is too great. When this happens, the Local Authority has a duty to look after them, to keep them safe and to promote their wellbeing.

Three teams work with children and young people in our care. These children and young people all have an allocated Social Worker, who is responsible for ensuring that where they live is meeting their needs in terms of care provided. They promote ongoing family time for the child or young person to see their family, where it is safe to do so, and regularly review their education and health needs.

Dedicated Personal Advisors in our three Leaving Care Teams support our care experienced young adults. Young people are allocated a Personal Advisor when they turn 16 years old. Their Personal Advisor works alongside the young person, their Social Worker, and their support network to begin planning for their future and to support their transition into adulthood. This includes help accessing higher education, work experience, traineeships, or apprenticeships, support with budgeting and benefits and ensuring health care needs are being met.

The Permanence, Placements and Specialist Services consists of several different teams supporting arrangements for children who are not able to live at home. We are committed to ensuring children have positive relationships with strong foster families who collaborate with children's naturally connected networks to build incredible futures for our children. Bexley’s children will not be disadvantaged by living with our foster carers, as we support them to be resilient, nurturing and knowledgeable so that they can provide the very best care for our children.

The Placement Team, work collaboratively with the other teams to identify and co-ordinate arrangements for children who are not able to live at home or within their family network. The team also includes a contract officer who provides excellent oversight to contract management and commissioning.

The Fostering Recruitment and Assessment team recruit and train foster carers and Host and Support Providers. The Fostering Support Team, provide support and supervision to foster carers and the Family Solutions Team, who help children in care go back to their families when it is safe and appropriate to do so and support placement stability to prevent children from moving from one placement to another unnecessarily.

Bexley’s Adoption service is now part of the new regional adoption agency Adoption Partnership South East. Adoption Partnership South East brings together knowledge and expertise from London Borough of Bexley, Kent County Council and Medway Council.

The partnership provides prospective adopters across the south-east access to a larger number of children to help to find the right match of loving families and children quicker than ever. The partnership also covers all other aspects of adoption work, including, supporting birthparents, adult adoptee’s or prescribed relatives and post-adoption order support for adoptive families.

The Virtual School is a team of education professionals whose role is to support and promote the education of children and young people in our care. This also includes offering advice and guidance for adopted children and those with Special Guardianship orders. The team work closely with Bexley CAMHS, Health and educational psychologists. The team run a programme of training throughout the year.

Our participation team, including our Young Director and Participation Lead, work to ensure that children and young people in our care, and our care experienced young adults are at the centre of everything we do. They offer a range of activities for children of all ages, in term time and during the school holidays, as well as supporting our Positive Journey’s children in care and care leavers’ forums.

Our team of Consultant Social Workers, led by the Principal Social Worker, provide quality assurance and robust challenge to ensure that high standards are achieved, and proper procedures are followed. The team support colleagues and drive continuous improvement in the quality of professional practice through learning and development opportunities, coaching and mentoring, auditing; and team and 1:1 practice development support, including specialist support to embed the Signs of Safety model in day-to-day practice. We work collaboratively with managers to support the development of NQSWs as part of the ASYE Academy, supporting social work student placements and the development of practice educators. 

The Safeguarding Service comprises of both Independent Reviewing Officers (IRO) Child Protection Conference Chairs. Staff in these roles are qualified, experienced Social Workers with experience of leadership. Both the IRO and CP Chair teams offer consultation to Social Workers and will chair complex meetings to provide an independent perspective.

The Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO) manages allegations of abuse made against people who work with children and young people in any setting. A referral to the LADO should be made in all cases where it is believed that a person who works with children has, behaved in a way that has harmed a child, or may have harmed a child, possibly committed a criminal offence against or related to a child or behaved towards a child in a way that indicates they may pose a risk of harm to children.