Partnership Working

Partnership working
1.1 why working in partnership with others is important for children and young people
Working in partnership with a number of services is important because it benefits families to have a wide range of services available for them to use that are all at the same location within their community. This makes it easier for families because they don’t need to be referred to different people at different locations or explain their situation a number of times and they have a wider network of support if they need it.

1.2 Relevant partners in own work setting:
1. Midwifery - Throughout the week a midwifery clinic takes place in the centre where expectant mums from the community can come for their routine checks
2. Health visitors – Once a week a health visitor clinic is held at the centre where mums can have their babies weighed and enquire about any issues or concerns that they may have.
3. Support workers – At Charville Children’s Centre we have a support worker who works alongside us to offer support and advice to local members of the community.
4. Charville primary school – Charville primary are the line managers of the centre and they help us to track the progress of children who have attended the centre and gone on to the school.
5. Social workers – We work alongside social workers who are there to deal with more serious cases that may come up within families who attend the centre.
6. Charville library – The centre works with charville library to deliver a bookstart programme which encourages families to read more.
7. Parents – The centre offers a variety of adult learning courses to parents and also gives the opportunity for parents to take part in voluntary work within the centre. As well as this, some of the parents have decided to run fundraising events for the centre.
8. Speech therapists – Some of the children we work with lack with speech development so we would refer them to a speech therapist that comes in to the centre.
9. Counselling – The centre offers counselling to families who use the centre
10. Child-minders - During the week there are sessions running where local child-minder’s come in to use the setting and it gives parents the opportunity to meet and talk with them if they was looking to arrange childcare.
11. Local playgroups – We signpost local families to playgroups within the community so they can take up the 2 year offer on a placement.
12. Local children’s centre’s- We work alongside 7 other Children’s Centres within the local area, making referrals for families to visit other centres.
1.3: Characteristics of effective partnership working:
For partnership working to be successful, every professional involved should be confident within their own role but have a good understanding of others roles as well and be willing to learn from other professionals as you work together. Also everyone should be respectful of each other’s work and maintain good, clear communication methods throughout the time working together to ensure that the level of work is to a good standard.

1.4: Barriers to partnership working:
Although partnership working has a number of benefits their can also be barriers to it as well. It may be that; professionals can’t understand the specialist language used by other professions, problems occur because people are unsure on how and when to share information, some professionals may feel uneasy about a new method of working as it is out of their comfort zone, a professional may miss a meeting regarding a case which will make it difficult for the whole team to catch up or it may be because of a simple misunderstanding between professionals.

2.1: Why clear and effective communication between partners is required:
It is important to have clear and effective communication to ensure that all professions work towards the same aim regarding each family and so that correct information is securely passed to each professional.

2.2: Policies and procedures in the work setting for information sharing:
Partnership with parent’s policy
Freedom of information, data protection, data collection and records policy
Data protection Act 1998
The children’s act 2004
Working together to safeguard children 2006

2.3: Where there may be conflicts or dilemmas in relation to sharing information with partners and maintaining confidentiality:
Conflict or dilemmas may occur when consent has not been given for information to be shared between partners. This may occur if an allegation has been made or if information has been disclosed where it is the duty of care of a professional to pass the information on where needed. Another reason why conflict or dilemmas can occur is if there is an issue with the privacy of information for example some information may not be stored securely and someone may read the information when they are not meant to see it.

2.4: Why it is important to record information clearly, accurately, legibly and concisely meeting legal requirements:
It is important to record information clearly, accurately, legibly and concisely as the information may need to be referred to at a later date so it is important that it is easy to read and that the information is correct and stored securely for only the necessary people to see.

2.5: How communications and records are recorded and securely stored meeting data protection requirements:
Any communications or records are either hand written and stored in a locked filing system or they are typed in to a computer system that is secured with passwords. These methods of storing information meet the data protection requirements because it means that only authorised professionals can access it.

2.6: Why and how referrals are made to different agencies:
If a professional decides a family should seek specialist advice regarding a certain issue, whether it be for speech development, behaviour management etc, a referral will be made for the family, if they consent, to visit someone who specialises in that service. The referral would be made by filling out a CAF. As a practitioner you would have assessed the child over a period of time and collected some observations to back up your concerns regarding a certain area of development in a child. When you have concerns you should begin to complete a CAF with all the required information ( your details, Childs details, parent of child details, does the child have a disability, reason for concern, family/ home situation, any sibling information, parent/Childs consent ). Once the form is completed it is sent off which leads to a specialist from the local TAC to come in and do a separate assessment on the child and also to see your collected evidence that raised concerns in the first place. After assessing the child an action plan will be made to discuss the planned progression aimed to be achieved and how it will be done.

3.1: The reason for partnerships with carers:
It is important to form partnerships with carers because you need to build a good relationship with them for them to trust you with their child. You can benefit from working with carers because they know there child best which will help you get to know them as well. Working with the carers of children also broadens practitioner’s knowledge of the cultures and backgrounds of families within the local community; it can bring new skills to the centre and it will also help to portray a more positive idea of childcare to the parents if we get them more involved.

3.2: How partnerships with carers are developed and sustained in own setting:
Within Charville Children’s Centre we develop partnerships with carers by offering as much support as possible, whether it is financial, counselling, behaviour management or just being someone to talk to. It is also important to gain the trust of parents to develop a partnership with them which we do by being a friendly face to make everyone feel welcome and by being genuine so parents can see we are no different from them and that actually we are just as approachable as anyone else. Another way we develop partnerships with carers is to give them the opportunity to become volunteers within the centre to see how things run and what we actually do. There are also parent committees which bring forward ideas from the community so the centre has more of an idea what would be useful to run, what people actually want and what suits everyone.

3.3: Circumstances where partnership working with carers may be difficult to develop and sustain:
1. When the carers have no interest in becoming involved with activities etc.
2. When carers are working a lot
3. When carers have low confidence or are shy
4. When there is a busy period you may not be able to speak to everyone
5. When you don’t see carers on a regular basis
6. When carers have a disability
7. When carers first language is not English