Team around the family

What is TAF and how can it help me?

TAF stands for Team Around the Family.

A TAF is a way of working out what extra support you and your family may need. It is used to get everyone working together to identify the needs and strengths of your family. This will look at what extra support you may need and who is best to help you.

Many young people have benefited from TAFs and found them to be a positive experience.

If you want a TAF you can ask anyone working with you or your family. This could be a youth worker, someone in school or a health professional.

How does TAF work?

The worker that you have asked about a TAF will talk to you and your family. You will have a say about who will support you and where you would like to meet.

The first thing your lead professional will do is ask you and your family to sign a consent form. This is to make sure you are happy to take part in a TAF. Your parent or carer may need to sign this for you. The Young People and Consent Guidance Notes (PDF, 564KB). gives more information about this.

Your lead professional will start by filling in a TAF assessment form with you. This considers what you think. It will show what works in your family and what support your family may need. You will only need to tell your story once.

Your lead professional will then arrange a meeting. This will be to agree a plan of support for you and your family. The lead professional will discuss with you who you would like at the meeting and will invite them to attend. This is your meeting and hopefully you will feel able to come along and have your say. It’s fine if you don’t want, you can still have your say and your lead professional will discuss this with you.

Your lead professional will write up the notes of the meeting. The plan will bring together everyone who is, or should be, working with your family to give you the most support.

The plan will be shared with you and once you’ve agreed it will be shared with the other people involved.

Your lead professional will arrange regular meetings with everyone involved. This is to make sure that the action plan is being completed and your needs are being met. They will look at how well the plan is working and if any changes are needed.

When you and your family no longer need extra support you can agree the plan is complete. Meetings will no longer be needed and the TAF will close.

Who will see my information?

As a rule information about you will not be shared with anyone unless you agree. There may be times where people who work with you do need to talk to other people. This is only:

• if people think that someone is at risk of harm
• to stop a serious crime

You can read our privacy notice (PDF 1.82MB) to learn more about how we use and store your personal information.

Remember you have the right to see the information that is held about you at any time. If you would like to see this information talk to your lead professional who will advise how you can get it.

If you are unhappy with anything at any time please contact your lead professional.