Who gets help

During an assessment of a child in need a social worker will see and talk to you and possibly any other children living in your house. The Social Worker will make sure you and any other children are listened to and your views taken seriously.

What is happening in your life is important. This may include:

• who you live with
• your religion, if you have one
• your race and culture
• who you and your family feel are important in your life
• what things are happening which you and your family feel are good or make you feel uncomfortable or unhappy
• how things are going at school
• if there are some difficulties with your health

The Social Worker will also talk to other people who know you. This may be your teacher or your doctor for example.

If you are old enough to understand, the social worker will tell you what everyone thinks.

After the social worker has spoken to everyone a plan will be made which will list the ways you and your family can be helped.

How long will the assessment take

To begin with, the Social Worker will do a short Initial assessment which will take up to seven working days.

Sometimes if there are lots of things going on in your life, the social worker will need to do a more in-depth assessment called a core assessment which will take up to 35 working days.

Asking questions

The social worker will listen to any questions you might have, even if you might think the question is silly. The social worker wants you to ask these questions so they can start to help you.

There may be words which you do not understand. It is important that you have information which is helpful to you, so do not worry about asking any questions.

You can phone your local Children's Social Care office to speak to your social worker. If the social worker is not in the office, a message can be left and the social worker will then contact you.