covering contacts

how is this managed on your team?

In my team it is number 1 priority, we can have 40 contacts a week that all have to be covered and that means most weeks its a nightmare, there aren't enough fsw's to do these contacts, so it's then down to the SW (who very often does not want to do them because of conflict with the family and will try every trick in the book to get out of them) and then it goes down to the rest of us, putting pressure on the team as we haven't got enough time to do our own work let alone spending half a day doing a contact (some of the children are placed up to 2 hours drive away)

holiday time is a nightmare

i know that in another LA if there isn't enough staff then the contact is cancelled, simple as (which IMHO would be more manageable)

how does it work in your team

quality contact should, in my opinion, be secondary only to s.47 (and court/conference/review at a push...). the problem is, because it's so inefficient and such a drain on resources, there are no venues, and no staff, quality contact is very rare. that other LA will be constantly getting slated in proceedings for not trying to sort them out. our contacts take up a huge amount of our time... Contact in general is a major problem for most authorities - and it's kind of an unknown one to everyone outside children's services, i think. i certainly had no idea it was such a problem before i started, and most judges, solicitors and families don't understand why it's hard to organise sometimes... it seems to me that contact doesn't need to be covered by fsw or sw, and they could use their time better doing the other work... personally, i find the volume of contacts more frustrating than paperwork.

Sorting out contact is horrendous. Trying to work around families commitments, arranging venues and transport takes up so much time. I often draw up rotas as it gets so complex, but this takes more time. In our LA we have sessional workers to supervise contact and if they can't do it a different sessional worker is arranged. For this we have to fill out a referral form requesting a worker including family history and any presenting risks - this form needs updating regularly otherwise contact is stopped. As a last resort I may offer as it's useful to observe every so often but generally if a worker isn't available contact is cancelled.

Roxis:

 In our LA we have sessional workers to supervise contact and if they can't do it a different sessional worker is arranged. For this we have to fill out a referral form requesting a worker including family history and any presenting risks - this form needs updating regularly otherwise contact is stopped.

Blimey, which LA do you work in? and why do all LA's work differently in respect to this? I would seriously consider moving to a LA that adopted your approach to contacts as it really is the bane of our lives in my LA.  Everything has to be dropped for a contact, and that often includes 2 SWers supervising as a lot of the parents are violent/aggressive etc

Roxis:

As a last resort I may offer as it's useful to observe every so often but generally if a worker isn't available contact is cancelled.

Blimey again. 

I know a couple of LA's that have dedicated contact teams that provide that service throughout the county. Therefore the pressure of staffing etc is down to them to arrange and not the individual teams. They provide whatever contact the SW  requests.

 

My LA commission contact centres and when these are full we arrange our own venues but buy in agency workers to supervise. This brings its own set of problems but I'll remember you guys before I get started on my next big rant about it taking all day to organise a contact!

It is something that I will ask at my next interview.  I would seriously consider changing LA's if they had a dedicated contact team or sessional workers

My gripe is, why pay a fsw say 18k a year to do all contacts when they could probably pay a sessional worker minimal wage to do the same job? crazy i tell thee crazy

We have a team of SCA's and a contact co-ordinator. We complete a contact information sheet with historical info, areas of concerns and any areas we want the SCA's to focus on or observe during contact. The co-ordinator books venue and arranges transports. SCA's complete a feedback sheet for us which we review and then place on the file. SW with case responsibility has to offer supervision to the SCA supervising their contact on a 6 weekly basis.

If the SCA is on holiday/sick the other SCA's are approached to cover, if that's not possible it comes back to the team and the SW will cover the contact or in their absense the duty SW. I would aim to cover one in every 6 contacts myself so that i have undertaken an observation myself.