Northamptonshire Children’s Trust

The Duty and Assessment Team (DAAT) is the single point of contact for all safeguarding concerns relating to children and young people in Northamptonshire.

There are six teams within DAAT and each team consists of a team manager, an advanced practitioner, five to six social workers and a newly qualified social worker. We collaborate with other professionals to ensure immediate and prompt responses.

Their combined knowledge and expertise is supported with a Signs of Safety based approach and clear personal development plans for practitioners.

What the team say:

“NCT is a very forward thinking organisation.  The senior leadership team are very available and responsive. There is a real desire to get things right and make our processes more efficient to make sure that every contact that we have with a child and family is purposeful. We are always seeking to grow our own and there are always opportunities! I would say join us! Come and work with us.  We need people who are passionate about making a difference to children and families.” 

Samantha – Team Manager

Children’s support and safeguarding teams complete work with children who are subject to child protection plans, child-in-need plans and public law outline/initial care proceedings.

They also support multi-agency practice in completing pre-birth and parenting assessments and work with adolescents with a focus on contextualised safeguarding.

There are 15 safeguarding teams across Northamptonshire.  These established, supportive teams are based in Northampton, Kettering, Corby, Wellingborough, Daventry.

The teams consist of a family support worker, social worker, senior social worker, advanced practitioner and a team manager. There are also business support colleagues for each team.

Our frontline social work teams support children, young people and families to stay together, using the strengths based Signs of Safety practice model.

What the team say:

“I like working in safeguarding because it is the team that best enables relationship based practice.  I am very keen to develop a connection with the children and families I support and I put a lot of effort into this. When we reach the end of our journey together and children are safely cared for by their parents, it is very evident why my effort was worthwhile.”

Stacey – Social Worker

Our court teams sit within the children in care service. This includes children subject to legal proceedings as well as children with a plan to remain in our care for the long-term.

We focus on building meaningful relationships with young people, their families and their carers to ensure that we plan effectively for the future of every child.

The service has 11 teams that work across the county and focus on particular cohorts of children. Experienced team managers support social workers, family support workers and business support administrators.

Social workers in the team work with the local judiciary and other parties to ensure effective conduct of care proceedings and are there to help support investigations and provide protection and accommodation. This often involves using contingency planning to anticipate complexity and changing circumstances.

The court team work with colleagues from various teams and build positive links between the team and other parts of the service to ensure effective multi-professional working.

What our team say:

“I love working in the court team because it places the emphasis on thorough assessment and robust social work analysis. The pastoral/management care is the best I have ever experienced and the opportunities to do real social work and make a real difference to children’s lives at such a crucial and pivotal time is amazing. We are given the trust and resources to act in the best interests of the children, even if that means innovation or thinking outside the box.”

Amanda – Social Worker

The disabled children’s team works with families to enable children and young people with complex additional needs to have the same opportunities and experiences as other children and young people.

This is a proactive, professional team requiring skilled social workers to complete assessments that identify a family’s needs and ensure that all the necessary support is in place. This requires working closely with partners across health, education, the voluntary sector and with different teams across the trust.

What the team say:

“I’ve been able to develop my skills and work with some wonderful young people and families.  It’s just great! The most rewarding part of the job for me is seeing the young people achieve their potential, getting those outcomes and seeing the pride that they have knowing that they’ve achieved something- its absolutely brilliant! If anyone is considering coming to Northamptonshire, I would say do it!  The training and support is good and there are plenty of opportunities.”

Tess – Social Worker

Teams in this service include independent reviewing officers, child protection conference chairs, designated officers, the social work academy, children’s rights workers, independent visitor coordinators and quality assurance auditors. They are also supported by business support colleagues.

The teams work closely with operational social work teams to provide high quality oversight for all children receiving statutory services, including those on child protection plans, children in care, separated children, children subject to legal proceedings where their permanency plan is being determined, and children with a plan to remain in long-term care.

Social workers in the team are required to keep children at the heart of all decision making. They build meaningful relationships with young people, their families and carers and help to proactively plan for the future of every child.

The service seeks to work in exciting and creative ways, recruiting volunteer independent visitors and growing the advocacy offer to make sure all children have an effective, loud voice in their lives and plans.