Help for families
Vulnerable Children
Initial Response Team
The Initial Response Team provides a daytime service to all new referrals of children (except children with disabilities) from other professionals, the public and from families themselves. If you have a child with a disability you can contact the NCH Walsall Resource Centre on 01922 636662.
When children are referred to us, we will advise on the most appropriate action or service that we think will help. We may tell you that another organisation or another council service would be better to help you sort out your particular problem. If we think a child requires an assessment before we can judge what will help, we will carry out an initial assessment. We will complete that within seven working days.
If a child is in need of protection, we will carry out an investigation and assessment which will take up to 15 working days.
At the end of the assessment and after consulting with the child and family, we will either:
- close our involvement
- recommend other services from other agencies that might help
- transfer you to the Safeguarding and Family Support Team for further services or a more detailed assessment.
Vulnerable Children
Safeguarding and Family Support Team
We work across Walsall with all children and their families who have been assessed by the Initial Response Team as needing on going support or a more detailed assessment.
We work with
- children and their families who need support to help them stay with their birth families
- vulnerable children and their families where the child’s name had been included on the Child Protection Register
- those children and their families where it has been decided in court that they can no longer live safely with their birth families. We work with these children and their families to decide where they will spend the rest of their childhood
A worker from the Safeguarding and Family Support Team will contact you to arrange the initial visit. You will be asked for information about you and your child, for example, about health, education and housing. You will be asked about what you find easy and what you find difficult about being a parent, about employment, your relationships, your extended family and so on.
You will be involved in the discussions about the best way to meet your child’s needs and, if your child is old enough, they will also be involved in the discussions.
If your child’s name has been included on the Child Protection Register you will be allocated a named social worker.
We aim to complete all core assessments within 35 working days and will review the services provided to you and your family with you at regular times to make sure those services are still meeting your child’s needs.
Contact us
Initial Response Team
The Quest, 2nd floor
139-143 Lichfield Street
Walsall
WS1 1SE
Telephone 01922 658170
Or use our online contact form for general enquiries, request a service, compliments and complaints
This page was last updated on 23 June 2008