Children in Need

Our social care services give support to children and families, when there are major family problems or serious concerns about the welfare of children or young people. We aim to work with families so that they can care for their children at home, wherever possible.

The support we offer is in addition to other services that families use, like education, housing and the health service and is usually arranged because of a specific difficulty or crisis.  We usually work alongside people in these other services. 

How can we help?
When people are struggling to cope with being parents, we can offer short-term support to help them overcome their difficulties. It depends on each family’s situation but this support might include:

• Practical help and advice about dealing with children’s behaviour.
• Helping parents and children use other services, like taking up healthcare  appointments for the child, until they feel confident to do this themselves. 
• Parenting groups which help improve parenting skills.
• Support from a social worker for short periods of time, so that families can stay living at home together or children and young people can return home. 

Who can we help?
We can only offer support to children and young people (under 18) living in Stoke-on-Trent, when:

• their health and development is seriously affected, or is likely to be, or
• their safety or well-being is at risk- we would have to do an assessment to decide whether this is the case. 

How do you ask for this service?
If you haven’t got a social worker, you need to contact our Hanley office- click here for their contact details.

If you have already got a social worker, you should contact them directly.

What happens when you contact us?
If you phone our Hanley office, we will ask you some questions to find out more about you, like your age, name, address and what help you need. We then pass these details onto our duty officer who will decide whether our services can help you and let you know, within 1 working day.

If our services can help you, we will usually do what we call an ‘initial assessment’ with you, where we meet you and talk to you more about your situation and the support you need. We aim to do this within 7 working days. Sometimes, when situations are more complicated, we need to do a more detailed assessment. We aim to do this within 35 working days. If you need family support services, these will be set up as soon as possible.  

Who can contact us?
Any member of the public can contact us if they have a serious concern about a child or young person. Children or young people themselves can also contact us, if they feel they need our help.

Is there a charge?
There is no charge for the assessments described above. Once your support is set up, there may be a charge for some of it. If that is the case, the charge will not be a fixed amount, it will be worked out depending on how much you can afford to pay. We will let you know about whether there will be a charge as soon as possible.

Other organisations that can help
Education Welfare Service- click here to go to their web pages. This is part of the city council and the main aims of the service are to help with school attendance, children in employment and entertainment and safeguarding children (child protection). There are dedicated officers at schools in Stoke-on-Trent.  

ADSiS- they offer advice, support and information to anyone affected by their own or someone else's drinking. Address: St. James Court, Statham Street, Stoke-on-Trent, ST1 4HB. Phone: 01782 271096