Outreach
ACCA can provide support and supervision to families through our Outreach provision. Offering support and safeguarding, in hospital and within the community
Undertaken by our team of experienced Parenting Practitioners, our Outreach Service provides support for families in a range of circumstances, by providing necessary support and supervision for parents with their children when identified risks necessitate additional safeguards.
Some typical examples would include:
- A new/young and inexperienced parent, whose capacity to meet the needs of their child is unknown following the birth of their baby and where potential risks have been identified
- A parent with a level of learning difficulty, who are likely to need extensive support immediately after birth
- A parent who has had previous children removed as a result of safeguarding issues
- A parent with physical difficulties and whose support network is temporarily unavailable
- A situation of temporary crisis or increased risk
- Support for a parent who is struggling to cope alone with the care of their child/ren
- Following the birth of a child, where there are know risks and where a long-term care plan following discharge from hospital is unknown
ACCA can provide support to parents and to Local Authority’s, at times of urgent need. Our team of Parenting Practitioners are sensitive to the needs of parents at times of crisis. They are experienced in managing circumstances in which parents face the removal of their child or those who find themselves overwhelmed and in need of temporary scaffolding to enable them to gain the strength to move forward confidently.
Following a risk assessment, gathering information from meetings, assessment reports and discussions with the allocated Social Worker, we would identify the most experienced Parenting Practitioner/s, on the basis of the family’s needs and the circumstances of the case, to provide support with the care of a child to ensure the safety and security of the child at all times.
Providing oversight in the hospital setting or within the parent’s home, will offer professionals improved insight into the families circumstances. Alongside safeguards for the child, this level of observation can assist in providing targeted support for families and reduce the risk of removal.
There are inevitably, circumstances where removal is the only choice; where risks are identified as unmanageable. In these circumstances, ACCA’s Outreach service offers parents the support they need to optimise this quality time with their child/ren and reduce the trauma of removal for the child/ren.
