Key management messages
Dear colleague,
Jo Olsson, our new Interim Head of Children’s Social Work Service and Child
Protection is now six weeks in and the handover is completed, following Fiona's departure on Friday 15 April. And, as Councillor McInnes says, "we are at the
end of the beginning" with a lot more to do.
Jo has been getting out and about meeting some inspirational staff and seeing some encouraging
practice in the statutory service and in early help. She is also seeing
some things that need to change. Read Jo's introductory message.
Kind regards,
Newsletter Live – CSE
and future sessions
During February and March many of you will have attended
these sessions with a focus on CSE. We
hope you found them of use to your practice.
The materials from the session, along with all previous Newsletter
Lives, are now available on The Academy’s SharePoint site.
The next round of Newsletter Live will focus on:
chronologies; care plans; and the social work evidence template. Dates will be running in late June and July
and will be advertised in the coming weeks by email.
News from our care leavers:
At the last two
forums care leavers have worked with Members on what makes a good Corporate
Parent. These is just some of
the highlights of what we have achieved in the last month, see information to the Corporate Parenting Board, which is now co-chaired by one of our Care Leavers,
May-Anne Hodd.
Beth Wakefield and Sam Heaton,
Participation Apprentices also explain about PEPs and POPPs:
“As care leavers we were
talking with our Virtual Head about PEPs and we all agreed that we would like
something more fitting for older young people. We also thought it was
really important to have a plan that would work for everyone, not just those in
college or school. The Virtual Head gave us the power to design a new plan that
would be right for us.
"We worked with our work
experience colleagues Marley Hall and Issac Davies and young people who come to
our Care Leaver Forums to come up with the POPP (Personal Occupation
Progression Plan). The POPP is designed to make sure that young people’s
views are heard and to help them realise their career ambitions as they move to
adulthood."
Research in Practice
Last month, three of our Devon Care Leavers travelled to
Birmingham to take key roles in the Research in Practice Conference about
Responding to Adolescent Risk. The Conference brought together leaders and
decision makers to understand what puts them at risk and to share a range of
approaches for working with, and delivering services to, young people.
Marley Hall, on our work experience programme with the Academy of Social Care, co-chaired the day with the Director Dez Holmes and
sparked much interesting debate with his perceptive questioning.
Our participation apprentices also co-designed and delivered a
workshop with peers from Gloucester County Council about meaningful engagement
with young people.
Young People’s Benchmarking Forum
Beth Wakefield, from the Participation Team, travelled to York to join
other care leavers working on their aspirations for the refresh of the national
Care Leaver Strategy.
Young people worked on ideas to improve the
services offered to young people leaving care and what support they would like
to see from local authorities and then shared them with leaving care managers
from over eighty authorities and representatives from Department for
Education and Ofsted.
Beth said: "What was really interesting was how different the
views were between young people and it was good to challenge each other."
The forum is looking for more young people to get involved so if
you are working with a young person who you think would like to take part
please contact Beth for more information.
Keeping Devon's Data Safe – secure disposal
The Information Governance team has produced
an updated Disposal Policy – now called the Information, Media and Equipment Disposal Policy
to more accurately reflect the scope, and for the first time, created a disposal procedure – with specific details
about how to securely dispose of particular items, including static and mobile
devices and paper.
Any queries about the policy or any updates
needed to the procedures can be sent to the Information
Governance Team.
Please note: the Information Governance
team are not responsible for the operation of individual processes; local
arrangements for your team or office may vary.
Staff Directory and auto-signatures - have you
updated yours?
Please check your Outlook inbox for the email to
all staff email with instructions
about how to
complete your Staff Directory entry and auto-signatures. Both only take a few
minutes to complete and update. Please ensure that you read and act on
these requirements by the end of April 2016.
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Outlook calendar appointments
In order to manage your time and calendar as effectively as possible,
you may wish to adopt the following approach:
Keep the appointment in your calendar on a tentative basis, serving as a reminder should
your circumstances change. Find out how.
Come and visit the teams at the MASH
The teams at the MASH offer new
and existing staff within Children's Social Work a chance to find out more
about what happens within the MASH. The agency visits happen once a month on a
Wednesday afternoon at County Hall and are open to DCC and non-DCC staff.
Visits aim to clarify the MASH process, find out more about what they do and to
meet the team... Book a time and come and visit!
http://devon.cc/reportchildabuse
Together, we can tackle child abuse
We all have a role to play in protecting children and young people from child
abuse and neglect, however often people find the decision to report abuse a
difficult one.
The advice to anyone in Devon who may have
suspicions of child abuse or neglect is to report them to Devon’s Multi-Agency
Safeguarding Hub (MASH) on 0345 155 1071. Alternatively email and give as much information as you can.
We are encouraging anyone worried about a child or suspecting
child abuse or neglect, to visit http://devon.cc/reportchildabuse
Social Work
Traineeship opportunity for Children’s Services employees
We are offering ten bursaries for the Traineeship Scheme to gain a BA Degree in
Social Work linked to the Open University. We are looking for enthusiastic and
highly motivated social care staff already employed within Children’s Services
who would like to apply. Find out more
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Staff using parking exemption permits provide a more
responsive service with fewer delays
Lynne
Kent
It is with great sadness that we share the
news of the sudden death of our much loved friend and colleague, Lynne Kent.
Lynne will be remembered as a force of
nature, a larger than life, huge personality. This funny, vivacious, zany
individual who, with a distinctive personal style, affected all those around
her. She was a brave, vibrant, energy-filled Bristolian with a boundless
passion for everything she believed in.
Details about Lynne’s funeral and memorial on
6 May can be found by following the Facbook the link: https://www.facebook.com/events/1392723807420191/
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