Assessments & Placements

During a period of 12 weeks, parents will undergo an assessment and be offered guidance through recommended teaching programmes, therapy sessions, and a range of other programmes aimed to improve parents’ lives and parenting skills.

Fully trained staff and a qualified Social Worker will assess the parents parenting skills and interaction between parent and child. The assessment and support given will be clearly linked to court/local authority instruction whilst focusing on the child’s welfare and needs.

Parents are assessed using the Parent Assessment Manual Software (PAMS) or with a Parenting Assessment.

PAMS is a wide ranged functional and multidimensional evidenced-based assessment aimed at vulnerable families and their children. The assessment manual provides a structure for our trained staff to undertake a robust assessment, which reduces errors and ensures a standardised approach.

The assessment focuses on:

  • The parents’ ability to respond to their child’s needs

  • The parents’ ability to safeguard and promote their child’s welfare now and in the future

This will be measured through observation as the parent displays:

  • Knowledge - parents’ ability to acquire and retain knowledge

  • Skills - parents’ ability to transfer knowledge to skills

  • Practice - parents’ ability to maintain and generalise skills

PAMS enables Project Phoenix to provide an honest and fair court standard assessment which will assist the Local Authority in future support planning.

During the 12-week placement, meetings between the staff at Project Phoenix, Local Authority representatives and other allied professionals will be held frequently to assess the parents' progress. This will also provide an opportunity to discuss whether there are any changes to the placement plan that need to be made, for the parent to achieve set goals.

All services and assessments provided by Project Phoenix are carried out in a manner consistent with the guidance in ‘Working Together to Safeguard Children'.

 

Placement Plans

At the beginning of the placement, residents will be involved in developing a placement plan with the Registered Manager and their Social Worker. It is paramount that residents are involved in this process and their needs are considered. This allows us to ensure that the plan is tailored and detailed in a person-centred pathway plan, identifying any areas in which the parent(s) need support and will form the basis for the care package provided to the family throughout the placement.

Parents will be encouraged to be involved in every aspect of their care and decision making, they will be asked their views on how they think the placement is going and whether they would like any changes to be made. This could include using local services and outside sources . Project Phoenix believes in an open door policy, and the need for transparency, allowing the family members and staff the opportunity to discuss anything of concern at any time. This could, in turn, lead to alterations within the placement plan, if deemed appropriate by the Resident Social Worker, Registered Manager and the family's Social Worker.

Key Workers and Family Support Workers use the placement plan as a guide on how to properly support the family on a day-to-day basis. At Project Phoenix, we feel that a positive relationship between the Key Worker and parent(s) is vital to the successful outcome of each placement. Therefore, staff will endeavour to build a relationship of mutual understanding, trust, respect and honesty with families.

Residents and their Key Worker will have weekly meetings, which give parents a chance to discuss anything they would like, whether that be a worry, things they think are going well or any additional support needed. This will enable ongoing progress to be monitored and reviewed, and adjustments to be made to the placement plan if necessary. Minutes of this meeting will be provided to parents and their Social Worker.

Parents are encouraged to seek help or advice from appropriate persons when needed.

Based on their individual needs and levels of pre-existing knowledge, each family will be encouraged through their transition by focusing on the following areas:

  • This includes preparing healthy meals for the family. Parents will undergo programmes which will educate them on different food types, the nutritional value and the importance of providing healthy meals. Parents will also have cleaning responsibilities in the house and will be encouraged to keep to a routine when completing tasks. This will help when integrating back into society and managing their own home.

  • Key workers will work with parents to come up with weekly budgets and identify ways to help parents manage finances effectively, ensuring that priorities are taken care of e.g. bills, food etc. Parents will also be given information sessions to explain how things such as credit cards, APR, interest rates and more work to help them make informed choices regarding money in the future.

  • Parents will be supported and encouraged to gain further education, employment or training. Project Phoenix is based close to Huddersfield Town Centre and is in walking distance of the local college, Job Centre and various training centres based in the Town. Key workers will work with parents to identify their interests and seek out the necessary steps needed to reach the parents' goal.

  • Parents will be encouraged to lead a healthy lifestyle and take an active role in maintaining their children’s health as well as their own. We have a qualified personal trainer who delivers weekly sessions to parents who wish to take part. Parents will take part in teaching programmes and group sessions which will provide information on health issues and how to maintain one’s health. We encourage parents to look after their well-being by engaging in our weekly activities delivered by our well-being activity coordinator who facilitates a range of activities such as guided meditation, gardening, art etc. There are two family doctors’ surgeries based on our street and a Family Planning and Sexual Health Clinic within walking distance of our unit.

  • At Project Phoenix we liaise with a variety of services within our local area and can outsource services such as Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, Neuro Linguistic Programming, Equine Assisted Therapy and more where required.

Throughout the 12-week placement, parents will be encouraged to create memories, collect photos and memorabilia to create a family life which will hopefully continue once the family leaves the unit.