Direct Work with Children & Young People

SCOPE OF THIS CHAPTER

This chapter focusses on undertaking direct work with children and young people, including initiating and ceasing direct work.

AMENDMENT

This chapter was updated in September 2023.

1. Introduction

Direct work provides children and young people with an opportunity to express their feelings about significant events that have occurred and gain some understanding of these events. It is important to help children and young people understand what is happening to them and why; they require an avenue to express their views, wishes and feelings regarding the social worker's involvement, how they and their family are functioning, and receive support to feel confident about their future.

2. Direct Work with Children and Young People Living Temporarily in Foster Placements or Residential Care

Children and young people not living with their birth families will need support when working through their thoughts, feelings and emotions about living apart from their families. This includes adjusting to a new environment, coping with day to day living and working through their transition back home, if this is the plan.

3. Initiating Direct Work

When agreeing the Child In Need, Child Protection or Child Looked After plan objectives with children, young people and their families, practitioners should discuss the purpose of direct work and what methods would work best for them (e.g. observation, discussion, activities, etc....). In addition to how the direct work will be carried out, it would be beneficial to inform the child, young person and their family about what topics may be brought up and how they might feel about this, providing clarity for the family in terms of how the practitioner plans to assist them and what to expect during visits.

When undertaking direct work, the child/young person's Social Worker will need to:

Listen to the child/young person's wishes and feelings regarding their readiness to undertake direct work;
Listen to the child/young person's perception about their own situation;
Communicate clearly and simply using concepts which are likely to be familiar to a particular child/young person;
Give the child/young person the opportunity to ask questions as often as he/she wishes;
Reinforce the positives in the child/young person's life;
With Looked after children, helping them to develop a simple script that can be used to explain to others why they are not living with their birth parents, ensuring that this is agreed with their current carers and any other significant persons;
Use tools such as memory boxes, story books, puzzles, picture cards, Eco Maps, etc
Ensure LCS/EHM case records indicate that Direct Work has been carried out and upload copies of completed activities to Livelink.

There are five critical components in direct work with children: seeing, observing, talking, doing and engaging. See also: Guidance on Direct Work with Children.

4. Ceasing Direct Work

Whether the child or young person is living at home with their families, living with foster carers or in a residential care home temporarily, when Children's Services ceases involvement, the direct work objectives should be reviewed to determine the extent of any changes made or if there is any ongoing support required to address unresolved issues. When the time comes for Children's Services to end involvement it would be envisaged that the direct work conducted with children, young people and their families will support them in maintaining their progress as a family.

While conducting direct work, the ending of that needs to be considered throughout and planned for.

If the direct work ends in an unexpected way, for example a child/young person who is supported by a child in need plan and consent is withdrawn, then the child, young person and their family may not experience closure. In such instances, practitioners should consider sending information, along with the closure letter, reviewing the positive goals obtained via the direct work that was conducted and include a reminder of any outstanding objectives and who they may contact if they wish to have further support.

For children and young people not ceasing direct work as they will remain in placement on a long term basis or there is a plan for adoption, their care plan should reflect the addition of Life Story Work.