Family Support

We have a team of reliable and experienced family support workers available

Family Support

We have a team of reliable and experienced family support workers available

Family Support is a vital WillisPalmer service which assists parents to develop their parenting knowledge and skills, improves the wellbeing and outcomes of vulnerable children, and aims to prevent the need for children being cared for outside of the family home.

WillisPalmer provides highly-skilled Family Support Workers to work with families experiencing difficulties across London. Our services are designed to support parents of new-born babies by providing practical advice, guidance, support and safeguarding observation, as well as working with parents of children and young people who present challenging behaviour. Family Support Workers work alongside parents in the family home providing parenting guidance, teaching and modelling, as well as observation of the child’s experience of being parented.

WillisPalmer has its own team of Family Support Workers who are reliable, experienced and well qualified. They all have experience working directly with families in crisis, with complex issues and challenges such as learning difficulties, drug and alcohol misuse, domestic abuse, parental mental ill-health, or where a child is at risk of entering local authority care.

All WillisPalmer Family Support Workers have a level 3 Health and Social Care qualification or higher, at least 12 months practice experience and current DBS. 

We understand the need for a service that is able to respond quickly to assist families in crisis. WillisPalmer will consider any referral for Family Support in and around London and can undertake a same-day risk assessment. Our team of Family Support Workers are available to assist families and provide a safeguarding presence from 4 to 24 hours a day.

Our Family Support packages

ABC Family Support

ABC Family Support is a service for parents with babies from birth to 12 months, aimed at promoting the development of Attachment and Basic Care skills and routines.

The service is informed by Department of Health and NHS guidance for baby care. Each week, the Family Support Worker completes a consistency scale which records how successfully parents have engaged with the objectives set around basic care and the encouragement of interaction and attachment. Parents also complete a weekly confidence scale, designed to track how they feel they have benefitted from the support and put new parenting knowledge and skills into practice.

ABC Family Support is typically provided over eight weeks, although this can be extended dependent on the needs of the case. The support work hours for this service are tailored to the requirement of the local authority, and family routines.

PEP Family Support

PEP Family Support is a 10-week Parenting Esteem Programme for parent/carers with children aged 2 to 10 years. During the first half of the intervention, the Family Support Worker supports the parent to complete the TripleP online parenting programme. In the second half of the intervention, strategies learned during the programme are modelled and reiterated to the parent and family for a further five weeks.

At the beginning of the programme, SMART parenting skill objectives are agreed between social worker, parent/carer and the WillisPalmer Family Support Team Manager. These goals are reviewed in week 10.

The Family Support Worker completes a consistency scale each week which records how successfully parents have engaged with the objectives set at the beginning of the programme, while the parent completes a weekly confidence scale.

Family Support for multi-disciplinary assessments

Family Support is an essential component of our Multi-disciplinary Family Assessment and Supported Community Assessment, available across London and surrounding areas.

A multi-disciplinary team including Family Support Workers, work together to complete a comprehensive specialist assessment of parenting capacity with families where the presenting risks would otherwise require a residential assessment placement. The inclusion of Family Support Workers in the multi-disciplinary team creates the opportunity for the family to remain in their own home while assessments are completed.

As parents of newborn children should not be subject to assessment until their child is at least six weeks old, Family Support Workers can provide assistance to parents, and protection to the child, from birth to the beginning of the assessment. The same Family Support Workers are allocated for this six week period, and to continue throughout the assessment, thus maximising the opportunity of a trusting relationship with parents and consistency for the child, for the duration of the case.

Fay Roffe, Family Support Team Manager

We are currently recruiting Family Support workers. Call WillisPalmer on 01206 878178 or email apply@willispalmer.com.

Contact us

For more information about our Family Support Service, please contact our Family Support Team Manager Fay Roffe who can answer any questions you may have. 

Telephone: 01206 878165 

Email: fay@willispalmer.com

Working Together For Children

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A multi-disciplinary organisation providing independent, high quality social work, psychological, psychiatric, therapeutic and family support services. Contact us with your requirements and speak to a member of our team who will help you today.
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Delivering a diverse, reliable range of services to children and their families across the UK
D1, Parkside, Knowledge Gateway, Nesfield Road, Colchester, Essex CO4 3ZL
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