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Social Services Children and Families
Social Services can give you written information about the services we provide. We will also try to provide you with information about the services you can get from other Council Departments, for example Housing, Education, Government agencies such as the Benefits Agency, and local voluntary organisations.
We can also help you make contact with other services, for example, Housing or Social Security.
We will do our best to give you the advice and services you need. If not, we will tell you who else can help you and, if appropriate, help you make contact with them.
To find out what services you are eligible for, we need information about you and your circumstances. We try to do this as quickly and informally as possible, but obviously it will depend on how complex your needs are. In some cases it may be necessary for us to ask you for permission to get information from other individuals or organisations, for example your GP or a hospital.
When we have all the information we need a member of staff will meet with you and agree with you what services we will provide. A plan will be written down and you will be given a copy. It will state when services will start and when the plan will be reviewed. It might not be possible for Social Services to arrange for all the services you need.
This may mean that we will have to consider asking other services to help you.
Social Services has a legal responsibility to provide some services. Other agencies have responsibility for other services. We can arrange those services we have responsibility for. You may have to arrange other services by contacting the agencies yourself.
We cannot guarantee that the service you need is immediately available. You may have to wait or think about using other services.
Some children and families have more urgent needs than others. We have only a limited amount of money available each year. We aim to be fair by directing services to families most in need.
There is no charge for information, advice or an assessment. We do ask for a contribution to the cost of some of the services we provide. We will always tell you what the charges are and how we calculate your contribution.
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