Stockport Social Care Parent Forum You Said…We Did!! What is it? The Stockport Social Care Parent Forum has been formed to provide parents with the opportunity to tell us what they think about the services we offer to children and families, and to work in partnership with us to improve them. Group sessions are facilitated by the Head of Service for Children’s Social Care and Stockport’s Communication and Engagement Manager.
What did parents tell us and what are we going to do as a result? Parent recommendation 1: Parents would value access to additional support in the form of a help line and a self-help / advocacy group for parents. Stockport’s response: The findings of this exercise will be shared with the Early Help Services and this will inform their service design. In addition the feedback can be used to further strengthen the need to ensure good quality CAFs are completed in a timely manner. Parent recommendation 2: Parents would value access to additional support in the form of a help line and a self-help / advocacy group for parents. Stockport’s response: Stockport is committed to explore this issue and the Head of Service for Children’s Social Care will look at initiatives such as PIPS (needs defining) in the Disability Partnership to build a model around. Parent’s recommendation 3: Social workers should note the following when working with families; listen more; keep parents informed; be accessible. Reply to messages - use text, voicemail etc. Have access to social workers not just during the day, be understanding; Don’t judge parents. Stockport’s response: The full parent forum report will be distributed to all social workers. Parent recommendation 4: If their child is in care, parents would like to know more information about who social care share information with and the obligations of other professionals. Stockport’s response: This should be addressed via the care planning process and parent’s views must be incorporated – a clear communication plan would help in some cases where a specific need arose, e.g. repeated incidents while in care. Parent recommendation 5: There is confusion about how to make a complaint, i.e. who is/are the best person/people to seek advice from. Stockport’s response: This issue will be monitored through the monthly case file audit process to ensure parents are informed about how to make a complaint or provide feedback including compliments. The Stockport Social Care Parent Telephone Survey will ask a large sample of parents if they know how to make a complaint about the service.
FINALLY… As the first step in the process of engaging with parents in a constructive manner, this was an incredibly useful session and the information gained can be used positively. We look forward to the findings of the kiosk survey and the next parent focus group (forum) as we build our services. Thank-you to those parents who took the time out to participate in the parent forum, your feedback was valued. Services to People