Quick Guide

November 2011

Welcome to the fifth version of the Bexley Children and Young People's Services Procedures Manual, November 2011.

Status of this Manual
Display and Browser Options
Amendments
Structure of the Manual
How to find a Chapter
Terminology
Keywords
Compliance
Contact us
Copyright
Printing and Retaining Copies

1. Status of this Manual

This is the fifth version of Bexley's Children and Young People's Services procedures manual. The next edition of the manual will be published in April 2012. This manual supercedes all previous versions.

Garry Smale (garry.smale@bexley.gov.uk) is your Lead Officer for this manual. If you wish to request any changes or additions to the manual or have any comments or queries, please contact Garry Smale.

2. Display and Browser Options

People with a visual impairment may have difficulty accessing this Manual.

To change the size of the text/layout - please use these accessibility buttons.

which are on menu bar on the left side of every screen. Click a larger button to increase your text size, the very largest being high visibility mode.

3. Amendments

Table of Amendments

New Chapter Name	Change
Family and Friends Policy has become Section 2 in Policies, Values and Principles (Values).	This is a new document with Annexes, which set out the Bexley policies in relation to Family and Friends placements.
Foster Carers Insurance Issues Procedure	This is a new chapter.
Leaving Care Procedure	There has been a full section added as Section 15, Procedures for Looked After Children remaining in Placement post 18. All sections below this one have been renumbered.
Protocol for the Exercise of Joint Responsibilities between the Youth Offending Team and Children's Social Care Services	This Protocol dated June 2011 has been added to the procedures manual with two appendices. It should be read in conjunction with the links in chapter 6.1 to access information in relation to the Youth Offending Services.
Updated Chapter Name	Change
Activities Procedure	New national guidance documents have been published and these are now available as links in the scope box of the chapter including a generic consent form for children participating in activities.
Looked After Children missing from Home and Care Procedure	The contact details in Appendix 4 have been updated.
Placements in Foster Care Procedure	This chapter has been updated in view of changes through the Care Planning, Placement and Case Review (England) Regulations 2010 (Care Planning Regulations) and Associated Guidance. The chapter should be read in full.
Placements in Residential Care Procedure	This chapter has been updated in view of changes through the Care Planning, Placement and Case Review (England) Regulations 2010 (Care Planning Regulations) and Associated Guidance. The chapter should be read in full.
Placements in Secure Accommodation Procedure	This chapter has been updated in view of changes through the Care Planning, Placement and Case Review (England) Regulations 2010 (Care Planning Regulations) and Associated Guidance. The chapter should be read in full.
Placements with Parents Procedure	This chapter has been updated in view of changes through the Care Planning, Placement and Case Review (England) Regulations 2010 (Care Planning Regulations) and Associated Guidance. The chapter should be read in full.
Case Reviews Procedure	The term Looked After Review has been replaced by Case Review. A number of changes have been made to the contents of this chapter which should be read in full.
Risk Assessment Tool for Children Missing and Running Away Procedure	The tool has been replaced by a new tool.
Savings Policy and Procedure for Looked After Children and Young People	This chapter has been updated and should be read in full to note the changes.
Assessment and Approval of Agency Adoptive Parents	This chapter has been updated in Section 1.2.8 and 11.14.
Placement for Adoption Procedure	An amendment has been made to Section 11 in this chapter where a Family Finding meeting has been included to consider the strategy for family finding for the child. ‘Support worker’ has replaced the word ‘link worker’.
Local Contacts Procedure	Details have been updated.

4. Structure of the Manual

This manual contains the policies, procedures and guidance for Bexley Children and Young People's Service. In this manual, all Bexley's Policies, Values and Principles are located in one Chapter, which users are required to familiarise themselves with before proceeding to the main body of the Manual. These Policies, Values and Principles are located in a Chapter called 'Values' - available from the left hand side of the screen.

Procedures and Guidance

In an attempt to keep procedures succinct, procedures and more detailed guidance are separated - with links provided as appropriate.

'Procedures' summarise how Managers and Staff must act in given circumstances.

'Guidance' provides direction or advice to a decision or course of action.

5. How to find a chapter

Procedures and guidance are located in individual 'Chapters' which are available from a 'traditional' Contents List - on the left hand side of the screen.

5.1 Using the Contents List

Chapters are categorised or grouped together as follows:

PARTS: The manual contains procedures categorised under a number of Service Sectors, like 'Looked After Children',

SECTIONS: Within each Service Sector e.g. 'Looked After Services', you will find a Section (group of procedures) like 'Adoption and Permanence'.

CHAPTERS: Under each Section, you'll find individual Chapters/Procedures e.g. 'Adoption Case Records' 4.2 You can search for a Chapter

If you aren't sure which service or section to look in, try 'Search' which will help you identify specific Chapters and sub headings within Chapters

6. Terminology

We believe it is crucial to use consistent terminology, which we agree with individual customers, for example:

'Home' and 'Resource'	this is a generic term which means Children’s Home, Foster Home
'Child' or 'Young Person'	both these terms are used to mean any child under the age of 18
'Staff' or 'Carer'	means all Staff and Carers (including) whether employed or not
'Manager'	means Team Manager, it also means YOT Team Manager
'Line Manager'	means the first Line Manager of a team/service
'Parent'	means person with Parental Responsibility
'Regulatory Authority'	Regulatory Authority is the generic term used in this manual to describe the independent regulatory body responsible for inspecting and regulating services e.g. Ofsted.
'Social Worker'	This means the worker allocated to the child/family. If there is no allocated worker, the Duty Social Worker or Team Manager is responsible.

7. Keywords

The manual is accessed by practitioners from varying agencies, who may find terms that they are not familiar with. Therefore, a large glossary (Keywords) of terms such as Significant Harm (Try it: click on the highlighted text). We call them 'Keywords'. Once clicked, the definitions will appear in a new window or tab, depending on your browser. You can leave it open for reference, or close it using the "close" button at the bottom.

Many Keywords are highlighted in the body of procedures, but you can search for the Keyword you need: Go to the Keywords Index, on the left hand side of the screen. Or, use 'Search'.

8. Compliance

8.1 Regulatory Compliance

Every effort has been taken to ensure regulatory compliance. If you discover any errors or mistakes, please alert your manager.

8.2 W3C Compliance

This manual meets the double A Standards of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), for example, it can be accessed by people with high levels of visual impairment. To find out more, click on 'Display Options' on the left hand side of the screen.

9. Contact us

If you have any comments or suggestions to make about this manual please contact us by using the button on the left hand side of the screen, from anywhere within the manual.

10. Copyright

The content of this website can be accessed, printed and downloaded in an unaltered form, on a temporary basis, for personal study or reference purposes. However any content printed or downloaded may not be sold, licensed, transferred, copied or reproduced in whole or in part in any manner or in or on any media to any person without the prior written consent of Tri-X-Childcare Ltd and Bexley Children's and Young People's Services.

11. Printing and Retaining Copies

The Manual should normally be viewed on line but can be printed, for reference only.

To print a chapter, click on the icon which is in the top right hand corner of the relevant procedure

Please note, the Manual will be updated regularly, so staff should avoid retaining printed versions - hard copies are only valid for 72 hours.

End