Nat Clarke. October 2021.

Since beginning my role at Amber Family over 7 years ago, hundreds of parents have walked through the doors at Amber House, Lodge and Grange for the purpose of a parenting assessment with their child(ren).

It is unfortunately common for parents to arrive at placement, and state they ‘dislike the Local Authority’ or they ‘don’t trust any of us’. These two things can be linked to previous negative experiences that families may have been subject to, whether this be lack of communication, poor relationships with professionals, removal of other children, or feeling that things recorded about them have not been fully accurate in past or present paperwork. These are all common reasons that we hear, and they ‘don’t even need to be here’ as they are not accepting of concerns that have been raised.

We take time from day one in induction to the final day of placement in week 13 to allow parents to be listened to, and encourage and promote them to share their thoughts and feelings. We put a lot of time and effort into building a strong working relationship, to allow parents to feel at home whilst residing with us, giving a true reflection of what life would be like back in the community.

Unavoidably, it is also not uncommon for allocated Social Workers to change and this can be for a variety of reasons, mainly due to going off on long-term sickness or a change of team depending on the case. If a Social Worker has built a good relationship with a particular family, it can be difficult for a parent to rebuild this with someone else, similarly if the relationship was negative, this will have an adverse effect on the newly allocated worker, and automatically they will not get off ‘to a good start’.

We work hard to promote a good working partnership between parents and the Local Authority, and Amber Family like to ensure all parties are informed at the same time about the progression of placement. We do not work secretively, and we are open, honest and evidence-based when it comes to our conversations with others, writing reports and giving feedback in meetings. We feel it is vital our parents have a voice and are able to give their opinion and feedback as this involvement with services is mapping out their future.

Building good relationships helps to achieve better outcomes for all involved, and in my opinion, this is what is needed in all sectors of our social care.