Move to merge child welfare services

ANGUS Council is consulting agencies about merging two of its child welfare services.

The council currently operates a child protection team at Bellevue House in Arbroath and two intake service teams in Forfar.

The child protection team receives referrals, undertakes assessments and formulates plans when there are concerns about children and young people, including unborn babies.

The remit of the intake service is to receive all wellbeing concerns about children, assess their circumstances and, where required, formulate plans and signpost people to other services.

The possibility of combining the child protection teams and intake service is being explored so all referrals into social work would go via one team.

A questionnaire sent to stakeholders as part of the consultation said the review of the services would seek to identify ways in which referral pathways can be streamlined.

It will also consider “the capacity for the two services to work together to achieve good outcomes for children and their families”.

A council spokesman said: “The review will seek to enhance joint working between our social work teams and our police and health colleagues as well as maximising opportunities to share experience, skills and knowledge, so as to achieve good outcomes for children and their families.”