Assessment, Intervention, Pre-Birth, and Multi Agency Service Hub (MASH)
The MASH is the point of contact for any person or agency who has safeguarding concerns regarding a child.
Where appropriate, the MASH gathers research from a range of partner agencies relevant to each individual child/family and assesses the information to determine the level of actual or potential risk/harm and recommends appropriate action to safeguard the child and/or promote his/her welfare.
MASH enables the proportionate, necessary and lawful disclosure of information at the earliest opportunity. A full picture of vulnerability and risk is produced within agreed timescales allowing the partnership to identify the nature of the service required and which agency or professional is best to progress any intervention.
The MASH benefits are principally in three areas:
- informed risk-based decisions for safeguarding vulnerable children/families
- identification of harm to vulnerable children/families
- enhanced strategic partnership assessment and problem solving
The MASH Manager is the main decision maker/point of support/ consultation
for all staff within and outside of the MASH for all MASH related issues.
The MASH is made up of a range of organisations in Barking and Dagenham
responsible for safeguarding adults and children, these include:
- The Metropolitan Police
- Health Services
- National Probation Service
- Youth Offending Service
- Victim Support
- Subwize
- Community Solutions including housing and early help
- Community rehab company
- Adult social care
The Assessment and Intervention Team completes assessments for children in need and children at risk. It assesses the risks and needs in a holistic way, focusing on the child, his/her family and involving partner agencies. The service then puts a plan together with the family and professionals to address the issues. If these issues are long-standing and complex, the children will then get another Social Worker in the Family Support and Safeguarding team. The service has five assessments teams and an additional pre-birth assessment team who assess specifically unborn babies.
Adolescent and Youth Offending Service
Our Adolescent and Youth Offending Service is a multi-agency service that supports vulnerable young people at risk of exploitation, harm and offending. There is a whole system approach whereby the whole council and partners work together to tackle adolescent issues.
The Team pulls together a range of distinct services in a coordinated way ensuring that our offer is well aligned to the needs of our young people. The service, and the wider approach to Contextual Safeguarding across the partnership is framed by the development of the new partnership wide, Safeguarding Children’s Board commissioned Exploitation Strategy.
The team works with missing children and those at risk of CSE, exploitation, radicalisation, county lines, criminal exploitation, trafficking and modern slavery.
Family Support and Safeguarding
The Family Support and Safeguarding Service accepts referrals from the Assessment Team as well as from other local authorities if a family known to them moves into our Borough and needs ongoing support. The aim of the Family Support and Safeguarding Service is to ensure that children are safe and being well cared for within their families (where possible), so that they no longer need our help.
Social Workers in Family Support and Safeguarding have a variety of cases assigned to them; including Child in Need (CiN), Child Protection (CP), Looked After Children (CLA) and some Court work. Where we are unable to achieve our aim of keeping the child safe and well cared for we then look to ensure that children are provided with permanent alternative carers, via the extended family, foster carers or adoption. When this happens, we transfer case responsibility to our Corporate Parenting and Permanence Service. When the child is safe and being well cared for within their own family, we can either step the family down to Tier 2 services or close the case.
Our focus is on achieving the best outcome for the child and to meet this aim we work with our multi agency partners to provide:
- support and Services to “Children in Need”
- child protection investigations and child protection plans
- legal intervention through “pre proceedings” or “care proceedings”
- reports written for court in private family matters
- referrals onto other agencies who can offer specialist intervention
Corporate Parenting and Permanence
The Corporate Parenting and Permanence Service are a Social Care Team with a co-located health resource. They are responsible for discharging the council’s Corporate Parenting and Permanence duties including looked-after-children, fostering, special guardianship and private fostering. The teamwork with Children and Adolescents through transition into adulthood and have leaving care coaches embedded into each team. A leaving care coach works with the young person to help prepare them to leave care and gain independence. The team has a dedicated Looked After Children’s nurse and a health administrator who aim to improve health assessments and outcomes.
Through the Members’ Corporate Parenting Group, this team maximise cross-Council support and opportunities. They work with Community Solutions and corporate services to ensure that no one is left behind - securing appropriate accommodation, education, training and employment opportunities for our Care Leavers. Our local offer is underpinned by the new Corporate Parenting principles reflecting contribution from every part of the Council.
Our Fostering teams are focused on growing the fostering Mockingbird project, better supporting teenage placements and mother and baby placements. The sourcing of placements sits with our brokerage function ensuring that we have the right placements for children and young people. The Regional Adoption Hub (RAH) is responsible for recruiting people willing to adopt, family finding and post-adoption support.
Specialist Intervention Service
Our Specialist Intervention Hub works with Tier 3 families who are deemed to be at the edge of coming into care, by delivering targeted interventions of support to complement social work.
This service provides crucial support to our improved Early Help Offer and brings together staff from our Access to Resources, Family Group Conference, Contact, Play Therapy and Family Support Worker functions.
The service delivers a range of group work, 1:1 practical work, and therapeutic work with children, parents, extended families and wider communities.
The offer is for those children and families who are deemed to meet threshold by MASH, including young people leaving care, as well as Youth Offending Service clients.
Children and Families access the service via a referral from the caseworker (e.g. Social Worker, Youth Offending Service Worker, Early Help Worker or Family Support Worker).
The interventions provided are complimentary to the casework, with ultimate responsibility for the case resting with the allocated caseworker. The offer is available during the day, evening, and at weekends with staff working on a shift pattern approach to meet demands.
Service Development and Transformation
This service drives change across Children’s Care and Support, working closely with corporate services to implement improvements. The team leads on GDPR, safety and security of staff, workforce planning, process redesign, administrative support, office environment, new ways of working, helping to get the best out of digital opportunities and driving value for money.