This in from the council, in their own words. Ed
A new base for two of the council’s children’s services teams was officially opened yesterday (Wednesday 9 April) by the chairman of the Isle of Wight Council, Councillor Ian Ward and Councillor Richard Priest, Executive member for children’s services and education.
Improved environment for social work teams
The Contact and Assessment Team and a newly created Intensive Support Service are now based at a property on Fairlee Road, Newport which has been refurbished to provide an improved environment for social work teams to work with children, young people and their families.
The building includes a number of rooms which have been designed to make children and young people feel more comfortable during meetings with social workers or supervised visits with their families. For the first time, there is a dedicated room for older children and young people. The room includes sofas, TV and stereo and a variety of games including table football and a games console.
There is also a kitchen area for parents and young people to use while at the centre, and plenty of play equipment for a range of age groups, from babies to teenagers. There is also dedicated free parking for people using the services.
Nine meeting rooms instead of one
The Contact and Assessment Team was previously based at a building at Clatterford Road, Carisbrooke where there was only one room for children and their families to meet with social workers for assessments and supervised visits.
The new facility provides nine rooms.
The Intensive Support Service
The building at Fairlee Road is also a base for the newly created Intensive Support Service which works with children and young people to help them remain at home with their families and to prevent the need for children to be taken into care.
The service also works with social workers when a child is returning to the Island from a placement on the mainland or where there is a planned rehabilitation to their family.
Priest: “Driving up standards”
Councillor Richard Priest, Executive member for children’s services and education, said:
“It is really important that we provide a comfortable environment for children, young people and their families when they are going through what can be a very unsettling time.
“This investment in these new facilities demonstrates our commitment to driving up standards within children’s services, one of the council’s key priorities.”
The opening was also attended by Stephen Handforth, area director for Isle of Wight children services, Rob Winfield, operational service manager, Lisa Graham, team manager, specialist services and staff from the Contact and Assessment Team and Intensive Support Service.
Image: © Isle of Wight Council
