Emotional health services for adopted and looked after children

SCAYT+ is a team of emotional health workers, social workers and clinical psychologists.

We support carers, parents and professionals by providing advice about parenting, child behaviour and development, serious emotional, behavioural and relationship problems, past abuse, trauma and neglect.

The focus will be on working out what each individual child needs and enabling that to be incorporated within their overall care plan.

The team also provides an immediate response following any issues raised by the completion of the Strengths and Difficulties (SDQ) questionnaires, a national indicator for the emotional health of children looked after.

We will usually start our work together with a consultation. This can be with a single worker or carer or can be a wider meeting with a number of relevant professionals and carers. This may be a one off, or if it is helpful, we might agree a series of meetings.

Although our primary focus is on consultation with carers and professionals we can also engage in direct work with children in conjunction with their parents/carers.

What we do

We provide a setting where your concerns and observations about a child are taken seriously. We will take time to listen carefully to what you have to say and offer advice without jargon. 

We will ask you some questions to help gain the best understanding of the child’s needs. We will meet with you initially without the child, either singly or preferably with carer, supervising social worker and child’s social worker.

We will want to hear about a child’s strengths, qualities and abilities as well as what they are struggling with. We will also want to hear about carer’s strengths, qualities and abilities as well as what you are struggling with.

We will help you think more clearly about the options so that you can make better choices. We will offer our opinions as to what would best fit the particular circumstances.

We do not usually have quick-fix solutions for complicated situations.

We think that children who have suffered significant abuse and/or neglect are unlikely to benefit from seeing a counsellor or therapist in isolation. We will not offer (or arrange for) direct therapy for a child without being clear that they are likely to benefit from it.

We believe that high quality care, along with stable placements at home and school, are usually the most therapeutic interventions a child can have.

To help you prepare for a consultation with SCAYT+

If possible please discuss it with the other relevant people involved in caring for or supporting the child or young person.

If a carer, how would you describe your strengths as carers? What are you good at?

Which parts of your previous experience and knowledge with children are most relevant to the dilemmas you face now?

Can you identify some of the child’s strengths and abilities, as well as what is most difficult to manage at the moment?

What do you hope this consultation may achieve? What do you think is possible, is there something specific you are looking for?

What would be the smallest change that you’d like to see happen that would actually make a difference to you and the care you provide?

Are there any particular ways of thinking about the situation that you find more helpful?

What are they?

If there is one thing you want to get across to us at the consultation above all other things, what would it be?

What would need to happen at the consultation for you to leave feeling it was all worthwhile?

Contacts

If you are an adoptive family, please contact the Lancashire Post Adoption Service: 

Telephone
Burnley, Pendle and Rossendale: 01282 478 418
Hyndburn and Ribble Valley: 01254 320 759
Central Lancashire: 01772 535066
Chorley and West Lancashire: 01772 530919
North Lancashire: 01524 585939

Email
Mailbox enquiries: adoptionletterbox@lancashire.gov.uk
Post adoption calendar of training and events: PAScalendar@lancashire.gov.uk

In order for us to be as effective as possible we ask that our Request for Involvement form (RFI) is completed. Please email us at cypscayt@lancashire.gov.uk to request our RFI form. This will help start the thinking about what outcomes and goals we wish to achieve together.

For those that haven’t used our service before we also welcome initial discussions by telephone.

East Lancashire

Tel: 01772 538 880 (option 1)

The Fold Centre for Integrated Health and Wellbeing,
2-8 Venice Avenue,
Burnley,
BB11 5JX

North, South and Central Lancashire

Tel: 01772 538 880 (option 2)

Preston West Children's Centre
Ainsdale Drive
Preston
PR2 1TU