June 2007 Archives

This week has been a dramatic week for the CC Inform team. Stockton’s big day was planned – two training sessions for 35 social workers all set for Wednesday 27th June. Jonathan and Sarah were all set to leave King’s Cross station to embark on their 5-hour 5-train journey on Tuesday afternoon when the floods hit and trains were cancelled beyond Doncaster. So, a battle of wills – the weather V CC Inform.

With the help of a train (to Gatwick), a plane (from Gatwick to Newcastle) and a hire car (only one left at Newcastle!) they arrived in Stockton at Midnight. It was quite literally planes, trains and automobiles!

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On a less dramatic but no less important note, we have loaded more content this week: two reference manuals one on education provision for asylum seekers and one on adoption support; one research review Resettlement for refugee children and families; and a handful of practice pieces.

We are pleased to say we have fixed the legislation bug which prevented you from linking from the legislation overview to the relevant sections (see passwords please). We’ve already got the links working in the Children Act 1989 and the Adoption and Children Act 2002 but we’re still working through the other pieces of legislation – they should be completed this week. Bear with us!

What an exciting week we've had. There are approximately 240 participants taking part in the pilot period and our busy team have been scurrying up and down the country visiting our 8 local authorities to demonstrate the site. Passwords are on the way to participating local authorities. Tower Hamlets, Sutton, Kent, Brighton and Hove, Leeds and Islington should now be set up and raring to go. Visits for Stockton and Norfolk are planned for this week so you will have your passwords shortly.

First impressions? Already we've received some really encouraging feedback from the pilot teams. One participant has even written to us to say they used the information in a case to help stress the impact of domestic violence on their children.

I know I am going to be saying this a lot, but I cannot stress how important it is that you send us your comments. Don't be afraid to raise your concerns, or let us know what you would like to see on the site.

In the course of our training sessions this week, a few social workers said that they currently struggle to find a helpful guide to the benefits and allowances payable in the area of fostering and adoption.

We are happy to say that we've been able to respond really quickly to this request, and we have commissioned Gary Vaux, head of money advice at Hertfordshire County Council to write two guides to finance in this area. One will cover allowances and benefits payable to foster carers, and the other will cover the same issues in the field of adoption.

It's here, CCInform has arrived! We can now bring you the brand new online service for all of you working with children and families in the social care sector.

So, what do you think? The next few months are crucial to the development of CCInform. With the help from our eight pilot local authorities our aim is to continously improve the service, ensuring an invaluable information source for you the practitioner. We'll value your feedback, both good and bad, so keep an eye on the What's new? page for future developments as well as the reasons behind our decisions, but most importantly to see how your suggestions have been implemented! Think of us as your 'genie in a lamp', your wish is our command (well, within reason and if you don't rub too hard!).

After years of planning, we think we've nearly cracked it - a super duper website in the making to give you what you need at the click of a button or maybe 3! There's been tears and tantrums along the way but we feel - without trying to blow our own brass band full of trumpets - we've triumphed in bringing you a comprehensive resource to enhance your practice.