Cheshire West & Chester Council

your team aroundthe family

Do you need support?

A guide for parents and carers

TAF

Who will see

my Family’s

Information?

My lead person’s

contact details:

RememberYou have the right to see the

information that is held about youand your family at any time. Ifyou wish to see this informationyou should talk to your Lead Personwho will advise how you can get

this information.

The Lead Person will collectinformation on various TAFforms. You will be askedas part of the consentprocess who the LeadPerson can share thisinformation with.

As a rule, the informationyou provide will only beshared with your andyour child’s consent.

The only time we will share informationwithout your consent is:-

• If we need to find out urgently if achild is at risk of harm or we needto help a child who is at risk of harm

• If we need to help an adult who is atrisk of harm

• If we need to help prevent or detecta serious crime.

If you are unhappy with anything at anytime, please contact your Lead Person

What is a TAF and

how can it help my

family?

TAF stands for Team aroundthe Family.

A TAF is a way of finding outwhat extra support yourfamily may need and how

best to provide this support.

A TAF is used to get everyonetogether who is, or should beworking with your child and familyand, with your agreement, work

together to identify the needsand strengths of your family.

This information will be recorded on a formto show the strengths in your family, whatextra support you may need and who is bestto help you with this.

The professionals involved may be a teacher,a health professional or a family supportworker for example. It will mean only tellingyour story once!

Working with professionals like this meansyou and your child are listened to and yourviews and wishes are taken into account andwe will do something with what you tell us.

It’s your family and your TAF!

How Does It Work?

A TAF may be used if you or someone whoworks with your family thinks that your childand family may benefit from some extrasupport from two or more agencies.

If you agree to a TAF, a professional that wecall your Lead Person will arrange some timeto talk to you. You will have a say in whoyour Lead Person is and where you wouldprefer to meet.

A TAF is voluntary

You and your child can choose to be involvedin the process and your Lead Person shouldask if you are happy to sign a consent formbefore you start any of the process.

The Lead Person will start by filling in a TAFassessment form with you. This will take intoaccount what you think and will hopefullyidentify what works in your family and whatneeds your family may have.

The Lead Person may wish to talk to otherprofessionals to get more information butwill only do this with your consent.

If at the end of this assessment it seems thatmore than one agency may be needed tohelp you, your Lead Person will arrange ameeting with you and invite people fromother agencies to attend.

If your child is older, we hope they will feelable to discuss their needs and attend themeeting themselves.

If not it is still important that your child getsthe opportunity to speak to a worker anddiscuss their wishes and feelings. A child oryoung person’s wish to keep informationconfidential from parents may be respectedby the worker, where this is in the young

What Happens

Next?

Your Lead Person will write up themeeting and make a TAF plan for your childand family.

This plan will be shared with you and withwhoever you have consented to be part ofthe plan. Regular meetings will be arranged

between yourself, your Lead Person andother professionals involved. At thesemeetings everyone will get together andlook at how well the plan is working and ifany changes are needed. Your views at thismeeting are really valuable.

When it is felt that your child and family nolonger need extra support, yourself and theother professionals can agree that the planis complete and the meetings are no longerneeded. At this stage the TAF will close.