Horsham Domestic Violence Implementation Team

West Sussex County Council ....

Children & Young Peoples Services (Horsham Locality) can he contacted on 01403 213100. It has the same boundaries as Horsham District Council.

Children & Young People’s Services are notified of any domestic violence incident where the police attend and it is known that there are children in the home.
Whenever a referral is received by one of our social work teams, they carry out an assessment of risk posed to both the victim and more specifically any children or young people in the household; based on the referral information and that gathered from other agencies. The assessment is then passed to the team manager to decide on the level of risk highlighted by the domestic violence referral and what the department’s response should be.
In responding to a domestic violence referral Children & Young People’s Services may decide that the matter warrants one or more of the following:-

No further action
A safety plan to be initiated by the social worker, another professional involved with the family (e.g. Health Visitor) or the victim
An initial assessment be carried out by a social worker visiting the victim and the children, in order to ascertain what support services could be offered to the family
A child protection investigation is carried out (in conjunction with the police) where it is believed that a child or young person has or is at risk of suffering significant harm

Whilst Children & Young People’s Services work with all members of the family, our primary focus is on the welfare of any children in the home, in order to ensure they are protected from significant harm. Our work is achieved through establishing close working relationships with parents/carers and other professionals in the Horsham area.

The risk of harm to children will be assessed with the provision of help and support to an adult domestic violence victim.

Adults’ Services are notified of domestic violence incidents where the police attend and it appears that the adult victim may be a vulnerable adult due to physical, mental, learning or other difficulty.
When a referral is received, the Social Work Team gathers sufficient information on risks and needs for a Senior Manager to decide on the proportionate level of response.
These are the likely range of responses:

Further actions. The further actions to protect the vulnerable adult might be undertaken by the Service Provider, or by a Social Worker undertaking a Community Care Assessment or Care Plan Review, or by a Multi-Agency Adult Protection Investigation with Protection Plan
No further action

If there is no further action within the Multi-Agency Adult Protection Procedures, these are options that might be considered:

Community Care Assessment, or
Care Plan Review (if the person is currently receiving a community care service)
Carer Assessment
Provision of information, advice and/or redirection
No further action

Horsham Social and Caring Services can be contacted at:

Talbot House
20-22 East St, Horsham, RH12 1HL
Tel: 01403 213 100
View Map of Social Services - Talbot House