Hospital social work for children and families

This service is made up of social workers and their support staff. They are employed by Lambeth Social Services and are based at King's College Hospital and St Thomas' Hospital. The service supports parents and carers in:

• safeguarding children
• helping children in need get good health and social care

Who is the service for?

The service is for children and families who live in Lambeth and have been assessed under the Children Act 1989 as being 'in need'. This includes children:

• who are unlikely to be able to reach or keep up a reasonable standard of health or physical or mental development without receiving services from the council
• whose health or development would be harmed if they didn't receive services
• children considered to be at risk of harm or in need of protection
• unborn babies considered to be at risk

The hospital social work service works with children who live in Lambeth and are inpatients at St Thomas' or Kings College hospitals.

On occasions, we may work with pregnant mothers to ensure the health and welfare of unborn children.

The service is not involved in cases where the adult is a patient or where the child is an outpatient.

The service will deal with referrals from accident and emergency, where children are considered to be in need of protection.

What does the service do?

The hospital social work service:

• provides and arranges support services for children and their families
• works with other organisations to plan the provision of similar support services
• assesses the risks to unborn children, when the parents are considered to require social work support or interventions
• carries out adoption assessments and makes initial arrangements for the child where a request for adoption is made when the mother comes to hospital to give birth.

The service also works with other organisations on child protection matters such as:

• making enquiries and carrying out investigations
• arranging for the immediate protection of children considered to be at risk of significant harm