social care services

Booklet primarily aimed at people considering entering a care home. Part 2 of the booklet explains how to contact the social work service.

Action on Poverty Today is the quarterly journal of the Combat Poverty Agency. Each issue carries articles by specialist contributors on a wide range of policy areas. It also acts as a diary of events in the field of social inclusion and monitors new publications and changing legislation.

This guidance sets out how organisations and individuals - including police, teachers, social workers and health workers - should work together to safeguard and promote the welfare of children and young people from sexual exploitation.

It aims to help agencies to: develop local preventive strategies; identify those at risk of being sexually exploited, to safeguard those who are being sexually exploited; and to identify and prosecute perpetrators. A chapter on the roles and responsibilities of agencies is included.

The objective of this project was to describe and explain the relationship between age and living standards in later life: exploring how sensitive this relationship is to the questions being asked; and the extent to which the experience of individuals changes as they grow older.

The report is based on analysis of deprivation questions from the Poverty and Social Exclusion survey and the British Household Panel Survey.

Good communication, both oral and written, is at the heart of best practice in social work. Communication skills are essential for establishing effective and respectful relationships with service users, and are also essential for assessments, decision making and joint working with colleagues and other professionals.

This resource is for practitioners who work to support or may come into contact with young carers. It is not an assessment tool but a "map" for both families and agencies to follow so they can see what choices, what responsibilities and what lines of accountability for services may be available. When using the "Whole Family Pathway", practitioners should refer to the Key Principles of Practice for supporting young carers and their families.

This research project, commissioned by the Scottish Government, looks at how advocacy for children in the Children's Hearings System compares with arrangements in other UK systems of child welfare and youth justice and those internationally, and what children and young people and the professionals who work with them think about advocacy arrangements in the Children's Hearings System and how these can be improved.

The Growing Up in Scotland study (GUS) is a longitudinal research project aimed at tracking the lives of a cohort of Scottish children from the early years, through childhood and beyond. Funded by the Scottish Executive Education Department, its principal aim is to provide information to support policy-making, but it is also intended to be a broader resource that can be drawn on by academics, voluntary sector organisations and other interested parties.

Social Care Institute of Excellence (SCIE) feature on dementia, exploring the effective implementation of the SCIE / NICE Dementia guidelines. SCIE’s film aims to highlight the importance of social and health care working together to help people with dementia better manage their condition.

There is a growing realisation that service uses and carers should be involved in developing the services they receive. Their expertise as users of services and what they want from services should be heard. It is particularly important that service users are involved in the national organisations that regulate services, the workforce, education and training n social care.