Children's Services Directory

Admissions team

Hampshire County Council
Children’s Services Department
The Castle
Winchester SO23 8UG.

Tel: 0845 603 5623

Hampshire County Council’s Education website contains details of schools, contact names and addresses and other useful information at: www.hants.gov.uk

Children with disabilities

A guide to services for children with special needs

www.hants.gov.uk/childrens-services/specialneeds/pinpoint.htm

The joint information link (JIL) provides parents and carers with a two way information exchange, write to joint.information.link@hants.gov.uk

Education welfare

The Education Welfare Service works with schools, pupils and their families to provide advice and help when they have particular social or emotional difficulties that affect their education or attendance www.hants.gov.uk/TC/edews/ewshome.html

Local social care contacts

We provide social care services and information about those services, which include: assessments of children in need and their families, assessment of children with disabilities, protection for children at risk of harm and children looked after away from home. We work in cooperation with health, schools and police in particular with cases where a child needs protection. The Hampshire Safeguarding Children Board child protection procedures can be found at www.hants.gov.uk/childrens-services/child-protection.htm

Details of area offices and other information is at

http://www.hants.gov.uk/adult-services/local-offices.htm

Parent Partnership

The Parent Partnership Service provides impartial advice, information and support to parents/carers of children and young people with special educational needs (SEN) throughout Hampshire. Our Service is available to all families for whom special educational needs play a part.

We can help by providing information, advice and support to parents/carers at all stages of their child’s school life, from pre-school early diagnosis through to leaving school. The Service offers:

a confidential helpline for parents/carers
general information on special educational needs
help for parents/carers to express their views
support through the statutory assessment process
help to complete forms and to understand complex documents and reports
home visits and support at meetings
presentations to support groups.

To contact the Parent Partnership Service tel: 01962 845870 or email: enquiries.pps@hants.gov.uk.

www.hants.gov.uk/TC/edpp/pphome.html

Online support for parents

You’ll find family friendly information on things like health during pregnancy, alcohol abuse, child protection, youth offending, and also many links to fun and leisure activities for you and your children.

www.hantsfish.hants.gov.uk/parentsandcarers.htm

If you are a young person caring for others and need support

Training can be arranged for young carers on a range of issues, such as relaxation, assertiveness, information sessions, depending on what the young carers identify as their needs. Also summer camps, which include a mixture of fun activities as well as more ‘serious’ issues.

www.hants.gov.uk/childrens-services/youngcarers.htm

Have you thought about fostering or adopting a child?

Hampshire needs a range of foster carers to look after children sometimes providing a regular, short overnight break for their parent/s or on a full-time basis. Some children need full-time care for a few weeks, others for several years. In addition, around 60 children each year need to be found a permanent family to legally adopt them. We are especially keen to talk to anyone who has had the experience of bringing up their own children, or who cares professionally for other people’s children. We pay an allowance to cover all the expenses of fostering, and also adoption ,where it is required.

tel: 0845 6011895. For enquiries about adoption tel: 01489 587000

For advice out of hours: Social Services Direct

You can contact Hampshire Social Services Direct in the evening and at weekends on 0845 600 45 55. This helpline is staffed by social workers and other specialists who can deal with anything from advice about how best to help an elderly relative to getting help in an emergency.

In case you need emergency help

If you need emergency help when offices are closed, for example, in cases of child protection or mental illness, you should tel: 0845 600 45 55

School admissions