Placing a looked after child in Wandsworth

Youth support services

We provide a wide range of support and opportunities for disadvantaged or vulnerable young people mainly aged 10 to 19 years (up to 25 for young people with additional needs), including young people:

• In the criminal justice system, involved in anti-social behaviour or victims of crime
• Who go missing from home or care or are at risk of sexual exploitation
• Who are looked after or are young carers
• Who are leaving care
• In need of early help or preventative support
• Who need information, advice or support on personal, social and health matters
• Requiring support with learning difficulties and/or disabilities
• Who need coaching support in key life transitions
• Accessing positive activities and youth work support in the community

Our services

We cater for all young people's needs. For example, those who:

• Want to attend a youth club
• Want to gain an award outside school
• May be at risk of dropping out of school
• May be at risk of involvement in crime or being criminally exploited
• Are in serious difficulty and may require social work input and family work

Activities

Youth Work in Wandsworth offers fun and purposeful educational activities, including trips and residentials, which allow young people to try out new things, stretch their horizons and make new friends. Challenge, aspiration and opportunity are key to what we do.

At our youth clubs you will find music and recording, dance, drama, arts and crafts, sports, IT, and lots of workshops and discussion groups on subjects relevant to teenagers. 

Most clubs are open term time in the evenings and some weekends, but we also run day time programmes during school holidays.

All our clubs are accessible to young people with special needs but we also have a specialist disability youth centre, George Shearing.

Courses

Many of our centres run short courses leading to certificates or accreditation which recognise what young people achieve through youth work.

Connexions education and employment

The Connexions team are part of the targeted Early Help support offer, providing the information and advice young people need to make decisions and choices in life.

This is for young people aged 10 to 19 years old (or up to 25 years old if they have a learning difficulty, disability or special need).

Personal advisors provide specialist careers guidance and can give practical support in the following areas:

• Job vacancies
• Education
• Careers advice
• Courses and training
• Benefits and personal finance
• Health
• Housing
• Family, social and other personal issues.

Connexions personal advisors are also linked to our secondary schools for one day per week to work with young people who are at risk of becoming excluded, or who may need additional support to keep them focused on their school goals.

Youth crime prevention

Crime prevention and work connected to serious youth violence including gangs is delivered by BEIT (Borough Early Intervention Team) and the Ending Gangs and Youth Violence team that are located within the Adolescent Exploitation Team. Detached youth work also supports this area of work.

BEIT work with young people throughout the borough who need support to prevent them from entering the criminal justice system or who are at risk of criminal exploitation. The team works alongside different agencies both within Wandsworth Council and outside agencies to support, mitigate risks and mentor young people impacted by crime.

Workshops

The BEIT team run workshops in schools, youth centres, PRUs and other establishments where young people are. The subjects they cover are current and relevant to young peoples' needs and challenges. The BEIT team also run projects within the borough to help young people gain a skill, unlock a talent and to achieve something from a bespoke piece of work.

BEIT get referrals for one-to-one support via the police when they issue an out of court disposal to a young person or from the Early help pathway team at the Council.

Targeted work

The Youth Work Service carry out targeted work with young people in need of additional support through one-to-one and group work. This work comes through the IPOC and the Early Help Pathway.

Youth programmes

The Youth Service has a participation worker who runs the borough wide Youth Council and offers training and support to services on involving young people in decision-making. Young people get involved in user forums, staff recruitment, service planning and commissioning and lots of other projects.

We also run the Youth Opportunity Fund (YOF) through which young people can put in applications for grants which are assessed by panels of other young people.

The annual Young Person of the Year award is run with the Trustees.

Other cross-borough programmes

There are several other cross-borough programmes covering specialist disability work, programme co-ordination and substance misuse.

Community development and delivery

The effectiveness of our services relies on strong relationships with other services, for example:

• Schools and colleges
• Housing
• Health including mental health and sexual health services
• Police
• Local voluntary sector.

Some of these services are aligned to the locality youth and youth support teams, such as housing workers and workers from the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service.

We also offer a link social worker to all local secondary schools.

Notify us of a placement

If you are placing a child or young person with a carer in Wandsworth, please contact us at Wandsworth-CLA-Notifications@wandsworth.gov.uk, to notify us of the placement.