9: Patricia's Family

Patricia is a 32 year old mother of 4 children:

Twins Marina and Daniel 18 months old

Carla 3 years old

Yasmin 7 years old.

Patricia lives in a three-bedroom rented house with her children. Her husband Joseph works as a builder and due to the current economic climate left the family home to find casual work. He is often away for weeks or months at a time. Patricia worked as a health care assistant in a nursing home but has not worked since having the twins.

Following the birth of her twins Patricia was diagnosed with post-natal depression. She received support from community mental health and a health visitor, but she stopped accessing the service.

The oldest child Yasmin attends a local primary school where staff were becoming concerned about the amount of times she was either later or absent from school. The Head teacher has a meeting with Patricia where she broke down stating that she was not coping and struggles to care for her children now her husband is not around. She said she sometimes feels like walking away forever!! She told the head teacher she was desperate and needed help.

The head teacher contacted the local authority Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH) for advice.

  • Consider interventions that the MASH team could put into place to support Patricia and her family.
  • What services are available in your local area to support Patricia and her family?

Policy:

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The bill covers all the current concerns and procedures linking to the trafficking of all human beings and will be useful to anyone who wishes to learn more on the history of trafficking and the current situation.[CB1]

› Suggested answers

  • Consider interventions that the MASH team could put into place to support Patricia and her family.
    1. The MASH team to conduct a visit to the family and assess their needs and any specific safeguarding concerns.
    2. A named professional (often a social worker), to co-ordinate services and/or professionals to support Patricia and her family. These may include health visiting, community mental health services, school nursing and education.
    3. Community mental health services to assess Patricia
    4. Health visitor to establish what local support services are available, e.g. support groups for parents with twins, services at local children’s centres, a nursery place for Carla.
    5. To see is Carla is eligible to go to nursery.
    6. All agencies involved to ensure that Patricia continues to access support services.
    7. Regular multi-agency meetings to ensure all agencies are working together to support Patricia.
  • What services are available in your local area to support Patricia and her family?

This will be individual to where the person works.