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7. CO-ORDINATION OF SOCIAL SERVICES
It is possible for the Council's Health, Welfare, Children's and Education
Departments to be actively and concurrently involved with one family. In cases
involving Council tenants with rent and mortgage arrears the Town Clerk's and
Borough Treasurer's Departments will also be involved. It is the function of the Coordinating
Committee of chief officers to ensure unified action. The Medical Officer
of Health is Chairman and the members of the Committee include the Town Clerk, the
Chief Education Officer, the Chief Welfare Officer, the Children's Officer and the
Borough Treasurer.
The Committee works as follows:-
(1) The co-ordinating committee itself decides what recommendations regarding
policy it will make to the appropriate committee of the Council.
(2) A sub-committee meets weekly for the purpose of holding case conferences
to decide the best way to help individual families. The field workers concerned
in each department attend and normally one particular officer is
assigned to undertake the care. The purpose of this arrangement is the
avoidance of overlap.
The main matters considered by the co-ordinating committee during the year
have been firstly the co-ordination of education, health and welfare services for
handicapped children and young people, and secondly homeless families and temporary
accommodation.
A fair measure of success has been achieved in formulating a unified policy
amongst the several departments providing social services. By the end of the year a
total of 563 names had been added to the Central Register of problem families, of
which 337 had been discussed at the weekly case conferences.
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