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Welcome
to PlacementLink
What is PlacementLink?
PlacementLink is a web-based search service which
enables looked-after children and young people to
be linked more quickly and more efficiently with
available placements.
Who is PlacementLink for?
PlacementLink is for social workers looking for
hard-to-find placements. For placement providers
the site offers a new and powerful way to 'market'
themselves to social work teams making placement
decisions.
Why use a website to search for placements?
Although placement databases are becoming more comprehensive,
these are time-consuming to maintain, particularly
at the level of the individual authority. The more
comprehensive the database, the more productive
- and quicker - the search result. Our aim is proactively
to check availability so that a single enquiry will
tell young people's social workers which placements
meet specified search criteria and which of those
has vacancies. We will also offer an online secure
referral form and process, to save the duplication
of completing multiple handwritten forms.
How will the placement search work?
Social workers looking to place a young person will
be able to log on to the website, specify what they
are looking for in terms of location, placement
type, services and facilities offered and so on.
The system will then find the best matches for the
criteria specified, and will also tell you which
of the matched placements has immediate or impending
vacancies.
What are "hard-to-find" placements?
By "hard-to-find" we mean placements which experience
has shown to be most time-consuming to identify.
We will focus particularly on secure accommodation,
alternatives to secure, residential family centres,
and mother and baby units and placements.
What are the advantages of PlacementLink for
social workers?
Searching for placements and availability online
saves staff time, typically 10 or even 20 hours
for some placement types. The speed of the search
should enable young people to be placed more quickly,
and the comprehensiveness of the search should mean
that they are placed more appropriately. The web
search will offer at-a-glance comparisons of the
features which distinguish possible placements from
one another. Staff time can be redirected to core
social work tasks from the largely administrative
work of telephoning around.
Are there benefits for care providers?
Placement providers will see advantages to PlacementLink
through not having to devote staff time to fielding
multiple enquiries chasing each vacancy, from being
able to market themselves to placing authorities,
as well as the potential to fill vacancies more
quickly. We also offer providers our placement management
software.
Does PlacementLink take over the whole process
of allocating placements?
No. PlacementLink will offer a placement and vacancy
search facility, and an (optional) online referral
form and process. These are not a substitute for
professional discussion between placing social workers
and potential placements about the needs of the
particular young person, and about the suitability
of the placement in light of the package of assessment
and care which it offers.
Which parts of the PlacementLink service are
operational now?
Click on Placement Search to see how the search
facility will work for one placement type, secure
accommodation. The demonstration enables you to
search for a secure placement. In this demonstration
version, the vacancy information is for illustration
purposes only.
What happens after the demonstration phase?
If feedback indicates sufficient interest in PlacementLink
from Social Services Departments, the search service
will be established on a continuing basis and will
include daily updated information about vacancies
in secure accommodation. Search facilities for other
"hard-to-find" placement types will follow later.
How will information about young people and their
families be kept confidential?
The current, demonstration version of PlacementLink
does not ask for or enable you to send confidential
information. If following the demonstration phase
PlacementLink is established on a continuing basis,
it will include the option to complete referral
forms online, and send them by secure email to as
many care providers as needed. There will also be
a facility for saving referral forms on your own
PC or network for re-sending later. PlacementLink
will not at any point see or store confidential
information about young people or their families.
Your input matters!
Please use the Feedback page to tell us how helpful
(or otherwise) you found the online placement search
process.
We are also compiling databases of hard-to-find
placements in categories other than secure accommodation.
If you know of mother & baby units or placements,
residential family centres or alternatives to secure,
we would be very pleased to have details so that
these placements can be included as we expand the
PlacementLink service. Please go to the Contact
Us page to submit placement details, or to suggest
other categories of hard-to-find placements you
would like to see covered in future.
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