A Regional Service for Women (and their partners) who have one or more child removed

Descriptions

Cardiff Council in partnership with Vale of Glamorgan Council wish to commission a service to deliver a regional project for parents who had had one or more children permanently removed for safeguarding reasons.The overarching aim of the service is to prevent women who have experienced the compulsory removal of a child from experiencing a repeat pregnancy in the short-term whilst successive child removal remains the most likely outcome.Parents that have experienced the loss of a child through statutory intervention express feelings of guilt, trauma and loss and stigma. When the judgement to remove a child is made and proceedings come to a close, many women are left on their own with little or no support. It is anticipated that the majority of the women that this service will work with may have experienced domestic violence, been themselves the victim of abuse and/or neglect as a child and/ or may have suffered from mental ill health for periods during their adult lives. As a vulnerable group in their own right, the service will be expected to work with women and their partners that have themselves experienced high levels of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs).In addition to those experiences noted above, some women in contact with the service may have an additional learning need or learning disability. Some of these women may have received intensive support from other services to build skills in becoming successful parents. Some parents will not be able to achieve this and may need the support of this service, to prevent further pregnancies where these women identify that they cannot or do not want to become parents again.The service will aim to break the cycle of repeat removals, by providing a holistic intensive support at an extremely difficult time in people’s lives.The support offered through the service may involve offering practical advice and support, help to re-access specialist services or the provision of one to one therapeutic intervention. It is expected that all work will be led by the individual and will be dependent upon their own individual view of their circumstances and the areas they feel they wish to address. The service will be required to offer intensive support for a period that reflects the needs of the individual without creating an unhealthy dependency. It is anticipated that the intervention will last for no more than a year in order to ensure that there is capacity in the service for a throughput of individuals who require support.It is proposed that the contract be awarded initially for three years, with an option to extend for a further one year to be agreed between both parties.NOTE: To register your interest in this notice and obtain any additional information please visit the Sell2Wales Web Site at https://www.sell2wales.gov.wales/Search/Search_Switch.aspx?ID=99793.