Regional Support to Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children

Concepts

• social work
• flintshire
• flintshire county council
• regional support
• supported transition
• support plan
• north wales region
• support services
• needs of children
• specific group of children

Location

Flintshire and Wrexham: North Wales Region

Description

The purpose of this notice is to assess market interest in working with Flintshire County Council and the North Wales region as a whole to provide targeted at models of care that can meet the needs of children and young people whom are between the ages of 16yrs – 18yrs, whose care and support plan is for a supported transition onto another model of care in the short or medium term.

Total Quantity or Scope

Flintshire County Council and the North Wales region are seeking to commission A ‘supported transition’ model of advice, guidance and support for the specific group of children and young people and will include: 1) A movement or change from one stage of a placement to another stage, or one type of placement to another type of placement, to deliver long term care and support planning achieving good outcomes for the child. The transition should be supported by the provider through the stages of initial care and support, planning, preparation, introductions, move, stabilising period post-move, reducing contact and positive endings. 2) The supported transition in this instance will always be for Unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking Children and Young People (hereafter UASC) in Wales. These children and young people may have arrived in Wales either spontaneously or under the National Transfer Scheme (hereafter NTS) plus relevant legislation and guidance. 3) Transition may be onto a range of alternative arrangements but primarily onto living independently in the community. The provider must be able to offer the accommodation provision and support the transition arrangement for a defined period as agreed with the commissioning authority/authorities. 4) Transitions can be an especially unsettling time for children and young people who have experienced trauma, attachment difficulties and multiple moves. A skilled and resilient staff group working to a clear model of care will be required to effectively meet their wellbeing needs. A ‘model of care’ for the purposes of this specification is defined as: 1) A blueprint or framework to guide the practice of staff, with a particular focus on how to create and sustain change/impact. Ideally, these models deploy proven techniques that are based on either a theory of behaviour or why problems arise and/or evidence of ‘what works’. These models help to ensure that people with similar types of need are supported in similar and joined-up ways, i.e. practice is replicable and transferable. 2) Transitions for UASC are likely to have a range of complicating factors that are specific to their status. Providers should focus on mitigating risk attached to these factors and tailor transitional support packages and / or outreach arrangements to meet individual needs. 3) For the initial set up of this service in Flintshire the provider will be expected to offer 24hr support for a period of 4 weeks, with the view for this to reduce to floating support thereafter. It is expected within the 24hr support that a sleep in is provided. As part of this process, we would welcome expressions of interest from current providers and third sector providers of care and support services who believe they have the experience and can demonstrate innovative practice or believe they have creative ideas to new models of provision.

CPV Codes

• 85300000 - Social work and related services
• 98000000 - Other community, social and personal services
• 85310000 - Social work services

Other Information

Any organisations who wish to express an interest in contracting to provide such services should: 1) submit a written expression of interest via the contact details at the end of this notice. The Council(s) will then keep organisations informed, engage them in dialogue and issue a formal invitation to tender in due course. ** PREVIEW NOTICE, please check Find a Tender for full details. ** Expressions of interest Written expressions of interest of no more than 1000 words should be made no later than 12 noon on 25/03/2022 to Flintshire County Council via email to Contract.&.Commissioning.Team@flintshire.gov.uk. Submissions should include: 1) details of your organisation; 2) evidence of your organisation's capability to provide services to people in Flintshire and the North Wales region. Contribute to the development of the vision for a model of support that reflects the needs of children and young people who are seeking asylum, as detailed in this document. Providers may draw on either direct experience of innovative projects they have been involved with or new models of service they have knowledge of and believe would better meet the needs of individuals. Acknowledgment of receipt of all submissions will be undertaken by email only. All submissions are kept confidential and are not shared with any third party without express permission. The Council(s) welcome collaborative proposals and approaches from social enterprises and views this PIN as the beginning of a dialogue with organisations, with the view to include service users also throughout the process. If you would like any further information, please email with the following title UASC PIN to Contract.&.Commissioning.Team@flintshire.gov.uk (WA Ref:119229)