Welcome to the Durham Children's Homes Procedures Manual
Welcome to Durham's Children's Social Care procedure manual, this section has been developed for DCC children's residential homes assisted by tri.x. These policies and procedures are to be used across all of Durham's Children's homes and should replace all existing policies. They are not to be printed out and all staff are required to use the electronic policies which are available on this site. It is your responsibility to ensure you are familiar with the policies and procedures contained within this section of the procedures and that you are working in accordance with their guidance and requirements. If you are not clear about their content or direction you must take responsibility for discussing your queries with your registered children's home manager in the first case, or in their absence the duty manager or a representative from the senior management team within children's residential services. These procedures need to be your first point of reference as part of your induction in to the service, for points of clarity and as part of your ongoing work within the homes. These polices are regularly reviewed and updated which means you need to ensure you are regularly accessing this site to ensure you remain up to date with any changes and to ensure you are working in line with these policies and procedures.
Practitioners may also need to refer to the DSCP Procedures. In addition to the procedures available within this procedures manual, there is Durham's Resource Library section (previously called Durham Local Resources) which contains guidance, operating manuals for specific services, forms, templates, flowcharts, and leaflets. This is where you will find all the tools to help you in your practice to achieve the best outcomes for our children and their families and to support you as a practitioner within Durham. Durham's Resource Library is your gateway to all other external practice guidance, research and resources and if you have anything to add, please get in touch.
All documents/resources can be accessed in an unaltered form however, they should not be printed as they are continuously updated. In exceptional circumstances should you need to print these, please discard after 72 hours.
HOW TO RECOMMEND THE INCLUSION OF A NEW DOCUMENT OR THE AMENDING OF AN EXISTING DOCUMENT
If you would like to recommend a document to be included in Durham's Resource Library or an amendment to existing document, please contact Laura Armstrong (Laura.Armstrong@durham.gov.uk).
HOW TO FIND AND ACCESS A DOCUMENT
There are two options available when searching for a document:
Option 1: 'Search' function
This option allows you to search the Durham Resource Library in a similar way to using an internet search engine. The number of hits (i.e. the documents retrieved) is more likely to be greater than Option 2, as it searches the content of every document in the Durham Resource Library. However this option may also result in a greater number of irrelevant hits.
Click on the document, once located, in order to open it. On occasion, opening a document may require multiple attempts or there may be short delay in the document appearing on screen.
Option 2: 'Ctrl' and 'F'
Click on 'open all' to reveal links to the documents. Press and hold the 'Ctrl' and 'F' keys. This will bring up the Find box (in the top left of your screen). Type in a word / words relevant to the document you are searching for. Documents containing the word / words you have entered will be highlighted. Click on 'Next' until the document is located.
Click on the document, once located, in order to open it. On occasion, opening a document may require multiple attempts or there may be short delay in the document appearing on screen.
The content of this website can be accessed, printed and downloaded in an unaltered form, on a temporary basis, for personal study or reference purposes. However any content printed or downloaded may not be sold, licensed, transferred, copied or reproduced in whole or in part in any manner or in or on any media to any person without the prior written consent of tri.x and Durham County Council.
