We're re-designing this website and want to hear from you. Help shape the new Local Offer!

Maya Angelou Family Centre

Haringey’s Maya Angelou Family Assessment and Contact Centre provides independent parenting capacity assessments (including PAMs assessments), Family Network Meetings, Family Group Conferences, and supervised contact for families with children.

What we offer

Supervised contact

All our contact supervisors are fully trained and experienced at working with children and their families.  They are all DBS checked and qualified in paediatric first aid.

We offer a range of contact services including: 

  • Fully supervised contact (with a lead worker and includes a report)
  • Supported contact where we can observe beginnings and endings, also throughout if required (lead worker and short report)

The aim of the service is to provide a safe, secure and child friendly environment where children can have face-to-face contact with family members. As a result of the COVID-19 global pandemic, we have also adapted our services to provide virtual supervised contact sessions.

After each contact session parents are given the opportunity to have feedback from the supervisor. By providing specific parenting advice, where appropriate and agreed by the parents the contact supervisor’s observations can also provide evidence of parents’ capacity to make and sustain positive changes in contact sessions.

Supervised contact starts once a risk assessment has been completed and a contact agreement meeting held with the parent/family member and the Centre. The aim of this meeting is to jointly agree aims and expectations in a collaborative way.

Independent Parenting Capacity Assessments (Including PAMs assessments)

Qualified and experienced social workers complete Parenting Capacity Assessments (PCA’s) at Haringey’s Maya Angelou service.  

Where appropriate PCA’s take place in conjunction with a family therapist and/or a Family Support Worker. 

PCA’s draw on evidence-based research and use a range of assessment tools, including the Parenting Assessment Manual also known as PAMs. The Parent Assessment Manual (PAM) developed by Sue McGaw is a specialist tool for assessing the parenting capacity of individuals with learning difficulties. 

The PAM involves examining a parent’s knowledge and understanding about key parenting tasks (such as feeding or stimulation) using cartoons and a visual parenting booklet. The questions linked to the cartoons and parent booklet are simple, one concept questions, without jargon.

Observations of key parenting tasks are undertaken to see how a parent can put their skills and knowledge into practice. Each area of parenting is then rated according to the individual’s capacity and recommendations for teaching and support are made if necessary.

The Parenting Capacity Assessment explores a range of issues relating to parenting. This includes, where relevant, an analysis about the impact of adult mental health, learning disabilities, drug and alcohol use and domestic violence on parenting.

The assessment explores family influences, for example whether a parent is able to sustain a supportive relationship with a partner, friends or extended family members. 

Family Network Meetings and Family Group Conferences

Family Network Meetings and Family Group Conferences are about identifying and harnessing the strengths and resources from within a child’s network of family and friends; involving the people who know and care about the children most as their supporters when they need help with day-to-day family life.  

Family networking and family group conferencing can include anyone who the parents and the children feel are important to them. This could include grandparents, a neighbour, friends, extended family members, religious leaders, or a community group leader.

Whilst these meetings are supported and co-ordinated by professionals, they are led by the family.  Families are encouraged to create their own internal resources of support first, before reaching to outside sources away from their personal networks (i.e. professionals).  

The goal of the meeting is to bring the family and their wider network together, to create a Safety Plan for keeping children emotionally and physically well and happy.  

Back to top


How it works

Contact Us

Where to find us

It's easy to find us and there are lots of interesting shops, restaurants and green spaces to visit nearby.

The centre is open:

  • Monday to Friday -  9am to 7pm
  • Saturday -  9am to 5pm
  • Sunday - 10am to 4pm. 

Address: 39 Winkfield Road, London, N22 5RP - first left past the Crown Court on Lordship Lane.

See the Maya Angelou Family Centre on Google Maps (external link)

The centre is five minutes' walk from Wood Green underground station (Piccadilly Line). 

Back to top


 

Page last updated:

January 10, 2022