Team Around The Child (tac) and Team Around The Family (taf) Meetings

A TAC or TAF Meeting can be called by any agency that has concerns about a child or young person with additional needs that they feel may require a response from more than one agency. The convening agency is responsible for coordinating the meeting arrangements i.e. invitations, venue, chairing and recording the meeting.

Parents should have an active role in the TAC meetings, if the young person is agreeable and their contribution should always be recognized as they have a central role in meeting the needs of the child or young person. Some parents may need to be supported to achieve this due to their own unmet needs.

The people who attend the meeting are:

• Parents
• Children
• Social workers
• Police
• Housing Trust
• Midwife, health visitor, school nurse
• Nursery teacher, school teacher, special educational needs teacher
• Speech therapist
• CAMHS (child and adolescent mental health service)
• And any other services involved in the family

My experience of TAC/TAF meetings they tend to be quite a relaxed where the focus is very much on support. Because there has been a CAF assessment done, no one is fixated on safeguarding issues, though of course all the usual rules apply – if there are concerns about the safety of the children, things will escalate.

From point of view when I attended meetings like this it was mainly on an Anti-social behavior level and we would try to get the child to agree to a set of rules called an ABC contract (Acceptable behavior contract) rules would be set out such as being home at a set time and attending school on time. in agreements, children are asked to not only sign that they will not perform the identified behaviors but that they recognize that breach may result in application for an ASBO and that, if the ASBO is breached, they may face imprisonment of up to 5 years and/or a fine up to £2,000.