BRIEFING SESSIONS ON SAFEGUARDING PEER REVIEW

PURPOSE OF THE SESSION

• Understanding the findings of the peer review• Reminder of the vision for the Council’s Children’s Services• Understanding the revised thresholds document• Reminder of the importance of a whole system focus• An opportunity to reflect on your role in working with colleagues

from Children’s Services to improve outcomes for children and young people

• Slides will be emailed following all the briefing sessions

SLIDES WHICH FOLLOW WERE USED BY THE PEER REVIEW TEAM IN THEIR FEEDBACK SESSION

The Peer Team

• Gail Quinton – Director of Children's Services, Worcestershire

• Gareth Barnard, Member Peer, Bracknell-Forest • Pat Elliott – Operations Manager, Warwickshire

• Helen Jackson - Head of Child Health Commissioning, NHS Norfolk & Waveney

• Kay Burkett - Review Manager, Local Government Association

• David Asher – Case Reviewer • Amy Weir - Review Analyst

Peer Review

• Peer review is based on agreed themes

• Not an inspection – invited in as “critical friends”

• Information is confidential and non-attributable

The Process• Front-line questionnaire • Case file mapping group• Case records review• Audit validation• Document and data review• Initial thoughts presentation• Interviews and visits• Prioritisation conference

NB. “The case record review found that there has been improvement in the quality of child protection practice. No child or young person was found to be at risk of significant harm.”

Safeguarding Children Themes:

• Vision, strategy and leadership• Effective practice, service delivery and the voice

of the child• Outcomes, impact and performance

management• Working together (including health and

wellbeing board)• Capacity and managing resources

Agreed areas for the peer team to review:

• Is there evidence of a developing learning culture on safeguarding in all partner agencies which focuses on outcomes?

• How good is awareness and understanding of child protection practice across all agencies?

• Are the systems which have been developed for ensuring that child protection practice effective?

• What evidence is there that children and young people have early access to services when they need them (below social care thresholds)?

Vision, strategy and leadership

Strengths :

• Clarified the operational vision for safeguarding• Visibility of members, DCS and senior managers valued• Safeguarding is a stated priority for the Council and reflected by

key partners• Improvement Board in place with good engagement • Significant planned and continued resources

Areas for further consideration:

• Clarity about how strategies and governance fits together• Simplifying planning and sticking with it• Continued focus, pace, capacity and future• Succession planning for key roles• Tailor communication

Effective practice, service delivery and the voice of the child

Strengths:

• Recognition across the partnership of progress being made• Evidence of introduction of new ways of working• Revised threshold document and its importance• Voice of the child emerging• Principal Social Worker roles seen as positive and valued

Areas for further consideration :

• Inconsistency is recognised • Develop sharing of good practice further based on the child’s

journey• Continued focus on quality through reflective practice• Degree to which early help is impacting on safeguarding pressures• Risk management and information sharing

Outcomes, impact and performance management

Strengths:

• Evidence of escalation of concerns• Practice standards enabling greater clarity• Scrutiny having a positive impact• Audit framework in place

Areas for further consideration:

• Further develop the sophistication of audit implementation• Use the knowledge to build a learning culture• Supervision making a difference• Make the performance information work for you• From process to outcomes

Working together (including health and wellbeing board)Strengths:• Readiness for HWB• Willingness to engage and a strong commitment to a more focused

WSCB • Impact of inspection has driven positive response• Good examples of joint working

Areas for further consideration :• WSCB to strengthen and to hold partners to account • Pace and impact of newly formed WSCB• Thresholds implementation to drive understanding and working

together• Good quality multi-agency training strategy and delivery• WSCB business plan to be updated• Roles and responsibilities of partners understood

Capacity and managing resourcesPositive observations:

• Wiltshire has a good range of resources – opportunity to harness to good effect •Commitment to investment in keeping children safe in Wiltshire• Good joint commissioning • Range of resources to increase capacity• Caseloads appear to be more manageable• Morale good at front-line and staff feel listened to more

Areas for further consideration :

• Resilience and sustainability• Recruitment drive• Behaviours framework used to support accountability• Open learning culture not yet mature across the partnership• Workforce development

Peer Review – agreed priority actions

• Moving from process to outcomes• Resilience and sustainability• Sharing good practice further based on the child’s

journey• Recruitment• Roles and responsibility of partners and the LSCB

ANY QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS ON THE PEER REVIEW FINDINGS OR ON

THE PRIORITY ACTIONS?

Safeguarding – key messages

Excellent practice to keep our children and young people safe

We will achieve this by:• SMART child focussed plans underpinned by good risk

assessment• Outcome focussed practice• Continuous improvement-debate and challenge• Excellent communication with all parties

Wiltshire Children’s Services Vision

To safeguard and make a positive difference to the life chances of children, young people and families by:• Reducing inequalities• Promoting resilient communities, families and individuals• Prioritising effective prevention and early intervention• Ensuring high quality, accessible, integrated and customer

focused services• Raising achievement and well-being, particularly for those

vulnerable to poorer outcomes

INTRODUCTION TO THE MULTI-AGENCY THRESHOLDS

Multi-agency Thresholds document

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3Children with

severe/complex needs

4Children withacute needs

SPECIALIST INTENSIVE SERVICE

SPECIALIST INTENSIVE SERVICE

GO STRAIGHT TO LEVEL 3 AS SOON AS RISK OF SIGNIFICANT HARM IS IDENTIFIED

1Children whose needs are met

2aChildren with an additional need

2bChildren with

multiple needs

UNIVERSAL SERVICES

SINGLE TARGETED

SERVICE

MULTIPLETARGETEDSERVICES

Multi-Agency Forum

Step

Up/

Step

Dow

n to

Soc

ial C

are

Children’s Social Care Referral & Assessment Service

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4616 calls & emails 610 become

ContactsAND

438 become Referrals

Average monthly activity

306 Initial Assessments82 Core Assessments

NB. Our current estimated rate of initial assessments for 2012/13 is 436 per 10.000. The latest available information on our statistical neighbours is a rate of 292

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The Munro Review of Child Protection

• “Preventative services can do more to reduce abuse and neglect than reactive services. Many services and professions help children and families so co-ordinating their work is important to reduce inefficiencies and omissions.”

• “Early help is better for children: it minimises the period of adverse experiences and improves outcomes for children”. One of the principles of an effective child protection system.

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“Clear messages from 2010 Working Together guidance are

that social workers are not the answer to every problem.

Safeguarding is everybody’s business and universal services,

such as schools and early years settings, have a crucial role to

play, not only in identifying children at risk of significant

harm, but also in co-ordinating preventative services to

provide targeted support at the earliest sign of problems”

• 1297 SARFs (Specific Agency Referral Forms registered between September 2011 and November 2012).

• 1173 open CAFs (as at 30 November 2012).• 64% of all recorded contacts and referrals do not meet

Social Care thresholds (Autumn 2012).• 500 is the government estimate of the number of families

with complex needs in Wiltshire.• 11.6% of children on Health Visitors’ caseloads are in families

with complex needs (October 2010).

Levels of need in Wiltshire

The role of Multi-Agency Forums (MAFs)

• All services and schools attending a MAF sign up to Terms of Reference (TOR) which promote integrated working, professional respect and a shared vision advocating early intervention to support local vulnerable children and young people.• MAFs are locally managed and operate within the framework of the county- wide Multi-Agency Thresholds document. Their success in promoting early intervention to support effective ‘joined up’ level 2 intervention by all services and prevent escalation to level 3-4 services was recognised in the authority’s Ofsted report. They do this by:

promoting better information-sharing; facilitating advice and signposting; achieving a more immediate response from agencies to support individual children and families;identifying and responding to gaps in provision locally for vulnerable children and families generally.

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The Area CAF Coordinators promote early intervention and integrated working through support and advice to the Lead Professional and the Team around the Child process by;

Running a Monday to Friday CAF helpline Quality assuring all registered CAFs.Attending the Multi- Agency Forums (MAFs) operating in each community area Delivering area based training. Attending the Gateway panel.Supporting the process of ‘step downs’ and’ step ups’ to Children and Families

The role of the Area CAF Team

.

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Gateway Panel

• Focuses on access to family and parenting support services, providing a gateway to:The Wiltshire Families First ServiceThe Family Group Conferencing ServiceThe Children’s Social Care Family Support Service The Specialist Family Assessment and Support Service provided by Oxford Health (who run local Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services).Adolescent Support workers and Prevention Project

• Meets weekly and adopts a principle of “no delay”.• Families are referred via a CAF (part of planned step down from social care) or an ASSETT form from youth offending team. • Mostly for families where some intervention already exists following completion of CAF. • Proper oversight of the support that families are receiving. • Tracking system for Troubled Families initiative (Complex Families initiative)

A multi-agency Gateway Panel has been established to prioritise and manage access to higher level family and parenting support services.

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Wiltshire Families First Service

• Run by Action for Children - started on 1 April 2012.

• For families and parents of children and young people who do not meet the social care threshold but with needs which cannot be met by support offered by Children’s Centres and Parenting Support Advisers alone.

• The family situation will be complex which might be due to: Ongoing and problematic substance misuse of parents; Mental health needs of parents; Domestic violence; Learning difficulties of parents; Offending or risk of offending or anti-social behaviour of children; Parents in receipt of statutory parenting orders.

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Key Contacts

CAF Team: 01225 713884 (9-5 Mon-Fri) CAF@wiltshire.gov.uk

Early Years: 01225 757950

SEN Support Service: 01225 718095

Social Care Referral & Assessment Team: 01380 826200 referrals@wiltshire.gov.uk

Emails containing personal or confidential information must be sent to: referralsandassessment@wiltshire.gcsx.gov.uk

Emergency Duty Service (Safeguarding): 0845 6070 888 (out of hours service)

Remember: Information sharing with consent from the parent (or young person if appropriate) is required unless there is evidence of serious harm or neglect.

Guidance and tools are available on www.wiltshirepathways.org and soon on the new-look www.wiltshirelscb.org website

CAF helpline Mon- Fri 9-5 Tel: 01225 713884 caf@wiltshire.gov.uk

Children’s Social Care Referral and Assessment TeamTel: 01380 826200 (out of hours Tel 0845 607 888)

CAMHS Tel: 01225 905094

Further support and guidance

For 5/10 minutes in 2s or 3s:

Are you clear about your roles and responsibilities with regard to the multi-agency thresholds? If not could you note down any issues or areas where you are not clear on a sticky note. (This will help us in planning further dissemination)

WHERE NEXT?

• Reference Groups 22nd March 2pm to 4.30pm – better integration and more synergy across Children’s Services

• Following up on priority actions – incorporating these into the Safeguarding Improvement Plan

• From week of 8th April the weekly social care bulletin will become a Children’s Services bulletin

• Beginning to think about implications of the new safeguarding inspection framework which has a strong focus on early help

• Continuous improvement and a drive for excellent outcomes for Wiltshire’s children and young people