Using the voice of the

child in measuring

outcomes and managing

performanceCarole Brooks

Associate, Research in Practice

Donna Neill

PhD from the University of Bristol

The next hour…

This session explores ways to “turn up the

volume”, listen and learn from children,

young people, their families and

communities as part of the evidence base in

managing our performance.

“Are we providing the right

services, right place, right time

and expecting the right

outcomes?”

Listening to The Voice

How to capture the voice…

Be clear: what are the outcomes you are

measuring or the information you want.

Set the stage – no other ‘noise’ or distractions.

Sampling is ok – but make it generalisable

Listen beyond the words

Capture the voice(s) (various media)

First person quotes

Tools available but do keep it

Simple (NVIVO, Atlas.ti) & RiP

Add to other data: The Evidence

‘Trio’

Did you reach everyone? Did you make a difference?

Were you cost effective in doing so

Quantit-ative

Voice

(CYP, Families,

CommunityStaff)

Qualitative

(Research, audit, evaluatio

n)

Example - Outcome: “children looked after

are happy in their placement”

Performance indicators:

% complaints from CLA = 0

% who use advocacy service = low number

% placement moves = England average

Audit - Casefile and CLA reviews

Voice of Practitioner (e.g. supervision)

Voice of child/young person

NON-COMPLAINING AND

CHILDREN LOOKED

AFTER IN ENGLAND

Donna Neill (PhD)

Why don’t (young) people

complain?

Lack of trust Lack of Information Being encouraged not to

Fear, shyness, nervousness, self-blame Being grateful Stigma

Lack of advocacy or support Pre-complaint is resolved elsewhere

Conceptual Framework

Keith Hawkins: The Nature of Discretion

“A frame is a structure of knowledge, experience, values, and

meanings” that local authority staff employ when making decisions.

In other words, a frame is the process of deciding, and this process

is shaped by an individual decision-maker’s ideas of image, beliefs,

and morality”.

Michael Lipsky: Street-Level Bureaucracy

Frontline workers have considerable discretion over the nature and

amount of services they provide to clients. This discretion is

operated through and a product of routinisation of work, redefined

objectives, monitoring and surveillance, and the structuring of client

relations.

Methods

Comparison of two LAs through interviews with:

- Care Leavers

- Social Workers

- Independent Reviewing Officers (IROs)

- Complaints Managers

- Advocates

Context of Client Relations

Psychological

Impact

Managing

expectations

Defining appropriate

behaviour

Self-image

Structuring services

Space and time

Frequency of contact

Deciding who is

present

Controlling information

Setting the agenda

Space and Time

So they would come into my

workplace, I’m trying to

serve the customers at

Homebase, they would

come in and just hang

around, like, “When are you

going to do this interview?”

…They were bullying [me]

Care Leaver

I think you do have to be a bit

flexible; you know, if they

prefer to go to a trip to

MacDonald’s or something

with you because they find it

easier to talk in that

environment or you [can] pick

them up from school and

drive them back to their

placement

Social

Worker

Frequency of Contact

I think the ones that actually

need it the most don’t

understand that [you’re not

always able to turn up]

because they’re in positions of

crisis, and they want to know

they can rely on you because

they perhaps don't have many

other people they can rely on.

Social Worker

They turn up like half an hour

late, but this one, a good three

months would go or two

months would go and she

wouldn't contact me or I

wouldn't get a letter. I’d ring

her and ask her to ring me

back and she’d ring me back

like a week, two weeks later

and stuff.

Care Leaver

Deciding who is present

They probably did say to me,

“is everything all good?” and I’d

be like, “Yeah.“ Because I’m

sat there with both my foster

carers, their ASO, her and my

shitty social worker. It’s a bit

daunting to go, “Actually, I

really don’t like it here.” Or, “I

hate my social worker, please

can I have a new one?” Firstly

I didn’t know you could say

that…

Care Leaver

When they’re in a review they

roll out your bad points to

everyone, which is their job.

You know, they have to go,

“Josh lied that he went to that

appointment”, that’s quite hurtful

and quite embarrassing when

you’re in front of 31 people, you

know. “Josh has been to sexual

classes this week,” that’s

horrible, that’s horrible.

Care Leaver

Setting the Agenda

[My social worker would] just come to the house for a

meeting, sit down, go through the agenda which

would be is everyone here? Any issues need to be

raised? No. Okay, right, Lisa, everything’s going

good? Yeah, she’s getting on alright. Obviously

school was a bit... And then we’d go back into the

education, how I was doing, what are Lisa’s

predicted results or how are things going with her at

school. Mine was just truanting all the time and my

attendance was shocking. That was like the main

things that we spoke about. Alright, okay, is there

anything else to be raised? Fine, let’s put this in for

the next six months. Bam, done. That was it.

Lisa, Care Leaver

Managing Expectations

[My social worker] made it very

clear what the rules were

and, yes, what I could have,

what I couldn’t have, he set

everything out in stone.

Care Leaver

[My social worker] went beyond

her job, she really did for me

like she was just there for me.

I remember I got food

poisoning and I couldn't travel,

so all of the family went off to

Paris and I got left on my own.

They didn’t leave me with any

money or anything, and [my

social worker] came round with

orange juice and magazines

and grapes and that was what

she did, I think, for me

Care Leaver

Defining appropriate behaviour

Sometimes I’ve made written

agreements around sort of rules

and boundaries and we’ve all

sat down together and signed it

and then the young person feels

like they really are involved in

the decisions being made and

really understand about house

rules and they’re able to talk to

their foster carers a bit more

about, “I think that’s really

unfair” and “Can we look at

something else?”

Social Worker

I’m thinking about is this

little girl who was really,

really unhappy in her foster

placement and when we

ended it her behaviour

became so much better.

Part of it is just compliance

and she was just, “Oh my

God, I’d better be good

otherwise I’m going to move

again,” but she just was

happier

Social

Worker

Alternatives to Complaining

Crime

Self-harm

Running Away

Truanting

Violence

Silence

Manipulation

I look back sometimes and you were a horrible

kid, you know, very conniving, I was conniving at

the time, I would cause arguments in the foster

placements but quite on purpose. Just, I’d get a

buzz out of it. There was, I was having all my

control sucked out of me, you know, “You can’t

say no to this, you can’t say no to that, you can’t

say no to this. You will go to see a doctor or

we’ll arrest you and take you to a prison doctor.”

I was having everything sucked out of me. So

just to be able to cause an argument… I would

go into their bedrooms… I would go to through

paperwork, anything they left lying around I

would read, I was awful. I stole a car and that,

for control.

Care Leaver

Conclusion

Children looked after are a constructed into a

non-complaining body at least in part due to the

nature of their on-going, involuntary relationship

with SLBs

Example - Outcome: “children looked after

are happy in their placement”

Performance indicators:

% complaints from CLA = 0

% who use advocacy service = low number

% placement moves = England average

% who go missing from placement = high

number

Audit - Casefile and CLA reviews

Voice of Practitioner (e.g. supervision)

Voice of child/young person

A simple way to bring it together

1. SUMMARY OF EVIDENCE AVAILABLE IN THE PERIOD• Performance scorecard• Quality assurance activity• Voice of the child, community and practitioner• Other evidence of how we are doing, including use of

resources

2. REVIEW OF PERFORMANCE

3. OTHER INFORMATION AND EMERGING ISSUES FOR NEXT PERIOD (HORIZON SCANNING).

4. RECOMMENDATIONS/ACTIONS TO IMPROVE

Examples

Young Peer Reviews and Young Inspectors

Outcomes framework (Corporate Parenting

Board Pledge)

Surveys (School Survey)

As part of case closure

Performance Clinics (QAPP)

Videos

Luton Borough Council

Over to you..

Before you go….

“The most interesting

information comes from

children, for they tell us all they

know and then stop.”

Mark Twain