Agenda item

Sharon Hubber, Director of Children's Social Care, Education and Children's Services

To receive information on the Lancashire Safeguarding Model.

Sharon Hubber, Director of Children's Social Care gave a brief outline on how work on the implementation of the Lancashire Safeguarding Model, which was due to go 'live' in Lancashire on 1 October 2020 was progressing.  Walsall Council's project was currently 'live' and intelligence informed Lancashire that referrals for child protection plans were dropping considerably as they strengthened their family support.  This is the result that Lancashire would wish to see when they implemented the Family Safeguarding Model.

As from April 2020, an experienced practitioner and their support team from Hertfordshire County Council would be on site working with Sharon and her team in Children's Social Care.  A Department for Education Civil Servant Project minder would also be working with Edwina Grant OBE, Executive Director of Education and Children's Services and a senior researcher to look at "what works for children's social care".

The Board were briefed on the descriptors behind the Hertfordshire Model which were as follows:

·  Changing Child Protection to keep more children safely within their families.

Changing our behaviour with families so they too can change their behaviour and accept support on offer.

·  Multi-agency Teams working together to support children and parents.

Multi-agency teams tackling domestic abuse, parental mental health and substance misuse to improve children's lives.

·  Motivational Interviewing: Working with resistance and developing family strengths.

A new approach to social work that creates sustainable behavioural change in parents so that children can remain safely at home.

·  Family Safeguarding Work: Freeing up Practitioners to spend more time with families.

Reducing bureaucracy, guiding intervention, multi-agency recording, making social work a doable job.

Lancashire's descriptors so far were:

•  Lancashire family safeguarding: supporting families to succeed in Lancashire.

•  Linked to our vision for Education and Children's Services in Lancashire: 'Children, young people and their families are safe, healthy and achieve their full potential‘

•  Lancashire also need to develop a common narrative, which is currently being worked on.

The Board were reminded as to why Lancashire needed to adopt this new way of working and by doing that, it would enable:

•  More time with families and a whole family response.

•  Keeping more high risk families together by reducing physical and emotional harm.

•  Improving health and education outcomes for children.

•  Strengthening of information sharing.

•  Provision of high quality services at lower cost.

•  Caseloads of fifteen provide for real social work.

Things that would be different were detailed as follows:

•  Current social workers would cover Children in Need, Child Protection, Children Looked After and leaving care.

•  Lancashire Family Safeguarding – would define teams where safeguarding was identified.

•  There would be more focus on domestic abuse, alcohol or drug problems or mental health.

•  Work as multi-disciplinary teams.

•  Separately, focus on the 2000 plus children looked after and young people leaving care.

•  Contextual safeguarding which was not family safeguarding.

The Board were informed of what would be happening between January and April 2020 on this project, which were as follows:

•  Two appointments had already been agreed: A Systems Lead Officer to ensure the family safeguarding workbook and a Policy and Practice Officer.

•  The Lead Head of Service has been appointed.

•  A Communications post was currently being advertised.

•  The Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub review was to be completed and threshold document re-launched.

•  Response to contextual safeguarding grounded so that it supported this work but had a separate focus.

•  Need to focus on early help “we are all early help workers now”.

•  Begin to recruit the adult workers.

•  Link with the Violence Reduction Unit work and other work such as Adverse Childhood Experiences.

•  Organisational Development strategy.

•  Motivational interviewing.

Young people asked whether what was happening with the Government and cutbacks would have an effect on this project and it was confirmed that the money had been agreed to carry the project out.

The Board commented that there were too many systems and procedures which the Board had previously raised and learning that there was now to be one system for all was pleasing to note.

The Board were also informed that there was to be a separate functionality for the Leaving Care Service and the Head of Service for Leaving Care would be asked to attend future meetings of Corporate Parenting Board.  There would also be discussion in the near future with care leavers to ask for their views on what they would expect a care leaving service to provide.

Health providers in attendance at the meeting also welcomed the drive to work together to support young people and their families.

Sharon was thanked for her presentation and update to the Board.

Resolved:  That the Board noted the information and would receive further   updates as the Lancashire Safeguarding Model work moved   forward.