Agenda item

[Andrew Wolverson, Head of Service, to present report]

Andrew Wolverson, Head of Service – People, introduced the report. The report details the impact of the early intervention programme which is aimed at keeping children safely at home. The Head of Service advised the panel that the restructure of the early intervention programme started in April 2016.

The Head of Service commented on the overall progress made by the programme and the positive impact made against the stated objectives. The Head of Service accepted that there was more work to be done to build on the progress made.

The Head of Service reported that the numbers of looked after children had remained relatively stable during the last 12 months, but was confident that the right children had been placed in care. The Council had the highest intake of children under five years and older children.  The Head of Service commented on the issue of cases involving youth violence and the use of knives and the work being done with Youth Offending Team to provide the right level of support in these circumstances.

The Head of Service commented on the positive impact on the parent champions programme in supporting and encouraging people to get involved with initiatives supported by the early intervention programme. The parent champions have been able to engage with parents that the service has not been to work with. The Head of Service advised the panel that the contact by parent champions is done with the consent of the family.

The Head of Service briefed the panel on the results of an analysis of the assessment of the three key issues facing each of the localities. The Head of Service advised the panel that action plans had been prepared and delivered by members of the multi-agency strengthening families partnership groups in the locality.

The Head of Service commented on results showing the areas highest levels of referrals to the MASH team are Children’s Village and Whitmore Reans and the work being done to respond to increase.

The Head of Service commented on the important role of the Council in helping families but also highlighted the contribution of partner organisations in offering a flexible response to help meet the needs of local families.  The Head of Service added that the Council wants to get more partner organisations working at the early intervention and making referrals to the early assessment team.

The Head of Service commented on the work being done to restructure working practices with a focus on prevention and to offer families support at the right level. The aim of the providing support is to give skills that build the family resilience so they will need less help from the service or have the confidence to access the support or information themselves to deal with the situation.

The panel discussed the work of the youth offending team in dealing with issue of violence and the relationship with early intervention teams. The Head of Service commented that the service had two dedicated police officers working within the strengthening family hub to support families dealing with issues of domestic violence. The number of police officers has since increased since the report was published to four.

The involvement of the police has been very positive and has help to provide intelligence about families that may benefit from the support offered by members of the early intervention team. The panel queried the support offered to other family members where a child is involved in violence. The Head of Service reassured that panel that the early intervention team would work with the whole family and offer support to other children to build positive self-esteem; this work would be done jointly with the school.

The panel discussed the high number of referrals in areas and the contribution of factors such as a deprivation and unemployment and queried the reasons for the service wanting to collect further evidence, when there was general agreement about the impact of these issues. The panel commented that the issue of lack of resources was a known major factor in families and there was concern about the impact of a delay while gathering more information which will lead to the same conclusion at the end of this process.

The Head of Service accepted the historical nature of the issues in certain localities but added that further evidence is needed to better understand why families who have been referred straight to MASH were not previously known and what could be done to either have prevented this or to better supported the family at an earlier stage.

The Head of Service added that the issue for the service was to decide if the we have got the resources, in terms of staff with the skills needed to identify families who are in need at a much earlier stage.

The panel discussed the source of referrals from partner organisations and the work being to promote the use of the referrals to the early intervention time and to encourage them to support families by sharing information and good practice.

The Head of Service commented on the work done to get greater clarity on the roles and responsibilities of partner agencies in ensuring a whole system approach to the transformation of the service. The Head of Service added that work is done to detail the expectations of health visiting service that better support the future vision of the offer of families needing help and the targets to be achieved when commissioning services.

The panel discussed work with Wolverhampton Homes and private sector landlords to work with the service when dealing with families facing eviction.

The Head of Service commented that the Council is working to agree minimum standards about the length of the eviction notice so that the necessary support can be provided by the early intervention team to the necessary help the family during the period to allow time for arrangements to be made following an eviction notice.

The panel discussed the translation resources available to support families with second language who are in contact with the early intervention service. The Head of Service commented that employees have access to reliable online translation services when meeting parents in these circumstances at the first meeting with a family. In addition, the services of a translation agency and telephone service is also available if needed.

The panel queried the reasons for the difference in the numbers of people who are reported in para 3.4 as ‘unwilling to engage’ between the different localities – for example, Children’s Village (24.03%) compares to Dove (6.81%) and the implications for the work of the early intervention team. The Head of Service commented that the service is offered based on consent, unlike other agencies such as the police who have the powers to enter a property when there are safeguarding concerns. The figures are also affected by changes in family circumstances from the date of the original referral to date when visited or the family resolving the issue in the meantime without the need to involve the early intervention team.

The Head of Service commented on the work done to agree consistency in the applying the threshold for intervention and referral. The Head of Service explained that he wants to have a discussion with partner organisations about the process used to decide if a family meets their threshold for action. The aim being to get achieve a greater level of consistency when dealing with cases. The Head of Service commented about the need to engage better with all schools about the circumstances where a family case would be need escalated to the Multi Agency Safeguarding Hub(MASH). The Head of Service commented discussed the range of promotional and information events to raise awareness about the work of the early intervention team and the criteria for making referrals to the service.

The Head of Service explained that Wolverhampton Safeguarding Board has issued an escalation policy and the service is working with partners to ensure it is applied consistently across the different.

The panel discussed the support available to families experiencing the issue of domestic violence and the circumstances where a case would be escalated.

The panel welcomed the report and noted the success of the early intervention team.

Resolved:

1.    The panel agreed to support the next steps detailed in section six of the report to better understand how the service can achieve the aim of keeping children safe.

2.    The panel agreed to note the findings of the report and endorse progress made by the early intervention service.

3.    The panel welcome the progress made to recruit parent champions and would like to add its congratulations about the impact of their work in supporting local families.