Key management messages
Dear colleague,
On the 18 December 2015 we met
with the Department for Education (DfE) to review the progress of Devon’s
Children’s Services in relation to the Intervention Notice set out by the DfE.
This was an important meeting to consider the future of Devon’s Intervention
Notice.
Although
we will have to wait for the official decision from the minister in early
January, it is our impression that the meeting went well and that DfE largely
share our view that we have made great leaps of progress over the past couple
of years. While DfE recognised the good progress made by Devon they did however
also stress the importance of continuously seeking to improve and warned of the
danger of complacency following “graduation” from intervention measures. We
have done well to get to where we are now, but we have to acknowledge the risk
of slipping backwards if we stand still. Secondly, DfE also highlighted that
partnership-working continues to be a big challenge and that DCC needs to keep
up work to ensure engagement in partnership-work from our colleagues in other
agencies.
We will keep you all informed when we receive
the official decision from the minister and in the meanwhile we would like to
take this opportunity to thank all of you for your hard work in relation to
improving Devon’s Children’s Services. Without the continued efforts of all of
you it would not have been possible to be where we are today.
Our Children’s
Improvement Plan
forms an integral part of our improvement journey, providing a high level view
of the multi-agency activity that is working to improve outcomes for children,
young people and families in Devon who are looked after or in need of
protection.
Following the meeting with the DfE, the plan has been updated:
As we've mentioned before, we have made
significant progress together and we have every confidence that we will
continue to push forward with the actions, to ensure we further improve
the outcomes for children in Devon which remains a top priority for us all.
Important
Security Reminder
The
Council was recently notified of a potentially damaging information security
incident where highly sensitive personal data relating to more than 100
individuals was printed insecurely. This information was identified by a
member of staff as they sorted through their own printing and found it
contaminated with the documents that another member of staff had sent to print.
Had this information not been spotted, it may have been inadvertently
disclosed, revealing information that could have potentially placed a large
number of individuals at genuine risk of harm.
To
avoid causing an incident such as this yourself, please remember that prior to
sending any documents to print you must always first check that you have chosen
the correct printer and that you have selected the ‘Locked Print’ function.
All
staff must read and abide by the Council’s guide to Printing
Information Securely. Managers are asked to ensure that their staff are
aware of this guidance.
The
Council’s Keep
Devon’s Data Safe pages contain a range of practical security guides, which
all staff are asked to read and abide by, at all times.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year
May we take this opportunity to wish you a happy and healthy New Year, and to thank you for your continued support, professionalism and hard work.
Best wishes, Jennie and James
Attachment
and relationship based practice – the model which underpins the way we work
In February 2015 we began a three-year strategy to embed ‘attachment and
relationship based practice’ as the model which underpins the way we work with
parents and carers, to help repair and re-parent children in Devon who need
intervention.
“The project focuses on new ways of assessing risk and,
more importantly, of offering help and support to children and families. This
is the first department in the UK to train all its staff in the approach, and
it demonstrates a genuine commitment to increase the confidence of
practitioners in the continually demanding job of child protection” Professor David Shemmings
In this special issue we cover:
- Four-day
training programme
- Two-day Foster
Carer training programme
- Champions
-
Video and YouTube clips
-
NICE Guidance
- Filming Guided
Parenting Task
- Key messages
for managers
- Work with the
Judiciary
-
Evaluation
and provides a report on our progress
on this journey and plans for the near future.
Newsletter
Live:
Resources and future dates – Special
Guardianship and Modern Slavery
We
ran 13 half day sessions during October and November that were looking at
Special Guardianship and the Modern Slavery Act. Overwhelmingly your feedback was positive
with many finding it a great opportunity to keep up to date, network with
colleagues and ensure curiosity in practice.
We encourage
you to use these materials to discuss in your teams and the relevance of the
topics covered to your particular area of practice.
Future dates…
The next round of sessions will take place in February and March 2016. The main focus of these sessions will be CSE and the new MACSEs, and the improved set of tools and guidance to help professionals identify and tackle child sexual exploitation.
And we welcome any feedback in regard to future
development needs.
 Devon’s Children, Young People and Families Alliance:
What it is? Who is part of it? And how you can engage with it?
Are
you up to speed with the development of the Children's Alliance? Are you
promoting involvement for the children you are working with so that they can
have their say about issues that affect children in Devon? Find out more
here.
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Important Update - Adult Social Care’s Refined Service Delivery Model
Over the past year work has taken place to internally re-organise the care management and support teams within Adult Social Care to sustain and improve service delivery, resilience and efficiency.
Find the key points for staff in children’s services to note.
Social
Care Management Information – contacting by email
 The
names of email distribution groups and shared mailboxes for adult and childrens
management information teams have been standardised to make it easier to use
the right one and harder to use the wrong one. Find out which one to use.
 HR update - Manager Briefing: Recruitment
Providing a monthly update on performance, workforce
development and recruitment activity to share with social work teams.
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Children’s Way We Work Group
Do you have
any thoughts on how the way we work could be improved? If so, please email the Children’s Way We Work
mailbox with your suggestions:
childrenswaywework-mailbox@devon.gov.uk
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