Early Help Newsletter - June 2016

The only number you need

Whether you think a parent or family needs some support, or you are worried a child might be at risk of abuse or neglect, there is only one number you need – 0345 6789 021. From this number you will receive the support you need to get the right help at the right time to strengthen families and safeguard children.

The pathway image above is available on the early help website. https://www.shropshire.gov.uk/media/2071393/Shropshire-pathway-to-strengthening-families-and-protecting-children-final-April-2016.pdf

ECINS Briefings

From the 1st April 2016, ECINS became the Case Recording System for Strengthening Families through Early Help for new cases.  We appreciate that not all practitioners were in a position to start using ECINS from this date so we have applied a phased approach and supported with training during the transition.  We are now offering some training sessions in Shrewsbury over the next few weeks, or training can be arranged for local areas.

• Monday 27th June 2016 from 9.30am to 11.30am
• Thursday 7th July 2016 from 1pm-3pm
• Tuesday 27th September from 3-5pm

All of the above training sessions will take place at Monkmoor Training and Development Centre, Shrewsbury.

To book a place on the above briefing, please email ShropshireStrengtheningFamilies@Shropshire.gov.uk

For further information, support or to sign up to ECINS, please contact Strengthening Families

ECINS Users – Update

If you’re an ECINS user we will soon be sending you regular updates specifically about the ECINS system. These will include information about system changes and developments, top tips to help improve your user experience and guidance on data quality.

If you would like to find out more about signing up and using ECINS then please contact Strengthening Families on ShropshireStrengtheningFamilies@shropshire.gov.uk

Strengthening Families through Early Help Locality Meeting

Locality Meetings have changed. They now offer practitioners the chance to share information about services and resources; a forum to network, an opportunity to participate in an ECINS clinic and a closed session to discuss nominated families. Referrals will be accepted to the closed meetings a week before the meetings. Please contact Helena Williams to discuss. ShropshireStrengtheningFamilies@shropshire.gov.uk 01743 253924. To participate in the closed meetings your organisation will have had to have signed up to the Strengthening Families through Early Help Information Sharing Protocols.

Central (Shrewsbury)

28th June 2016 from 3-5pm – Booking code 61270T

19th September 2016 from 3-5pm  – Booking code 614271T

At Monkmoor Training and Development Centre in Shrewsbury.  Parking is available at the venue.

South West (Ludlow and Church Stretton)

29th June 2016 from 3-5pm - Mayfair Community Centre, Church Stretton, SY6  6BL – Booking code 61272T

20th September 2016 from 3-5pm  – Rocksprings Community Centre, Ludlow, SY8 1SX – Booking code 61273T

The Mayfair Community Centre has a pay and display car park close by and there is limited on-street parking. Rocksprings Community Centre has a small car park and there is limited on-street parking.

South East (Broseley) 

5th July 2016 from 3-5pm  - Booking code 61274T

28th September 2016 from 3-5pm – Booking code 61275T

At Birchmeadow Centre, Broseley, TF12 5LP.  There is free parking at the venue.

North West (Oswestry)

4th July 2016 from 3-5pm – Booking code 61276T

26th September 2016 from 3-5pm – Booking code 61277T

At the Castle View, Oswestry, SY11 1LH in the Council Chamber. There is no parking at the venue, however, pay and display car parks close by.

North East (Market Drayton and Whitchurch)

11th July 2016 from 3-5pm – Centre North East Youth Centre, Whitchurch, SY13 1QL - Booking code 61278T

29th September 2016 from 3-5pm – The Parish Rooms, Market Drayton, TF9 1AQ – Booking code 61279T

Parking at Centre North East is available at the Tesco’s car park next door, The Parish Rooms at Market Drayton has a small amount of on-street car parking and the church car park nearby is also available to use.

To book onto any of the above sessions, please email cpd@shropshire.gov.uk, quoting the course code.

Family Group Conferencing (FGC) within Early Help

We welcome Sasha Bellis into the Family Group Conferencing team, as part of a one year secondment. Sasha’s primary role will be to support families as part of early intervention where she will be working alongside Early Help Social workers and the social work assessment team. Sasha’s role will involve focusing on cases where there is potential for step up to the social work teams by providing an opportunity for family and friends to make their own safe plans that support the needs of their children, in doing so preventing the need for social work involvement.

Sasha will also be offering FGC’s where low level mediation is needed to help parents come together and make decisions for their children. Intervention here could protect the child from conflict, help parents make decisions concentrating on the needs of their children and prevent the need for assessments for the court, in private family proceedings.

Within the Assessment Team FGC’s will be offered to social workers to referrer families where it’s deemed a robust family plan would prevent continued social work involvement and to step down into early help.

Strengthening Families Information Sharing Documents

ECINS has been introduced in response to practitioner consultation, to have a system that allows agencies to share information about families confidently, thus avoiding duplication and ensuring families get the right service at the right time.  To get access to ECINS your organisation needs to sign up to the Strengthening Families Information Sharing Agreement, Data Sharing Protocol and the ECINS Memorandum of Understanding. Heads of organisations can find them on the early help website  or by emailing ShropshireStrengtheningFamilies@Shropshire.gov.uk

Shropshire’s SEN and Disability Local Offer is growing!

Over the summer we will be working closely with Shropshire Council’s Adult Social Care website - Shropshire Choices - to improve the quality of the information for young people aged 16-25 with SEN and Disabilities on both sites. This information will not only help young people to make informed decisions about their education, health, and social care options, it will also provide you with the tools and information to support families in the transition from children’s to adults services. When preparing for adulthood the information we provide can make all the difference in ensuring a smooth and comfortable transition between services. Being better informed about the possibilities and options available can help relieve some of the apprehension that surrounds families at this time.

If you know of any service that should be promoted via the local offer or of any information you feel should be shared, please email local.offer@shropshire.gov.uk

Early Help website – Have your say

We’re busy developing a new Early Help website and we’d like your input. Can you answer these 4 simple questions to help shape our developments?

The current website is https://www.shropshire.gov.uk/early-help/ 

• How often do you visit the early help website in a week?
• What do you use the early help website for?
• What do you like about the early help website?
• What improvements would you make to the early help website?

Send your answers to EarlyHelp@Shropshire.gov.uk and thank you for taking part.

Domestic Abuse – Euro16

It is a known fact that there are higher levels of incidents of domestic abuse during a world cup or European football tournament. The reasons for this increase are multi-dimensional, but now Euro 2016 has kicked off, it is important that we are all aware of the signs of domestic abuse, and how to support victims.

If someone you know is affected by emotional, financial, physical or sexual abuse they can call the Women’s Aid 24hr Helpline on 0800 783 1359. In an emergency, dial 999. Shropshire Safeguarding Children’s Board (SSCB) offer training on domestic abuse. To find out more about the training available visit their training webpage http://www.safeguardingshropshireschildren.org.uk/scb/prof_training.html

REMINDER - Getting communication right

Good communication is important to us and we'd welcome your comments and feedback on what works for you. Do you like frequency, length and content of the Early Help newsletters? What do you think of the Early Help Website? What else could we try to get messages out to you? If you want to share your thoughts then please email kate.bentham@shropshire.gov.uk

Shropshire Council

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