|
Welcome to the July edition of
the early help newsletter. In this
edition you will find a case study which shows the positive impact early help partnership
working has had. It answers the ‘So what?’ question and demonstrates how multi-agency
working can benefit the whole family.
Also look out for two tools which can support practice, one is a
screening tool to understand more about a young person’s substance misuse and
the other is a tool for practitioners supporting children and families affected
by a family member’s offending.
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.
As we head towards the summer break, I wanted to thank you
all for your continued support and involvement in Strengthening Families
through Early Help. It has been a year of significant change, to both systems
and processes, and your willingness to adapt to these changes has very much
been appreciated.
I have seen evidence of a skilled and dedicated workforce
striving to ensure children, young people and families in Shropshire have
access to the right service at the right time.
Our audits show examples of practitioners working in a
multi-agency way for the interests of the whole family. For some, this whole
family approach has been a change in practice, but with the supporting tools
and training available we have quickly seen this way of working embed within
organisations.
Later this month we will be bringing all partners, key
stakeholders together for an Early Help Convention, to ensure we have a shared
vision, set of values and a shared future, putting children and young people at
the centre of our strategy. There are still some places available on the
Early Help Convention on the 20th July, so please register here if you are
interested in attending this event.
Fran Doyle
Head of Early Help, Partnerships and Commissioning
Here is an example of some great partnership working right
across children’s services and broader Early Help Partnership. A
portfolio of case studies along, and service user feedback, will help to
evidence how effective Early Help is in Shropshire and demonstrate the
difference made to children, young people and families.
A 46 year
old grandmother has a special guardianship order and is the single carer for
her daughter’s two children, one of the children attends primary school and the
other attends pre-school. The bi-logical mother lives out of area and
there is a contact plan in place. The family were known to Social Care
before coming to live with their grandmother.
The
assessment identified issues with health, children’s behavior, parenting,
financial exclusion and worklessness.
A
multi-agency response included a Health Visitor, School, Children’s Centres and
Enhance and the Strengthening Families Employment Advisor.
Enhance
referred Grandmother to the Employment Advisor as she wanted to go to college.
The Employment Advisor researched college opportunities and Grandmother started
a care course along with math's and English. She passed the course and started
a part time care Job (10 hours a week). A few months later her hours
increased to 18 a week and she came off Income Support.
Shortly
after, Grandmother started a second job of 12 hours a week at a children’s Day
Nursery taking her hours up to 30 hours a week.
It took 18
months from starting her college course to becoming self-sufficient working 30
hours but in her own words, “without the help and support I would never have
been back in work so soon and doing a job I love”.
Impact on
the family:
- Financial
stability for the family
- Reduced
mental health stress related to dealing with debt and less debt
- Children
feel settled and are doing well in school
- Children’s
behavior has improved
- Self-confidence
of Grandmother in supporting children’s developmental needs
- Family
self-sufficient
- Family
getting on with enjoying life.
The case is
now closed, all outcomes achieved.
Young Addaction, supports young people to understand the effects of their
substance misuse and the harm it can cause to them and the people around them.
The service has recently updated their SMARTER screening
tool to enable staff to carry out a brief assessment of
needs, paying particular focus to substance use, at risk groups and at risk
situations as identified by the practice standards. The tool will indicate when
specialist advice should be sought for a young person. This tool, as well as
many other supporting practice tools, can be found on the Early Help website.
The brand new Practitioner’s Guide to supporting children and families
affected by a family member’s offending is an invaluable resource
based around key principles of working with this group. It has been produced by
i-Hop and pulls together tried and tested practical tools, the experiences of
offenders’ families as well as information and organisations to sign post
families to. This guide can equip your teams to talk to children about a
loved one’s offending, explore their feelings, provide age-appropriate
information, prepare children for prison visits, help separated families stay
in touch and support children to cope with loss and change. It has
received excellent feedback from practitioners who are using it in their work.
Thursday 16 November from 9.30am to 4pm
Riversway Elim Centre, Harlescott, Shrewsbury
Course Aim: To
promote good practice in relation to adults, children & young people
affected by domestic abuse and identify how practitioners can respond
appropriately to safeguard them.
Target Audience: Anyone working regularly with children,
young people or their families including Designated Leads in Schools and Early
Years settings, Childminders, Social Workers, Early Help Practitioners, Health
Visitors, School Nurses, Nurses, Midwives, other Health Care Professionals,
Adult Services Practitioners working with families where parents may have
mental health or substance misuse issues, Education Welfare Officers,
Counsellors, those working with children and families in the voluntary sector,
Independent and Local Authority Care Providers.
Learning Outcomes:
- Make the necessary links between
domestic abuse, the impact on children and child protection
- Recognise the signs of domestic abuse
and the risks posed to children
- Listen effectively to what children and
adults say about experiencing domestic abuse including coercive control
- Know how to respond and what to do
next, including understanding resources, signposting and the referral
process
- Identify good practice when working
with families experiencing domestic abuse
- Appreciate the importance of
multi-agency communication and effectively working together
Cost: £70.00 per delegate for those agencies that
do not contribute financially to SSCB (see page 9 of the SSCB/EH/ECINS Training
Schedule). Please note that refreshments are not provided on this training. Delegates will have to purchase their own
refreshments from the onsite cafes at the venues.
Application: All applications must be made online via the
appropriate link from the SSCB webpage http://www.safeguardingshropshireschildren.org.uk/scb/prof_training.html
Learners will need to Register first if they have not attended
multi-agency training within the last 2 years and then Apply by logging into
their multi-agency personal learner record.
For assistance with Registering or Applying for training please contact
Tracey Bowen, SSCB Multi-agency Training Administrator 01743 254370
sscbtraining@shropshire.gov.uk
Wednesday 1 & Thursday 2 November 2017 from 9.30am to 4pm on both
days
Riversway, Harlescott, Shrewsbury
Target Audience: Any professional who wishes to deliver SSCB
approved Raising Awareness in Safeguarding Children/Young People training to
staff within their own agency or on a multi-agency basis through the SSCB
Training Team.
Aim of Programme: To enable learners
to become competent and confident to deliver the ‘Raising Awareness of
Safeguarding and Child Protection’ training on behalf of Shropshire’s
Safeguarding Children Board to agencies and organisations working with and
caring for children and young people as required within Statutory
Guidance’. By the end of the course,
participants will: be familiar with the ‘Raising Awareness’ module; have
explored relevant legislation and publications which underpin our practice;
should understand and reflect on own and others learning styles; be able to identify
methods and skills required to present the module confidently, adapt resources
effectively to enhance learning and improve Safeguarding practice.
Cost: £300.00 per delegate for all agencies who
do not contribute financially to SSCB (see page 9 of SSCB/EH/ECINS Multi-agency
Training Schedule). Please note that
refreshments are not provided on this training.
Delegates will have to purchase their own refreshments.
Application: Anyone interested in attending should contact
Tracey Bowen the SSCB Multi-agency Training Administrator on 01743 254370 or sscbtraining@shropshire.gov.uk for the
Application Pack and Agreement Forms.
Just a reminder
that the 3rd round of Locality Meetings for 2017, running through September
& October, will focus on Children in Need. Guest speakers will provide us
all with information about how they can work alongside other professionals to
support families.
This should support
early help practitioners to feel more confident, especially around concern 3 as
they develop the family action plan.
In addition, these
meetings are a great networking opportunity for any agency working with
children, young people and their families in the area.
Forthcoming meeting
dates are:
Central Shropshire
Tuesday 12
September
3.00 – 5.00pm
STDC, Racecourse
Crescent, Monkmoor, SHREWSBURY SY2 5BP
North East
Shropshire
Thursday 5 October
3.00 – 5.00pm
Venue TBC -
WHITCHURCH
North West
Shropshire
Wednesday 13
September
3.00 – 5.00pm
Oswestry Library,
Arthur Street, OSWESTRY SY11 1JN
South East
Shropshire
Thursday 12 October
3.00 – 5.00pm
Severn Centre,
Bridgnorth Road, HIGHLEY WV16 6JG
South West
Shropshire
Tuesday 26
September
3.00 – 5.00pm
Lacon Childe
School, Love Lane, Cleobury Mortimer, DY14 8PE
To book your place
for any Locality Meetings please email or phone Tracey Bowen, SSCB Training
Administrator sscbtraining@shropshire.gov.uk 01743 254370 giving your name, agency, job
title, contact number, contact email address and which date/venue you wish to
attend.
Website: https://new.shropshire.gov.uk/early-help/practitioners/training-and-events/
Please
feel free to forward this newsletter onto your colleagues. If they want to get
this newsletter direct to their inbox, they can sign up here http://new.shropshire.gov.uk/early-help/practitioners/news/
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 new 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
| 
