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6 March 2024
Preventing children coming into care event
 On Thursday 1 March, hundreds of people who work with children attended our event in Stafford to think about how we can work together to support children to stay with their families and thrive.
Professionals from different organisations including Staffordshire Police and health joined the conversation about why children come into care and heard the powerful voice of children about the impact being in care has on their lives.
Strengthening partnership working is an important priority for our directorate, it impacts everything we do and is crucial to our improvement journey.
The event brought people together in a thoughtful and creative space to reflect on what they as individuals and organisations can do differently to support children, and empower families to thrive and stay together.
Keynote speaker Steven Russell challenged and inspired everyone with an emotional presentation about his experience of both being a child in care and working as a professional to support children.
Thought provoking workshops and 'market stalls' showing some of the different types of support available in Staffordshire helped people making meaningful connections to collaborate and change children's lives.
Thank you to everyone involved in delivering the event and to all those who attended and contributed on the day.
Nine out of ten families allocated their first choice secondary school
 On Friday 1 March, nine out of 10 families found out that they had been allocated their first choice secondary school, thanks to the dedication of our School Admissions Team.
Since the end of October they have been working hard to allocate more than 8,000 secondary school places.
The results speak for themselves:
- 8,482 offers to parents for a Staffordshire secondary school
- 90.8% per cent were for a first choice school
- National and regional average is around 83 per cent
- Nearly 99% were allocated one of their top three preferred schools
Even though demand for secondary school places has increased, the overwhelming majority of parents were still offered their first-choice school place.
The number of families in Staffordshire allocated their first choice is well above the national and regional average of 83%.
We're extremely proud of the team's clear guidance and grateful for the work they do with schools both in our county and in neighbouring authorities every day to make sure Staffordshire school places are allocated fairly and efficiently.
Jenny recognised by national campaign
 📣 This week, Jenny Edwards, Social Work Practice Lead, was featured by the British Association of Social Workers as part of their nationwide campaign to highlight amazing social workers every day in March.
Jenny was nominated by Becci Foster who said:
"Jenny has worked hard over the last year supporting ASYE social workers across the local authority. She has shown empathy, compassion and patience in supporting these newly qualified social workers ensuring they feel confident, supported and skilled at the start of their career. Jenny is at court with them, visits, meetings and has sat and gone through assessments and processes. Starting a career in social worker can often be daunting and overwhelming and thanks to Jenny’s support many new social workers have felt reassured and supported to during their first year employment."
Well done Jenny and thanks Becci for making the nomination.
Children share their experiences of being in care through new animations
 The powerful stories and experiences of Staffordshire's children in care feature in a new series of animations helping people who work with children understand how it feels to be a child in care.
To protect the identity of the children, a character called 'Rolo' the cared for bear has been created to share their real life stories and experiences of foster care and residential homes in Staffordshire.
Two videos have already been shared with colleagues, practitioners, partners and carers across Staffordshire, with further episodes planned for release.
Created and shared by The Voice Project, the videos are just one of the ways we're listening to children and helping their voices to be heard.
If you would like to know more about the project email: Georgina.mummery@Staffordshire.gov.uk
Changes to child sexual exploitation and missing service
From 31 March 2023 the child sexual exploitation (CSE) and missing children service is changing.
When the current contract expires on 31 March 2024, CSE and missing services will no longer be provided by Catch22.
The child criminal exploitation (CCE) service will not be affected by the change and will continue to be provided by Catch22.
Child sexual exploitation service (CSE)
All new referrals should be made to our 'inhouse' CSE team who are part of our Futures Matter service.
Catch 22 will not accept any new referrals for CSE support and are working with us to safely transfer all active cases over to the inhouse team.
The new referral process for children at risk of CSE is:
- Risk factor matrix documents and queries about CSE should be emailed to: CSEinbox@staffordshire.gov.uk
- A member of the 'inhouse' team within Futures Matter will triage your email
- The team will contact you to discuss levels of risk and need
Missing service
Child criminal exploitation service (CCE)
Catch 22 will continue to provide this specialist support for children at risk of child criminal exploitation.
The referral process for children at risk of CCE:
Look out for Liz!
Many of you know Liz Fuller, Deputy Principal Social Worker. Liz is one of five colleagues featuring in our organisation's campaign to celebrate International Women's Day.
In the run up to International Women’s Day (Friday 8 March) stories highlighting some of the fantastic women who work here at Staffordshire County Council are being shared on our Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and Nextdoor accounts.
Keep an eye out for the post about Liz which is due to be shared on our social channels later this week - please show it some love 😊
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