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For professionals working
with children and families across West Sussex - making Think Family and
early help a success. Queries to earlyhelp@westsussex.gov.uk
Starting a new
service is both exciting and challenging, but good progress is being made. One
of the key issues is to establish a clear service identity. The
management team is currently working to clarify how we should name the
important work you are all doing, in a way that is relevant for both families
and professionals. There has been a lot of feedback so far, which has
been very helpful; and for clarity ALL teams will be using the description
‘Think Family and Early Help’. We expect the final decision on branding to
be with you by the end May.
Since January 180 families have received help via the Early Help Resource centre,
this equates to approx. 330 children. As well as the usual referral routes such
as CAP, Think Family and CYPPF, referrals have increased from schools, GPs,
CAMHS and families self-referring. The
outcomes of these referrals have led to an increase of early help plans being
initiated and support received via the local Family Support Networks. All this is extremely
positive – congratulations everyone!
Early Help Resource Centre- why multiagency working
benefits all
The multi-agency team at the EHRC consists of
professionals from a range of backgrounds that include health, police,
probation and youth workers to name a few. By working together as part of the
EHRC team they are starting to build a detailed profile of the families which
do not meet safeguarding thresholds, and instead connecting them to service
providers via the Family Support Networks. An example of how multi-agency
working in the EHRC benefits both professionals and families is the role of the
Health Visitor (HV), who has been a full time member of the EHRC team for 5
months.
Paul
Engelmann, EHRC manager explains why; “Our resident HV has developed a good
understanding of multi-agency working, effectively implementing signs of
safety, utilising IT systems and understanding the value of information sharing.”
“The families and children we
are working with have also benefitted from the presence of a HV in the
EHRC. At times it is more appropriate to have a HV, youth worker or
children and family Centre worker calling families. Families warm to a
caring and flexible response, and more so from a professional whose work is
already familiar to them.”
“We are dedicated to multi-agency working and the development of
practitioners within the team. The benefits are two-way. And when
and if an Early Help Plan is started, the multi-agency involvement with the
plan becomes much clearer. The Health Visitor has started to meet with HV
teams and is passing on the message of how the EHRC works and what early help
plans are. This builds knowledge within HV
teams throughout the county.”
Two of the six Family Support
Networks are already open for business - Adur & Worthing and Arun.
Adur & Worthing is working well and as of last week 70 families have
come through the new process via the Early Help Resource Centre. Arun has been
operating for the past few weeks and is now receiving cases from the Early Help
Resource Centre.
We are pleased to announce
that we have appointed Family Support Network Leaders, who will be
responsible for developing the network within their local district and borough
area, building purposeful relationships and networks of professionals and
communities.
Network Leaders:
Adur & Worthing – Heidi
Luck, heidi.luck@westsussex.gov.uk
Arun – Jude Day, jude.day@westsussex.gov.uk
Crawley – Paul Windsor, paul.windsor@westsussex.gov.uk
Horsham – Jo Comber, jo.comber@westsussex.gov.uk
Chichester – Phillip Finlinson,
phillip.finlinson@westsussex.gov.uk
Mid Sussex – Julie Kirwan, Julie.kirwan@westsussex.gov.uk
Other networks are still
preparing to open, but in meantime you can contact your Network Leader if you
have any questions. We will notify you as and when networks open, and until
then it’s business as usual.
For further information about
the EHRC and Family Support Networks visit our site.
It is important that all professionals working
with children and families understand how to assess and determine levels of
need and intervention. This is especially important when supporting children
who need to step up into social care intervention at level 4 and those who are
stepping down from social care into early help. The following tools are
available to help professionals with threshold understanding:
Understanding Thresholds - A half day workshop which will help to develop your understanding of how we assess and
determine levels of need and intervention for children and their families. The
workshop will use case studies to drill down into the complexities of
determining thresholds and promote confidence in supporting children who need
to step up into social care intervention at level 3 and those who are stepping
down from social care into early help.
West
Sussex Continnum of need booklet and posters - copies of these can be
found on the WSSCB website.
As a professional working with children and
families you will need to understand how to put together an early help plan via
the new IT system HolistiX. The early help plan is a tool which will help you
work with families earlier and with a whole family approach. This will mean
that professionals working with a particular family will be able to work
together to find the best solution for that family’s needs.
The following training is now available to book online:
Family Support
briefing (2hr course): An overview of
the new model for Family Support in West Sussex for all working with children
and families
Signs of Safety &
Wellbeing (1 day): An
introduction to the strengths-based assessment and case planning approach
underpinning the new Family Support model
Implementing Early
Help Plans (1 day): An overview of how to implement, carry out
and close an Early Help plan and to successfully conduct/ take part in a Team
around the Family.
HolistiX Training (1/2 day): Based in an IT suite, this session will get you
up and running on HolistiX and give you practical experience of initiating and
conducting an Early help Plan on the IT system being used for the new Family
Support model.
HolistiX Superuser Network Event (half day): In-depth support and guidance for HolistiX
Superusers to develop capacity in the workforce.
Early Help Direct Working Tools (1 day): An
overview of the tools and techniques that can be used for eliciting the voice
of the children and family when conducting an Early Help Plan.
These sessions are currently free of charge to
all internal and external partners until April 2016 and accessed via the WSSCB
Under the Care Act West Sussex CC has a
statutory duty to appoint an Independent Advocate (IA) to support any
individual deemed eligible for one throughout Adult’s Services. For Children’s
Services, this includes Young people approaching transition to Adult’s Services
and Young Carers (including parent carers). An interim Independent Advocacy Service has been procured and three
providers are operating under a framework agreement. Mind Brighton & Hove
are the contractor responsible for providing independent advocacy for young
people approaching transition to Adult’s Services and Young Carers (including
parent carers). The contact details for referrals to the IA service at Mind
Brighton & Hove are wsxindependentadvocacy@mindcharity.co.uk
/ tel 01273 666955
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