Better Understanding Better Outcomes Ged Fitzgerald Chief Executive

Better Understanding – Better Outcomes Ged Fitzgerald - Chief Executive Liverpool City Council

Objectives: • Strengthen our collective response to families in need of help & protection. • Ensure there is a clear understanding of the Levels of Need Framework so we provide the right response at the right time. • Ensure there is a clear understanding of ‘Early Help’, and the guidance and support available to practitioner from the 3 hubs. • Improve the quality of partnership working in order to improve outcomes for Children & Families.

Context: • The findings of the partnership (JTAI) inspection (July 2016) application of the Levels of Need & partnership engagement in Early Help. • Families tell us we could do better, sooner. • Prevention is better than cure • Early Help is more effective in improving outcomes & building resilience. • Reactive involvement is costly. • Financial landscape means we must make better use of our collective resources.

What do we need to do: • Strengthen our partnership working – build on each others strengths, knowledge & skills. • Listen to families and work with families – not ‘do’ to. • Take a ‘strength based approach’ – building on the existing strengths of families and communities. • Be individually accountable as well as proactive - respond to children & families in need of early help. • Only refer families to statutory services whose needs cannot be met through early help.

Vision & Ambition for the City : The Children’s & Families Trust Board – ‘ the best city in the UK to grow up in’ • • • Having the best start Being ready to learn Being ready for school Being ready for work Being healthy, happy and safe from harm

WORKING TOGETHER TO MAKE THIS HAPPEN :

Liverpool – Local Context

Liverpool – Local Context (Q and A) • How many children age 0 – 18 are living in Liverpool 96, 933 • The number of children living in poverty in Liverpool? 1 in 3 • The number of Primary school aged children entitled to free school 27% • The number of young people who are NEET (not in Education, Employment or Training) 6. 3% (Please note: 19. 2% of activity for young people in Liverpool is not known and as this is more than 50% above the national average of 8. 4%, it is possible that the number and proportion of NEET will be higher) • How many children were subject to an Early Help Assessment being opened during the 1 st and 2 nd quarters of 2016/17 1126 - This compares to 1043 children for the same period in the previous year –an 8% increase

Liverpool – Local Context (Q and A) • Which of the following agencies undertook this highest number of Early Help Assessments between April – September 2016: School 103 Children’s Centres 160 3 rd Sector Orgs 11 Hubs 135 (include step down from social care) Health Visitors 16 Midwifery Services 0 • The number of currently assessed as being a ‘Child In Need’ (Section 17) at the end of 2015/16 is: 2807 • The number of children subject to a Child Protection Plan at the end of 2015/16 is 377

Liverpool – Local Context (Q and A) • How many Children currently ‘Looked After’ by the Local Authority as at 31 September 2016 1099 • What is the average cost to the City Council for a Looked After Child? £ 151, 733 • What is the attendance rate for primary schools in Liverpool 95. 4% • What is the attendance rate for secondary schools in Liverpool 93. 59%

Liverpool Safeguarding Children Board Working Together to Safeguard Children and Young People in Liverpool

Liverpool Safeguarding Children Board (LSCB) The role of the LSCB is to coordinate local work to safeguard and promote the welfare of children and: to ensure the effectiveness of what the member organisations do individually and together.

“Safeguarding children – the action we take to promote the welfare of children and protect them from harm – is everyone’s responsibility. Everyone who comes into contact with children and families has role to play. ”

Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children is defined as: • Protecting children from maltreatment; • Preventing impairment of children’s health or development; • Ensuring that children grow up in circumstances consistent with the provision of safe and effective care; and • Taking action to enable all children to have the best outcomes. Safeguarding takes place across a continuum of needs

Challenge of local context Deprivation can interact with other stress factors resulting in children’s needs not being met adequately. The majority of people living in deprived circumstances parent their children effectively, but it is a lot harder. Many face social and personal challenges and these factors affect their capacity to provide what their children need to the extent that the children suffer, or are likely to suffer, significant harm. Df. E: Identifying when parenting capacity results in neglect

Core Business – Coordinate & Evaluate the Effectiveness of Safeguarding Services Key Areas of Focus 2016 -17 Reducing the harm to children and Young people and impact arising from: • Neglect • Domestic Abuse • Criminality • Exploitation including sexual • Improving the Emotional Health and Well Being of children And • Responding to safeguard children In the First One Thousand Days (Conception to Age 2)

Joint Targeted Area Inspection – Key Findings “Multi-agency senior leaders across the partnership in Liverpool share a vision, ambition and commitment to protect and improve the lives of their vulnerable children and young people. Despite the many challenges they face – they operate in a context of increasing demand for services and substantial reduction in resources – we found evidence of strong collaboration between agencies. ”

However…. . ”Thresholds are not embedded or consistently applied and the sporadic use of the multi-agency referral form exemplifies this finding, leading to too many inappropriate referrals to children’s social care. ” “Confusion regarding thresholds, coupled with issues of capacity, create drift and delay in assessing risk by key partner agencies. ”

Recurring Themes; Audit, Review, Inspection • Poor Multi Agency Working Together • Poor Information sharing • Poor Multi Agency Understanding and Assessment of the Impact of Neglect • Poor Understanding of levels of need • Early Help not embedded • Culture of ‘handing over’ - Anxiety about managing risk Are we sharing the responsibility?

Ok…. . we all know the challenges…BUT We have to respond to need more effectively and we have to embed early help. How do we make it work? How do you make it work?

Table Discussion

Task: • What can your organisation do to improve the collective response to need as it arises? • What can you do as an individual to better respond to need? Please capture your thoughts on flip chart paper provided

Small change, Big difference! If we all change one small aspect of our practice, the change in outcomes will be big.

What next? As a professional working with young people, you may have opportunities to identify issues early so it is important to familiarise yourself with the signs and indicators that a child or young person needs are not being met. Your role is to offer support, to build on family strengths to develop resilience and to work together with colleagues or professionals in other agencies.

Better Understanding…Better Outcomes

Consider…. • What are the risk factors for this family? • What are the strengths for this family? • What does it feel like being Carly? • What are the likely outcomes for baby Holly?

Consider…. • What made a difference? • Identify the areas of good practice that led to better outcomes for this family.

What do We Have to Support Us? Locality Early Help Coordinators Chad Thompson / Peter Owens / Pauline Ashton / Chris Lyle Permanence / Pam Cattell Children's Assessment

Three Locality Early Help Hubs North: Altvalley Communiversity, Tel: 0151 233 3637 Email: EHLHnorth@liverpool. gcsx. gov. uk Central: Wavertree One Stop shop Tel: 0151 233 6152 Email: EHLHcentral@liverpool. gcsx. gov. uk South: Belle Vale Children’s Centre Tel: 0151 233 4447 Email: EHLHsouth@liverpool. gcsx. gov. uk

Early Help Team Structure Locality Early Help Coordinator Consultant Social worker Family Outreach Support Worker EHAT Officers Addaction Families Worker DWP Families Advisor Family Intervention Team ** Police – Blue Light Hubs ** Development and strategic discussions stage

Early Help Assessment Tool (EHAT)

Workforce Development EHAT Training Early Help Seminars LCVS Capacity Building For The Future LSCB Open Space Events/Multi Agency Training Partnerships Work (GP’s, Hospitals, Housing) Measuring Impact Tool

What Tools Do we Have to Help Us ü Early Help Directory ü Early Help Strategy ü Responding to Need Guidance and Levels of Need Framework ü Levels of Need Pocket Guide ü Early Help Practitioners Guide

Careline and the MARF Careline • Is the front door and decision maker to referrals accessing Level 4 (Children's Social Care Statutory Intervention) • Provides direction to the referrer on the outcome of their assessment • Partner Services within the Careline process to MASH (Share intelligence and information) in order to make better informed decisions on what to do next Multi Agency Referral Form (MARF) • Tool to assess if referral requires level 4 (statutory intervention) • All agencies must complete a MARF when contacting Careline • Enables professionals to better understand the levels of need • Increase professional accountability • EHAT can replace the MARF if already in place – no need to duplicate.

What can Early Help do that a Social Worker cant ? ü Team around the Family (TAF) and Lead professional ü Voluntary Engagement and Less Intrusive ü Spend more time with families ü Link to other services and build on partner expertise ü Coach and Support professionals – EHAT Officers ü Educate, Enable and Empower

Think Early … Think Family. . Take Action Thank you

Local Case Study When Early Help Works Well

SO WHAT’S NEXT ?

2. What can get in the way of families accepting support? 3. What can families do for themselves? How do you identify what to do next and if it should be you or someone else? ? What can you use to ensure that you are engaging families effectively and securing consent? What’s stopping children and families from dealing with their needs/issues and why they need someone else to help them? A DECISION MAKING FRAMEWORK STRENGTH BASED CONVERSATIONS 1. Do you know of a child/family in need of support? ATTACHMENT THEORY LEVELS OF NEED 4. Are you having the right conversations with children and families? How can you get the most from your engagement with children and families and how can you capture this and ensure partners work together to provide support? EHAT & SUPPORT JOURNEY / HUBS / EARLY HELP DIRECTORY

EHAT ü Simplified and shorter – greater detail in guidance notes ü On Line submission being developed – ability to save/print a copy will by a key requirement – increased security ü Quality Assurance Framework – quality begins with the initiator/line manager and then sampling right to the top – family feedback on interventions are fundamental ü Local version of Impact Measure being developed

How will we know if there is improvement? ü Behaviour Insights Programme ü Feedback from these sessions ü Evaluations ü On going dialogue with partners ü Data – Review of current position

How will we know things are improving ? Date for your diary MONDAY 8 MAY 2017 9 AM OR 1 PM DEVONSHIRE HOUSE, EDGE LANE

BEFORE YOU LEAVE TODAY ü Thank you for attending – we recognise your time is pressurised ü Please complete the Evaluation Form in your Pack – and sign the declaration for on the reverse ü Please continue to tell us anything that will help us change practices so that we can collectively make the difference to enable Early Help better support families in our City.