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Reform and Transformation Briefing
Dear all,
Please attend one of these sessions where myself, Celia Lamden, Chris Jackson and Jo Nash will provide an update on the transformation reforms happening across Children’s Services.
The information to be shared at these sessions will provide more information on the below:
The 4 strands of reform:
- Earlier intervention – ESCC is looking to support our partners to hold more lower level risk and take a team around the family approach at an earlier stage. Some options include creating a professional help line, and providing Team Around the Family Co-ordinators. This move to more preventative work is more helpful for families as they get support before problems become entrenched, and it really helps Children’s Services finances as it reduces the cost of statutory services.
- Family Help teams – this is a government directive that early help and social work teams (Locality) combine to create a Family Help service – the emphasis here is to create a more seamless and effective service. Even if you are not in those service areas come along to hear about what the plans are. If you are going to be directly affected by these changes you should also attend but you will also receive fuller briefings especially as plans progress.
- Multi-Agency Child Protection Teams – this is the creation of social work led teams with police, health and education involvement, providing child protection advice and support to Family Help teams. This is at an early stage and will require planning across Sussex with our partners.
- Family Network Meeting and Kinship care – a critical success factor in this transformation work is supporting the workforce and partners to have the skills, when safe to do so, to facilitate family network meetings (a version of family group conferences), as often it is this network that provides the long term solution to issues around child safety and care. If the child remains unsafe then the family network steps in to provide the care needed. Come to this briefing and hear about where we are up to re the model of the Family Network Approach and thinking about practice guidance.
We want to reassure you that you will be kept informed and if you will need to make changes yourself or in your team, you will be given plenty of advanced warning, opportunities to contribute your views and time to plan for this. Our guiding principle in this transformation is to preserve good practice and ensure stability within the system.
Updates will also be provided via:
- A regular newsletter.
- Regular briefings from your manager
- If your service is going to be part of this transition you will be engaged in the process of design and implementation. Your manager will share more information when you need to be involved in that work.