Early Help 05 June 2013 Lesley Whitney Assistant Director Operations & Integrated Services Children’s Services

Context Plethora of consultation/guidance re early years Children & Families Bill Working Together 2013 Ofsted - Raising standards for schools & educational settings Ofsted – raising standards for social care Developments in the provision and management of health services

Ofsted recommendations Within 6 months ensure the receipt of timely early intervention services for vulnerable children and their families by accelerating the development and dissemination of a coherent and shared early help offer Within 3 months ensure the common assessment framework is delivered to a consistent quality

Ofsted judgements These were underpinned by a number of statements including: Establishment of an early help offer for children and their families is underdeveloped and the quality of early help offered is poor Use of the Common Assessment Framework has declined Common frustration for parents was the lack of recognition of problems when they first emerged Confusion about …. the early intervention strategy approved by the Children’s Trust in 2010.

Early Intervention or Early Help? Working Together to Safeguard Children – March 2013 – effective from 15 April 2013 and should be complied with unless exceptional circumstances arise It should be followed by local authority Chief Executives, Directors of Children’s Services, LSCB Chairs and senior managers within organisations who commission and provide services for children and families, including social workers and professionals from health services, adult services, the police, Academy Trusts, education and the voluntary and community sectors who have contact with children and families.

Early Intervention or Early Help? Providing early help is more effective in promoting the welfare of children than reacting later. Early help means providing support as soon as a problem emerges, at any point in a child’s life, from the foundation years through to the teenage years. Effective early help relies on agencies working together to - identify children & families who would benefit from early help - undertake an assessment of the need for early help - provide targeted early help services to address the assessed needs of a child & their family which focuses on activity to significantly improve the outcomes for the child. Use of an inter-agency assessment to inform co- ordinated support – not an option.

Programme Structure

Early Intervention or Early Help – what does it look like in practice? 3 stages of early help and some families will move frequently between all stages UNIVERSALPREVENTION/early identificationINTERVENTION Children’s Centres Schools Colleges GPs Police Housing Health Visitors Employment Healthy Lives/ Start Smoking cessation Immunisation Teenage pregnancy strategy Parenting classes PCSOs YISP Housing support CAB SEN/CWD etc FNP Drug & alcohol FIPs Norfolk Family Focus YOT Children in Need Teams Operational Task Groups SEN/CWD support Consultancy Hospital etc family support assessment & co-ordinated plan

Aim of the Early Help Strategy We will: support those who are at risk of coming off the universal pathway to remain on it support those who have come off the universal pathway to return to it as soon as possible establish multi-agency response plans for high risk families to step down their levels of support to get them back, as close as possible, to the pathway establish a cultural shift across the professional network of engaging with others to develop a single ‘team around the child/family/community’ approach.

Effective Early Assessment Multi-agency assessment will inform the co-ordinated delivery plan & support package in order to prevent needs escalating to a point where statutory assessment and intervention is needed. Any agency can act as the lead professional – GP, teacher, children’s centre staff, family support worker, health visitor, SEN co-ordinator, etc but choice of LP should be informed by the parent & child. The provision of early help services should form part of a continuum of help and support to respond to the different levels of need of individual children & families – one dynamic assessment tool for the whole system.

Cloud-based Technology Local Coordination Person Local Coordination: Local Partnership Coordination overall provides: Professional Support Training and Marketing Accountability Holds professionals to account Quality Assurance Tracks Outcomes Identifies gaps, trends and commissions locally to meet need. County Oversight Early Help Model

Why is Norfolk’s early help offer so important? Better outcomes for children, young people and their families Improved health & well-being of the population Empowers families and communities to have more control of developing services locally that meet the identified needs of their children & young people A community based approach with greater focus on extended family and friends to form part of the support network More effective use of resources to tackle all the identified needs in a holistic way Resilient children & young people living in resilient families, living, working and contributing to resilient communities

Norfolk Family Focus (Troubled Families) National programme so there are defined criteria related to worklessness, poor school attendance and anti-social behaviour – 1700 families over 3 years Piloting new ways of working with families at the intervention stage of early help 3 teams are now operational but plans in place to expand to each district Each team comprises a Partnership Co-ordinator, Partnership Assistant and 3 Family Practitioners Funding is temporary so we must use this as an opportunity to bend the way current services are provided.

Headteacher response The outcome for the family is far better than I could have hoped for …... With the family you have been supporting, Mum is now in work and the pupil has been at school every single day this term so far. …to hear the NFF team offering meetings, support, connections, empathy and the determination to make a difference was inspiring. I can support the child in school but beyond is harder and to have my offers backed up and extended to Mum gave us all the drive to make it work. The follow up support has been strong, reliable and regular for both school and the family. To see Mum in tears at the first meeting, desperate and feeling isolated, contrasted so strongly with Mum smiling, confident and needing a short meeting so she could get to work on time - an amazing experience. ….I have every confidence that this was not a one-off success as the style and manner of the whole team assures me that you will give of your best with all the families you come into contact with. …I am certain that the determination of the team will overcome many challenges put in your way and you will have many further successes.

Norfolk Family Focus Multi-Agency Working 7 June Updated Request for Support Form and Updated MI Sheet 3 Partnership Coordinators :- Ben Blunt – City & South( ) Tansy Miller – West and Breckland ( ) Naomi Wollacott – North, East and Broadland ( ) 15

What does that mean for the relationship between the LA and schools? You are key to identifying and meeting local need We (and Ofsted) will expect you to have a strong focus on targeted groups and individuals and demonstrate the impact on each child of the service you provide “good enough parenting” is not good enough – cultural shift needed Schools need to be working closely with their local children’s centres to meet the needs of families You will be expected to work with families and partners to complete family support assessments and be the lead professional when appropriate, we hope the hub model will support you You will be expected to play a role in step up/step down arrangements We need to build strong relationships between local early help co- ordinators and school clusters We want to work with you to make the step change in service delivery that will bring about effective early help.

Finally Have discussions in your clusters about the model and let us know your ideas - better still, invite us to the discussion! How can we align services more closely to progress the development of early help? Are there barriers to you working to this model? Are you working with local children’s centres so that a more family based approach is achieved? Contacts: Lesley Whitney Sandra Summerfield Carey Cake