Children and Young People’s Trust Partnership 30 January 2012

CAF and the Continuum of Need Louise Taylor Director for Specialist Services

Review of CAF and the Continuum of Need July 2011, Safeguarding Children Peer Review External view of the quality of our safeguarding arrangements ‘Areas for consideration’ indentified by the peer review team: 1.“Review the Lancashire Continuum of Need and ensure there is common understanding of the thresholds, particularly at Levels 3 and 4 2.Resolve the role of the CAF process and its interface with social care casework”

Lancashire’s response Multi agency task and finish group - LSCB and the CYP Trust Representation includes: children’s centre; health commissioners and providers; district CYP trust; police; schools; social care; VCFS; LSCB and youth offending To ensure the effective use of CAF and CoN in Lancashire To make recommendations to the Lancashire CYP Trust Board and LSCB in March 2012

Task and finish group – agreed principles A need to focus on outcomes not process Working with families not doing to Shared responsibility – not handing over/referring issues Keep it simple

Key themes highlighted through the task and finish group CAF as an assessment tool and not for referrals CAF works well when colleagues use it regularly and have a confidence in the process The CAF form must be solution focussed and should be worked through alongside the family There is some inconsistency across sectors around the understanding of tier 4 thresholds The CoN is a good reference point for practitioners

Key themes highlighted (cont.) There is a need to clearly understand the service offer within CoN The language around CAF and CoN needs to be clear and consistent Lead professionals provide a point of consistency for families

The task and finish group identified four themes to be developed..... Simplify and shorten the CAF form as a family or individual assessment tool – asset based, not referral tool, outcome focussed Simplify and clarify the CAF process – request for service form, thresholds document Understand the service offer that is available, mapped against the CoN, and establish a model to communicate this Use consistent and clear language in all of the above – asking the question ‘would a family understand’?

The Lancashire CYP Trust Board has agreed a refreshed CoN

Other progress..... Draft individual/family assessment tool produced and being tested with families and young people working with YOT CYP Trust Board has agreed a refresh of the language within the CoN and to pilot budget holding lead professionals Request for service form is being developed to ensure that the CAF is used as an assessment tool and not as a referral tool Thresholds document being produced to ensure practitioners are clear about the level of need that must be evident to access statutory services within ‘not coping’ Mapping of the county/district service offer has begun and there are ongoing discussions around how we use the Help Direct model to communicate this offer

Questions.... What else do we need to consider (an opportunity to feed into the work of the task and finish group)? The task and finish group have been looking at some of the tools we need to work with families effectively eg CAF form, thresholds doc, CoN etc. What do we need to do to ensure these tools are embedded within our practice?