Children’s Services and Voluntary & Community Services Alliance Finding Common Ground County Durham Children’s Services and Voluntary & Community Services Alliance Helen Riddell and Karen Davison Children’s Services Durham County Council

Overall aim of the VCS Alliance Improve outcomes for vulnerable children, young people and their families; Further develop the links between DCC Children’s Services and the Voluntary and Community Sector; Enhance community capacity; Reduce the numbers of re referrals into statutory services;

Working Together The transformation of frontline services highlights a recognition that partners need to work together more effectively to improve outcomes for families, tackle neglect and a wide range of issues impacting on the family. County Durham benefits from a strong VCS delivering a broad range of projects, activities and interventions to children, young people and their families. The VCS is often able to provide ongoing long term support at a local level that enables families to remain supported without the need of statutory services We envisage fundamental changes in the relationships between the statutory services and VCS partners to deliver better services to children, young people and their families, building upon existing networks and relationships that have been built up across the county.

Voluntary and Community Sector Alliance so far Early starter areas – Ferryhill and Stanley localities Identified a range of community based provision and key partner organisations Provided all relevant staff with information about the project and introduced the Advice in County Durham referral portal VCS is referenced in the new Children’s Services Referral Form Consultation with CS staff and VCS partners (survey monkey) Development of focus groups Work will begin ferryhill and Stanley (in line with OP and FF boundaries) and embedded into these localities by end Nov 17

Finding our common ground Challenges and Benefits Always changing and reorganising so hard to keep up with who's who Opened my eyes up to how things work behind the scenes and all of the work that needs to go in to protect children Other organisations are specialist in their field and have better understanding and knowledge about a certain thing and can give better advice and support time it takes from referral to making an appointment can be a challenge when you are working with hard to reach families Co-odinated support plan to ensure all support options are made available for the family and services do not duplicate support. Survey Monkey quotes VCS quotes blue CS quotes green Challenges first 4 bubbles Benefits last 4 bubbles Not knowing what services are available within the local area holistic approach to working, often there may be opportunities with other funding through the voluntary sector for opportunities. only some staff are aware of our services we only receive referrals via them which means a lot of families are missing out on the help we can provide.

Finding our common ground Suggestions for the future Fast track system would be good if an individual is working with a service.   carousel/ networking events having up to date information Regular updates about other organisations and what they have to offer Attend more group meetings so we can explain our services Open minds and a willing to engage with networks, Info from survey monkey Anyone working with clients that have these organisations involved should have some brief training

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