Bernie Stanner Team Manager Families First

April 2014 Initial Steering Group meeting Subsequence meetings Evolving practice through FRP I may have false memory syndrome but I seem to recall at our first Steering group there was a feeling that MST wouldn’t enhance the offer from MCC, as our target cohort was already taken care of. I also wondered whether having an outside agency deliver a service might have caused some anxiety that this might be the way Manchester would provide services in the future, possibly phasing out internal services. Families First have an excellent track record of keeping families together, so this may have seemed like an additional service that duplicates the work of FF At first glance the cohorts look similar in that both services focus on keeping children at home when it is safe to do so   I think that we then met and began discussing how each service is different and meets different needs. Through the FRP it became clearer quite quickly that the offers are subtly different, but very different nonetheless. FRP was a great way for multiple services to come together and add value to SW’s plans. It was through FRP that we were able to help SW’s access the right service at the right time, so MST referrals would become FF families and FF families would become MST families. FRP (now ARC) has successfully increased the visibility of MST and SW’s have a clear understanding of the referral criteria and referral pathway Through this greater understanding there was a significant increase in telephone enquiries being forwarded to both services, where the SW had been advised to call MST or FF for a consultation to assess whether the service could be helpful.

Different services FF neglectful or abusive parenting = placement risk 0-17years focus on improving parenting to improve the outcomes for the child Motivational interviewing and SFBT 6 weeks (60 hours) MST Wilful misconduct of the child = placement risk 11-17 years Focus on parent/systems managing the child Based on social ecological theory Behavioural techniques – strategic and structural family therapy Up to 20 weeks (60 hours) + 24 hour support The cohorts are very different. FF work with families where the adult has substance misuse problems. domestic violence or abuse, history of violent or abusive behaviour, mental health issue. The top clinical concern is the parents behaviour. MST work with families and broader systems when the child demonstrates two or more referral behaviours in more than one system including, physical or verbal aggression, poor school behaviours or attendance, alcohol or substance use, ASB and criminality, MFH/curfew violations. The top clinical concern is the childs behaviour. In both services there will be overlaps where, a parent who has an alcohol problem, but the main concern is the child’s excessive violence A child who’s attendance at school is poor, but the main concern is the domestic abuse perpetrated by dad. The theories underpinning the models are also different but sometimes may use similar techniques. Ff came out of a welsh imitative to help parents who have substance misuse problems be good enough parents, based on SFBT and MI MST is an American model based on Bronfenbrenner social ecological theory. Both services use behavioural and CBT techniques in addition to other theories

Where are we now MST and FF work well together, passing queries/referrals to meet the needs of families MST and FF help families in crisis by coordinating approaches where necessary MST has a presence in Manchester and Sw’s in each locality know the criteria and referral pathway. MST has been integrated into Children’s Social Services and is an integral part of the “offer” to Manchester Families