1. Executive Director of Children’s Services
Parallel Parenting
Andy Elvin
CEO, TACT
Scott Ruddock,
Executive Director of Children’s Services

2. Failed Returns Home
£300 million per annum
What does it cost you ?

4. “ …reunification remains a largely invisible area of practice”
NSPCC Returning Home from Care 2012

5. Edge of Care – Who needs the Service ?
Ofsted (2011, Edging Away from Care, 11 LA’s)
Young People aged 11 or over, where entry into care has been considered by the LA, either voluntarily or by legal proceedings, but had not yet entered care.
University of East Anglia (2013 Thematic Review of Edge of Care)
(Services) tend to concern older children (over the age of ten) in circumstances where care is needed imminently (for example today or tomorrow) or where there is no immediate crisis but there is a likelihood of care in the near future.

6. Edge of Care – Who needs this service
DofE (Rethinking Support for Adolescents in or on the edge of care)
three quarters of – adolescents return to their birth family…………. However, 40% will re-enter care within five years with many of them cycling in and out of care.
Faced with this complexity….. the care system is often caught between two competing priorities: to provide an immediate place of safety; and to develop a long-term plan based on individual needs. This requires strong, strategic commissioning.

7. Wider Picture
Approx. 37% of all children return to parent(s) at some point
Majority will be s.20
Most were in care due to family crisis
Largest age group are years olds, s.20
Second largest age group 1 – 4 year olds
64% of children in care for less than 12 months returned home to birth family
(DofE 2013)

8. Parent Re-unification Breakdowns
Routes back into Care
Parent Re-unification Breakdowns
47% breakdown within two years
30% return to foster care within 5 years
33.3% experience two or more failed reunifications and re-entry to care
Poor parenting skills is a key indicator of breakdown
(Loughborough Univ. 2014)
For many, indeed most, returning home from public care is the most probable ‘permanence option’ but for those with rather complex needs it is the least successful (SCIE 2015)

9. Routes back into Care from Family
SGO and CAO Breakdowns
Breakdown rates range from 0% %
Majority breakdowns are within 2 years, of which 67% were within 12 months
Higher rates of breakdown with under 11’s than Adoption
Following breakdown, majority (82%) placed back into care with un- related foster carers
8% were placed into residential care
Adoption breakdowns
Breakdown rates range from 0%- 7.4 %
Minority (14%) happen within 2 years
(DofE 2014, Beyond the Adoption Order)

11. Cost Impact – Supporting at home
Extra Social Care Staffing Costs
Social Work Support Visits 8 hours 15 mins +
50mins Team Manager
Care planning meetings 7 hrs 40 mins +
30 mins admin
Decision Making activity (legal, supervision, calls etc.)
Re: child returning
£ 370
£ 320
£ 990

12. Cost Impact – Supporting at home
Extra Support Unit Costs (hourly)
Family Centre Parenting Support (80%)
Adult Mental Health Team (60%)
Drug and Alcohol Support (50%)
CAMHS (45%)
£30
£63
£119
£115

13. Cost Impact – Supporting at home
High Needs £3,783 (53%) Medium Needs £2,372 (16%) Low Needs £1,181 (31%)

14. Cost Impact – Failed Re-unification
COSTS per re-entry for 1 year
Decision Making + homefinding £ 990
Foster Care £ 45,982
Legal £ 4,262
Placement Change £ 626
Cost £ 51,860
Average National Cost £ 61,614
National Cost £ 291,904,593

18. Behavioural Gains What do we do with the lessons we learn ?
How do we share them ?
Who do they benefit ?

19. Characteristics of Successful Re-unification Services
Care Enquiry (2012)
High intensity, relationship-based work and multidisciplinary team-around- the-family approaches can help motivated parents to meet the needs of children returning home from care.
Specialist, speedily provided, reunification services have been shown to be more likely than ‘services as usual’ to lead to stable placement with birth families
There is an evolving evidence base on decision-making, planning and managing the transition back home that can lead to improved outcomes for children. 
Well-planned ‘respite’ and short-term placements with foster carers trained in working towards reunification can increase the chances of parents with complex problems meeting their children’s long-term needs.

20. Parallel Parenting Project
TACT Cymru Foster Care/Bangor University (Centre for Early Intervention Wales)/ Cardiff City Council

21. Background 5,755 Welsh children are in care
Over 50% of children return home at some point
25% of those come back into care
Cost of placement failed reunification in unknown but likely to be commensurate with England
Social cost and impact on child immeasurable.

22. Aims, Objectives and Outcomes.
To reduce the amount of time young people spend in care unnecessarily and to improve the likelihood that re-introduction back home is permanent
OBJECTIVES
To provide an innovative model of short term care based on research and evidence, providing good long term outcomes;
To use trained and experienced carers skilled in building positive relationships between children and their parents;
To use home coaching, delivered by foster carers, to enable a transfer of skills
To provide specialist support to children and families and an aftercare service to ensure children stay home successfully.

23. 10-15 children maximum, aged 0-12 years, over 6 months pilot
PHASE child is looked after by the carer
PHASE 2 – shared care or respite
PHASE 3 – child is home / with kinship / in adoption placement

24. Eligibility

25. Where do we want to go? (Continued)
Reduction in length of unnecessary stay in care
Avoidance of care proceedings in PLO system
Reduction in length of proceedings
Successful re-unification for children beyond parental control
Reduction in young people returning to care
Reduction in costs and
Improved outcomes for young people in terms of wellbeing

26. Implementation
Provision of focussed short term foster placement with carer trained in therapeutic care;
Foster carer provides 12 week programme of 1:1 parenting support and role modelling, using Incredible Years Home Coaching model;
Rehearsal visit once a week, Goal setting, parental agreements.
Monthly core meetings with all agencies and family to monitor progress and actions;
Academic evaluation

27. Outcomes Hard Outcomes
Return of child home within a specified timescale
Reduction in number of days (average) that children stay in care
Reduction in re-admissions for children who have returned home

28. Outcomes Soft Outcomes
Improvement in parents perception/ confidence in their own ability to parent the child
Improvement in child’s perception of their relationship with parents (and vice versa)
Improvement in child’s behaviour when in parent’s care
Reduction in dependence of parent upon Social Services