1. The contribution of children and families to professional learning in child practice reviews Barbara Firth, Independent Consultant, and Wendy Rose, Cardiff University BASPCAN Wales, 16 November 2015

2. How child practice reviews work for practitioners and managers practitioners directly contribute to reviews and are involved in the learning first hand through the learning event practitioners hear the perspectives of other professionals involved and can challenge each other practitioners hear the views and experiences of the child and/or family members practitioners can reflect on what happened good practice can be identified and acknowledged practitioners identify learning about systems and practice for themselves and for other practitioners in future this learning is reflected in the SCB report and action plan

3. Family involvement in reviews Who are the family or significant others? Is there one family view? What is the purpose of family involvement? How should we involve children? To what extent can families be involved, especially if they are deemed culpable? What should be shared with families and how? http://www.baspcan.org.uk/report.php

4. Family involvement in practice in Wales Essential to be flexible and bespoke. This includes consideration of: Clarity of purpose and the importance, therefore, of preparation, information, explanation and negotiation Who is the family: may include parents, extended family, friends, the child/young person, siblings, not necessarily as a family group Who engages with them: reviewers are generally proving to be the best people (sometimes with others, social worker, police) How to engage with them: where and when and how to structure the meeting(s) Ensuring their views are fed into the learning event and inform the report Feeding back the conclusions of the review to the family and how

5. Recognising the impact on family members of involvement We have found involvement: serves different purposes for family members, not all the same may give rise to anger or other strong emotions may provide reassurance or validation may help to ‘draw a line’ may provide a turning point in a programme of care or treatment may bring distress or revive painful memories Appropriate support may need to be available to different family members during and after a review

6. What are we learning from families about practice? Some examples: family views about professionals and their practice are not necessarily negative (but sometimes hard for practitioners to hear this) young people can contribute to parental and family assessments the gulf between families and professionals, and the misconceptions about what it is possible for professionals to know understanding the impact of past abuse and neglect on parenting managing the different perspectives of families and professionals

7. Value of family engagement in reviews Family engagement has been found to: enhance learning give greater depth to reviews lead to improvements in practice and process

8. References CSSIW (2009) Improving Practice to Protect Children in Wales: An examination of the Role of Serious Case Reviews WG Guidance (2013) Protecting Children in Wales: Arrangements for Multi-Agency Child Practice Reviews WG Practice Guidance (2013) Child Practice Reviews: Guide for Organising & Facilitating Learning Events http://wales.gov.uk/topics/childrenandyoungpeople/publications/s afeguard12/?lang=en http://wales.gov.uk/topics/childrenandyoungpeople/publications/s afeguard12/?lang=en Morris, Brandon & Tudor (2012) A Study of Family Involvement in Case Reviews: Messages for Policy and Practice. BASPCAN Cordis Bright (2015) Review of the Implementation of the Child Practice Review Framework. Report for the Welsh Government