Multi-Agency Safeguarding Briefings 26 and 27 March 2014 Welcome and Overview Linda Clegg – Director of Children’s Services
Outcomes of this briefing • To highlight the subtle changes to the revised Continuum of Need and Response framework (CoNR) • Explain the changes between the different levels • To provide an overview of how Blackburn with Darwens risk analysis model complements the CoNR • To give an overview of how the Multi Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH) works together to address the needs of the children & young people in the borough • To provide an overview of the Early Help Strategy and approach in Blackburn with Darwen • To explore the revised Child and Family Plan (CAF)
Questions • Post-it notes • Themes • E-mail all Q & A from the four sessions (please make sure you have provided your email address!)
Blackburn with Darwen Continuum of Need and Response Dawn Walmsley
Why has the CoNR been refreshed? WT to SC (2013) states that there must be clear criteria for taking action and providing help across the continuum and there should be clear thresholds for action which are understood by all professionals… Therefore following multi agency consultation and input it was agreed; • To align with other local authorities by having a 4 tier model • That the model incorporates an agreed set of possible ‘unmet needs’ alongside ‘underlying/high risk factors’ as indicators to allow for professionals to identify at which level of the CoNR the child/young person may be presenting and therefore the action to take.
Level 1 Represents children whose needs are met through accessing universal services
Level 2 Represents children with additional needs that can be met by single agency targeted service provision or a multi-agency Child and Family Plan (CAF)
Level 3 Represents children in need – (CIN) s.17 of the Children Act (1989) – Social Care Lead Professional
Level 4 Represents children where there is a reasonable cause to suspect the child is suffering or likely to suffer significant harm, requiring multi-agency management and service provision – s.47 of the Children Act (1989) – Social Care Lead Professional
The complete ‘Continuum of Need and Response’
Risk Management Model and The Continuum How Does it Fit in? • Level 2 and 3 will deal with unmet need and Underlying Risk Factors. • Level 4 deals with High Risk Indicators. • Provides a vocabulary for practitioners from all agencies to talk to each other about risk. • Supports an assessment of parental motivation and capacity to change at all levels.
The Child’s Journey
Key things to remember……. The child remains at the same point of the continuum as before the difference is where the services are aligned Children can enter the continuum of need at: • any stage in their lives, • at any time dependent on circumstances. Children, young people and their families will: • move between levels as circumstances, risks & needs change • this may result in changes in the services provided. The model is not incremental: • it is a continuum of needs and related responses What actually happens when you refer to children's social care?
Blackburn with Darwen Multi Agency Safeguarding Hub
Multi- Agency Partners Police Children’s Social Care Health Adult Social Care Education Independent Domestic Violence Advocate (IDVA)
What is the MASH? All partners work together to provide the highest level of knowledge and analysis to ensure that all safeguarding activity and intervention is timely, proportionate and necessary. The three main functions are: 1. Victim identification /Early intervention - working with early help services to support children and young people whose needs do not meet the threshold for children’s social care. 2. Harm identification and reduction - this is done by identifying children and young people experiencing the highest levels of harm/risk and making sure partners work together to support them 3. Co-ordinating partner agencies - working with vulnerable adults and vulnerable children.
How does MASH work? All information referred to the MASH is collected and decision- making takes place in a timely manner, with consideration given to all information collated from agencies, the presenting circumstances of the adult, child or family and the immediacy of those concerns. The hub contributes to improved outcomes for safeguarding children and adults because it has the ability to swiftly collate and share information held by various organisations and to provide a multi-agency risk assessment of each case for ‘actual or likely harm’ .
Early Help and The Child and Family Plan Sarah Walsh and Tracy Lysons
The Early Help strategy was launched on the 4th October 2013 with the full range of key stakeholders signing a pledge to support it
Definition of Early Help Early Help is intervening early and as soon as possible to tackle problems emerging for children, young people and their families. Early intervention may occur at any point in a child or young person’s life. From the perspective of a child or young person it is clearly best if they receive help before they encounter any minor adverse experiences. The key principle driving this definition for us in Blackburn with Darwen is: “The right help, at the right time, in the right place”
Why? A significant driver for the Early Help Strategy is Ofsted’s framework for the inspection of Local Authority’s arrangements to protect children. The framework sets out the importance and judges the Local Authority and its strategic partners’ effectiveness of the early identification and help for children, young people and their families.
Early Help Offer…. The most significant review for Children’s Services has been the Munro Review of Child Protection (2011). This sees the case for preventative services and Early Help made clear, both in the sense of offering help to children, young people and families before any problems are apparent and providing help when low level problems emerge.
How will we achieve Early Help? In order to be fully effective Blackburn with Darwen Children & Young Peoples Partnership has agreed a number of multi-agency principles of Early Help to guide and support all services delivered in the borough. • Focusing on the identification and access to Early Help opportunities with families. • Commitment from all professional staff, volunteers and family members to working together. • Positive interventions and sharing responsibility for the achievement of better outcomes for children, young people and their families. • Working to overcome barriers to achieving better outcomes for all. • Promote shared learning across organisations to ensure that what we do is based on good evidence.
How will Early Help be implemented? • The underpinning tool for the implementation of the Early Help Strategy is the CAF process formally known as The Common Assessment Framework, but going forward will be known as the Child and Family Assessment and Plan . • Where unmet needs and low level problems involve two or more agencies, all agencies should be committed to undertaking an assessment using the Child and Family Plan (CAF) at the first point of service contact. Irrespective of whether the range of needs falls within their professional expertise . • Lead professionals will help families navigate through services and co- ordinate help where more than one agency is involved. • Services must ensure pathways are smooth and uninterrupted for children and families. The Early Help offer should be well defined but not separate from other statutory services. Thus ensuring a shared focus on the child’s journey, encompassing the use of escalation and de-escalation (step up and step down) processes in respect of risk and need.
Strategic CAF Review • Key elements highlighted from the review: – Systems and processes – Culture – Support and partnership working • CAF action plan – Progress to date – A steering group has been established to take the action plan forward. Key colleagues have established task and finish groups to lead proposals for key elements such as: • Paper work • Quality Assurance • Training • e CAF solution • Single agency referral form
‘Step Up’ and ‘Step Down’ • Blackburn with Darwen, like many local authorities is operating within a climate of unprecedented challenges for the public and voluntary sectors as demand for specialist services rapidly increase against a back drop of dramatically reducing resources. • Whenever possible the service response must be directed at reducing risk and vulnerability and meeting needs at the appropriate, least intrusive level of intervention. The availability of and access to effective early intervention and preventative services is essential in order to achieve this. • This is reflected in the Risk Assessment and Analysis model that is being embedded in Children’s Social Care and with partner agencies.
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