Southampton –
An Early Intervention City
Strategy and Action Plan Up Date
November 2014
Vision
Early Intervention Strategy - designed to provide strategic direction and stimulate
cultural change to enable the city to achieve its vision to become:
“ An Early Intervention City with a multi agency
integrated service provision that works to ensure
children's needs are met at the earliest stage.
Where possible, and children's welfare is assured,
these needs will be met within their family and
community resources. ”
Scope
Scope includes:
•Services and activities for children and their families from
conception through to 19 years that would meet blue, green and
amber definitions on the city’s safeguarding threshold
document.
•It dovetails with a number of other strategies and plans
including: “A Vision for Learning” -the city’s education strategy,
Special Educational Needs and Disability, the Serious Youth
Crime Prevention Strategy, Looked After Children and Domestic
Violence.
Priority Themes
The strategy identifies 2 priority themes:
• Promotion of attachment, positive relationships and
parenting.
• Early help with emotional and behavioural support,
including children and young people exposed to
domestic abuse.
Whole systems approach
4 key enablers and work streams:
•Responsive Commissioning –that delivers a continuous system of assessment,
planning, evaluation and coordination processes and maximises integration
opportunities.
•Effective organizational systems and processes - that use the best evidence
available, whenever possible are co-designed and co-produced with service users,
are simple, consistent and transparent, deliver value for money and maximize
integration opportunities.
•Engaged and informed families and communities–that provide children and
young people with stimulating, safe and caring environments that they want to
belong to and receive a sense of hope from.
•A workforce committed to partnership working–who are highly skilled and
empowered to work to a consistent ethos, listen to the families they support and
develop partnership plans that make sense, are child centred and family focused.
What does good look like?
1.
Well informed parents/carers – who know about
children and young people’s development and
needs.
1.
Knowledgeable workforce - who are highly
skilled, have access to relevant data, use
evidence based approaches / interventions,
and listen to the families they support.
1.
Motivated children and young people - who
respect one another, support their peers and
those of different
generations and situations.
2.
Easy access to timely services - robust
universal assessments such as
Healthy Child Programme, simple
to access early help delivered at the
right time and in the right place.
3.
Friendly caring neighbourhoods – that
welcome new families and provide a sense
of belonging.
3.
4.
Committed communities - that lead/
resource a wide variety of positive activities
and groups.
Joined up and Integrated support –
interagency plans that make sense and are
family focused, practitioners who model
accountable partnerships and work to a
consistent ethos.
4.
Sufficient help – enough services to stop
children’s preventable needs escalating
without creating dependency.
5.
Strengths based outlook – services that
actively seek to maximize individual, family
and community strengths and celebrate
positive outcomes.
5.
Flexible and thriving local employment,
learning, leisure and housing opportunities
– that help to create a supportive environment
for families.
Six Key Areas of Action
• Parenting
• Inclusive child and young person’s offer
• Data, Information and Intelligence
• Workforce development and training
• Integrated and Effective Services
• Community Engagement, Capacity Building and Co-production
Parenting Offer
We will develop a cross sector support and challenge offer that includes:
•Evidenced based approaches that can be used by universal services and Early
Help Teams.
•A trajectory for coverage of evidenced based groups/1 to 1 work and proposed
funding sources.
•A practitioners network
•Quality Assurances measures and training opportunities.
Lead: Sue Boniface
Inclusive
Child and Young Person’s Offer
We will develop a cross sector support and challenge offer that includes:
•Evidenced based approaches that can be used by universal services to support
inclusion of children and young people with mild/mod learning
difficulties/disabilities, emotional or behavioural problems etc. This could
include Emotional First Aid, Mindfulness, Restorative Practice.
•Exploration of a practitioners network,
•Quality Assurances measures and training opportunities.
Leads: Ed Harris (SCC) and Phil Lee (SVS)
Workforce
Development and Training
We will design, implement and evaluate a cross sector workforce development
plan to support early intervention that includes:
• Good recruitment and supervision practices including safeguarding.
• Agreed standards for JDs working with children, young people and families.
• Interagency workforce skills and training plan;
• Networks to exchange best practice in relation to: parenting support and
support for children and young people such as emotional first aid.
Lead: Christine Robinson (SCC)
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Data, Information and
Intelligence
We will:
• Agree a stakeholder communication and market development plan that
identifies priority areas to facilitate all sectors attracting resources to meet
outcomes.
• Build on the JSNA to act as a data hub to inform needs assessment, strategic
developments, bids, evaluations, and practice that is easily accessible by all
stakeholders.
• Further develop the SID to act as an information to inform children, young
people and their families as well as practitioners and managers about services
and activities.
Leads: Debbie Chase (Public Health) & Christine Robinson (SCC)
Integrated and Effective Services
We will:
•Identify areas where services can be joined
up, merged or processes simplified in order
to make better sense and improve
efficiency – including exploring joint
commissioning of health visiting and
children’s centres.
Community Engagement,
Capacity Building and Co-production
We will work across SCC/CCG Directorates
and stakeholders to explore:
• A strategy for developing community led
activities and groups and new social
enterprises.
• A shared understanding of the meaning,
role and practice of co-production.
Leads: Donna Chapman (CCG/ICU) & Louise
Drury (SCC).
Leads: Phil Lee (SVS) Ed Harris (SCC)
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Governance
The 0-19 Early Intervention Commissioning Group will oversee the development and
progress of the action plan and resports to the Transformation Group (SCC) and the
Health and Wellbeing Board. Membership Includes:
Integrated Commissioning Unit: Donna Chapman (Chair), Tim Davies, Sue Thompson.
CCG: Dr Liz Palmer
Public Health: Dr Debbie Chase, Liz Taylor.
SCC: Christine Robinson (QA), Louise Drury (Referral and Assessment), Ed Harris (ED),
Caroline Carpenter (Ed Psych), Linda Haitana (QA), Jason Murphy (Mash and EH).
Schools: Jane Waddup (Primary); Ruth Evans (Secondary)
Voluntary Sector: Phil Harris (SVS).
NHS England: Sarah Stringer
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Introductions
Head of Children & Families
Services
Theresa Leavy
Principal Officer
Education and
Early Years
Ed Harris
Principal Officer
MASH and Early
Help
Louise Drury
Principal Officer
Specialist and Core
Services
Phil Bullingham
Principal Officer
LAC and Resources
Fiona Mackirdy
Principal Officer
Quality Assurance
Christine Robinson
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Early Intervention Action Plan:
Universal & Targeted
Parenting Offer
Parenting Offer identifies 3 main streams:
• Group based work
• 1:1 casework
• Befriending and mentoring
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Why does it make a difference?
• Improved parental engagement with children’s
emotional wellbeing, care and learning.
• Reduced parental laxness or over-reactivity.
• Reduced risk factors and preventing escalation
of difficulties
• Happier children with more stable home lives
• Increased readiness to learn and participate
• Improved attendance
• Improved attainment
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Group based programmes
Parenting Programmes:
The following evidenced based Parenting Programmes have been agreed on:
• Incredible Years.
•Strengthening Families 10-14.
•Family Links Nurturing Programme.
•Headstart – Parents’ EFA.
•Plus access to associated online programmes and support.
Proposed target:
•To work towards 1 group per year for every 500 children (approximately 100
groups citywide for parents of children from birth to 14 years).
•To be resourced and delivered by universal and targeted services – small
number will be delivered through Early Help teams but it is proposed that
children’s centres and schools take a major role.
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1:1 Casework
Evidenced based casework:
•Providing time limited formalised support to assess needs, provide
interventions and review progress.
•Casework to be in line with agreed “Systems Theory” base.
Target:
•To work towards 1 full time parenting/family worker for every 500 children
based in universal services in addition to workers in Early Help teams.
•It is proposed that a significant number of these workers will be funded through
children’s centres and schools.
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Befriending and mentoring
Model:
• The model/theory base for befriending and mentoring is in process of being
identified.
• Support could be delivered by trained and supervised employees or
volunteers.
• Groups, drop-ins, workshops and 1:1 or family work could be included.
• Short, medium or long term support could be considered.
• Offers a range of new opportunities and a number of ideas being explored.
Targets: - to be agreed
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What will the Local Authority contribute?
• Some targeted parenting support delivered through Children’s
Centres and Early Help Teams.
• Access to data to inform bid writing and evaluations – JSNA and SID.
• Quality assurance, including Workforce Development opportunities –
training and supervision for parenting programmes, workshops,
formal qualifications in working with parents, attachment training.
• Practitioners’ support network, including peer group supervision.
• Schools Parenting Toolkit
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Schools’ Parenting Toolkit
The toolkit is:
•Part of LA response to information requests on evidenced
based resources for work with families/parents that fit with the
aims of the Pupil Premium.
•A collection of documents, tools and templates to be used or
adapted to enable schools to consider options and put effective
interventions in place
•A library of information that will be added to – schools, LA,
voluntary partners and others.
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Parenting Toolkit - Contents
There are 6 sections:
• Getting Started
• Evidence Based programmes and interventions
• Staff Recruitment
• Staff Training
• Managing and Supervising Parent and Family Workers
• Tools and Resources
The toolkit will be accessible online by the end of November via
SID, other.
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Next Steps
• Toolkit to be put on to web sites
• Cross sector Parenting Offer implementation working group to
be set up
• Exploratory meeting for Parenting/Family Support
Practitioners network - sign up sheet available in foyer.
• Termly update “newsheet” to be circulated.
Sue Boniface Family and Parenting Lead contact email:
Sue.Boniface@southampton.gov.uk
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