Agenda Item No. 5
Vision for the Think Family Partnership
The Think Family Partnership's aim is to improve outcomes for children, young people and their
families in West Sussex by joining up and increasing integrated working across all agencies and
professionals that work with children and families.
Think Family can, with parents and children, improve the lives of a whole family, not just an individual or
child and the Partnership is focused on supporting the best solutions that will help bring this about. In
essence, we are determined to work within our community to help children and families as early as
possible in their life, ensuring long term benefits for the individual and wider society.
Based on the principles of integrated working, improving outcomes, increasing the power and control
families have to design their own services and pooling funding, the Partnership has a wide-ranging remit
but is focused on delivering interventions with a strong evidence base that work locally.
To bring about our ambitious plans for families in West Sussex, our membership encompasses children's
services, health, police, schools, adults’ services, re-generation and the voluntary sector, district and
borough councils and the probation Trust. Our existing governance arrangements are set out at
Appendix A.
The Partnership will build on or add value to the work of others and will cooperate and align itself with
other relevant boards, strategies and partnerships.
To deliver this vision, the Partnership will have a focussed programme of work that will be refreshed
each year. Currently the key streams of work that the Think Family Partnership is leading the delivery on
are:
1. Troubled Families Initiative (TFI) This new government initiative has sharpened the focus on
families with multiple disadvantages and will accelerate the Partnership’s commitment to deliver
interventions to the most vulnerable families in West Sussex. The TFI will be integrated with the
partnerships overarching ‘Think Family aims and objectives.
2. Special Education Needs Pathfinder which is exploring how local children and young people’s
special educational needs are picked up early and support is routinely put in place quickly with
an integrated assessment and a single Education, Health and Care Plan from birth to 25.
3. Early help, common approaches and more integrated assessments for those children and
families that do not require more intensive intervention.
4. Delivering and monitoring the effectiveness of the Family Nurse Partnership to ensure as many
young mums get support that they need
5. Delivering and monitoring the effectiveness of the Family Intervention Project.
A plan of action that will deliver these work streams will be presented at the next meeting of the Think
Family Partnership Board.
Appendix A
Think Family Partnership Board
The Partnership Board promotes the duty to co-operate to improve outcomes for children under Section
10 of the Children Act 2004.
Constitution

West Sussex County Council:
- Director of Children’s Services
- Cabinet Member for Children and Families (Lead Member for Children’s Services)
- Cabinet Member for Education and Schools
- Director of Public Health, Wellbeing and Safeguarding

Borough and District Councils (7 representatives - members or officers, as determined by those
authorities)

Independent Chairman of Local Safeguarding Board

NHS West Sussex (until 31 March 2013)

Sussex Police

Youth Offending Service

Probation services

Persons providing careers services in pursuance of section 68 of the Education and Skills Act
2008

JobCentre Plus

Maintained schools (heads executive)

FE and sixth-form colleges

Non-maintained special schools

Academies, (representatives from the College Principals Network)

Representatives from the Voluntary Sector

Representatives from children, young people, families and carers
Purpose
To set the vision and provide strategic direction to the planning and commissioning of children and
young people’s services within the scope and structure of the Think Family Partnership Board and in
response to Government’s legislative requirements.
Key Principles
1.
To ensure that children and families are placed at the centre of all planning, commissioning and
delivery of cost-effective services.
2.
To ensure that the views of parents, carers and children and the needs of children are taken
fully into account and drive the work of the Think Family Partnership Board.
Functions
•
To lead the co-ordination of services for West Sussex children and young people and set the
vision for service planning and delivery.
•
To receive an annual report from the Local Safeguarding Children’s Board and ensure that the
Think Family Partnership addresses any challenges and issues identified.

To ensure multi-agency agreement and commitment to priority actions and areas for
commissioning.

To support the strategy for the joint commissioning of services for children.

To develop and govern an effective Think Family Partnership structure that enables all partners
to contribute to the delivery of the Think Family priorities and areas for commissioning.


To produce an annual report on delivery of the Think Family priorities, what the Board has
achieved and what partners have contributed. This report will also be submitted to the Cabinet
and the West Sussex Co-operative.
To identify and assist in overcoming all political, legal and procedural obstacles to these aims.
Think Family Executive Group
The Executive will be responsible for overseeing the implementation of the vision for Children’s Services
set by the Partnership Board, overseeing the joint commissioning of such services and ensuring the
delivery of the Think Family priorities.
Constitution

West Sussex County Council
- Cabinet Member for Children and Families (Lead Member for Children’s Services)
- Cabinet Member for Education and Schools
- Director of Children’s Services
- Interim Director of Joint Commissioning
- Director of Public Health, Wellbeing and Safeguarding

Borough and District Councils (single representative)

Independent Chairman of Local Safeguarding Board

Sussex Police (1 representative)

Health (1 representative)

Representatives from children and young people (1 representative), families and carers (1
representative)

Voluntary Sector (1 representative)

Probation Trust (1 representative)
Think Family/Family Intervention Project Delivery Group
The Project Delivery Group will be the focus for joined-up delivery at a local level. Various networks and
partnerships will inform the work of the Group including Local Strategic Partnerships, practice-based
commissioning clusters, local elected members, primary school clusters and area partnerships. Plans
and outcomes will be reported to the Executive Group.
Family Nurse Partnership Advisory Board
The Family Nurse Partnership (FNP) Advisory Board’s role is to promote a community support system for
the FNP programme and to oversee quality and sustainability. The Advisory Board will ensure that
safeguarding supervision and systems accord with the FNP Management Manual. Plans and issues will
be referred to the Executive Group.
Links with other Partnerships and Accountability
The Think Family Partnership will inform and influence the work of the Local Strategic Partnerships and
the Health and Wellbeing Board. The Think Family Partnership Board will account for its actions to the
Cabinet and the West Sussex Co-operative. Formal accountability however will sit with the Cabinet
Members sitting on the Board whose plans and actions will be subject to scrutiny by the Children and
Young People’s Services Select Committee and the Health and Adult Social Care Select Committee. The
Corporate Parenting Panel may also choose to seek information or ask for reports on the Think Family
work.
The Independent Chairman of the Local Safeguarding Children Board (LSCB) is a member of the
Partnership Board. The Board will be challenged by the LSCB on safeguarding responsibilities.