The Sub-Committee will receive a presentation on Early Help and the challenges.
Minutes:
The Sub-Committee received a presentation on the Early Help service. The definition of Early Help was explained as:
· To holistically engage with families at the earliest opportunity, offering the right service at the right time.
· Reduce the demand for complex services.
· Increase positive outcomes.
The creation of one Early Help service had brought together a number of teams. Since its creation there had been an increased number of referrals to the Early Help Service with a greater number of cases being managed by partner agencies. This also reduced the number of cases needing statutory interventions and services.
Officers explained that the service needed to be more flexible and that all family situations were different. The service was delivered in a more cost effective way. The new structure would create a service that was able to deliver its objectives in a reduced budget, the offer for under 5’s would provide a “hands-on” style of delivery, a holistic service would be delivered to build resilience within families, and a lighter assessment tool would give practitioners more time with families.
Officers explained that each family would be given an “outcome star” which they could use to visualise the work, set their own goals and aspirations and could carry out an assessment on their progress. The “outcome star” provided a grade against 5-6 demands which were reviewed on a 6-12 week basis. A shift should be seen over the review period with more cases being stepped down to Early Help.
The Sub-Committee noted that Early Help would be available from birth, with information being available at the midwife stage. There would also be liaison between pregnant girls on the Youth Offenders Team and daycare/ nursery settings. Intelligence was key in ensuring that early help was in place to improve the outcomes for the whole family.
Officers reported that the Children’s Centres across the borough were successful in engaging with families, they were now more attractive and accessible and provided details of live birth data that could be used to identify any potential concerns. The two-year offer was essential for vulnerable families in securing daycare at an early stage to enhance life chances for the children.
The Sub-Committee thanked officers for a very informative presentation. It agreed that it would wish to see further information on Early Help be presented to a future meeting together with details on Children’s Centres and usable data from the Outcome Star.
The restructuring of the Social Work Team and Early help would commence in June/ July 2016.
Members asked if staff had been made aware of these changes. Officer stated that the views and opinions of staff had been taken on board. Social Workers were already involved in the decisions about the step down process to Early Help and were clear about the Local Offers for both Social Work and Early Help.
It was important that consistency and trust of families was maintained, with a fluid approach to all cases. It was noted that the Early Help Service would also be included as part of the OFSTED review.