Evaluating Family Support Services in Sure Start Marfleet, Hull

1. Evaluating Family Support Services in Sure Start Marfleet, Hull

2. Marfleet Sure Start’s Family Support Model • Family support workers (with manager seconded from Social Services): provide mainly practical help. Manager takes referrals for whole team • Home-Start volunteers (with manager seconded from Home-Start): provide mainly emotional support, befriending, groups • Midwife (seconded from Health) and Baby Support Worker: provide support and advice to pregnant and new mothers

3. Research Focus • How effective is the Family Support and Health Team (FSHT) in meeting the needs of individual families? • Sub-questions: • How well does the team work together? • How well does the team work with the rest of Sure Start?

4. Agreeing the ‘Indicators of Success’ • Workshop involving the Programme Manager, the 3 key FSHT staff, and their line managers in the partner agencies (i.e. Social Services, Home Start and health). Agreed: • Indicators based on the relevant Sure Start objectives – plus others based on our discussions • Data (both qualitative and quantitative) needed for each indicator • Who is responsible for collecting each set of data • Period for data collection 6 month period i.e. Dec 2004 to May 2005

5. The Views of Professionals • Interviews with: • The 3 key FHST managers • The Programme Manager • The Early Years and Community Inclusion Team Leader (Deputy Manager) • Front-line Sure Start staff i.e. 3 Home-Start volunteers and 3 FSHT workers • 4 senior representatives from partner agencies • Focus on: • Mapping current services • Their understanding of the purpose of the services • The contribution of the FSHT to the objectives of Sure Start and the key partner agencies • Their views on the success of the team to date, including examples of good practice. • Expectations of, or any concerns about, the services • Any issues relating to cross-agency working

6. The Views of Parents • 60 parents had used family support services between September to December 2004 – we aimed to identify up to 20 willing to be involved • Drafted letter from Sure Start to all 60 parents inviting them to contribute their views – delivered in person by staff • Offered options of discussion group, face-to-face interviews and telephone interviews • The aim of the discussions: • to explore the success of the services from the parents’ perspective (using the indicators already developed) • to find out if and how the services have helped them and their children to access other services • to raise any concerns about the services, and to make suggestions for improvement. •  6 parents interviewed face-to-face, plus 4 on the phone: total 10

7. Some Issues Encountered to Date • Access to enough parents: only 4 responded to letter. A further 15 were identified by phoning round, but then two-thirds of the expected 18 failed to turn up to their appointment in spite of incentive of £15 voucher, crèche and friendly style letter • Data compatibility e.g. Social Services only record referrals in and out from a wider geographical area than Sure Start; use different age bands; do not monitor Sure Start referrals separately from other agencies • Data in the team – issue of shared records, compatible data, not computerised • Future funders need to be clear what evidence they need to support them commissioning of family support services