Implementing a response to Families with multiple problems Wendy Weal Deputy Delivery Manager DfE

1. Implementing a response to Families with multiple problemsWendy WealDeputy Delivery ManagerDfE

2. The ‘new approach’ - national context . . . Government Commitment: • Coalition agreement to ‘investigate a new approach to families with multiple problems’ focusing on 50,000 ‘high need’ families eg 400 most challenging families in each authority Government Priorities: • Strip away obstacles that stop disadvantaged children succeeding • safeguarding children at risk • improving the cost effectiveness of children’s services • building capacity and resilience within families and communities Policy Links: • Social Justice Committee, Frank Field Review, No10 Children & Families Taskforce, Munro Social Work Review, Spending Review

3. The ‘new approach’ - national context . . . Key Challenges: • Sustainable funding for family intervention/support services using evidence and cost effectiveness • Improving access to specialist help and staff skills • Integration of services linked to specific outcomes • Sharing good practice more widely Approaches: • DfE/ADCS cost-effective children’s services project – focus on family intervention to reduce entrants of older children into the care system • ‘sector led’ sharing of best practice, information, research & data • greater involvement of volunteers, social enterprise approaches to funding and organising services

4. The Case: parental disadvantage severely limits a child’s opportunities to succeed . . . Poverty, unemployment, parenting alone, having a large family, poor or overcrowded housing, having a difficult child, parental illness and substance misuse, can have a negative impact on parenting - the factors are linked and mutually reinforcing(Ghate & Hazel, 2002). 142,000 families experience multiple and intergenerational deprivation and the children in 56,000 of these families also display serious ‘problem’ behaviours(Analysis of FACS - SETF 2008)

5. The co-ordinated multi-agency approach Education needs Mental Health Substance Misuse Childrens Services Key worker Health Services Police Family Parenting Adults services Benefits Advice Housing

6. The co-ordinated multi-agency approach A team of dedicated key-workers co-ordinate a multi-agency, flexible response in delivering a support package to families They make this service available either as an outreach or residential offer (resource dependent). Many LAs currently deliver this model, targeting ASB, youth crime and child poverty and women offenders. May be delivered within LA, by a voluntary sector partner or external to LA (e.g. by RSL partners). Your LA will need to review its existing service of this nature and, in partnership, make decisions about sustainability and where this will best sit in your future service structure.

7. Co-located multi-agency team Substance Misuse Benefits Advice Adults services Education needs Health Services Police Family Childrens Services Housing Parenting Mental Health Key worker/Lead Professional) Other support services

8. Co-locatedmulti-agencyteam A variety of practitioners from different partner services located in one place, alongside dedicated key-workers Work together to deliver a multi-agency support package to families alongside other external support services. May be delivered within existing structures, by external partners or voluntary sector Alternatively the multi-agency partnership group within your LA may work together to expand on existing intensive support services to develop a co-located approach.

9. Practice shown to be effective. . • High quality key-workers with low caseloads (eg 4-6 families per worker) • Ways of whole family working that are empowering and build on family strengths • Respectful, persistent working styles. Flexibility to use resources creatively. Incentives/rewards and focus on consequences secure families’ engagement • Support that is not time-limited (average 12-18 months) and is available ‘out of hours’ • Effective multi-agency relationships (co-ordination, clear arrangements for joint working e.g with CSC, adult services) • Parenting support through evidence-based parenting programmes

10. Strong evidence to support family intervention and whole family ways of working NatCen research based on 1013 families who have exited the intervention (March 2010) Risk factors at point of referral Domestic Violence - 61% reduction Risk factors at point of exit Child Protection – 42% reduction “Results show that the outcomes for families ending the intervention with a formal planned exit, compared with their situation at the beginning of the project are overwhelmingly positive across a wide range of measures” (Natcen 2009) Relationship breakdown Drug/substance misuse – 45% reduction Drinking problem/alcoholism - 53% reduction Mental health problem – 26% reduction Truancy, exclusion and bad behaviour at school – 58% reduction

11. Cost to society of not working together can be high Learning the Lessons from Serious Case Reviews • “The enmeshed interaction between overwhelmed families and overwhelmed professionals contributed to the child being lost or unseen” • Safeguarding is everyone’s business and we must all do more to spot the signs and intervene early • In approx 75% Serious Case Reviews parental mental ill health/substance misuse/domestic violence a factor • S 17 Children’s Act 1989 - LA duty to safeguard young people

12. The financial context Decisions about investment (and achieving savings) will be made locally…. BUT there is a strong case for continued investment in family intervention

13. DFE supporting for local action… • Funding: £94m-2011 (non ringfenced) • Financial Sustainability: Commissioning tools and business case support • Training:2010/11 - Induction, assessment, drug/alcohol, DV for key workers 2011/12 - Qualifications and professional standards for key workers • Dissemination: support from local experts and comparative data (NatCen), encouraging local areas to showcase and adopt best practice

14. Next Steps • Agree with cross-government and national partners the business case for supporting families with multiple problems • Support local authorities to share and adopt best practice