EARLY AND EFFECTIVE INTERVENTION

1. EARLY AND EFFECTIVE INTERVENTION Alan Johnstone Senior Social Worker (Youth Justice Team)

2. Scottish Government policy implemented in 2008 • Wanted to streamline services to children, young people and families • Develop better integrated working between professionals • Early and effective intervention and prevention • Recognising the rights of Children and young people

3. SCREENING and DECISION MAKING: • EEI Worker (Elaine Smith, Police Scotland) • Youth Justice Involvement (once case referred) • 6 Week Assessment • Asset • Aim Assessment • Savry • RJ Approach

4. WHAT IS GIRFEC: • Builds solutions with and around children, young people and families • Enables children and young people to get the help they need when they need it • Supports a positive shift in culture, systems and practice • Involves working better together to improve life chances for children, young people and families

5. CORE COMPONENTS: • A focus on improving outcomes for children, young people and their families based on a shared understanding of wellbeing • A common approach to gaining consent and to sharing information where appropriate • An integral role for children, young people and families in assessment, planning and intervention • A co-ordinated and unified approach to identifying concerns, assessing needs and agreeing actions and outcomes, based on the wellbeing indicators • Streamlined planning, assessment and decision-making processes that lead to the right help at the right time • Consistent high standards of co-operation, joint working and communication where more that one agency needs to be involved, locally and across Scotland

6. CORE COMPONENTS (continued): • A Named Person for every child and young person, and a Lead Professional (where necessary) to co-ordinate and monitor multi-agency activity • Maximising the skilled workforce within universal services to address needs and risk as early as possible • A confident and competent workforce across all services for children, young people and their families • The capacity to share demographic, assessment and planning information – including electronically – within and across agency boundaries

7. WHAT GIRFEC MEANS FOR CHILDREN, YOUNG PEOPLE AND FAMILIES: • They will feel confident about the help they are getting • They understand what is happening and why • They have been listened to carefully and their wishes have been heard and understood • They are appropriately involved in discussions and decisions that affect them • They can rely on appropriate help being available as soon as possible • They will have experienced a more streamlined and co-ordinated response from practitioners

8. CASE WORK: • To date Youth Justice have taken case work from point of referral through to assessment and intervention • If more complex needs are identified, Youth Justice take the role of Lead Professional and arrange a LIAP (Local Integrated Assessment Process) meeting with key professionals and a decision is taken at this point as to whether or not the Lead Professional needs to change? • Youth Justice are responsible as Lead Professional for the completion of the child’s plan and any supporting assessments.

9. THEORY and RESEARCH: • Based on research on wellbeing • Underpinned by the following policy documents: United Nation Convention on the Rights of the Child; Curriculum for Excellence; the Children’s Charter; For Scotland’s Children; The Early Year’s Framework; and Better Health and Better Care • Recognises the importance of EARLY PREVENTION AND INTERVENTION • Child development and importance of resilience in childhood

10. CHILD/YOUNG PERSON AT THE CENTRE:

11. NATIONAL PRACTICE MODEL:

12. KEY PRINCIPLES: • Well-being Outcomes • Solution Oriented Approach • Child at the Centre • Involvement of child and parent is paramount • Single Child’s Plan • Appropriate information sharing • Early Intervention

13. ROLE OF NAMED PROFESSIONAL: • This will become clearer once the bill has received Royal Assent and guidance has been developed. • Moray have a two year plan (2014-16) to deliver training in localities, in an attempt to establish relationships between professionals: • 1st Stage: Named Person Training • (targeted at Education) • 2nd Stage: Lead Professionals • (delivered in multi-agency groups) • 3rd Stage: Other Agencies • (Housing; Drug & Alcohol Service; 3rd Sector)

14. CHALLENGES AHEAD: • Named Person rolled out through Police Scotland • little consideration to training needs locally e.g. Concern Reports and processes locally e.g. Implementing GIRFEC in silos. • EEI: The use of language has caused confusion in Moray, Early and Effective appears to be the buzz words at present • EEI Worker (Police Scotland) • EEI Point of Contact • Early Engagement Team • Early Years Collaborative….and so on. • Ownership: Strategically, where does whole systems e.g. EEI sit? • Youth Justice Strategy Group • Early Engagement Team • Education • Health

15. CHANGES AHEAD (continued): • Who would be the ‘Named Person’ for 16-18 year olds who are not in Education? • Is your service/processes GIRFEC compliant? • Youth Justice audit by Moray’s Continuous Improvement Team • Ensuring that there is a SINGLE PLAN for young people that follows them.

16. POSSIBLE CONCERNS (Education) • As Named Person do not hold budgets within Education, they cannot make any decisions that require funding. • A Named Person within Education does not have supervision built into their work as per Health or Social Work. If nature of the case is distressing, there is no obvious mechanism for support. This is built in for other agencies. As a result could potentially have a negative impact on the wellbeing of the Named Person. • Named Person teaches 50% of week. More than one case like this would be overwhelming and unmanageable. Also, Named Person for caseload of 180 pupils (some Named Persons more so, e.g. in Highland – 250+ pupils). • Difficulties in getting another school to act as presenting centre for final exams. School has to call on HQ to make it happen. • Do not have control over tutors.

17. POSSIBLE CONCERNS (continued): • Difficult co-ordinating tutors, teachers responsible, SQA co-ordinators in school, different educational settings. Hard to obtain accurate overview of educational progress which is the responsibility of the Named Person. • Not involved in regular review meetings for a number of months, only Education co-ordinator at HQ. Not provided with any information re these meetings before attendance began. However, Named Person and school had responsibility for education. • Holding information that can/cannot be passed on, i.e. one of the teachers responsible within their subject for assessments and practical's on a one-to-one basis with pupil would not have considered the role at the time if they knew the concerns presented. Decisions re information sharing for tutors/department staff were made at Authority level.

18. FUTURE: • Moray’s young people have a timely and supportive intervention that gives them a chance of achieving a positive outcome.