Building on the Childrens Plan

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Building on the Childrens Plan

• Julia Gault

Head of Families Policy Development and Delivery
Unit,Department for Children, Schools and
Families
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Building on the Childrens Plan

• Julia Gault
• Head of Families Policy, Development
• and Delivery Unit

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The Childrens Plan sets out our ambition to be
the best place in the world for children to grow
up

• Built on five principles
• Government does not bring up children parents
  do
• All children have the potential to succeed
• Children and young people need to enjoy their
• childhood
• Services need to be shaped by and responsive
• to children, young people and their families
• It is always better to prevent failure than
  tackle
• a crisis later

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2020 Goal parents satisfied with the
information and support they receive

• Make sure parents are better informed
• Help them support their childs learning
• and development
• Ensure they get the right support at the right
  time
• Build local capacity to meet their needs

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Supporting strategic planning

• 2006 guidance for LAs on Parenting Support
• Each LA identify a single commissioner and
  develop a parenting strategy by 2008
• Most LAs now focussing on implementing their
  strategies
• Parenting Implementation Project
• is working with 18 LAs to test how we
• can deliver a more strategic and
• joined up approach to commissioning and
  delivering family support services through the
  spectrum of need

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Working with the third sector

• Vital part in the delivery of services to support
  families
• Funding directly available through the Parenting
  Fund and the Children Young People and families
  Grant programmes
• Encouraging LAs to work strategically with their
  local third sector organisations

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Progress on Childrens Plan commitments

• Launched Parent Know How to give every parent
  access to expert advice through a variety of
  channels. Aims to
• reach over 3 million parents a year by 2010-11
• Increasing parenting experts and parent support
  advisers working locally with parents through CCs
  and schools- by April 2009, we expect all LAs to
  have them in place
• National Parents Panel to provide
• direct advice to Ministers first
• meeting in January

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Progress continued

• Expanding Family Intervention Project programme
  to cover a much wider range of families at risk
• 15 Family Pathfinders to test how to implement
  the Think Family model
• Between 2009-11 Think Family and FIP models will
  be rolled out to all LAs
• Increasing focus on Parental engagement in their
  childrens learning - online reporting and
  piloting a Parent Held Record in 2010

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Think Family Think Fathers and Mothers

• Think Family approach set out in the joint
  DCSF-SETF Think Family report in Jan 07
• Currently being tested by 15 Family Pathfinders,
  but we are funding all LAs to develop the model
  from 2009-10
• Needed because the systems of support around
  families at risk those with multiple and
  complex needs or experiencing 5 or more
  disadvantages are inadequate
• Requires system reform to ensure children and
  adult services join up and put families at the
  centre with implications for service planning,
  design, delivery and workforce culture

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Think Fathers

• Father-child relationships - be they positive,
  negative or lacking - have profound and wide
  ranging impacts on children that last a lifetime
• A fathers early involvement in their childs
  life can lead to positive educational
  achievement, a good, open and trusting
  parent-child relationship during the teenage
  years
• Evidence that currently fathers are the
  invisible parent
• New coalition of employers, childrens services,
  practitioners and the third sector working
  together to look at what more can be done to give
  dads the support they need and will
• develop and share good workforce practice
• consult mothers and fathers through an online
  Dads
• Dialogue

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Conclusions

• Investment in family support to 2011 more
  substantial than ever before
• Risk that family support perceived as
  discretionary in current climate
• Challenge to us all to ensure that we invest in
  support for families that has cost effective
  impact
• Undeniable benefits to childrens outcomes,
  family wellbeing and wider communities

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