Bad housing wrecks lives

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Bad housing wrecks lives
Housing Childrens Services A Joined up
Approach Peta Cubberley Regional Childrens
Coordinator (London South East) Peta_Cubberley
_at_shelter.org.uk
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Shelters Childrens Service

• Aims and Objectives
• To demonstrate ways of preventing child
  homelessness and supporting children already
  homeless to achieve better outcomes.
• To address the disadvantages that homeless
  children face in respect of their well-being and
  future life chances.
• To secure the practice, policy and legal
  changes that will lead to far-reaching and
  long-term change for children who are homeless,
  or at risk of homelessness.

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Shelters Childrens Service

• Newham Education Project provides advice
  support to children in TA, aiming to improve
  their educational attainment.
• Bristol Childrens Project takes referrals
  from Bristol City Council housing department, to
  provide tailored support for homeless unsettled
  children.
• Gloucester Peer Education Project provides a
  Peer education support service to vulnerable
  young people those at risk of homelessness.
• Regional Childrens Policy Coordinators work
  towards facilitating influencing improvements
  in policy practice between Childrens Services
  departments and Housing Departments at Local
  Authority level.
• Childrens Centre Advice Line provides free,
  confidential, independent expert housing advice
  to families in Childrens Centres.
• Childrens Legal Service will provide legal
  advice representation to families with
  children, aiming to take forward test cases.

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What are the barriers

• to joined up working between Housing
  Childrens Services?
• Lack of communication between
  departments/officers
• Lack of understanding of each others
  responsibilities
• Lack of time to share information
• Lack of resources human financial
• Lack of buy-in from senior management
• These are some of the reasons we know are the
  obstacles to better joint working and they happen
  everywhere.
• Overcoming these could save time and money in the
  long run and some councils are finding
  effective solutions

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Examples of Joint Working

• More Communication
• Joint Protocol between Housing Childrens
  Services.
• South Gloucester Council - operates a joint
  protocol between Housing and Childrens Services
  which outlines the responsibilities of both
  Housing Social Care in assessing responding
  to housing support needs of young people.
• LB Bexley has established a joint protocol
  between Housing and Childrens Services whereby
  all homeless 16/17 year old applications go
  through Childrens Services. A social worker
  undertakes the assessment. This provides
  additional support for the young person
• These examples provide staff with the
  responsibility opportunity to talk to each
  other, share concerns develop creative
  solutions.

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Examples of Joint Working

• Time to Share Information
• Common Assessment Framework Lead Professional
  Status
• Bristol City Council - introduced both the Common
  Assessment Framework a Housing Needs Assessment
  across both Housing and all Childrens Services.
  Both departments refer families to Shelters
  Childrens Project in Bristol, and an agreement
  enables a Shelter worker to be the designated
  Lead Professional for certain children.
• Oxfordshire County Council - introduced protocols
  enabling a Housing Officer to become the Lead
  Professional responsible for a child, ensuring
  that all services for that child are joined-up
  and working together, when housing is the most
  serious problem affecting that childs well-being.

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Examples of Joint Working

• Joint Funding
• Providing a designated Social Worker for
  Homeless Children
• LB Southwark Housing Childrens Services
  share the cost of a dedicated social worker whose
  job it is to support young homeless people and
  ensure they have access to all additional
  services they need, enabling them
• Norwich Borough Council A designated social
  worker and Housing Officers provide joint
  assessments on the needs of Intentionally
  Homeless families. This means that Social
  Services gets involved with the family earlier,
  and ensures provision of other preventative or
  intervention services to the family sooner,
  rather than later.

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Examples of Joint Working

• Joined up thinking resources Housing,
  Childrens Services Education.
• Working with schools
• Slough Borough Council Sloughs education
  department supports Shelters work in secondary
  schools providing information, role-plays and
  games on housing issues as part of PSHE
  citizenship education.
• Rother District Council has worked with E.
  Sussex education department PCT to develop a
  curriculum rolled out in all Year 10s in its
  secondary schools. Housing, education the PCT
  joint fund a professional theatre company to go
  into schools to educate young people on the risks
  of leaving home as part of PSHE citizenship
  education.

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What is still needed?

• The governments Every Child Matters (ECM)
  framework should be revised to reflect the direct
  impact that housing has on all aspects of
  childrens life chances.
• The Children Act 2004 should be amended to
  include a specific reference to include housing
  departments among those statutory agencies which
  need to work together to ensure seamless
  support for children and families.
• The introduction of a statutory duty on Local
  Authorities to assess and meet the needs of all
  children in homeless families living in Temporary
  Accommodation.
• Provision of support/tenancy sustainment for
  families with children who have been deemed
  intentionally homeless.
• A statutory duty on LA s to develop and publish
  protocols between housing and social services to
  ensure that homeless 16 17 year olds are
  adequately housed and supported.

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For any more details or information please
contact Peta Cubberley Regional Childrens
Coordinator (London South East)
Peta_Cubberley_at_shelter.org.uk t 0844 515
1272 m 07824 436856