3'1 Plymouth making it happen

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3.1 Plymouth - making it happen
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Plymouth - Making it happen

• The perspective from some children and young
  people provider services
• and
• the key community based adult treatment service
  provider

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The Bulls Eye Model Parents in treatment
Yellow - Assess, Support, Prevent - Drug Service
Lead (1100 -2200 parents) Blue - Enhanced Support
to Parent and Child(ren) Joint Work (110-220
parents or between 15 of those in
treatment) Green - Full Child Protection led by
Childrens Services (55-110 parents or between
3-5 of those in treatment)
Children Centres
Childrens Social Care
FIP
Parenting Programmes
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Making it happen

• Joint outcomes agreed by Safeguarding Board
  covering Adult Treatment Service and Children and
  Young Peoples Services
• Reduction in the number of looked after children
  where parental substance misuse is significantly
  implicated
• Reduction in the number of children with a child
  protection plan where parental substance misuse
  is significantly implicated
• Support children, in families where parental
  substance misuse is a factor, in achieving
  improvements across all 5 Every Child Matters
  outcomes
• Support families to stay together safely
• Improvement in parenting skills and capacity in
  substance misusing parents
• Very similar to DCSF / NTA protocol

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Plymouth Childrens Social Care

• Lindsey Parker
• Cathy Lewis

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Aims of work

• Support outcomes agreed by Safeguarding Board
  previous slide (Hidden Harm Strategy)
• Following a multi-agency Safeguarding Register
  Review key areas for action required the
  following to be achieved.
• Agencies to monitor engagement of staff in
  Child Protection Conferences and Core Groups
• Agencies providing reports supporting child
  protection processes should be a good standard
  and must identify the impact on the child of
  parental issues
• Staff need to be competent around child
  protection and safeguarding
• The organisation must ensure management
  accountability over achieving these to ensure
  quality and consistency

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• What has been achieved so far?
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• Development of the use of a lead/coordinator role
  for safeguarding within the treatment services
• Hidden Harm training written and delivered as a
  collaboration between the adult treatment service
  and Plymouth Safeguarding Children board
• DVD Hidden Harm Lonely developed in Plymouth
  provides a powerful tool as part of training and
  induction to focus the practitioners work to
  include the views of Children and Young People
• Analysis of the Halo system to ensure
  information regarding status of Children and
  Parents can be consistently captured/identified
• Improved information sharing systems within and
  between agencies
• Increased use of CAF by adult treatment staff

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• Families with a Child Protection Plan have prompt
  access to specialist substance misuse treatment
• Childrens Social Care identify two Child
  Protection Officers to work with Treatment
  Service to jointly produce new policies,
  procedures and bespoke training
• Framework for report writing for Child Protection
  Conference has been devised and is being used
• Bespoke training package written for all
  operational staff in Substance Misuse Services,
  to increase their knowledge and confidence
  supporting achievement of all aims (In-House)
• Childrens Social Care can evidence increase in
  attendance at CP meetings and improvement in
  report writing
• Increased collaboration and improved and shared
  understanding of what blockages exist and what
  needs to be done to support effective CP process
•  

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• Learning

Huge willingness to think family - a spirit of
wanting to engage exists between the services /
staff and commissioners DAAT and Childrens
Trust Developing a shared understanding of the
pressures both the treatment sector and
childrens social care are under to maximise
collaboration We have recognised the need for
innovative roles and thinking to support capacity
and capabilty challenges e.g. a childrens social
worker being seconded into the treatment service
being considered, joint meetings to be encouraged
and co-location to be an aspiration
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• Though direction of travel has been agreed the
  speed of implementation needs to more fully take
  account of challenges linked to significant
  culture change, capacity issues and meeting
  targets for the treatment service
• We successfully worked through an action plan to
  achieve the recommendations from the safeguarding
  register review. We have quickly learnt the need
  to have a joint project team to oversee
  development and delivery of a new plan to drive
  forward implementation.
• The learning and acknowledgment of the issue has
  opened up debate at ALL levels within the
  agencies.

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Plymouth Childrens Centres
Pat Smith
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Aims of work

• To link parents in treatment with Children Under
  3 to Children Centres initially through a pilot
• Develop evidence base for delivery and planning
• Support outcomes agreed by Safeguarding Board
  noted on previous slide (Hidden Harm Strategy)

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What has been achieved so far?

• Agreement of Treatment Service to hold CC
  (Children Centres) database to identify CC
  options
• Each CC in City offering to be part of project
  (good commitment from CCs)
• Agreement of measures alongside outcomes agreed,
  that include
• Number of referrals to Childrens Centre
• Number leading to first contact with Childrens
  Centre
• Number of children involved in each referral
• Number of Families staying in touch after their
  first contact

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• Agreed Process
• Senior Managers to introduce pilot to front line
  staff
• Staff completing Comprehensive Assessments to
  discuss with parents the opportunity to be
  referred to their nearest CC
• Information packs for all service users to
  contain details of how to access CCs.
• Substance Misuse worker to contact CC Outreach
  worker to discuss best way to do assessment
• SM worker to attend assessment/meeting if this
  will help engagement.
• Support offered to family from CC
• Substance Misuse work continues.

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Learning

• Primarily learning so far is centred on
  treatment services preparation to link with CCs
• Many workers who have been used to working with
  adults demonstrate little knowledge of the range
  of services for families and children
• Identifying blockages in abilities to elicit
  information prompting decision to offer referral
  to CCs.
• Acknowledging the cultural shift in treatment
  staff asking questions linked to children and
  parenting and the importance of management
  support in doing so

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• Raising the profile of the importance of locally
  based resources for those with children
• Supporting the awareness amongst treatment staff
  of the risk of very poor outcomes for very young
  children who are in families where there is
  substance misuse
• Need for commissioners to be clear about resource
  / capacity issues for the treatment service to
  develop these links
• Children Centres identifying possible capacity
  issues depending on success of pilot

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PlymouthFamily Intervention Project

• Tracy Green

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Aims of work

• Clear project outcome of reducing levels of
  problematic substance use in all families
  targeted
• Support outcomes agreed by Safeguarding Board
  noted on previous slide (Hidden Harm Strategy)
• Young peoples service to receive more referrals
  for younger children.
• Increase numbers of problematic substance users
  engaged with treatment services.
• Increase numbers of those at risk of developing
  problematic use receiving substance use
  interventions.
• Reduce harm being caused by substance misuse.

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• To provide a different model of drugs work from
  the established treatment services. More
  intensive, more inclusive of whole family but has
  to work alongside the other services to
  compliment and enable their provision.
• To develop referrals for Tier 4 with built in
  support at home for children, grandparents and
  other carers. This means that there could be
  better outcomes for detox/ stabilisation of
  parents who are the service users/ FIP families.
• To increase the FIP teams ability/confidence to
  address substance misuse with all families.

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What has been achieved so far?

• Plymouth FIPs whole family assessment
  incorporates assessing the risk of substance use
• Decision to appoint specialist worker for
  Substance Misuse employed by treatment service
  and deployed within FIP!
• Role Profile developed Covering the key worker
  role, alongside offering specialist provision to
  other FIP families and consultancy to other
  mainstream key workers, with the aim of reducing
  the harm caused by substance misuse to users
  themselves, affected others and to the wider
  community.
• Successful appointment of a substance misuse
  specialist who has seven years experience within
  the treatment service covering areas such as
  working with young people, drug education within
  Schools, young adults using alcohol and sexual
  health.

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Learning

• From external evaluation of year 1 of Plymouth
  FIP it was identified that 69 of all families
  had substance misuse problem
• 54 of families had at least one adult problem
  user
• 39 of families had at least one 12-18 year old
  problem user
• Given wide range of treatment service teams /
  services it made sense to provide link through a
  dedicated FIP specialist substance misuse role
• Determined that it would be most effective for
  the specialist worker would to be employed and
  recruited by Harbour (Specialist Treatment
  Service). This would place the worker within the
  governance and policy framework of the Substance
  Misuse Service and enable them to continue their
  professional development within their lead
  agency.

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PlymouthParenting Programmes

• Strengthening Families Programme

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Aims of work

• The SFP 10-14 (UK) is a 7 session programme
  focusing on reducing family related risk factors
  for adolescent children and their
  parent/caregivers
• Help parents/caregivers learn nurturing skills
  that support their children and how to
  effectively discipline and guide their youth
• Give young people a healthy future orientation
  and an increased appreciation of their
  parent/caregivers. Teaching young people skills
  for dealing with stress and peer pressure
• Families have fun in activities and games,
  discuss what makes a family strong and solve
  problems together
• Support outcomes agreed by Safeguarding Board
  noted on previous slide (Hidden Harm Strategy)

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• Target Groups are families where primary concern
  is one or more of the following risk factors
  Domestic Violence, Substance Misuse, Mental
  Health and Neglect
• Overseen by a Children's Trust mandatory board
  for delivery of parenting programmes

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What has been achieved so far?

• Spring 2007 a bid was put in through the Home
  Offices Respect Agenda for Parenting Programmes
• Recruited families from the Target Groups where
  primary concern is one or more of the following
  risk factors Domestic Violence, Substance
  Misuse, Mental Health and Neglect
• 84 Facilitators now trained from both statutory
  and voluntary services
• 4 Trainer Facilitators qualified to deliver SFP
  training staff and volunteers across the City
• 08/09 Thirty-one families successfully completed
  the programme
• Spring and Summer programmes Thirty-four families
  completed
• Twenty-six had 1 or more of the targeted issues

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• 4 with Domestic Violence, 5 with Substance
  Misuse, 1 with Mental Health, 19 Neglect/poor
  family function and 11 Anti-Social Behaviour
• Referral of families is done through existing
  services using a nomination criteria
• Full-time programme coordinator employed

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Learning

• Collaborative advantage (multi-agency delivery)
• A broad spectrum of referrals
• Maximizing engagement by preparing families
• Provision of transport
• Appropriate venues
• Childcare provision
• Refreshments
• Follow-up calls
• Dedicated, committed passionate staff
• Meeting the needs of the individuals who attend
• Monitoring, feedback and evaluation forms
• Having fun
• Substance misusing families

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• Treatment services can refer in now but capacity
  issues for treatment service places on the
  programmes have not been agreed clarity on this
  will help manage expectations of use of programme
• We are not sure that there should just be
  substance misusing family programmes
• Nomination forms not always reflecting the
  families
• Multi-agency working, different values, codes of
  practice etc.

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Thank You If you have any queries or questions
please complete the forms handed out and we will
endeavour to respond to you over the next few
weeks. Alternatively email dave.schwartz_at_plymou
th.gov.uk
Children Centres
Childrens Social Care
FIP
Parenting Programmes