Family safeguarding in Hertfordshire
A whole-system reform of Children’s Services in Hertfordshire improved the quality of work with families as well as outcomes for children and their parents.
Background
Growing up with a parent who is dependent on alcohol can have an extremely harmful impact on the life course of a child and has the potential to have a multi-generational influence. Children in these circumstances are more likely to miss school and to have poor educational outcomes. They often have significant problems themselves as adults, such as poor employment, mental health issues, and alcohol and substance misuse problems. These may lead to homelessness and involvement with the criminal justice system.
Around 200,000 children in England are living with 118,000 parents who have alcohol problems and around three quarters of parents with alcohol problems are not currently in treatment.
Almost 2 in 5 (84,000) assessments of Children in Need record alcohol as a factor and an analysis of serious case reviews (where a child was seriously hurt or killed) found that 37% recorded alcohol as a contributing factor.
Over 28,000 children live with 16,000 adults receiving treatment for alcohol and 82% of children with parents receiving alcohol treatment do not receive support from children’s social care.
Tackling parental alcohol dependence is a complex life course issue requiring action to be taken early, appropriately and together by interdisciplinary partners working collaboratively in an innovative and integrated way.
New government funding supports a cross government strategy to improve identification and support for children of alcohol dependent parents. This includes a £4.5 million innovation fund managed by Public Health England (PHE), £1 million for the voluntary sector, and £500,000 to extend a helpline.
What was involved
An evaluated project in Hertfordshire Family Safeguarding Hertfordshire: an evaluation aimed to improve how Children’s Services work with families and the outcomes for children and their parents. In this case, a high proportion of families had parental domestic abuse (44%), alcohol (26%) or drug problems (38%) or depression/anxiety (69%).
This was a whole-system reform of the services, bringing together a partnership including the police, health (including mental health), probation and substance misuse services.
Specialist adult workers with domestic abuse, substance misuse and mental health expertise were recruited and joined the teams, alongside other initiatives:
- a large training programme including motivational interviewing for all staff
- creating multidisciplinary teams
- introducing new ways of working and reducing caseloads
The goal was to strengthen the bond between couples, support fathers and male partners to prevent violent behaviour and reduce the numbers of children being taken into care by ensuring that parental behaviours were addressed and changes occurred, which meant it was safe for children to remain at home.
What worked well
Key factors in this project’s success were effective management oversight and strong inter-agency working, which led to efficiency and an innovative approach in overcoming challenges.
Workers were generally very positive and enthusiastic about their role and work and about the changes involved in the project. They had a clear commitment to working to keep families together.
In particular, the inclusion of workers with adults in teams for children and their families was a central success of the project, providing not just specialist input but also a move towards a more multidisciplinary way of thinking and talking about families, as well as working with them.
This is likely to be linked to the positive effects of the project on outcomes, such as the reduced need for children to enter care. Also, where entering care was necessary, there was a 39% reduction in the time spent in care, a 66% reduction in frequency of contact with the police and a 53% drop in emergency hospital admissions for adults in the affected families.
The estimated cost savings to Children’s Services from reduced care and child protection in the first 12 months alone were £2.6 million. Police and NHS also made savings related to families in the project.
What could be improved
It was a challenge to create changes in practice across the service. Although some important shifts were achieved, more were required. Apart from effective training (some of which was of mixed quality), there was a need for more time and ongoing input so that workers could implement new ways of discussing and working with families in a more collaborative and effective way.
Next steps
Learning from the project provided effective positive strategies for action, with the proviso that to be successful such a project also requires committed and passionate leadership.
The report recommended that all local authorities should consider the potential of multidisciplinary working for improving practice and outcomes in Children’s Services. As of April 2019, the model has begun to be rolled out to other councils across the country, under the Department for Education (DfE) funded Strengthening families, protecting children (SFPC) programme. Over 5 years, £84 million is available to support up to 20 local authorities to replicate 3 programmes including Family Safeguarding Hertfordshire.
Further information
Matt Ansell, Operations Director Children & Families Safeguarding, Hertfordshire County Council.