Support from Children’s Services is well received by families 

A different way of giving support to parents, carers and young people has been met with positive feedback from families in Dorset, according to a report presented to Dorset Council’s People and Health Overview Committee. 

Dorset Council was selected last year by the government to be one of only three pathfinder organisations to design major reforms to children's services, from family help to the edge of care, and to make sure these changes work well for families. 

‘Families First for Children’ puts children and their families first and helps them to lead on the decision making and tell the local authority, or other support groups in their community, what help they think they need in order to keep their family together. 

Dorset Council expects that by putting families at the centre and working closely with other partners, including health organisations, there will be fewer children on child protection plans, fewer children in care and more children will be supported to stay with their birth families. 

Councillor Clare Sutton, Cabinet Member for Children’s Services, Education and Skills, said: “This has been a huge opportunity for Dorset to shape the transformation that is required across the country in children’s social care. 

“It was prompted by the review of Children’s Social Care which found the current system to be increasingly skewed towards crisis intervention, with outcomes for children unacceptably poor, and costs across the country continuing to rise. 

“When families move into a crisis situation it is much worse for them and it takes much more support from us to give them the help they need. We were selected by the government for the pathfinder because we were already working in a way that gave people early help, so now we are enhancing that with further changes. 

“It’s early days yet as those further changes have only been in place since the summer, but families are already telling us that they feel much more in control of shaping their own plans to make sure their children are well cared for. 

“They meet with the same people as their need for support increases or decreases, which means they don’t have to keep telling their story – something families told us they didn’t like about the previous system. 

“Sometimes people will not even need to be involved directly with children’s services to get that support as our Family Hubs can offer real help and advice to people directly in their communities.” 

The new way of working has been split into four areas: 
•    Family Help – teams that are based locally and can help families with tailored support in a wide range of needs 
•    Child protection – a dedicated and skilled team that works with family help and other agencies to protect children who are suffering or are likely to suffer significant harm 
•    Family networks – making greater use of the network that each family has and aiming to keep more children living at home or with someone they already know 
•    Safeguarding partners – making sure that current safeguarding partners are brought along with any changes and that education is included as the fourth safeguarding partner. 

 

It is expected that the new way of working will also make better use resources available. 

Paul Dempsey, Executive Director for Children’s Services, said: “Like most councils, Dorset is facing financial pressures so it is important that we use the resources that we have in the most effective way when we are working with children and families.   

“It is better for us to support families early on before their situation reaches crisis point. For example bringing children into care costs much more than providing support for families to stay together.  

“But we also know that it is better for them too because, so long as they are safe, the best place for children to be is usually with their families.” 

One of the things that is supporting families in the very early stages of needing help is the Family Network Support Package which is available for families who are taking part in family group decision making (where family networks support with making decisions about a child).  

This is financial support that can be paid to people who are not birth parents who can help in some way. It might be a new sofa bed so grandparents can stay over in the child’s family home while a parent is unwell, or money so an aunt or uncle or neighbour can pick a child up from school and give them dinner. 

Councillor Sutton added: “Anyone who has been a parent knows how incredibly hard it can be at times. Anything can change a family’s life from plain sailing to being on a more rocky path whether that is a job loss, a bereavement or illness, and any of us might need support from other people to get through these times. 

“The work we have done means this help us available to families in the places where they live. No one is going to judge you, we simply want to make sure that you and your family get the help you need as soon as possible.” 

The work of the Pathfinder follows the Department for Education’s publication in February 2023, of the Stable Homes, Built on Love strategy and consultation, which sets out a vision to rebalance children’s social care away from costly crisis intervention to more meaningful and effective early support.