Families First - Update

Bucks Network17 January 2013

Sue Imbriano

What is Families First?

• A more coordinated way of working with families who are experiencing difficulties or challenges in their lives.

• A partnership approach that focuses on the whole family, addressing all of their needs together.

• Working together with families to make positive changes to their lives & move away from dependency on public services.

• Taking a preventative approach by working with families before their problems become too difficult to manage, as well as supporting families out of crisis.

It’s not:• A new service or extra bureaucracy. • The next ‘Big Idea’

Families First – our ambition• Through a whole system change to how

we work together, we will turn around the lives of local families in difficulties. This means both preventing some tipping into crisis as well as supporting those in crisis to become more resilient and independent.

Developed in partnership, inc. families

• Worked together to understand range & need• Families able to tell their story and what they

want services to be like • Practitioners able to tell their story too• Wide partnership involvement• Peer activity to look at system challenges

Approach rooted in family & practitioner perspective, wide partner buy-in

Families First initial model

SFA: Single Family Assessment

Links to: Children’s Services ‘Family Resilience Unit’ plansMunro Programme• A whole systems approach • Reclaiming social work • Clear and coordinated Early Help Offer• ‘Step up - step down’ model into and out of

statutory services• Child and family centred

Recent developments: Family worker role• Not a Lead Professional role; but raises issues to them• Needs family trust; Single point of contact for advice,

navigating the system and supporting the family plan• Building capacity role, recognises family’s assets• Whereas lead professional: Manages the family plan

and assessment, tasks other agencies, has accountability and acts upon insight function

Family Assessment and Plan• Single Assessment, single plan• Owned by the family

Shifted to Prototyping Phase now

Challenges• Information sharing • Family engagement• Interventions • Ensuring join up with other programmes• Evaluation and the Insight Function • Driving ongoing change and learning

through whole system• Sustainability• Focussing on strengths, not deficits

Ambition for prototyping

• From Jan 13, we’ve agreed to ‘get on and do’• Focus both geographic focus (Chesham) and

other cross-county aspects• Action learning – iterative process• Recognise nothing is perfect – keep learning

through doing• Making mistakes can be a good thing!• Use prototyping as our partnership

dialogue for continued improvement

Chesham Prototyping Progress

• Key agencies engaged• Agreement on what and how to prototype• Initial cohort of families identified though

partnership• Lead professional identified• Families’ consent being sought

Current Governance arrangements• Light-touch Exec Steering Group –

links to the Bucks Network, reports to BCC Cabinet

• Working Group: supports and drives development and delivery through multi agency workstream groups (13)

• Governance based on collaboration and consensus: all organisations retain ownership and responsibility for their decisions/resources.

• Review of Governance underway – reduce workstreams? Agree co-ordinating/ref group? And plan format of Families Forum

• Convening meeting of existing working group (+ others?) 11 Feb

Changes to consider• Any extra members for Exec Steering Group?• Shape Working Group around a revised

programme now FF is at prototyping phase: membership and remit to reflect this

• Engagement of wider reference group: is this Bucks Network? Or more practitioner based?

• Does governance sufficiently reflect mix of strategic/manager/practitioners across partners?

• Wider partners, e.g. schools, wider vcs (e.g. faith groups), GPs, sufficiently represented?

Programme workstreamsExisting workstreamsModel & ImplementationFamily AssessmentCo-designWorklessness

Culture Change/Workforce DevelopmentResearchEvaluation

Costs and BenefitsPeformance MonitoringAligning & Pooling Resources

Governance Information-sharingCommunications

Proposed workstreams

Delivery

Insight and evaluation

Finance & Performance

Governance & Comms

Need active partner leads for each workstream

Questions

• Feedback from your organisations on progress to date?

• Support and commitment to lead a workstream plus actively support others?

• Bucks Network role in governance?• Views on changes to governance?

Contacts and Further Information

Joy Shakespeare - Families First Programme Lead

Email: eshakespeare@buckscc.gov.ukTel:01296-387762