28 November 2014

Early Intervention and the Voluntary Sector in

Barnet Flo Armstrong

Head of Youth and Community, Children’s Service

London Borough of Barnet

Dion Watts

Strategy Officer, Children’s Service

London Borough of Barnet

Contents

1. Overall Barnet approach to EIP2. Role of the Voluntary Sector3. Discussion points

1. What is our EIP strategy?

In a nutshell*:

• Increase the number of CAFs

• Increase % closed as needs met

But:

•How do we ensure that our services are of high quality?

•How do we ensure that we are meeting the right needs?

*The full EIP strategy is being finalised and will be published shortly. Sub strategies for the Voluntary

Sector and other key delivery partners will be developed in due course in consultation with stakeholders.

1. EIP Strategy – needs analysis

1. Families affected by domestic violence

2. Those affected by alcohol and/or drug misuse issues, or living with a

parent or carer with these issues

3. Children, young people or adults with mental health issues

4. Families where the ability to parent is limited

5. Families experiencing long term unemployment

6. Those involved with the police or the criminal justice system

7. Children who are regularly missing school or children who are not school

ready

8. Those at risk of child sexual exploitation

1. ‘Toxic Trio’ of DV, alcohol/drugs and mental health were key

2. Note that problems tend to be function of parents rather than children –

link to adult services…

1. EIP strategy – 3 principles

1. Intervening as early as possible – in the life of the problem

and/or the life of the child, and shifting families down the tiers

of need.

2. Taking a whole family approach – working with all members

of the family in a holistic way, taking a multi-agency approach

where appropriate.

3. Using evidence based interventions and monitoring them

effectively – robust monitoring will help us to identify where

our EIP is making the greatest impact and to commission

services effectively.

Why these principles?

Intervening as early as possible

“For children who need additional help, every day matters.

Academic research is consistent in underlining the damage to

children from delaying intervention. The actions taken by

professionals to meet the needs of these children as early as

possible can be critical to their future.”

Working Together to Safeguard Children, HM Government, 2013

“A child’s physical, social, and cognitive development during the

early years strongly influences their school-readiness and

educational attainment, economic participation and health.”

Dyson A, Hertzman C, Roberts H, Tunstill J and Vaghri Z.

Report of Childhood Development, Education and Health

Inequalities task group. Submission to the Marmot Review, 2009

Intervening as early as possible

“Remediation for impoverished early environments becomes

progressively more costly the later it is attempted in the life cycle of

the child. The track record for criminal rehabilitation, adult literacy

and late teenage public job training programs is remarkably poor.”

“Early Intervention and Preventions targeted towards

disadvantaged children have much higher returns than later

interventions such as reduced pupil-teacher ratios, public job

training, convict rehabilitation or expenditure on police.”

Heckman J. Investing in Disadvantaged Young Children is an

Economically Efficient Policy. New York, 2006

Taking a whole family approach

“The children of parents who have drug and alcohol problems, poor

mental health or are involved in offending or domestic violence are

at a high risk of future problems.”

“Children aged 13-14 who live in families with 5 or more identified

problems are 36 times more likely to be excluded from school and

six times more likely to have been in care or in contact with the

police than children in families with no identified problems. 63% of

boys with convicted fathers go on to be convicted themselves.”

Business case for Intensive Support for Families with Multiple

Problems, Department for Education

Taking a whole family approach“Services who work with these families following intensive whole

family models regularly feedback that partners are surprised at the

speed and range of outcomes that are met through this intensive

support.”

Independent research by NatCen shows improved outcomes for

these families:

• Reduction in housing enforcement actions by 72%

• Drop in ASB by almost 2/3

• Domestic violence reduced by 59%

• Drug and alcohol problems reduced by 47%

• Child protection concerns reduced by 42%

Business case for Intensive Support for Families with Multiple

Problems, Department for Education

Using evidence based interventions and monitoring them effectively

• Interventions we choose to invest in must be proven to produce

good outcomes for children and families and there must be clear

processes in place to monitor this.

• Consistent monitoring of the outputs and outcomes of

interventions will allow us to commission services based on a

foundation of evidence on what works in Barnet.

• This strategic imperative led us on a journey to measure the

impact of our early intervention and prevention services on

children and families, and their value to the public sector.

2. Role of the Voluntary Sector in delivering our EIP Strategy

1. Voluntary sector contribution to the CAF system in Barnet

2. Ambitions for the sector

3. Support for voluntary sector organisations

2.1 Voluntary sector contribution to the CAF system in Barnet

• Voluntary organisations play an important role in delivering

services for children and young people, including in early

years provision, family support services, youth work,

children’s social care and healthcare

• Some voluntary organisations deliver specialist support and

therapeutic work, making them well placed to take on the

Lead Professional role in a CAF

• Many voluntary organisations are skilled in preventative

work and may be well placed to reach the most vulnerable

children, young people and families

2.1 Key voluntary sector CAF statistics

• Voluntary sector organisations initiated around 3% of total

CAFs in 12/13 and 13/14, and 1% for this year (as at 18/9)

• Voluntary sector organisations were Lead Professional on

1% of CAFs initiated by the LP in 12/13 and 0.5% in 13/14

• Referrals into MASH from voluntary sector organisations fall

into category of measurement alongside Children’s Centres,

independent agency providers, and some others

• Number of referrals for the whole category was 628 for period

Sep 13 – July 14 (5% of total)

• 41% of these ended in No Further Action

2.2 Ambitions for the sector

• Voluntary sector is 1 of 3 partners (Schools, Health Visitors)

identified as key to successful delivery of the EIP Strategy

• Ambition is for a good quality voluntary sector able to play

an active role in safeguarding children and young people,

including through the CAF

• Key role for the sector around providing information /

resources to the wider public to support the needs of

children, young people and families

• Increase % of CAFs initiated by voluntary sector organisations

• Increase % of CAFs led by voluntary sector organisations

• Monitor number of voluntary sector organisations who are

involved with the CAF process as part of Team Around the Child

or through other means

• Reduce % of voluntary sector MASH referrals that end in NFA

(while maintaining or increasing the overall number of referrals)

2.2 High level targets

2.3 Support for voluntary sector organisations – VCS Development Partner

• VCS Development Partner commissioned to build capacity

in the sector around early intervention and safeguarding

• Outputs include:• Delivery of CAF/safeguarding briefing sessions to voluntary sector

organisations with low involvement in CAF and/or requiring training

• Regular attendance at key multi-agency meetings and trainings

• Submission of an annual S11 audit to the LSCB

• Outcomes include:• Increased awareness of CAF and confidence to be involved

• Increased awareness of MASH and confidence to appropriately refer

3. Discussion points

• What additional support do you need in order to support the

early intervention and prevention agenda in Barnet?

• How can we work together to grow the contribution of the

voluntary and community sector?

• Beyond engaging with the CAF system, what else can the

sector do to improve outcomes for children and families?