"If we are to improve
outcomes, then community planning partners will need to place a
particular focus on joining up delivery around children and
families." |
There are many examples of effective multi-agency delivery from councils across Scotland where staff from different professional backgrounds in family centres, schools or nurseries and short-term projects. Each profession takes the lead on its specialist area of activity, for example education professionals leading on educational programmes. What are less common at present are inter-agency approaches where staff re-think methods of working together with hard-to-reach groups or challenge existing professional mindsets that can act as barriers to achieving positive outcomes for children.
Professional training has a key part to play in supporting inter-agency work at strategic level. The work of multi-agency committees and Chief Officers Groups involved in child protection offers useful insights into possible future developments. Funded pre-school education for three-to-five year olds means that almost all of this age group come into contact with universal services and any intervention and support can be coordinated. However, this is not the case for the younger age group from birth to three.
Traditionally, this is the age range where younger and less experienced staff have been deployed in day care provision. Much more needs to be done to bring the expertise of the early years staff and services together to ensure vulnerable children are not missed at this very early stage of their development. Particular improvements in support for birth to three services are highlighted in the Early Years Framework. The Equally Well programme takes this area of work further with opportunities for local authorities and their community planning partners to explore.
Taking the service into the community through a community development approach is an emerging area of work. This approach does not focus upon the service professionals but is based upon the development of the child at the centre of the whole community. However, family learning is not included as part of the outcomes of Community Learning and Development in Delivering Change: Understanding the outcomes of CLD, produced by Communities Scotland in 2007. The Community Empowerment Action Plan 2009 makes limited mention of early years and family learning work. This leaves room to develop understanding of the role of family learning programmes in delivering outcomes for community engagement and empowerment further. Traditional forms of community work with the focus on small groups of adults need to broaden and reach out to engage with the wider work that is ongoing with children, families and communities.
Points for reflection
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Hailesland Child and
Family Centre CASE STUDY 17 |
Hailesland Child and Family Centre is a community-based resource committed to promoting the welfare and early learning of vulnerable children and families by providing an inclusive, flexible service, maximising individual potential. Referrals to the centre are made through other agencies. Vulnerable children are identified through partnership arrangements with the local nursery school and through the centre’s work with families in the community. Admission of children to the centre is through the admissions panel.
The centre has a strong interagency approach. Services are tailored to meet the individual needs of children and families. The families who use the centre are invariably ‘hard to reach’ and may not have had positive experiences of contact with services. Many are affected by drugs and alcohol addiction, mental health issues, family breakdown and isolation and high levels of poverty. Parental involvement and engagement has improved assessment and early intervention to improve outcomes for children.
The centre has developed creative ways of addressing the needs of children and families in a holistic and integrated way. Services are delivered flexibly and through careful case planning. Senior staff identify and use the skills and expertise of individual staff to maximise the impact of the centre’s work. Staff development and training is integral to this. At points of transition in and out of the centre, reviews are conducted and information handed over, for example, to the nursery school. The nursery school headteacher can then make decisions about resources to deliver the levels of support needed for children and families.
North Ayrshire Council CASE STUDY 18 |
The local council has extended its provision for children aged birth to three and now provides very effective support for a significant number of children requiring a priority nursery place. Multi-agency partnership forums have been set up to ensure that professionals can work together to plan more effectively the support for children. Community nurseries provide safe, stimulating and fun environments for young children and also offer support for parents either as individuals or as groups. Programmes for parents involve colleagues from health, social services and addiction prevention services, thereby streamlining access and delivery of services.