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HOW WELL ARE CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE PROTECTED AND THEIR NEEDS MET?: Self-evaluation using quality indicators

Introduction

The aim of this publication is to improve the help children and young people get when they need it by helping us to evaluate the work we do with children, young people and families. Self-evaluation helps us to:

• recognise the work we are doing which has a very positive impact on the lives of children, young people and families;
• identify levels of service which need to be maintained or where improvement is needed;
• identify what we can do to make things better for children, young people and families; and
• inform stakeholders about the quality of services in the area.

The process of using self-evaluation for improvement requires a cycle of activity based round three questions.

How are we doing?

This is the key to knowing if we are doing the right things and that, as a result, the children and young people we are responsible for are safer and their lives are better.

How do we know?

It is essential that any judgements we make in answering the question above are based on evidence. The quality indicators in this document, along with surveys and other sources of stakeholders’ views, help us to evaluate how we are doing. We can also use performance data collected nationally or within a local area or service.

What are we going to do now?

The evaluation of the effectiveness of the work we do to protect children and young people and meet their needs should help us see what is working well and where we should be taking steps to improve. We should be able to develop effective plans for improvement based on robust evidence of what works well, from our own self-evaluation and, when appropriate, from research.

This self-evaluation guide gives advice on finding out the answers to these questions, and links self-evaluation to planning for improvement and reporting on our performance. The diagram overleaf sets out the process for self-evaluation and improvement and places questions about protecting children and young people at the heart of the process.

This publication is in four parts.

Part 1 provides a step-by-step approach to self-evaluation based on the cycle of questions above.

Part 2 contains the quality indicators.

Part 3 provides examples of how the indicators can be used in a range of settings to evaluate how well children and young people are protected and their needs met.

Part 4 gives information about other sources of advice, such as related Standards and Performance Indicators.

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