A strategy for parenting and family support services

Case study

March 2011

A group of middle managers at Slough Borough Council took part in the Integrated Leadership Development Programme to focus on streamlining their services for parents and families. This case study highlights the outcomes of integrated working and professional development for those involved.

Key learning

A new multi-agency Triage assessment and referral process has been established.
Integrated working has moved to the next stage of development.
Middle managers are making decisions at a strategic level.

Background

In early 2009, Slough Borough Council reviewed the strategy for their parenting and family support service, with the aim of improving the integrated working needed to develop service delivery. The review had highlighted the large number of individual programmes offered to parents and families, linking into a variety of grant funding sources, which were available across eight discrete communities in Slough. The charity Barnardo’s was commissioned to co-ordinate a new strategy, and it was recognised that middle managers from different agencies needed to work together in order to review and plan services for parents and families.

Slough Borough Council began the programme, consisting of four one-day workshops spread over a period of six months. A group of middle managers were invited to participate and included an educational psychologist, education welfare officer, behavioural support worker, health visitors, headteacher, local authority improvement manager and many others.

Key challenges

Restructuring current services

The entire structure of the services offered to parent and families needed to be restructured. The variety of ways in which the services were delivered also had to be reviewed and reconstructed.

Developing integrated working

Teams needed to work together to achieve their goals, particularly at the middle management level where the focus was the operational delivery of the services.

Professional development programmes

The delivery of a range of professional development programmes providing knowledge and skills for family and parenting support needed to be planned and co-ordinated.

Change in culture

A new culture and values needed to be shared and integrated across the various organisations and agencies involved in parenting and family support.

Solutions

Workshops

As part of the Integrated Leadership Development Programme, four one-day workshops were delivered, each with a distinct focus:

exploring the realities of the current situation and creating goals for the future
considering options and opportunities for a new service structure and financial planning
considering options and opportunities for the delivery of services to parents and families, and a review of professional development and training programmes
action planning and celebration of achievements

Between workshops delegates were asked to complete relevant tasks or research.

New skills

Throughout the programme the delegates gained new skills and knowledge to help them to work collaboratively. It was envisaged that the tools used by facilitators to aid this learning could be used by delegates to support their staff in managing change.

The variety of tools and techniques used by facilitators enabled delegates to review the current status of services for parents and families, understand the benefits of integrated working, and to plan a new approach for service delivery.

Gaining strategic influence

Feedback from delegates was positive and showed that learning was taken back into the workplace. The programme enabled middle managers to instigate strategic discussions at a higher level than previously achieved, and also developed their knowledge at a strategic level about the parenting and family support service.

The legacy of the programme, and the enthusiasm generated by it, has contributed to the establishment of a new Think Family hub and group.

Improving processes

A new Triage assessment and referral process has been set up, which is based on a daily meeting of middle managers from different agencies. Family cases are reviewed using the parameters for referral which has enabled a more effective integrated approach, and a quicker decision-making and feedback process. It has moved integrated working onto the next stage of development, and created an impetus to further develop the Lead Professional role.

Next steps

The Think Family approach is being taken forward, and preparation is being made to address the financial pressures and changes due to take place in the local authority in April 2011. The new Triage assessment and referral service is expected to deliver further efficiencies, with a 70 per cent reduction of referrals to social care already achieved, as well as immediate feedback to referrers and no backlog of cases. The Triage assessment service is picking up family links more effectively than the use of the Common Assessment Framework (CAF), although there is more work to be done to encourage all services who work with children and families to use the CAF as an assessment tool.

Further information

For further information about this project please contact Rosemary Goodwin from National College providers Babcock 4S at wd@babcock.co.uk.

For further information about parenting and family support services at Slough Borough Council, contact Peter Quinn at peter.quinn@slough.gov.uk.