The 11 plans are part of the children’s social care
innovation programme to help improve the lives of
vulnerable children.
Thirty-six million pounds is to be awarded to projects across the
country that help improve the lives of vulnerable children, the
Minister for Vulnerable Children and Families has announced today (Monday
20 March 2017).
The 11 ambitious plans will help children who have been exposed
to domestic abuse, support young disabled people living in care,
and back care leavers as they get ready to start their adult
lives.
The projects are part of the children’s social care
innovation programme, which is backed by £200 million of
government funding. This programme has supported 59 projects to
date, providing evidence of best practice that is helping to
improve children’s services across the country.
It is a key part of the government’s work to explore and develop
the best possible services for vulnerable children and their
families.
Minister for Vulnerable Children and Families said:
Childhood should be a happy and safe time in all our lives. We
must do all we can to make sure this is the reality for every
child.
By harnessing the passion and expertise of those who care for
children, we can provide them with life-changing support. By
giving professionals the freedom to develop new and innovative
ways of working, these fantastic projects will help make a real
difference to children’s lives. I look forward to seeing them
deliver great results in the future.
The 11 projects that have been awarded funding are:
- The Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime
and NHS England’s Child House
- Newham’s NewDay project
- Northamptonshire county council’s alternative delivery model
- Shared Lives Plus
- The Fostering Network’s Mockingbird project
- Family Rights Group’s Lifelong Links
- Hertfordshire’s Family Safeguarding model
- Catch22 and Southwark council’s Care Leavers’ Partnership
- Havering council’s project for children in, and leaving, care
- Slough’s Transformation Programme
- Hackney’s project on contextual safeguarding theory
One of the grants will go to Lifelong Links - run by
the Family Rights Group. This project brings together as many
people as possible who care about a child in a meeting called a
family group conference. The aim of this is to help build a
lasting support plan with the child, from helping them with their
homework to taking them to a regular after-school club. Everyone
will be able to offer something slightly different, and evidence
suggests that this structured approach results in better
placement stability and wellbeing for children in care.
Another pilot, run by Havering council, aims to improve services
for young people going into, and leaving, care. Havering plans to
bring together teams of social workers, NHS staff, teachers and
other professionals, to tackle domestic abuse, substance misuse
and mental health problems. Staff will learn how to support
families and train them on how to prevent situations from
escalating into potential safeguarding issues.
Cathy Ashley, Chief Executive of Family Rights Group, said:
We are thrilled that the Innovation Programme has funded us to
work with 7 local authorities to trial a transformative
approach to creating life-long support networks for children
and young people in care.
Lifelong Links involves professionals using a variety of
innovative ways of searching for and connecting with family
members and other adults who care about the child. This network
is then convened through a family group conference to make a
lasting support plan with, and for, the young person. By
starting early in a young person’s care journey, Lifelong Links
aims to ensure those social networks can be available for them
in care, providing stability to their care experience and
support through the transition into independent living and
beyond.
Councillor Robert Benham, Cabinet Member for Children and
Learning at Havering council, said:
This money will have a huge impact on the services we provide
for young people who need our support in the borough, and shows
great confidence from the government in our ability to deliver.
Through innovation, enhanced resources and working with the
young people themselves, we will design a service that truly
meets their needs. A large focus will be on keeping young
people out of care in the first place, enabling them to stay
with their families wherever possible, ensuring that those who
do need care get it in a stable way, and those leaving care are
given the very best life chances in education and employment.
Today we are also publishing 10 evaluation reports from the
Innovation Programme. Findings from these projects are key to the
success of the programme, and the department will continue to
work closely with each one to make sure we learn lessons from the
work carried out. These reports are an important part of the
Innovation Programme and are used to inform the work of
children’s social care services across the country.
Notes to editors
For more information on the Innovation Programme, please visit
the Spring Consortium
website.
