Agenda item

The Director of Children’s Social Work and Early Help submits a report updating on the progress of delivering Family Therapies; Multisystemic Therapy (MST), MST: Building Stronger Families (MST BSF), Functional Family Therapy for Child Welfare (FFT-CW), and Family Group Decision Making, for the period of Quarter 3.

There will be a brief update on the development of the Family Functional Therapy reunification pilot.

The Director of Social Care, Early Help and Prevention Service submitted a report updating on the progress of delivering Family Therapies; Multisystemic Therapy (MST), MST: Building Stronger Families (MST BSF), Functional Family Therapy for Child Welfare (FFT-CW), and Family Group Decision Making, for the period of Quarter 3.

There was a brief update on the development of the Family Functional Therapy reunification pilot.

The Assistant City Mayor for Children and Young People introduced the item by acknowledging the positive work, particularly on aspects relating to capturing the voice of the child.

The Head of Service for Prevention Services gave an overview of the report. Key points to note were as follows:

·       A range of programmes were available to children and families, depending on their needs.

·       A Functional Family pilot was in the early stages, which could provide significant insights on the impacts of the programmes for families.

·       The Edge of Care Strategy and the Family Decision Making programme would come to future scrutiny meetings. The Relocation Pilot had already come to scrutiny.

·       A six-monthly or annual report could come to scrutiny.

The Service Manager of the Family Therapy Service provided an update on the service. Key points to note were:

• Work took place with different aged children with differing needs.
• Previous models had not always gone well. A main factor being the lack of support for children returning to the family home.
• Significant research had taken place looking at best practice in managing interventions.
• The decision had been made to place the service within the area of Edge of Care.
• There had been a significant growth in teams.
• The previous financial year had seen 199 children being prevented from going into care. It was anticipated that this work could be sustained.
• For Quarter 3, work had taken place with around 93 families and 183 children across the quarter. This tended to entail working with large families who had a lot of additional needs.
• When assessing savings, the team considered the price that would have been incurred if the child had been taken into care. With this in mind, there had been an average annual avoided cost of £81K per child.
• Work was in family-based intervention, taking place within the family home.
• Success was measured in terms of sustainability. 85% of children now remained at home six months post closure, +12 months was 84% and +18 months was 92%. There would be a move to include 5-year tracking.
• Regarding capacity, the end quarter 3 saw 70% of the target for children worked with had been met. Savings were significantly over target at 194%.
• Every child subject to a plan was entitled to a family meeting which was family lead.

Members were invited to comment and raise questions. Key points to note were as follows:

• Family Therapy work was taking place for children refusing school. A number of outcomes were measured monthly. There was around an 83% success rate.
• Edge of Care cases were monitored, there was a threshold to be met for a child to come into the service. Data could be presented to scrutiny.
• Currently the length of time between referral and commencement of services was 13 days, and it was hoped that this could come to under 10 days. Delays were usually surrounding consent as a signature was required. Issues concerning trust could arise with cautious families.
• Some families required long-term support, others could be assisted over a shorter period.
• Recent central government funding would create opportunities for the Family Therapy Team.
• For children returning home, it was predicted that there would be an equitable amount of intervention, but this was not expected to last for longer than 6-9 months, to avoid fostering dependency on service.
• There would be a need to explore other avenues for the Edge of Care Strategy to include a more comprehensive offer around family decision making, and the unification process. Details on the strategy review could be brought to scrutiny as it would be refreshed annually.
• More longer-term support was planned for families with long-term neglect. It was also recognised that support might be best placed with other agencies due to a reluctance within families to work directly with the council. The strategy was likely to evolve.
• One of the keys to the success of the service lay in the fact that children shaped their own outcomes under weekly group supervision.

AGREED:

1)    That the report be noted.

2)    That comments made by members of this commission to be taken into account by the lead officers.

3)    For the Edge of Care report to come to scrutiny with a report to establish metrics and delivery outcomes.