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Memorandum submitted by Action for Children
1. Executive Summary
· Children's Centres should be the one-stop shop for children and families. Services must be tailored to meet the needs of local families and developed in partnership with parents and the local community.
· Children's Centres are a key part of community-based networks to support children and families with a wide range of needs, including those who need intensive support at particular times in their lives. Targeting the most vulnerable must be a priority for all Children's Centre providers.
· Action for Children would like to see continued support for roll out and funding for Children's Centres with a focus on: o Investment in preventative and outreach services o Investment in targeted early intervention services for the most deprived children and their families o Improved multi-agency safeguarding arrangements o Effective working with clusters of schools o The full involvement of health professionals in centres o Commissioning arrangements to extend the range of people to whom services are available, to ensure that age does not act as a bar to services
· There are some specific areas where further guidance/protocols would be helpful. Particularly, clarification is needed over the Children's Centres manager's overall responsibility for safeguarding in an integrated setting.
2. Action for Children
2.1 Action for Children
supports and speaks out for the
2.2 Action
for Children works with over 80% of local authorities in the
3. How models of Children's Centres have developed as the programme spreads from the most deprived neighbourhoods
3.1 Children's Centres are increasingly becoming a key part of community-based networks (or hubs) with services that can reach out to support children and families with a wide range of needs. There are clear advantages for both child outcomes and value for money in being able to offer families a variety of services from their local Children's Centre. These may take the form of targeted services embedded within universal services.
3.2 At Action for Children Children's Centres we are committed to ensuring that we are helping the children and families most in need. Our services provide intensive, personalised family support based on sustained relationships with highly trusted, skilled workers.
3.3 An essential, but too frequently overlooked aspect of this work is effective outreach to take services to families who are unable to access family support services or who need encouragement to do so. We have commissioned external research[1] which shows that outreach activity is most likely to be successful if outreach workers can offer a genuine 'menu' of services. Even families who are reluctant to use services can be successfully engaged through such a personalised approach. Once engaged, the possibility arises of 'bridging' the families into the full range of services that can support their needs, developing parenting capacity and enhancing childhood resilience and emotional wellbeing.
3.4 Assumptions are sometimes made that families with 'straightforward needs' will be deterred from using services in the same physical service context as those who are coping with complex problems. Yet our research[2] has found that there is great positive value in integrating families with different levels of need bringing a reduction of stigmatisation of vulnerable families and an increase in shared learning from parents with different skills.
3.5 Ashington Children's Centre - financial literacy
Parents
at Ashington Children's Centre in Northumberland are among hundreds of families
on low incomes who have been supported to take control of their finances and
stay out of debt through Action for Children's Financial Futures initiative
with Barclays. Staff from a local Barclay's branch use their professional
skills to help run a series of six money management workshops at the centre,
giving those who attended valuable free guidance on budgeting, how to deal with
debt, the differences between lending organisations and the meaning of
financial terms such as
4. The range and effectiveness of services provided by Children's Centres
4.1 Children's Centres have the potential to give children the best start in life and in many localities are increasingly recognised as part of the 'glue bringing communities together'. While the national evaluation of the Sure Start programme in 2005 queried whether the most vulnerable and excluded were still missing out, the 2008 national evaluation report revealed beneficial effects for almost all children and families living in Sure Start areas, reflecting greater experience in reaching out to the most vulnerable households[3]. Action for Children has made targeting the most vulnerable children a priority in our centres and the benefits of this approach stand out in evaluations of our services.
4.2 Green · Antenatal clinics three days a week · Sexual Health Clinic on Monday mornings to target younger parents · External agencies use the centre's 'Bistro' area for drop-ins · Connexions offer advice, targeting those aged 16-19 years old · Job Centre Plus sessions to encourage returning to work · The National Autistic Society 8 -16 youth group · A drama group for Erme House (part of the Local Heath Authority for Child Adolescent Mental Health). · A 10% Club (following a weight watchers-type scheme)
4.3 Nomony Children's Centre - range of services offered: · A primary mental health worker who works with 0-19 year olds · Seconds a worker from health to work with young pregnant service users aged 17-25 who are assessed as being vulnerable · A home birth support group with a midwife · A Citizens Advice drop in session for families · Social care and foster agencies provide sessions · Plans to run a holiday club for 5-8 year olds · Awaiting OFSTED approval for opening the centre's day-care on Saturdays
4.4 Action for Children is establishing an explicit continuum of cost effective services ranging from short-term time limited, intensive interventions, to long term support which can meet multiple and complex needs. In 2007 we commissioned Synergy Research and Consulting Ltd to explore the effectiveness of this continuum in action[4]. The research, which included a Sure Start Children's Centre, shows that the services represent good value for money and use their resources to make a genuine difference to the lives of the families using the services.
4.5 Key messages from the research: · Intensive support can make a positive difference to the lives of children and their families in even the most challenging circumstances · Targeted support is not seen as stigmatising by parents and young people, who welcome a personalised approach to their problems in order to produce personalised outcomes · Robust outreach, whereby project staff make individual contact with families in the community - in their own homes in the first instance - is essential to make a reality of access for those families who are seen as being the most 'hard to reach'. · Workers with a wide range of skills and professional backgrounds can work together to deliver a high quality family support service · Intensive family support based on sustained professional relationships is particularly effective in cases of neglect · Effective family support services encompasses services which deliver both practical help and emotional support · The measurement of an individual child level outcome needs to allow for the concept of added value, given the complex needs of many families in receipt of targeted services. A genuinely preventative approach seeks - at every point - to prevent 'something worse' happening · It is a mistake to view the 'revolving door' as an indicator of service deficit. On the contrary the 'open door' approach sustained across the projects was likely to maximise positive outcomes, given that it facilitated early access at whatever stage of the problem.
5 Funding, sustainability and value for money 5.1 Action for Children has recently published a major piece of research produced in collaboration with nef (the new economics foundation) which set out the economic and social case for shifting towards a more preventative system. A key part of this research was carrying out Social Return on Investment Analysis (SROI) of three Action for Children projects. One of these projects was Wheatley Children's Centre[5].
5.2 Predictions for our Wheatley Children's Centre show that this service is expected to generate £4.60 in social value for every £1 invested. What's more, the initial investment used to fund these interventions was recouped within two to three years. Share of social value by stakeholder was: · The principal beneficiary group are low needs children, accounting for 41 per cent of the benefit. · 27 per cent of the total benefit is for high-needs children. · Parents and the state benefit in approximately the same measure. · The principal benefit to the state is estimated to come from savings from not needing to take children into care and from not needing to provide alternative school arrangements. · For parents, reduced social isolation and improved mental well-being are the major contributors to their overall benefit.
5.3 The research also identified the service delivery approaches which seemed to work well: · The community focus and 'tough love' approach: a consistent feature of the stakeholder engagement was the personalised approach and welcoming environment of Wheatley Children's Centre, as opposed to similar services accessed by their stakeholders. It was also noted however, that being willing to refer Children to the Child Protection Register and not 'pandering' to pushy parents also contributed to the respect felt by stakeholders toward the centre. · Signposting opportunities for parents: the centre is in an excellent position, situated in the heart of the community, to act as a disseminator of opportunities for parents, be it assistance with drugs programmes, adult education etc. The impact of a better educated, caring parent with less social issues to contend with has a huge impact on the well-being of a child.
5.4 The Backing the Future report notes that the "ability to firstly identify and then be in a position to offer services to high needs children on the same site as universal services reduced the stigma of take up of these specialist services. The continuity provided by staff allowed relationships of trust to develop that aided the achievement of positive outcomes.[6]"
6 Staffing, governance, management and strategic planning
6.1 The transfer of commissioning from the Sure Start Unit to individual local authorities has 'shifted' the way in which both central government and Action for Children are able to ensure consistency over the range of provision. We are now potentially responding to 152 commissioning authorities. The fragmentation of the commissioning process means that our Children's Centres are developing very much in response to individual commissions.
7 How well Children's Centres work with other partners and services, especially schools and health services
7.1 Linking Children's Centres with schools can yield significant benefits by ensuring a smoother transition to school life for children by providing wrap-around care. Regular joint activities and planning meetings with school staff all generate better inter agency collaboration and co-operation.
7.2 Action for Children is concerned that commissioning arrangements within schools remain underdeveloped and that this acts as a barrier to effective multi-agency working. The pathway from schools for referral to targeted provision remains unclear and it is in the commissioning of targeted services that schools need to join up.
7.3 In order to deliver the full range of early intervention and targeted support, Children's Centres need to be able to work effectively with clusters of schools. Clustering arrangements are essential to enable third sector involvement, which would not be feasible with individual schools. Our experience demonstrates that this is the most effective mechanism for delivering early intervention services that are sufficiently flexible to meet the needs of individuals and communities.
7.4 Ensuring that health professionals are closely involved in the services offered by Children's Centres is important to giving children the best start in life. In a survey of our Children's Centres, 95% managers reported that Child and Family Health Services were delivered from their centres. Action for Children works closely with local health visiting teams, and all but one of the services surveyed had midwifery services delivered into their centre. We work closely with speech and language professionals to enhance children's communication skills.
7.5 Action for Children Sure Start
Action for Children Sure Start
Exeter has pioneered an innovative parent-infant mental health service, which
involves a parent-infant mental health specialist (psychologist), using the
Action for Children Sure Start
Exeter is also piloting a parent-infant mental health model for Exeter Primary
Care Trust, which will roll out across
7.6 Action for
Children Children's Centres across
Working with Devon County Council, Action for Children has bought the Webster Stratton parenting programme to the area and has facilitated the training of practitioners from a range of disciplines. This includes the school based Dina programme that supports children 3-8. This approach enables the building of relationships between schools and children's centres staff teams. Feedback has been extremely positive.
The centres also deliver a range of supports around the promotion of attachment and infant mental health. We are committed to delivering the Children's Centre as a universal service where all families can access a range of services, but where targeted interventions are available to those who need them. We work with families who are engaged with statutory agencies, including those children with complex health needs and those families subject to safeguarding plans. Home visiting remains an essential part of service delivery. The Home Visiting Team can support families in individual areas including breastfeeding, support with children's behaviour, post natal depression etc. Our staff attend core group meetings, are involved in safeguarding plans and are trained in implementing CAFs. Some are trained as budget holding lead professionals.
As well as working with statutory agencies, we work with local voluntary services organisations to provide an affordable community transport scheme, known as Tiny Travellers and a Safety Loan Equipment Scheme.
7.7 However, the current multi-agency approach to delivering services through Children's Centres could be strengthened. A key example here is ensuring that all agencies are aware of their role in developing services and practice protocols that ensure a robust multi-agency safeguarding framework within Children's Centres. Clarification is needed over the Children's Centres manager's overall responsibility for safeguarding in an integrated setting where s/he does not directly manage all the staff (e.g. co-located health staff), and where the premises are used by other organisations. We hope that legislating for Children's Centres will, by formalising the role, ensure the status and accountability of the centre manager.
7.8 More specifically: · Action for Children would like to see clear lines of accountability for safeguarding with a nominated lead person who ensures staff practice is of a quality and standard that keeps children safe within Children's Centres developed for all staff and volunteers · When setting up a Children's Centre it must be made clear which agencies' policies and procedures are to be followed. There must be clarity about governance and accountability regarding both management and professional advice to workers, and the role of supervision. · Each Children's Centre should have a designated lead on safeguarding (similar to that in schools).
8 Whether services are being accessed by those most in need and how effective they are for the most vulnerable
8.1 When delivering Children's Centres, Action for Children prioritises the need to offer an inclusive, engaging, integrated and effective service to meet the differing needs of children and families, such as the example below. This approach often involves working with other local voluntary organisations or community groups and volunteers.
8.2 The Children's Centre model continues to evolve. Action for Children believes that, going forward, this development should prioritise two areas: ensuring the delivery of targeted support through universal settings, and extending the range of people to whom Children's Centre services are available. This could mean that, for example, age no longer serves as a bar to services. Some Centres offer facilities to 0-19 year olds with the introduction of before and after school clubs. Where the age of 0-5 is strictly adhered to this is an issue in some Children's centres linked to schools that have identified families with multiple needs which include several older siblings.
8.3 Kates Hill and Sledmere Children's Centre
The Children's Centre is located in a very ethnically diverse community. A significant number of children spoke little or no English when starting school, making this a very traumatic time for the children. The Centre knew that many of their parents were also struggling with a second language. Many of the families were very isolated and were having difficulty accessing even basic services such as the local doctor or finding out what services were available to them.
Therefore, the Children's Centre has: · Launched the Early Start English for Speakers of Other Languages Programme helping both the children and their parents learn English and boost their confidence in social situations. Sixteen parents and their children attended the first course, all of whom came to us by word of mouth. · Used local networks to ask for help to identify families who would benefit the most from the course
Outcomes include: · The confidence of the parents grew and this was crucial for their child's development. · Many of the parents
are going on to full · By combining English with a focus on their children, the team to reached families they had never been able to reach before.
8.4 Action for Children Furness Children's Centres, Barrow In
The Furness Children's Centres deliver the Sure Start Speech and Language Measure with parents/carers of two year old children. This has been a valuable tool in providing evidence of improved language skills in the local two year old population. Due to Action for Children's early identification programme, fewer referrals are being made to mainstream Speech and Language Therapists and of those being referred, they are referred earlier.
Action for Children Furness Children's Centres' practice is outcomes driven. Core outcomes for all activities have been identified as: · Increased confidence of parent/carer · Greater awareness of how they (parent/carer) communicate · More realistic expectations of their child's language and behaviour · Improvements in children's communication and behaviour · Families enjoying time together.
October 2009
[1] Evaluating the delivery by Action for Children of targeted family support, Synergy Research and Consulting Ltd (2008) [2] As above (1)
[3] The impact of Sure Start Local Programmes on three year olds and
their families, National evaluation of Sure Start Research Team at Birkbeck, [4] Synergy Research and Consulting Limited 'Evaluating the delivery by Action for Children, of targeted family support (2009) [5] Economic and Social Return on Investment of Action for Children's Wheatley Children's Centre, 2009 [6] Backing the Future: why investing in children is good for us all, nef and Action for Children 2009 |