AssuranceofQuality&Improvement AQaI
Hello all
As the new year begins, it's disheartening that the tragic case of 10-year-old Sara Sharif, who was killed by those meant to protect her, dominates the news. This newsletter will address shortcomings identified in her case and their relevance to Early Intervention and Family Support (EIFS).
This quarter we have focused on mental health and the forthcoming SEND inspection. A big thank you to the I&O team, FSPPs and CFCSOs for helping us to identify which families to audit
AssuranceofQuality&Improvement AQaI
We are currently refining the CFC Light Touch audit to make it seamless and user-friendly for gathering necessary information. Discussions with TM Amanda Brannigan, responsible for Children and Family Centres, are ongoing. After reviewing our suggestions with I&O, we will consult with CFCSOs, emphasising collaboration over imposition.
Gill Downton and Bernadette Wyse (Team Managers, AQaI)
TheImportanceofEarlyIntervention
Early Intervention (EI) in the UK began in the 19th century when trained health visitors were sent to homes to advise on infant health due to high infant mortality rates The first health visitors were employed by local public health boards in 1862, though many had already been working with voluntary organisations or philanthropic factory owners
In 1999, the government set a target to eradicate child poverty, outlined in the publication "Opportunity for All: Tackling Poverty and Social Exclusion." This approach defined poverty broadly, including "poverty of opportunity," emphasising that children from disadvantaged families face higher risks of unemployment and health issues A key initiative was the establishment of Sure Start centres, with 23 initially planned by LBB to enhance health and education outcomes for pre-school children and their families
In 2018, a government paper referenced the cost of ‘late intervention’ to be at least £16.6 billion each year in England and Wales. (Early Intervention: A Background Paper. August 2021)
Did you know? Early intervention can significantly improve a child’s developmental outcomes ��✨
Early Intervention is crucial for reducing the effects of economic disadvantage, enhancing social mobility, and preventing risks to children's futures. While it is not a cure-all, its effectiveness is recognised EIFS staff are skilled in establishing trust with families, facilitating their willingness to accept guidance and support to improve their lives and their children's lives
‘Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all of the darkness’
Desmond Tutu
&Improvement
This is what our EIFS team gives to families
SaraSharif'scaseanditssignificancetoEIFS
In recent audits, we ' ve identified areas for improvement whilst also recognising excellent practices Sara's tragic murder underscored the critical need for collective responsibility in safeguarding children
AQaI
a) Discipline and challenging views.
The disciplining of children presents challenges for many parents. While most navigate this well, some struggle, as evidenced by children on Child Protection Plans. For instance, Sara had 100 injuries, including traumatic brain injury and multiple broken bones, resulting from her father's claim of "legal punishment " In the UK, smacking a child is illegal unless it qualifies as "reasonable punishment" under section 58 of the Children Act 2004
The question then is what is reasonable punishment?
It is probably easier to address ‘what is NOT reasonable’ and that is if a mark is left on a child or if an implement is used. Of course, there are cultural differences which need to be understood but the view that EIFS has always had is that regardless of what happens in a culture, the disciplining of children must abide to the legal framework in the UK.
For us in EIFS, should it become known that a parent’ s view of discipline is harsh and extreme, the worker needs to CHALLENGE this view with the parent and present them with the overwhelming evidence for not smacking children There are plenty of resources on SharePoint, on the Bromley website and on the internet There is also a webinar which parents could attend
Did you know? Positive discipline is more effective than punishment in the long term. ��
b) Domestic abuse.
Families with a history of involvement with Children's Social Care often raise concerns, especially in cases of domestic violence Sara's family was known to the local authority prior to her birth due to violence involving her mother When a family has been previously known to CSC where Domestic Abuse has been an issue, it's crucial to remain PROFESSIONALLY CURIOUS and VIGILANT about the potential for recurring violence. Historical patterns suggest that without significant therapy, individuals prone to violence are likely to repeat their actions.
c) Reflecting on families.
Following Victoria Climbie's death 25 years ago, Lord Laming's report prompted significant legal changes, emphasizing the importance of sharing concerns about children's welfare. Individuals should not keep suspicions about a family to themselves. REFLECTIONS on contacts, including calls and texts, should capture feelings about the family and be discussed with the Team Manager for proper management oversight
d) The importance of multi-agency ‘Team Around the Family’ meetings.
Although we no longer have the CAF process, we still hold MULTI-AGENCY TEAM AROUND THE FAMILY meetings This process ensures that any worries or concerns which a worker has about a child can be aired by multiple agencies Our experience is that when there are multiple agencies known to a family, concerns will often be revealed within the meeting and given greater credence.
e) Capturing the child’s voice and direct work.
AssuranceofQuality&Improvement AQaI
f) The importance of evidencing your work .
Capturing a child's voice is crucial for understanding their life experiences. While children often speak openly, concerns about potential abuse necessitate conducting DIRECT WORK in schools. Familiarity with available resources from LBB and EIS is essential. If Direct Work had been done with Sara in school, she might have disclosed home issues. Building trust with families and children is vital, and we should embrace this relationship and be willing to confront difficult topics.
It goes without saying that the work we do with families, needs to be EVIDENCED in EISi In Sara’ s case, the school and social workers case notes will be scrutinised to see if opportunities to save Sara’ s life had been missed
In our audits, when we speak with individual workers, they can sometimes tell us that a particular piece of work has been carried out, but if there is no evidence of it in the case notes, it didn’t happen! Our case notes MUST reflect the work which has been carried out with families. This is not just to satisfy the audit process but it is helpful to the next person who works with the family. It’ s vitally important should the family become a Serious Case Review and offers a complete view of work carried out should the family request their notes.
Did you know? Children who feel heard are more likely to develop strong self-esteem & emotional intelligence
Research
CiN Plans
AssuranceofQuality&Improvement
Every year, approximately 400,000 children are on a Child in Need (CiN) plan, affecting nearly every school class. A report by Dame Rachel de Souza, the Children’ s Commissioner for England, indicates that these plans are often ineffective and of questionable quality This finding is part of a government announcement regarding a new Children’ s Social Care white paper aimed at enhancing early support to keep families together and minimize care proceedings
Helen Lincoln, chair of Association of Directors of Children’ s Services, feels ‘it is not the plan itself that keeps children safe, it’ s the quality of the work between the child, their family and the worker ’ We know we do this well; we try to develop a trusting, honest relationship with all our families and, in the main, we succeed in doing this.
Some of the concerns about CiN Plans include:
Key challenges identified include:
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Infrequent family visits; we have a standard visit every three weeks.
1. CiN plans often missing timeframes; our Assessment and CURGI require specific goal completion dates
3.
AQaI
Early closure of CiN cases, with 87% being closed or stepped down, leading to cases drifting; our 121 process with families lasts four months, but extensions require discussion with the Team Manager.
Bridget Phillipson, Education Secretary, said on 6th September:
a lot of the money being spent by the DfE is on ‘crisis intervention’ and it needs to be refocused on ‘early intervention.
Early intervention is often recognised as essential but not fully adopted by institutions. Timely support for families can enhance parenting practices, potentially preventing escalation to Children’ s Social Care and helping children lead more successful lives.
We hope this highlights the very important work carried out by EIFS and our need to evidence what we do and why we do it.
References
Early Intervention: A Background Paper Tom Powell and Manjit Gheera August 2021
CiN Plans Expose Need for Reform Andy Ross Children and Young People Now January 2025
EarlyChildDevelopment andSchoolReadiness 04
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Currently, 33% of children are unprepared for the school environment, up from 28% pre-pandemic. Those not "school ready" at age 5 are more likely to struggle with key GCSE subjects and face persistent absences, negatively impacting their life chances.
Our EIS work prioritizes children, especially those under 5, focusing on milestones like toilet training, self-feeding, and language development Creche Practitioners, Assistants, and Children’ s Contact Centre Workers play a crucial role in identifying and addressing challenges children face in communication and social interaction. Resolving these issues is vital for ensuring a smoother transition to school.
A special report in the January 2025 Children and Young People Now, highlights how early years workers, and we would add CCCWs, can help support language delay in children under 5 and these include:
AssuranceofQuality&Imp AQaI
Help children to navigate the day – this focuses on how day to day routines (such as sitting on the carpet, tidying toys away) can feel very challenging and confusing to a child who does not have the ability to express their thoughts. Visual timetables or visual cards are really helpful here as they can decode specific activities This would also support our SEND children
Using story characters can help children understand emotions like sadness, happiness, anger, and fear from an early age Resources are available to assist with this, and Sophie Hutton from Nest Therapy Nursery recommends using puppets, as children often find it easier to express feelings through them rather than discussing their own emotions directly.
Work closely with families – It seems obvious to say that the more engaged parents are in learning, the better children’ s language and literacy is likely to be To this end, the use of family photographs can be good at starting a conversation, for example, ‘what is mummy doing?’ It works because the child is being asked about familiar people doing everyday things.
The easier we make it for young children to communicate, the more confident future communicators they will be.
Did you know? By the age of 4, children can understand and use about 1,000 words!
Updatesandremindersto practicechange 05
For all roles within EI, there are many things to remember so we thought it may be helpful to have one place where changes could be stored so that there is an easy reference point for those days when understanding of processes may be a bit hazy! This section will form a regular part of the Newsletter and we would be pleased to have any feedback you may have about it
Capturing GDPR
In 2024, it was decided that in order to support front line workers, the Business Support Officers (BSOs) and Intelligence and Operations (I&O) would take on the lion’ s share of ensuring GDPR was obtained. To clarify, if a parent has given consent to be referred into our service, they have in effect given permission to be contacted. However, it may be that our wider team (e.g. CFCSOs) may have an activity which would be beneficial to the family or another service (e g Housing) may need to be involved with the family and it is at this stage that we would need to have full permission to talk to that service about the family
So….what needs to be done?
The I&O and BSO teams will continue their current tasks, but when the GDPR notification is returned and the parent has not completed all required boxes, they will now notify the FSPP/CFCSO via email (or TM where a case is not allocated). This will allow the FSPP/CFCSO to discuss with the parent the implication of not selecting options, such as ‘telephone calls’ , which would prevent the wider service from reaching out to them via that method.
AssuranceofQuality&Improvement AQaI
The BSO team will add the email to the running record so it will be very clear who has responsibility for gaining GDPR permissions
At the start of work on any allocated case, the worker must check that GDPR has been obtained and if it has not, they need to discuss and obtain this at the first contact with the family.
Initial meeting visit form
To secure initial family information, the Initial Meeting Visit Form was introduced recently. This form gathers essential details early in an intervention round. However, there are still instances where it’ s incomplete meaning the registration details are not being checked and as some of this information appears on the Annex A when it is missing, completing this form is crucial. The Initial Meeting Visit form can be accessed by clicking event and adding form.
Virtual meeting with Family Record form
At the request of FSPPs, we ’ ve developed a Virtual Meeting with Family Record form to structure case recording. Now we are Post Pandemic, all visits with parents should be face-to-face, unless in-person visits are not feasible, such as in cases of family illness. The reason for a virtual meeting should always be noted in the running record in the ‘Reason for Contact?’ section on the Virtual Meeting with Family Record Form. Note that virtual meetings do not count towards visit records. This Virtual Meeting with Family Record form can be accessed by clicking event and adding form.
Did you know? Adding interactive elements can boost participant engagement by up to 50%! ����
Printed and emailed copies of the assessment
The action plan is now included in the printed assessment. The assessment and plan needs to be discussed with parents to ensure they are aware and satisfied with the content. The assessment must be shared with parents before Team Manager authorisation.
Step 1
Step 2
Step 3
Step 4
Complete assessment
Share assessment with parents
Ensure method of sharing is evidenced in running record
Once parents are happy with assessment, send to TM for sign-off. Once authorised, should the assessment subsequently be printed out, it will print the Manager’ s decision on a separate sheet. Manager’ s decisions are NOT for sharing with families.
If after the assessment has been agreed with a family the TM is curious about an aspect of the case, this curiosity should be explored, and potentially challenged, in the ensuing visits and recorded in the running record, with the TM noting their curiosity in ICDs and Manager’ s Decisions. The assessment should not be changed by adding additional information. The assessment is the view of the parent and they will have shared what they want to share at that point in time; case notes will capture new additional information.
Adding disability information to support the whole service
Reducing Parental Conflict
AssuranceofQuality&Improvement AQaI
Please include disability information in both parent and child records under Health > Disability, such as ADHD, ASC, or Epilepsy (available in a drop-down menu) Add the date of diagnosis if confirmed, or a comment if it's suspected Remember, you can ask the BSO Team for support
It's great to see RPC resources being shared with parents. Thank you to everyone utilising this valuable resource It's important to log this in the running record for future workers and auditors to review the completed work with families The logging of RPC resources can be done in two different ways
Value Added Log: Resources handed to a family without further work being completed are recorded. If a family is on a parenting course, the BSO will update the running record so it is important to indicate this on the register. The register is being changed to reflect this. Direct Work: If resources are discussed with the family, it counts as 'Direct Work,' and must be added to the ‘Direct Work’ log. Any distributed resources should be logged in the Value Added log.
Did you know? Kids ask about 300 questions a day! (Usually the same one!)
Case Management Discussion
The CMD form will be phased out and its information integrated into the updated CURGI (version 18) under 'Assessment Milestones ' All family discussions will now occur on the In Case Discussion (ICDs) to centralize relevant information and management oversight Older cases will retain CMDs, but the form is being discontinued. Team Managers are responsible for ensuring all Assessment Milestones are completed, including uploads and assessment sharing with families.
Referrals to IASS
IASS is a family led service and this is something we need to be able to evidence in our work. Matt (Barton) and his lovely team want to ensure that anyone who needs their service, receives it We know that sometimes the families we work with do not have the motivation or ‘know how’ to make an IASS referral so Matt feels that whilst he is very happy for anyone to refer a family into IASS, we have to uphold the fidelity of the organisation
IASS provides free, impartial, confidential information, advice and support to SEND children and young people up to age 25, and their parents and carers It is a statutory service which means there has to be a service in every local authority If anyone feels a family need IASS support, they can discuss with the family whether the IASS service is something which they might find helpful, gain consent and then email IASS saying the parents have given consent for the referral to IASS and copy the family into the email. This will ensure that, if scrutinised, IASS will still be viewed as a family led service.
Compliments
AssuranceofQuality&Improvement AQaI
So….we know that you are all very modest individuals and we also know that many of you will be receiving compliments from thankful families and grateful agencies on almost a daily basis! It is really important that your managers are aware of these compliments so that they can then pass them onto Rachel – who loves receiving them as it brings a smile to her face and brightens her day