Adults who work with children | Families First Partnership (FFP) programme

Adults who work with children | Families First Partnership (FFP) programme

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Families First Partnership programme

What is the Families First Partnership programme?

Families First Partnership (FFP) is a national programme designed to transform children’s social care across England. At its heart is family-led practice, which places the voices and needs of children and families at the centre of support. FFP promotes a more integrated approach to how we work with families

FFP sets out clear expectations for:

  • Establishing Family Help teams
  • Establishing Multi-Agency Child Protection Teams (MACPTs)
  • Embedding family group decision making
What is changing

UOur family help service is launching soon. In October we will be moving to 16 family help teams. Family Help services will continue to operate across the familiar North and South footprint. This approach helps maintain strong local relationships with schools, health services, police and other partners, whilst providing consistency for children, families and staff.

Universal services

Universal services for children and families are the everyday support systems that help all families thrive. These include things like health care, education, and early education and care, and are available to everyone in the community. You’ll find them in familiar places like schools, GP surgeries, and family hubs. These services play a vital role in supporting children’s development and overall wellbeing. By promoting good health and development from the start, they help prevent the need for more specialist support later on. They’re inclusive, accessible, and designed to give every child the best possible start in life. This includes locally trusted organisations..

Early help

In Stoke-on-Trent, Early Help is available through our Family Hubs. It supports families at the earliest signs of difficulty, helping children reach their full potential and preventing issues from escalating. Accessing Early Help involves an assessment and a tailored support plan.We are expanding and improving our offer and this will be known as our best start services.

Early Help is available for children of all ages, including pre-birth, and can address a wide range of needs such as:

  • Special educational needs and disabilities
  • Parental challenges
  • Young carers
  • Mental health concerns

Accessing Early Help starts with an assessment, followed by a tailored support plan to meet individual needs.

Early Help can be supported by an Early Help Assessment (EHA) and support plan. Any professionals can be supported to complete an early assessment.

Family help

The vision for Family Help is to bring services together into multi‑agency teams, making support easier to access and more effective for families.

A new role, the Family Help Lead Practitioner (FHLP), will work directly with families and may come from a range of professional backgrounds. Children with higher levels of need will be supported by our Family Help teams, based in Family Hubs and working closely with partner agencies to provide joined‑up support.

 

woman and child sitting in a window smiling and playing
Multi-Agency Child Protection Teams (MACPTs)

MACPTs bring together co-located professionals from social care, police, health, and education to deliver a coordinated response to child protection concerns. These teams:

  • Are responsible for child protection decision making with extensive child protection skills and experience
  • Oversee child protection assessments, strategy meetings and conferences
  • Consult with Family Help teams providing expertise, challenge and quality assurance

Together, we will:

·      Define clear roles, responsibilities, and practice standards

·      Establish accountability across agencies

Introduce the Lead Child Protection Practitioner role to provide expert advice to Family Help teams and lead statutory child protection assessments and plans, drawing on MACPT expertise and working alongside the Family Help Lead Practitioner

We are hopeful that our MACPT will be launched in January. Our MACPT will have 16 LCPP’s who will work alongside  specifically trained police, health and education colleagues.  The MACPT will cover the whole city and provide their expertise in the form of consultation, advice, support and reflection and challenge  when there is concern about risk and harm.

Family group decision making

This approach recognises families as experts in their own lives and enables them to play an active role in shaping solutions. This principle is embedded across the service, with Family Group Decision Making offered as a core part of our Family Help approach.

There will be 3 levels of FGDM including

  • Family Network meeting held by FHLP
  • Family group decision making meeting held by Practice Leads  (following LL pathway)
  • Family group decision making meeting undertaken by FGDM service (following LL pathway)
  • Access to Family Network support package (following LL funding request).”
Improving outcomes for children and families

The Families First Partnership programme aims to deliver:

  • Better outcomes through earlier, more effective multi-agency support
  • Faster, coordinated responses to emerging needs
  • More family-led decision making, co-creating solutions with professionals
  • Reduced pressure on child protection teams through early intervention
  • Less stigma around accessing support, encouraging families to seek help when needed
What's next?

Training and available - to find out more or get involved, email familiesfirst@stoke.gov.uk for more information or visit FFPP Training Brochure.

 Additional Resources

We are recruiting! 

We currently have a number of job opportunities that we are recruiting for.

Live job opportunities

  • Principal Manager – Multi-Agency Child Protection Team (MACPT) – Level 15
  • Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO) – Level 14
  • Lead Child Protection Practitioner – Children’s Social Care – Level 14
  • Practice Lead – Children’s Social Care – Level 13
  • Family Help Lead Practitioner / Senior Family Help Lead Practitioner (Social Work Qualified) – Levels 11 / 12
  • Family and Adolescent Worker – Children’s Social Care – Level 8
  • Residential Care Worker – Small Group Homes – Level 8
  • Child Exploitation and MACE Coordinator – Level 7
  • Principal Manager Young Peoples Service -Level 15
  • Head of Service Integrated Front Door, Emergency Duty Team & MACPT – SM4

Learn more about current opportunities on stoke.gov.uk

Family help pilot

As part of FFP, we have launched a Family Help Pilot. The pilot started taking referrals from the week beginning 27 July.

The Family Help Pilot is a small team that is testing some of the key ideas behind Families First. These include:

  • Families telling their story once through a single assessment.
  • Services working together more closely.
  • Providing the right help at the right time.
  • Focusing on the needs of the whole family.

During the pilot, some families will receive support through this new approach. The support will be planned around the needs of the whole family, with services working together to provide joined-up help.

Professionals working with children and families may be invited to take part in a Team Around the Family (TAF) meeting.

A Team Around the Family meeting brings together the people and services supporting a family. Together, they create and review a shared Helping Hand Plan.

Depending on the family's needs, people involved may include colleagues from:

  • Health services
  • Schools and education services
  • Housing services
  • Early Help services
  • Youth services
  • SEND services
  • The police
  • Voluntary organisations
  • Other relevant services

A Family Help Lead Practitioner from the local authority will work closely with the family and partner agencies. They will coordinate support, arrange meetings and help everyone work towards the same goals.

You may be invited to a Team Around the Family meeting if your service is already supporting a family. You may also be invited if your knowledge or expertise can help shape the support being provided.

When services share information and work together, families can receive more effective and joined-up support.

The Family Help Pilot is a chance to test new ways of working and learn what works best for children, young people and families.

Throughout the pilot, we will gather feedback from families, staff and partner organisations. This feedback will help us understand:

  • What is working well.
  • What challenges people are experiencing.
  • What could be improved.

What we learn from the pilot will help shape future Family Help services in Stoke-on-Trent. It will help us improve the way services work together and make sure support is designed around the needs of children, young people and families.

Thank you for your continued support in helping improve outcomes for children and families.

If you have any questions, please email familiesfirst@stoke.gov.uk.

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Care Knowledge reading lists

Here are some examples of articles and resources available on CareKnowledge All articles can be accessed using your user name and password. If you need a reminder of your password just visit care knowledge - forgotten password.

Child Sexual Abuse

The Bookshelf – Examples of book titles and book chapters available

CareKnowledge Live on Demand – webinar replays

In this video and audio, CareKnowledge's Rob Mair, Bryony Porteous-Sebouhian and a panel of expert speakers address how we can develop confidence in our ability to recognise and positively respond to possible disclosures of child sexual abuse, treating disclosure as part of a journey that centres the needs of the child.

Video and audio replays of Working with child sexual abuse survivors: Trust and trauma in practice. In this webinar, CareKnowledge Head of Content Rob Mair is joined by Susanna Alyce, Dr Zoë Chouliara, Jodie Ellison, and Dr Angela Kennedy.

Video and audio recordings of a Q&A follow-up to Working with child sexual abuse survivors: Trust and trauma in practice. In this webinar, CareKnowledge Mental Health Editor Edward Brown is joined by Susanna Alyce, Jodie Ellison, and Dr Angela Kennedy.

In this video and audio, CareKnowledge's Bryony Porteous-Sebouhian is joined by Dr Danny Taggart, Clinical Psychologist and Clinical Lead and Principal Psychologist for the Truth Project, and Michael May, Engagement and Communications Consultant, and Lived Experience Advisor to discuss lessons for practice from The Truth Project.

CareKnowledge content – resources unique to CareKnowledge

A CareKnowledge report by Katie Ellis that considers the perspectives of girls who were placed in secure accommodation for their own protection, due to professional concerns of child sexual abuse. It calls for a reframing of the narratives around exploitation and contains several learning points for professionals.

A CareKnowledge Report that explores the patterns and behaviours that indicate grooming in child sexual abuse, and looks at how professionals, parents and carers can interact with children and young people where there is concern, and how to safeguard effectively.

Curated content – includes research papers and journal articles

A scoping review of characteristics, prevalence, and explanatory factors. 

A report examining the patterns of child exploitation within the county of the East Midlands and comparing the characteristics of perpetrators of Child Criminal Exploitation and Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation.

A statistical analysis of the characteristics, and social care journeys, of children who were assessed as having been affected by child sexual abuse or exploitation.

A government guide to sources of support for victims and survivors of child sexual exploitation and abuse including group-based child sexual exploitation and abuse ('grooming gangs'). 

A study that explored practices and responses that enable or hinder disclosures of child sexual abuse, to enhance service system responses

The findings of a project that aimed to carry out a retrospective case file analysis of child sexual abuse (CSA) cases across one local authority and examine social workers experiences when working with children and families in which CSA concerns are present.

A social network study on support and wellbeing in the context of childhood sexual abuse disclosure or non-disclosure. 

A report that highlights the importance of recognising sibling sexual behaviour and abuse as a distinct and complex form of harmful sexual behaviour between children and young people.

A paper that aimed to understand how police, partner agencies, parents and children address Online Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse.

A report into the nature of child sexual abuse and exploitation and the financial networks that fuel it.

The findings from a qualitative study designed to evaluate the effectiveness of a Child Sexual Exploitation awareness-raising programme targeted at young people.

Guidance that aims to influence the direct practice of professionals as well as the wider culture of child safeguarding.

This briefing uses insight from Childline counselling sessions and NSPCC Helpline contacts to highlight how children and young people are being targeted online by so-called ‘sextortion’ crimes.

A systematic review that aimed to provide a better understanding of the conceptualisation of psychological and emotional harm resulting from online child sexual exploitation and abuse, the types of psychological and emotional harm identified in victims and how these harms may be associated with specific acts.

A guide for professionals who work with children and young people.

An NSPCC podcast which discusses the different ways criminals are using online sexual extortion to target boys and young males, and how to support those who have experienced this. 

A study that explored the relational impacts of sibling sexual behaviour disclosures, goals for therapy and interventions that helped a family initiate the recovery process after disclosure.

SEND Reform

The Bookshelf – Examples of book titles and book chapters available

CareKnowledge Live on Demand – webinar replays

This resource, with clinical psychologist Dr Ross Greene, will give you an understanding of the Collaborative & Proactive Solutions (CPS) model and how to apply it in practice. You'll explore what Dr Greene terms 'lucky' and 'unlucky' behaviours, critically reflect on your response to children who display these behaviours, and develop renewed confidence in your ability to make a difference.

This On Demand resource is designed to give you an understanding of how the CPS model came to be piloted in 34 Warwickshire schools in 2022, and the tangible benefits for the children and practitioners involved.

Dr Ross Greene on how Social Workers and Educators can Break the Cycle and Make This Year Different.  The back-to-school season can spark anxiety for children with social, emotional and behavioural challenges and the adults who support, work with, or teach them. This resource will equip you with nine resolutions for the new school year – or term – that will help you break this cycle and bring about real change.

CareKnowledge content – resources unique to CareKnowledge

A CareKnowledge report that explores what previous publications may be influencing the government's proposed SEND reforms, and the risks they pose to vulnerable children and young people.

A CareKnowledge briefing on the recent government white paper on education, with a focus on SEND and an introduction to the proposed changes.

Curated content – includes research papers and journal articles

Data on the number of children and young people with an education, health and care (EHC) plan in England. 

A report presenting insights from academic experts on the impact of special educational needs units and resourced provision, and features of effective practice.

A study that makes several recommendations for conducting school-based wellbeing surveys, based on the perspectives of young people with special educational needs.

An independent analysis of the Government’s proposed SEND reforms in England, informed by the views of local government.

Guidance for special schools providing residential accommodation for any child.

Guidance on how local authorities should produce forecasts of demand for specialist provision places for pupils with education, health and care plans.

Guidance setting out how Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission (CQC) will conduct thematic visits to local areas focusing on the education, health and social care provisions available for children and young people with SEND as outlined in the local offer.

A range of outcome measures at national and local authority level for children in need, including children looked after by local authorities.

A report that explores the interplay of SEND and disadvantage in school admissions.

A report that explores ways to address inequalities and improve access to SEND legal advice for under-served communities.

A House of Commons Library briefing paper.

A White paper setting out the government's plans for reform to the schools and SEND systems in England. 

A consultation on proposed changes to improve outcomes for children and young people with SEND, including early, fair support, with shared accountabilities across local partners.

Interim summary of findings from the evaluation of the special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and alternative provision (AP) change programme.

Trauma

The Bookshelf – Examples of book titles and book chapters available

CareKnowledge Live on Demand – webinar replays

In this transformative webinar, Bryan Post, an internationally recognized expert in trauma and attachment, unpacks the science behind fear, stress, and behavioural dysregulation in vulnerable children and youth. Designed for social workers, healthcare professionals, educators, police officers, and youth justice workers, this session will explore how early experiences of trauma shape brain development and influence lifelong behaviour.

Video and audio replays of Working with child sexual abuse survivors: Trust and trauma in practice. In this webinar, CareKnowledge Head of Content Rob Mair is joined by Susanna Alyce, Dr Zoë Chouliara, Jodie Ellison, and Dr Angela Kennedy.

Video and audio recordings of a Q&A follow-up to Working with child sexual abuse survivors: Trust and trauma in practice. In this webinar, CareKnowledge Mental Health Editor Edward Brown is joined by Susanna Alyce, Jodie Ellison, and Dr Angela Kennedy.

In this video and audio, CareKnowledge's Bryony Porteous-Sebouhian is joined by Dr Danny Taggart, Clinical Psychologist and Clinical Lead and Principal Psychologist for the Truth Project, and Michael May, Engagement and Communications Consultant, and Lived Experience Advisor to discuss lessons for practice from The Truth Project.

This resource set is designed to deepen your understanding of domestic abuse and trauma, provide insights into how affected families experience services, highlight ways that you can be more trauma-informed in your approach to working with domestic abuse, and explore the benefits of doing so.

The video content features Professor David Shemmings, OBE, Dr Elena Alexandrou, and Ben Curtis sharing important insights from their own work in this challenging area of practice.

CareKnowledge content – resources unique to CareKnowledge

A CareKnowledge briefing that summarises the key learning from a children’s commissioner report on the overrepresentation of children in care in the criminal justice system and further contextualises it with other recent research and publications, to highlight the areas where failings are leading the worst outcomes, and where there is opportunity for change and reform.

Curated content – includes research papers and journal articles

A report that highlights the importance of recognising sibling sexual behaviour and abuse as a distinct and complex form of harmful sexual behaviour between children and young people.

A report that explores the phenomenon of Systems Generated Trauma, the severe harm that disabled children and their families experience through their interactions with public services. 

These repeat measures study assessed the progress of 45 children in a therapeutic residential school in terms of attachment, trauma/loss, affect regulation and educational attainment. The aim was to build a profile of complex trauma in severely maltreated children and estimate any changes over a two-year period.

An exploration of the positive and negative interpreted lived experience of two men with a history of childhood maltreatment and who have perpetrated domestic violence as adults.

A systematic review exploring experiences of secondary trauma and compassion fatigue among adoptive and foster parents.

The findings of a review of the literature on parental trauma and child wellbeing, focusing on mediating factors, and measures child wellbeing (physical and psychosocial) assessed when the child was 18 years or under.

A report that sets out practical, evidence-informed suggestions to support school-aged children and young people in the first days and weeks following a frightening and distressing event.

A study that explored the gap in service provision for children and families who have been exposed to trauma and who are waiting for trauma-focused treatment.

A study that explores the therapist-parent alliance and relationship when treating children for trauma.

A guide for working with children and young people, designed by young people who have had experience of the Children's Hearings System

Guidance providing a working definition of trauma-informed practice for practitioners working in the health and care sector.

A paper which details experiences empirically shown to have potential negative impacts on professional well-being and discusses why these impacts are of particular concern for residential childcare workers.

A paper which provides the perspective of 31 staff members and 18 young people during an evaluation of a trauma‐informed approach (TIA) implemented by an organisation in Southeast England.