Agenda item

A presentation on the cultural change occurring in Children's Social Care.  Information about the restorative practice and new pathway to change assessment.

The Committee received a presentation from John Coleman, Assistant Director, Children and Families. The presentation covered the following areas:

Children and Families Transformation – Restorative Practice                                      

·       Overview, circles, restorative conversations,

·       Working WITH children, young people and their families and partners

·       Working towards safe uncertainty

Children and Families Transformation:                                                                                 

·       Programme management approach of phased changes

·       Timeline

Restorative Approaches in Warwickshire

·       Our values

·       Our restorative tool: the pathway to change

·       What this means for supporting children (child in need)

·       What this means for protecting children (child protection processes)

Costs and Benefits            

·       Current costs of the transformation process

·       Benefits – experience of customers, partners and staff;

·       Reducing bureaucracy;

·       Improving outcomes for the service

Children and Families Transformation – Next Steps

Questions and comments were invited, with responses provided as indicated:

·       It was questioned if comparable performance information was available for other local authorities. Restorative practice was a model being implemented by other authorities, with evidence that earlier support and prevention work was reducing service demand. However, each area had differing demands and issues, so direct comparison wasn’t possible.

·       The Portfolio Holder for Education & Learning praised the initiative, the benefits to families and for staff. The documents showed that 7,500 hours of time had been saved. It was questioned how this time was being utilised and whether it gave a financial or capacity saving. The time saved would make caseloads more manageable for social workers, who were then able to spend more time with each family, to build positive relationships. In the longer-term, this could help to manage demand for services.

·       Formal information sharing amongst agencies was discussed. There were child protection strategy meetings where agencies met formally to share information, but this process could be used more efficiently. Where appropriate a formal case conference also took place. Officers explained the revised working arrangements which sought to avoid previous duplication, with all agencies now sending information to the family ahead of the formal conference, which was a significant change. This was acknowledged as the best way forward, but provided tighter deadlines, as there were only 15 days between the strategy meeting and child protection conference.

Resolved

That the Overview and Scrutiny Committee notes the presentation.