Family safeguarding information for professionals

We aim to keep children with their families where it is safe to do so, and we really want to use the skills and resources we have gained from implementing family safeguarding to enable this. We believe that the available evidence shows up that this is the right approach and is in keeping with the spirt of the Children Act 1989. We will still work directly with children and one of the key principles of family safeguarding and a strength-based approach is that we hold real emphasis to the children's views as well as parents.

In terms of unborn and preverbal children it is not possible to collect their voice in a traditional sense however Social Workers combine their knowledge of child development and the observations of the children and parents to inform if the child's needs are been met and  any areas where this needs further support until the child is at a stage where the children can share their voice more clearly. Decision making will also be informed by the expertise of health professionals etc.

In terms of non-verbal children, we are developing a series of tools to help facilitate the direct work modules on the workbook and this will be differentiated to cover children and families with an array of communication styles and abilities. We will also be relying on multi/agency partners in supporting with this and helping us to use communication methods they have used in school /nursery etc to ensure we can still capture the views of non-verbal children.

We aim to ensure all our interventions are collaborative and aspire to co-produce family plans. However, if we believe that we cannot keep children safe we would still be proactive in following processes of Child Protection Plans, Pre proceedings and possible Care proceedings if necessary

The focus of the Family Safeguarding Model is to work alongside families to support their own plan, recognising them as individuals rather than adopting a blanket approach to our work. This will ensure that we are able to work alongside diversity and individual needs.  

Our practitioners are informed by 'Good Practice Guidance on working with parents with a Learning difficulty' alongside taking advice from our colleagues in adults services and utilising advocacy services. We hope this gives us the specific skills to treat each family as an individual including those with Learning difficulties/disabilities. 

Our psychologists will also advise us via cognitive assessments how best to work with some of our parents with learning disabilities and additional needs. 

Small private and voluntary groups working with children, young people and families have a critical role to play in local neighbourhoods and areas and form part of the network of local organisations who may well be working with families to support them and offer early help where needed. Family safeguarding teams will work to support those families in those neighbourhoods where safeguarding is the prime concern. Team managers in family safeguarding teams will be aiming to link up with local providers within early help services so that through working together we can all ensure that children are healthy, safe and achieve their full potential.

Group work will be available to domestic abuse perpetrators and victims/survivors. There will also be groups available to support parents with their mental health and substance and alcohol misuse.

We don’t currently have play therapy as part of our Family Safeguarding offer however, its principles and the support it provides is something we want to grow in Lancashire and it may be that we extend the types of support that we offer in the future.

The workbook is an 'on-system' working tool where family safeguarding staff record the work they undertake with and alongside families.

Partner agencies cannot access the workbook directly, but they will contribute to the reflection and analysis of the plan/work with the families during core group meetings, Child in Need reviews and reviews of the care plan. There may also be occasion where it is felt appropriate to invite some agencies to the group supervisions. This is reliant on increased communications between Childrens Social care and our partners. The pandemic has led us into a world of improving our digital communications and we plan to capitalise on this to make the process under family safeguarding more collaborative with better relationships aside from the monthly meetings. With consent of those with parental responsibility, archived versions of the workbook can be shared if requested by partner agencies.

Introduction to motivational interviewing

This video from Alisdair Cant and Associates on YouTube provides a brief introduction to motivational interviewing.

Motivational interviewing training for partner agencies

Lancashire County Council has provided some brief introductory training in relation to motivational interviewing in our ongoing 'Transforming Children's Services: Thresholds and Strength-Based Approaches multiagency training.

We can also signpost partner agencies to excellent motivational interviewing training providers if this is something your agency wanted to commission.  

All partners will continue to act as lead professionals when it is their agency that is most appropriately placed to offer this level of co-ordinated support for families. More information about this can be found in the Early Help Assessment guidance.

Children who do not attend school due to parental issues may not need a social worker to resolve the issue and may not reach the threshold defined in the Children Act that necessitate statutory intervention. If the child's needs reach these thresholds and the needs cannot be met through universal or early help services, then a social work assessment might be undertaken as usual following a request for support to the Children's Services Support Hub/MASH.

If school has a safeguarding concern, then they should refer this through the MASH or designated safeguarding lead in the school.  Family safeguarding takes a whole family approach and aims to analyse the impact of barriers to change for parents on their children. As such it is hard to give a blanket answer, however the impact of this on their wellbeing, and the reasons underpinning school absence will be factored into any decision making.