Early identification and support | Court orders and pre-proceedings

Contents

What you need to know

A key element in promoting the welfare of children is the early identification of families who would benefit from services and the provision of support to address their difficulties¹. The importance of providing early help has been highlighted in a number of reviews including Graham Allen‘s review of early intervention and the Munro Review.

Early intervention can help prevent difficulties escalating, which is better for children as well as being more cost-effective. Addressing issues earlier can avoid the need for care proceedings.²

Early intervention can be categorised into that which is:

preventative- to stop issues occurring
protective- to counteract the effects of particular risk factors
remedial- at the early stage of a problem before it becomes entrenched.

Early help can include practical and emotional support as well as signposting other services, agencies or commutnity support that may suit the family.

References

Davies and Ward (2012) Safeguarding Children Across Services
Allen (2011) Early Intervention: The next steps
Statham and Smith (2010) Issues in earlier intervention

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Identifying families

Identifying families in need of help

Identifying which families and children need early help and what form the help should take is not always easy. Identification can be based on:

risk factors: professionals should have any awareness of the needs of vulnerable groups and those who are disabled or have specific additional needs, wholes family circumstances include domestic abuse, substance misuse, mental health difficulties, who are young carers, have gone missing (source: Working Together, 2015)
referrals from other services: professionals in regular contact with children and families have an important role to play in identifying those in need of early help. These include:
- health visitors
- teachers
- practitioners in adult services (e.g. mental health, substance abuse and domestic violence)
- practitioners in universal services⁴.
self-referral^[5]: however, some parents may not be aware when they need help, and others may have asked for support previously and been refused. Even if they are aware, they may not actively seek out support because they are afraid that it might lead professionals to make judgements about their parenting skills, resulting in a referral to children’s social care^[6].

Professionals working with children need to be aware of the signs of abuse and neglect. Resources available for include the NICE flowchart, NSPCC or local protocols and procedures.

In identifying families in need of help the issue of ‘apparent co-operation’ and disguised or false compliance is important for practitioners. The diagram below illustrates some of the behaviours associated with disguised or false compliance that challenge social work intervention. Recognising these behaviours, challenging them and gauging parents’ responses are all key aspects of assessing parental capacity to change. For more information on this issue practitioners may find useful the work of Fauth et al (2010) and Forrester et al (2012).

Identifying families in need of help – Commitment to change
[Click to enlarge]

References

Department for Education (2015) Working Together to Safeguard Children (p 12)
Statham and Smith (2010) Issues in earlier intervention
Holmes ET AL (2012) Exploration of the Costs and Impact of the Common Assessment Framework

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Working with families

Working in partnership with families is central to assessing need. When working and developing a relationship with families, professionals will need to:

be open and transparent with families throughout the child’s journey through services
take time and be persistent. This requires good inter-personal skills, developing the family’s trust, and being non-judgemental, available and flexible
conduct assessments in a timely manner and take into consideration the history of the child and family
where there are safeguarding concerns, see individual children on their own and involve them in discussions⁷
have the ability to motivate and incentivise families and to have the confidence to say when behaviours are not acceptable⁸
be able to listen, be ‘straight-talking’ and honest about a family’s difficulties
be able to break bad news and not encourage parents to be over-optimistic about their progress⁹
work not only with the birth parents, but also with the wider birth family. Wider family members need to be identified and involved as early as possible as they can help in supporting the child. They can also be of help to the child’s parents by helping them address their difficulties¹⁰. Family group conferences (FGCs) can be an effective way of engaging family members at an early stage of the process and may facilitate placement within the extended family¹¹. Ensure FGCs consider and make arrangements to suit the particulars of the case, for example domestic abuse, no contact orders, etc.

Services such as Family Group Conferences or Family Meetings should be part of early assessments and information gathering, while there is still the opportunity to influence and motivate safe outcomes in the parental setting. Further information on Family Group Conferences can be obtained through Family Rights Group.

References

Cossar ET AL (2011) It takes a lot to build trust: Recognition and telling
Easton ET AL (2012) Supporting Families with Complex Needs
Shaheed (2012) Engaging Resistant, Challenging and Complex Families
Davies and Ward (2012) Safeguarding Children Across Services
Department for Education (2014) Statutory Guidance on Court Orders and Pre-Proceedings
Doolan and Nixon (2003) The importance of kinship care. Social Work Now 12-20.

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Inter-agency working

Inter-agency working and early help

Early identification and support for families and children relies upon a range of agencies working together and having effective processes to assess the needs of children and families¹². Inter-agency working is important for:

the joint delivery of services: many children and families who come into contact with children’s services have a range of difficulties that require a range of skills and expertise¹³. This includes practitioners working in universal settings as well as specialist health professionals, practitioners in adult services (e.g. mental health, substance abuse and domestic violence services), educational professionals and social workers
effective and timely assessments: Working Together 2015 sets out that, where children and their family need support from a range of local agencies, there should be an inter-agency assessment, co-ordinated by a lead professional, to identify what help the child and family need to prevent needs escalating
information sharing: is crucial for providing early help¹⁴. Agencies need to clarify data sharing protocols and explain to families the link between an assessment and children’s social care to alleviate any misconceptions¹⁵. (For further information see: Information sharing for practitioners and managers).

In many cases a family’s needs are relatively low level and can be effectively managed by agencies without the involvement of local authority statutory services. For more complex needs that cannot be addressed by early help services, agencies will need to make a referral to local authority children’s social care, after which services may be provided under section 17 of the Children Act 1989 (children in need) or under section 47 of the Act where there are safeguarding concerns¹². At this stage, a formal assessment will be undertaken to assess the child and family’s need. The model provided in the Framework for the Assessment of Children in Need and their Families and in Working Together 2015 provides a conceptual framework to help practitioners assess the level of need.

References

Department for Education (2015) Working Together to Safeguard Children
Davies and Ward (2012) Safeguarding Children Across Services
Department for Education (2015) Working Together to Safeguard Children
Holmes ET AL (2012) Exploration of the Costs and Impact of the Common Assessment Framework

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Providing support

To be effective in preventing cases coming to court that could be diverted services need to be:

well-targeted and evidence based
the right help for the right family at the right time: although it is possible to identify families’ needs, the right help is not always available to meet these needs¹⁶. Local areas, therefore, need to have a range of services available, as well as the skills to commission early help services when these are not available locally¹⁷. As well as support from universal services, specific early help services (e.g. family and parenting programmes, assistance with health issues (including mental health) and help for issues such as drug and alcohol misuse and domestic violence) should also be available¹⁸
provided for a sufficient period of time: parents would often like support to be available for longer as support to families experiencing difficulties is often time limited and not able to fully address their difficulties. Strategies should also include a plan to effectively terminate services and re-evaluate if necessary to avoid families returning (the revolving door). This should include services for alcohol and substance abuse, services to address domestic abuse and services to improve parenting skills¹⁹
delivered to parents who are motivated to change. This is characterised by parents accepting responsibility for their actions, sustaining change over time and taking up offers of support²⁰. Some families may appear resistant to intervention, while others may show ‘apparent co-operation’ rather than a genuine commitment to making changes, others may face barriers to engagement based on past experiences and feelings of fear and anxiety. It is important for practitioners to recognise that their relationship with the parents can cause, exacerbate or ameliorate this perceived resistance²¹. Social workers and other practitioners need to be alert to cases of ‘disguised compliance’, maintain a focus on the child and not let the complexities of adults’ problems eclipse the needs of the child.

References

Easton ET AL (2012) Supporting Families with Complex Needs
See: A guide to commissioning children’s services for better outcomes and
Commissioning early help (Research in Practice)
Department for Education (2015) Working Together to Safeguard Children
Davies and Ward (2012) Safeguarding Children Across Services
NSPCC (2014) Assessing Parenting Capacity
Forrester D, Westlake D and Glynn G (2012) ‘Parental resistance and social worker skills: towards a theory of motivational social work’ Child and Family Social Work 17 (2), 118-129]

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Learning resources

Early identification of families

The Early Intervention Foundation provides evidence and advice on early intervention
Early intervention: decision-making in local authority Children’s Services: Action for Children/SCIE
Early Intervention and Prevention with Children and Families (Institute of Public Care)
Cost benefits of early intervention (Research in Practice)
Sharp C and Filmer-Sankey C (2010) Early intervention and prevention in the context of integrated services: evidence from C4EO and Narrowing the Gap reviews (C4EO)

Inter-agency working

Support for children and families

Evidence Based Interventions Programme Hub
Department for Education Toolkit on parenting programmes

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Test your knowledge

These exercises aim to help you embed knowledge in this area. A range of different formats have been used, and most can be used individually or in team learning. Discussing your learning with your supervisor will help to ensure it informs your practice.

Start test

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