We take the quality of our work very seriously. It’s not just about how much we do, we want to know how well we did it. Through a detailed series of checks and audits, we methodically and routinely test various aspects of our work and then set about improving the service according to what we found.
This year, in addition to the regular audits we carry out, there have been a number of extra projects such as the “Engaging Fathers” work, and a specific piece of work looking at the referrals that come in to the Children and Families department.
Child In Need audit 2013-14
Background
This audit was undertaken by the Head of Service, Fieldwork Service Manager, Principal Practitioners and the Planning and Development Officer.
The purpose of the audit was to identify areas of good practice and areas of concern to provide a baseline of performance. There was a clear focus on impact and outcomes, in line with the CSSIW full inspections of children in need and children in care.
In total 16 Child in Need (CIN) cases were audited. The audit tool considered the following areas of practice including:
- Quality of Care planning and Reviewing within the CIN process
- Quality of Assessments
- Quality of Family Intervention Team involvement
- Quality of Management Oversight
- Outcomes for the Child and Family
Summary of Findings
The overall quality of initial assessments was good. Partnership working with families and other agencies was evident within all the initial assessments. The area of concern identified in relation to assessments was the delays in the core assessment starting. In four of the cases, the auditors felt that due to the complexity of the case a more detailed core assessment was required to assist the CIN planning process
The initial CIN plans were overall deemed to be appropriate although further work is needed to improve the clarity of outcomes within the initial plan. The audit identified good engagement with the child/ young person but not with multi agencies at the initial planning stage.
In twelve of the cases, the CIN reviewing process was deemed to be effective in assessing implementation, progress and outcomes for child. In these cases the audit identified clear engagement with the child/ young person, family and multi agencies.
The quality of the Family Intervention Team work was directly linked to the quality of the referral to the team. In cases where the referral was of good quality and identified clear tasks and outcomes, the quality of intervention was good. It was also identified that the quality of case recording by the Family Intervention Worker was also good. Clear focus within the recording on the outcomes achieved after each session
Case recording overall reflected the level of activity in the case.
In eight of the cases, the auditor was able to identify improved outcomes for the child and the family since the CIN planning process had started. In five other cases we had seen limited improvements in outcomes for the child and family.
CIN Consultation Booklets for Children and Families
As part of the QA feedback days, social work staff identified the need for Child in Need consultation booklets to be developed to improve consultation with children/ young people and families. The booklets will be developed similar to the Looked after Children consultation booklets.
Engaging Fathers
Background
Within Conwy we are currently working in partnership with the Fatherhood Institute to evaluate practice within the department around how effectively we engage with fathers/ male carers within the child protection process.
As part of this work we undertook an audit of twenty one cases where the child was subject to a child protection plan. The auditors included multi- agency professionals from Health and Youth Offending Team. The audit identified gaps in the department’s practice in relation the following areas:
- Limited Recording of Fathers’ details on the Paris IT system
- Limited engagement with Fathers during the assessment process
- Poor attendance of Fathers at case conferences
The overall goal of this project is to reduce levels of risk and raise levels of care for children where there are safeguarding/ parenting concerns through the development of improved working practices of social care services and partner agencies by more effective engagement with fathers. To achieve this goal we need to directly influence practice across Conwy.
Developments
A local action plan was developed identifying the following areas of work:
- Update the Conwy Parenting strategy to focus on engagement of fathers by all agencies- this action has been completed
- The commissioning of parenting programmes should consider the appropriateness of the programme to support fathers – on-going work within the Conwy Parenting strategy
- Multi-agency training for practitioners around engagement with fathers (completed)
- Presentation to the All Wales Child Protection policy group to ensure all policies relevant to child protection, whether for Conwy Children’s Services, or partner agencies in the LSCB, should ensure that they explicitly address the needs and experiences of fathers, and should underpin the development of father-inclusive practice – action completed
- CP Coordinator to ensure that conference reports reflect the discussion around the role of the Father – action completed – greater evidence of father’s participation at CP conferences
Referral Audit
Background
Children’s Services undertake a referral audit twice a year to look at the quality of the decision making at the front door. The auditors in evaluating the quality of referrals were looking for evidence that the referrals contained the relevant information to support the decision making process.
The audit tool covers the following areas:
- Quality of Referrals
- Effectiveness of the response
- Previous referrals taken into account
- Was the response based on an analysis of risk
- Were auditors in agreement with the decision
Summary of Findings
The findings from two audits within the last 12 months have identified the following issues:
- The audits identified improved practice in relation to the quality of referrals although work will continue to take place with partner agencies to sustain the improvements in the quality of referrals
- Detailed management decision sheets provided auditors with evidence of why cases did/ did not proceed to initial assessment
- Practice improvements seen in referrer receiving information regarding the outcome of the referral
- Auditors were in agreement with the decision making of the principal/ senior practitioners
Over the last two years we have seen an improvement in relation to the quality of referrals and also the recording within the management decision sheet.