The evidence base for protecting and supporting Scotlands children Getting it right for every child

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-The evidence base for protecting and supporting
Scotlands children - Getting it right for every
child

• Jane Aldgate OBE
• Professor of Social Care
• The Open University

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What is Getting it right for every child?

• A national programme of assessing, analysing
  information and planning for children
• Getting it right for every child starts in the
  universal services of health and education
• Getting it right for every child recognises the
  part families and everyone working with children
  plays in helping children reaching their
  potential
• Additional help should be proportionate and
  timely built from the support every child should
  get automatically from health and education
• Children and young people are at the centre of
  all activity about them and their lives
• Getting it right for every child expect agencies
  to work together to help all children and young
  people grow, develop and reach their full
  potential

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GIRFEC is about all children

• GIRFEC is about all children not just children
  in need, not just those looked after, and not
  just those at risk or with the most acute or
  complex needs.
• It should not matter how a childs needs come to
  light or how they are categorised (child
  protection, offending, young carers, LAC) . What
  matters is that help is provided where
  necessary integrated between agencies - and that
  outcomes are improved
• Change needs to take place on three fronts
  culture, systems and practice to help
  practitioners align services to enable children
  and young people to grow, develop and reach their
  full potential.

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Why do we need GIRFEC?

• Children fall though gaps
• Children get passed from one agency to another
• Services screen out kids
• Agencies dont share information
• Processes are duplicated

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Key practitioners within GIRFEC

• Each child will have a named person in the
  universal services of health or education who
  will trigger additional help
• There will be a lead professional where two or
  more agencies are working together

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Characteristics of GIRFEC practitioners
approachable and helpful

• Children and families should feel confident that
  
• they can rely on appropriate help being available
  as soon as possible
• the agency they first have contact with will
  arrange for help to be provided, not pass them on
  elsewhere
• meetings will be child and family friendly and
  arranged to suit them
• their worries and views have been listened to
  carefully and their wishes have been heard and
  understood

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A child and family friendly service

• Practitioners will ensure that parents and
  children participate at every stage by
• fully involving them in discussions and making
  sure they understand what is happening at every
  stage
• asking their opinions and seeking their consents
• planning meetings, where they are necessary, at
  times convenient for children and families
• sharing information with them
• constructing plans with them.

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Four questions for practitioners

• What is getting in the way of this child
  achieving his or her potential?
• What can I do to help this child?
• What can my agency do to help this child?
• Is there other help required to meet the needs of
  this child?

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What evidence underpins implementing GIRFEC?

• What is risk? Can it be overcome?

• Value of children and families being fully
  involved
• The importance of each child reaching his or her
  potential
• Developmental- ecological theory
• Resilience/strengths approach
• Uses a research-informed model of risk/needs
  assessment and management

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What do we mean by risk to children and can
things be changed?

• Evidence from research suggests what happens in
  childhood can have an impact on later life
• Research also suggests a more optimistic approach
  to creating turning points for children
• There are many influences on children besides
  their immediate family/carers although these are
  important
• Though more difficult where children have
  suffered severe harm, all children can reach
  their potential given positive inputs and the
  right help at the right time
• See Aldgate et al (2006) The Developing World of
  the Child, JKP

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Value of children and families being fully
involved

• Children and families can understand why sharing
  information with practitioners is necessary
• Children and families can help practitioners
  distinguish what information is significant
• Everyone is included in seeing if a Childs Plan
  has made a difference
• Helps professionals to behave ethically
• Even in cases of compulsion, better outcomes are
  obtained by working in partnership with parents
  (Department of Health 2001, The Children Act Now
  Messages from Research, TSO)

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Importance of children reaching their potential-
evidence driven policy the 47 model

• The Scottish Governments aspirations for all
  children is that they should become
• confident individuals,
• effective contributors
• successful learners
• responsible citizens.
• This will be achieved by making sure children
  are safe, healthy, achieving, nurtured,
  respected and responsible and included

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The 7 outcomes can be used to identify risk and
need and in making plans

• Initial concerns recorded
• What is getting in the way of child reaching the
  7 outcomes?
• What has been observed, heard, identified?
• Why might the child not be safe?
• Is immediate action required?
• Where next? Single agency or multi-agency action
• Is a meeting necessary or can help be given
  immediately?
• In the Childs Plan what needs to change in the
  7 outcomes for a child to reach his or her
  potential?
• How will we know when changes have occurred?

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An approach to development that recognises the
childs whole world

• Grounded in developmental-ecological theories of
  child development
• Emphasises interaction between child and
  environment
• Stresses multi-faceted key influences
• Identifies strengths and pressures
• Includes risk and need
• Includes immediate and long term risks
• Promotes timely and proportionate action
• Takes a resilience approach
• See Aldgate, Jones ,Rose and Jeffery (2006) The
  Developing World of the Child, JKP.

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Assessing in more detail - gathering information
about an individual childs world

• Using the Childs World Triangle to assess by
  identifying
• Need and risks
• Strengths and pressures

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The Childs Whole World Triangle
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In cases of risk of harm from abuse and neglect,
factors from research (including assessing
recurrence of harm), can used to ask, What do I
(the child) need to keep me safe?

• Strongest associations include
• Prior history of maltreatment
• Neglect
• Parental conflict (domestic abuse)
• Parental mental health problems
• Strong suggestion of recurrence include
• Parental substance / alcohol use
• Family stress
• Lack of social support
• Younger children
• Parents history of abuse
• Involved with social services
• See Jones (1998) The effectiveness of
  intervention in Adcock and White, Significant
  Harm its Management and Outcome, Significant
  Publications Ltd.

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Developing a model of risk assessment and
management for assessing, analysing information
and planning within GIRFEC

• Brings together best of different approaches
• Combines knowledge, theory and best practice
  Acknowledges management of risk important
• Rejects false certainty of actuarial models
• Immediate safety issues combined with long term
  developmental risk factors
• Emphasises evidence-based practitioner analysis
  and judgement
• Reinforces principles and practice of Getting it
  right for every child
• Sources Aldgate and Rose (April 2007) Risk
  Assessment and Risk Management in Child
  Protection The Application of Contemporary
  Thinking to Getting it right for every child,
  unpublished paper for GIRFEC Team, Scottish
  Government.
• Berry (2007) Effective Approaches to Risk
  Assessment in Social Work An International
  Literature Review, Scottish Executive

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Immediate risk not enough need to assess the
childs wider world proportinately

• Risk/need factors in the child
• Risk/need factors in parent or caregiver
• Interactions between child and parents/carers
  (e.g.attachment)
• Environmental pressures (e.g. risks/supports from
  school and community, poverty)
• Protective factors and strengths on each side of
  the triangle
• See Aldgate et al (2006) The Developing World of
  the Child, JKP Daniel et al (1999) Child
  Development for Child Care and Child Protection
  Workers, JKP Jack and Gill ( 2003) The Missing
  Side of the Triangle, Barnardos.

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Analysing the information a resilience/signs of
safety approach

• Signs of danger assessed alongside signs of
  safety
• Underpinned by resilience theory
• Weighs strengths as well as vulnerabilities
• Links with developmental-ecological approach

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A resilience approach for analysis
Resilience
Normal development under difficult conditions
e.g. secure attachment, outgoing temperament,
Sociability, problem solving skills
Adversity
Protective Environment
Life events or circumstances posing a threat to
healthy development e.g. loss, abuse, neglect
Factors in the childs environment acting as
buffer to the negative effects of adverse
experience
Vulnerability
Those characteristics of the child, their family
circle and wider community which might threaten
or challenge healthy development e.g. disability,
racism, lack of or poor attachment
Ref Daniel, Wassell and Gilligan (1999)
Child Development for Child
Care and Child Protection Workers, JKP
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Applying a systematic practice model in GIRFEC to
assessing, analysing and planning for all
children in need

• Using the 7 outcomes for all Scotlands Children
  to identify immediate risk and need
• Getting the child and familys perspectives on
  risk/need
• 3. Drawing on evidence from research and
  developmental literature about level of risk/need
  and the likely impact on the development of an
  individual child
• 4. Where appropriate, using messages from
  research to assess what is the likely recurrence
  of harm (not actuarial tables)
• 5. Looking at the immediate and long term
  risks/needs to a childs development in the round
  using the Childs World Triangle
• 6. Using the resilience framework to analyse
  the risks, strengths, protective factors
• 7. Weighing the balance of that evidence and
  making decisions
• 8. Constructing a plan and taking appropriate
  action, including reviewing the plan.

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Putting the Plan into action providing evidence
of change

• What is to be done?
• Who is to do it?
• How will we know if there are improvements and
  risk has been eliminated or contained and needs
  met?
• How will we review the childs progress?
• What is our evidence for the outcomes achieved?