Walsall Children & Young People’s Partnership Working together to turn policy into action 26 th June Learning together for their future conference Louise Hughes

Working together “in a team OR as a team?” Challenges and opportunities 2 examples - service perspective, child perspective Rocket science and elephant ‘making growing up as good as it can be’

Doing it differently – better together “ we wanna be together” Challenge and opportunity……. Moral purpose (ECM) – shared values and understanding of what’s important – Shared language critical Perception is 9/10ths of the barrier Safeguarding - all our responsibility Universal services shift to locality delivery Partnership response – local solutions to local needs – working together ‘making growing up in Walsall as good as it can be’

“Since the launch of Every Child Matters we have seen the richest and most significant debate on children’s services for over a generation” Margaret Hodge

“If you are not confused then you don’t know what’s going on” David Bell

Common Purpose Common Language Common Purpose Common Sense

Locality Event Outcomes 10 events held across the Borough in March & June 2007 for professionals working with CYP Each locality provided with a profile of data specific to their area together with comparative data for Walsall, England & Wales Each locality event engaged CYP for their views YP from the college made a CD and interviewed and filmed partners during the event – as part of course work

Immunisations Child Protection Register Attainment School exclusions NEET Child Poverty Teenage pregnancies Crime Racial Incidents Youth Offending Looked After Children Sexually Transmitted Infections

Aldridge Fewer teenage girls getting pregnant No further increases in obesity Address issues of violence, substance misuse, especially for families on the Red House estate Improve road awareness Target educational attainment Involve children & young people in decision making Increase the number of young people’s co-ordinators

Darlaston Increase capacity for school health visitors to work with the under 5’s A safe place to go, without strings Seek ways to measure the outcome other than by academic achievement Further support for every young person to be engaged in training, education or employment Break the mind set across generations for aspirations to be beyond the local experience Fewer teenage girls getting pregnant

Palfrey Address levels of fitness of children & adults Break the cycle of teenage pregnancy Reduce incidents of bullying Track & respond to incidents of racial violence Reduce anti-social behaviour Develop a better approach to deploying targeted intervention to better meet local needs Engage parents Encourage apprenticeships as a route to employment

Pelsall, Rushall & Shelfield Publicise healthy eating Promote play & less structured adult directed activities Reduce incidents of bullying Organise activities for young people, with transport Improve provision for 8-13yr olds Increase facilities for young families Secure the involvement of children & young people in shaping & improving their communities Establish family career days Raise aspirations Improve child care

Willenhall & Bentley Tackle drugs & alcohol misuse Ensure children exiting the care system can re- engage with family support Reduce incidents of bullying Map, signpost & publicise activities that are easily accessible Develop inter school services to share good practice & services Develop activities for 5yrs & upwards Deliver life skills courses in schools Develop a multi agency approach to raising aspirations within the community & institutions

Area partnership working CAPs – Children Area Partnerships Multi- agency decision making board with schools at the heart Strategic representation rather than operational. Strong chairing arrangements Area data profile across all five outcomes (in accessible terminology) Agreed manageable priority Joint actions to address the priority

Agree joint actions to tackle the priorities 1.What do we currently do well to address this priority? 2.What should we stop doing? 3.If we had a blank piece of paper and could start again, what new and more integrated ways of working would we introduce to address this priority? “Doing it differently” Note, no mention of additional resources Put another way we could have asked……….

 What do we currently commission that addresses this priority well?  What should we de-commission because it isn’t having an impact on outcomes for children, or it is duplicating something else?  What new pieces of work should we be jointly commissioning, using pooled resources and possibly pooled budgets, to address this priority?

How will we know if WE are making a difference? What are WE looking to be different by March 2009?

Billy’s Story one boy – one family – one story

The Kaleidoscope of support

Secondary School - Excluded Primary School - Excluded RUIZ Centre PRU - Excluded EWO Service - Withdrawn Youth Offending Service School Health Adviser- if appointments kept WHG - Eviction Notice given Education Psychological Service - referral - no action SS Child Protection Unit CAMHS - referral - no action Domestic Violence Service Sprugeons - withdrawn G.P. Connexions Boxing Club - voluntary sector Alternative Provision Panel Police Behavioural Support and Reinterigation Team Child's Safeguarding Officer Child Protection Adviser - Walsall PCT Dale Street Family Centre Starting Point Childminding Service - withdrawn

Issues for Consideration Formal contract of understanding between service providers and family What activities? Who owns the service responsibility? Rules of engagement and disengagement What does success look like? Tailored Services. Appointments. Agreement to disengagement. Who challenges the decision? How do we measure completions,refusals, disengagement Getting the Universal & Targeted services right Description of family activities or Holding each service provider to account  Persistence Consistency Resilience Assertive Family Advocate

Two Different Perspectives Thinking and Feeling Billy aged 6 ¾ Where am I in your services? Who meets my needs? Where am I in your local area plan? Where am I in your CYP Plan? Do you discuss me in your meetings? Which meetings? Service Provider Agenda What is my expectation of impact? How will my support be evaluated? Who am I responsible to? Bridging the gap 5000 families in Great Britain “without sufficient support, these families are likely to perpetuate a cycle of low achievement, which passes from one generation to the next”

Common Purpose That’s Us ! Working together !