First posted September 2016, these discussion pieces are worth a revisit for those who may have missed them:
Intention of this post is to provide a small collection of discussion pieces related to improvement and innovation. Please add comments and ideas for future posts and discussion.
Pillars & Foundations: Next practice in children’s service
Published by: The Association of Directors of Children’s Services (ADCS), March 2016.
Author: Richard Welwyn
This is a think piece paper – in places provocative, designed to stimulate thinking, challenge and debate about how to achieve positive changes in our services as a proactive response to increasing demands arising from austerity.
‘The reductions we are seeing in public finances will inevitably increase demand from families, but austerity can also drive innovation and positive change in our services. Whether it’s big data that makes children’s services proactive, place-based commissioning, digital services, devolution, early help for hidden need, new provider models, or even social-engineering. There is a brighter horizon that makes this an exciting as well as challenging time to be working for children and families’.
Read the report at source: Pillars & Foundations: Next practice in children’s service
Some related publications
Stockport Family: A fully integrated children’s services based on restorative practice & Never waste a mistake
Many thanks @SharonLMartin1 …we are thrilled to feature in this article @IdeasHub_ https://t.co/u9jN4Lov51
— Deborah Woodcock (@WoodcockDeborah) 13 September 2016
Stockport has transformed its statutory services via an integrated and refocused on empowerment. It is a truly inspiring story.
Sourced via Ih alliances – ‘A simple and powerful way to describe a learning culture’
[…] Part of Stockport Family’s success comes from using a handful of short sayings that represent their approach to each other and to families.
At a training event, people were talking about their desire to learn from each other and from times when things do not go right, when one person summed it up for them in four words – ‘never waste a mistake.’
This became one of their stock phrases. It turns the concept of a mistake as something to be ashamed of and not discussed into something of value that should not be wasted. In all the work on learning cultures and quality improvement, I haven’t seen or heard anything so simple yet so powerful.
Read full piece at source: ‘Never waste a mistake’
Read full piece at source: Stockport Family: A fully integrated children’s services based on restorative practice
Family by Family
Sourced via Ih alliances. Author: Helen Sharp. Originally published 6th September 2016
We look at Family by Family, a great example of social #coproduction in Australia: https://t.co/rcTUuQYiLq pic.twitter.com/p9RAKsnhfH
— Ideas Hub (@IdeasHub_) 12 September 2016
‘The amazing thing about Family by Family is its commitment to co-production. The original programme was co-designed and prototyped by families and many aspects were changed until they felt they had the right fit. When the programme was introduced to a new locality, the programme was revised with the local people to ensure it was relevant and made the most of the local resources. Family by Family’s ability and willingness to adapt is quite unique in my experience.
I wish a Social Care department somewhere in the UK would look at adopting this approach to complement the professionals and services’.
Watch the Family by Family video:
Visit the Family by Family website: here
[…] by creating with families rather than creating for families, we’ve all worked together to develop something that truly works for families’.
Family by Family
An evaluation undertaken in 2011-12 cautioned that ‘The Family by Family Program is young and there is, as yet, relatively little outcomes data available. The findings should, therefore, be treated as tentative and open to revision as further data becomes available. Nevertheless, the outcomes to date appear very positive’.
Nevertheless:
‘There is remarkably little evidence available to date of negative outcomes being generated through the FbF program. There was one interview with a seeking family which was critical of the linkXup, where the relationship between sharing and seeking family clearly had not worked, and where the seeking family mother described feeling worse as a result of some interactions. (This is discussed further in Section 5.2.2, below.) It may be, however, that this is in part a result of the nature of the interviews. The potential for negative outcomes should continue to be monitored in future years’. (Family by Family Evaluation Report 2011-12, page 31)
Read the full report: Family by Family Evaluation Report 2011-12
Read the Family by Family latest blog which is focused on the role of the Family Coach: mount druitt is looking for a new family coach!!!
niromp.org 