Herefordshire Council has been asked by the Department for Education to host an event to showcase the council’s groundbreaking approach to helping families across the county.
The government is interested in the work that the council, health professionals and other agencies are doing to support families who have multiple problems, particularly those who have children on the edge of care and who are difficult to connect with.
Around 140,000 families in the UK experience multiple disadvantages (five or more selected disadvantages). Analysis suggests they contribute almost two thirds of permanent school exclusion, one in five youth offences, over a third have children subject to child protection proceedings whilst their parents are 34 times more likely to need drug treatment and eight times more likely to need alcohol treatment.
Because these families experience, and contribute to, such a wide range of social problems they can be can be targeted by anything up to 20 overlapping, programmes, funding streams and agencies. This has been shown to be both ineffective and cost local services up to £250,000-£330,000 per family per year, compared to an average cost of family intervention at around £8,000-14,000 per family.
Family intervention quite literally places the family first, with a dedicated worker engaging directly with family members and helping them cope with the sometimes bewildering challenges they face.
A recent evaluation of projects across the country reported:
• A halving of offending and anti-social behaviour
• A reduction in family violence by 70 per cent
• An improvement in financial stability from 23 per cent to 51 per cent
• Attendance issues halved, and the group considered to high risk (i.e.
attending less than 50 per cent of the time) reduced two thirds
• Young carers in families reduced by more than a third
As the coalition government is keen to encourage local authorities and partner organisations to share good practice and experiences, the Department for Education asked the council to host this exciting event and showcase some of the work done to date.
Senior managers, cabinet members and professionals from other local authorities in the West Midlands and from other neighbouring authorities are being invited to the event which takes place at the Freedom Centre, Hereford on Friday, November 26. Funded and promoted by the Department for Education, families expert, Wendy Weal will be representing the DfE.
The event will begin with some creative performances from a group of young people who have written and produced their own music and dance presentations to impress the audience. Following introductions a number of workshops are being organised for delegates to choose from. The day is also about networking and sharing ideas, so a market place environment will be created where people can enjoy refreshments, talk about case studies and exchange contact details.
The event is open to anyone who has an interest in providing support for children and families, and although it is free, bookings need to be made on the Department for Education’s web site:
https://registration.livegroup.co.uk/showcaseevents/Default.aspx
“Our approach to providing families with help has already produced excellent results in Bromyard,” said David Sanders, interim director of children’s services for Herefordshire Council. “Families spend less time telling their story to different professionals, and don’t have to travel to different venues in the county to get help. In addition, holding one regular meeting of professionals to discuss a number of families at a time reduces costs, and makes information sharing and planning for support much easier and effective.
“We have also developed this model in Ledbury, Mortimer and Leominster, Woebley and Kingon, Hereford, Golden Valley and Kingstone and Ross on wye areas.
“We are delighted that the Department for Education has asked us to host this event as it gives us an opportunity to establish links with colleagues in other local authorities and raise the profile of some of the innovative work we are doing in Herefordshire locally and regionally.”
