Pippa Murphy, programme lead, shares some of the latest news from the children’s transformation programme:
The programme of change in children’s services is key to our aim of transforming the council and transforming lives. It is crucial that every pound we spend on these services makes the biggest impact for our children, young people and families that it possibly can. When we get this right, we lay the foundations for bright and healthy futures, so that the next generation of adults in Shropshire can continue to thrive and live their best lives.
For the many vulnerable children, young people and adults we care for, the 'Healthy People' aspect of the Shropshire Plan means supporting them to live independently: out of care, into stable families, and, when and where possible, into good housing and fulfilling employment.
Some of the positive changes happening right now:
Early help
A key part of children’s transformation is to make sure that the right help is available at the right time for our children and families. By acting early, and working closely with our partners, we can stop problems from escalating and more drastic and costly interventions being needed, reducing the demand on (for example) social care. One of the ways we are achieving this is through the new Early Help Front Door service. Since it launched on 29 August, we have been contacted by 199 families who have been successfully directed to appropriate support.
Stepping Stones
Stepping Stones is a therapeutic team that provides individualised and flexible support for families, with the aim that they can carry on living together. Outreach workers have full consent from the families that they work with, collaborating with partner agencies and developing a plan to make positive changes. Since April 2023, the team have supported 11 children to stay with their families as well as supporting 6 other children to return to their families from residential care. The team are currently working with 215 children across Shropshire.
Feedback for the Stepping Stones team:
“Ellen (Outreach worker) understood the family and was consistent for them through their Social Care Journey. Ellen took time to get to know the family and they feel more in control now. Ellen’s involvement was important and she would always stay in touch. The good days are better now which is positive.”
“Nikita (outreach worker) saw me often and felt like a really close friend. She helped me with my mental health. Before, I couldn’t open up about my issues, but now I can. She brought that out in me, I can definitely share how I am feeling now.”)
Fostering recruitment
We know that a family environment is invaluable for children and foster carers can provide the nurturing space and relationships to make a huge difference to a child’s life.
Right now, we are working on making the time it takes to become a new foster carer much shorter, so that more of our young people can benefit from this as quickly as possible. To do this safely and effectively, we are updating the information that is available about fostering and reviewing the processes for response and assessment when somebody who is interested makes an enquiry. Remember, if you would like to find out more about fostering a Shropshire child, please visit the Shropshire Fostering website.
Residential growth
Residential homes also have an important role to play in our children’s services, often stepping in to help at crucial moments in a child’s life. At the moment we have 6 internal children's homes, with 3 having opened since 2021. All of our homes are Ofsted Registered Outstanding or Good. We know we can deliver good quality care with great outcomes for the children of Shropshire and we want to further increase this offer. The project is looking at short term need, with a plan to open a further home early in 2024, as well as longer term requirements for service delivery.
There is lots more going on in the children’s transformation programme, including business support for automation, children’s commissioning, reviewing our learning and development offer and collaborating in the Best Start in Life and family hubs work alongside the public health team.
There will be more updates coming soon as we continue to make these changes, to benefit the children, young people and families in our communities and offer the best value service that we can.