Issue - meetings

Report of the Director of Childrens Services

The Cabinet considered a report of the Director of Childrens Services which indicated that Family Valued is a Leeds City Council system change programme designed to spread restorative practice across children’s services. A key element is the expansion of the Family Group Conferencing (FGC) service to a scale not previously seen in the UK, including for families experiencing domestic violence.

There are 2 core strands to the programme;

·  Awareness raising and deep dive training to embed restorative practice across social work, Children’s Services and the wider workforce for children, families and communities.

·  Expansion of FGCs to more families, including those affected by domestic violence and with a new model prior to Initial Child Protection Conferences.

An evaluation was undertaken 16 months into the Leeds programme which found that almost all of the Family Valued outcomes had been achieved. There were statistically significant reductions in;

·  Number of looked after children

·  Rate of LAC per 10,000 population

·  Number of Child Protection Plans

·  Number of children in need

Other outcomes were also identified at the time of the evaluation such as improvements in school attendance, number of children leaving care and returning to their families, and rates of re-referrals for domestic violence.

The Leeds Family Valued approach reflects the ‘Coventry way’- children are at the centre of practice. This reflects the values of the Leeds model which places families in control and enables them to reduce dependency on specialist services, develop resilience and capacity and take the lead in decision making and ownership of their plan.

The Coventry approach encourages workers to establish a relationship-based method to working with children and families.  As a Signs of Safety local authority social workers are already working to a strength based and restorative framework.  Existing approaches would need to be developed further to take account of the Leeds Family Valued model.

Coventry is on a journey to good or better and is committed to achieving this. Working with and alongside Leeds Local Authority this proposal would enhance the pace of change and further improve outcomes for children in Coventry.

The cost to implement the Leeds Family Valued programme for the first two years will be met fully by the DfE Grant of £4.1m commencing 1 April 2021 – 31 March 2023.

·  2021/22  £2.0m

·  2022/23  £2.1m

Cabinet noted that the report would be considered by the Education and Children’s Services Scrutiny Board (2) at their meeting to be held on 11 March, 2021.

RESOLVED that the Cabinet recommends that Council accepts the grant funding of £4,062,295 from the Department for Education for the two-year period to support the change programme to spread restorative practice across Children’s Services.