Agenda item

Briefing Note of the Director of Children’s Services

The Scrutiny Board considered a briefing note of the Director of Children’s Services which detailed different methods used to identify the voice of the child, especially through the use of technology when engaging with specific groups of children and young people.

Coventry Children’s Services use various methods to support children and young people in sharing their wishes, feelings and aspirations.  Methods included, during direct work, group activities, surveys, focus groups and technology.  The focus at this meeting was on technology and details of other methods were appended to the briefing note.

The Board received a presentation on the ‘Mind of My Own’ app designed and co-produced with children and young people, to support them in sharing their views, concerns and thoughts about their lives.  The app had been successfully used in Coventry since 2019.  Some of the benefits of using Mind of My Own had been:

a)  Children and young people on the autistic spectrum had shared more via the app than previously with their worker.

b)  During Covid-19 lockdowns, it was an effective tool for young people to keep in touch with their worker.

c)  Young people had used the app to tell their worker something that was difficult to say in person.

d)  Staff had benefitted from being able to upload to case files young people’s views in their own words.

e)  Children, young people and staff had all benefitted from sharing good news rather than focusing on issues all the time.

Coventry had been partnering with Social Finance for the past three years as a pilot authority in the development of ‘Leaving Well’.  Leaving Well was a pioneering, new digital approach to leaving care services, which was centred around the Leaving Well Digital Tool.  The new style pathway plan had been successful in ensuring all pathway plans were completed and reviewed via Leaving Well.  This had several advantages detailed in the report.

Various methods were employed to ensure children and young people living with special educational needs and disabilities voices could be heard including Widgets and Makaton, (the use of symbols, signs, and speech to replace written words).  Screen sharing Apps for sharing a white board screen in the classroom with a young person on a laptop or tablet.  Screen reading technology including touch typing programmes.  Students use phones and tablets to take images and zoom in.  There were also specific apps, such as, ‘Seeing AI’ which was a talking camera for the blind to identify images or read writing.  Hardware used included, electronic Braillers. The use of MS Teams had also had a positive impact on the number of young people attending annual reviews and expressing their opinions.  It was thought that online was a less intimidating environment than being in a room with a range of professionals.

Another method using technology was ‘Kooth’ a safe, free and confidential way for young people to access emotional wellbeing and early intervention mental health support, it was actively promoted by Coventry Children’s Services.  The service was available to all young people across Coventry aged 11-25 years from April 2021 and was jointly funded by the City Council and Coventry and Rugby Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG).

Other methods of participation used withing Coventry’s Children’s Services included:

•  The Participation Team was a focal point for engagement across Children’s Services.  The database monitored participation across looked after children aged 5-18 years and identified where there were any gaps.

•  ‘Young Inspectors’ was a youth led programme which provided children and young people with a platform for their views and opinions of the services they access.  Recommendations made, would support services in the development of their offer and help to ensure services were meeting the needs of the children and young people they work with.

•  Young people led groups which included ‘Little Voices’ and ‘Voices of Care’ the local Children in Care Council.  A separate Care leavers group contributed to the Corporate Parenting Board and Coventry Youth Council provided a more generic voice.

•  Moderation of case note files with a focus on the voice of the child and ways to improve

•  Service User feedback forms and ways to improve

•  Coventry was part of wave 2, of ‘Coram Voice New Belongings Project’.  Care leavers were surveyed to identify where they were flourishing and where things could be improved.  An evidence base was produced and informed service improvements via an action plan, key areas for development included housing and accommodation, emotional well-being and finance.

•  In 2018, the Social Work Academy supported by young people from Voices of Care developed a good practice guide for life story work which had been widely disseminated and used by staff.

•  Children and young people inform practice via direct liaison with coordinators and formal service user feedback.  During Covid-19 restrictions, the Lifelong Links and Family Group Conferencing service offered three options which were influenced and guided by young people

•  The 8 Family Hubs across Coventry were at the forefront of using the Mind of My Own app, they had provided youth sessions during holiday periods and delivered child friendly interventions.  Young people’s feedback informed how sessions could be further developed, they measure customer experience, twice a year, via the Let’s Talk Coventry platform and feedback forms were offered to all families following periods of intervention.  Currently all the hubs were taking part in the Young Inspector’s programme.  This activity would inform hubs about how they were viewed from a young person’s perspective.

All activity was monitored quarterly as part of the Participation Strategy.  Monitoring enabled Coventry Children’s Services to articulate the status of participation activity across our services, celebrate successes and identify areas for development.  Participation was recognised as ‘everyone’s’ business with services developing mechanisms for children, young people, parents, and carers to have a voice about the services they access and inform practice.  The expectation was that participation work would be further enhanced though the Voice and Influence strand of the ‘Coventry Family Valued’ project.

The Board questioned officers, received responses, and discussed the following:

•  the benefits of using technology

•  accessibility of technology and digital poverty

•  diagnosis of Special Educational Needs and Disabilities and support available following identification

•  concerns about the returning of feedback forms and use of cut and paste

•  reasons young people would prefer to do their schoolwork at home e.g., anxiety

•  assurances around safeguarding and use of technology 

•  communication and follow up with young people regarding issues they have raised via technology

•  the amount of young people using the technology of those who were eligible

The Board were reassured that the messages received from young people via technology were to be an aid to conversations and training was delivered to staff using the app.  The briefing note used ‘signs of safety’ framework headings and the concerns noted under the heading “What we are worried about” were not significant concerns but were used to assist developing the service.

The Board were very supportive of the work to listen to children and young people and particularly the option to use technology to communicate their views.

RESOLVED that the Scrutiny Board note the content of the briefing and thanked staff for supporting the importance of including the voice of the child in planning and evaluating work.