ITEM 16 North Lanarkshire Children’s Services Plan 2023-26
North Lanarkshire Council · 27 September 2023
Back to Health and Social Care Integration Joint Board — 27 September 2023 and its agenda
Text extracted from the council's PDF. Layout and reading order may differ from the original.
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1 REPORT Item No: 16 SUBJECT: North Lanarkshire’s Children’s Services Plan 2023-26 TO: Integrated Joint Board Lead Officer for Report: Alison Gordon, Chief Social Work Officer Author(s) of Report Mark Kay, Senior Health Promotion Officer and Lynn Brennan Senior Officer – Planning, North Lanarkshire Council DATE: 27th September 2023 1. PURPOSE OF REPORT This paper is coming to the IJB for: For Approval: ☒ For Endorsement: ☐ To Note: ☐ 2. ROUTE TO THE BOARD This paper has been: Prepared By: ☒ Reviewed By: ☒ Endorsed By: ☒ Prepared by Mark Kay, Senior Health Promotion Officer and Lynn Brennan Senior Officer – Planning, North Lanarkshire Council, reviewed by Improving Children’s Services Group & Children’s Services Partnership Board
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2 3. RECOMMENDATIONS (1) IJB is asked for approval of the North Lanarkshire Children’s Services Plan 2023-26 4. VARIATIONS TO DIRECTIONS? This section outlines if the report requires a direction to be issued to the Local Authority, the Health Board, to both, or that no direction is required Yes ☐ No ☐ N/A ☒ 5. BACKGROUND/SUMMARY OF KEY ISSUES 5.1. The Children and Young People’s (Scotland) Act 2014 introduced requirements for each Local Authority and linked Health Board to prepare and publish the following (attached separately): - (a) A Children’s Services Plan (CSP) covering the period April 2017– March 2020 (and then in a continuing three-year cycle); and (b) A Children’s Rights Report by March 2020 (and then in a continuing three- year cycle). 5.2. The final CSP Draft 2023-26 (attached separately) was endorsed by the North Lanarkshire Improving Children’s Services Group and the Children’s Services Partnership Board in August this year. 5.3. Following the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, our local children’s services partnership followed Scottish Government guidance to allow a ‘roll over’ of our 2017-20 CSP for an additional year and subsequently produce a two-year CSP for 2021-23. 5.4. We have now returned to the expected three year planning and reporting cycle as made explicit in the act. 5.5. The final draft report for 2022-23 contains a summary of the key achievements of our children’s services partnership activity for this period, attached above.
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3 5.6. A CSP ‘Writing Group’ worked with all partners to build the content of the 2023- 26 plan. The content of the plan had been informed by our Joint Strategic Needs Assessment process, reflecting relevant data, the voice of children, young people and families and the perspective of the wider workforce. This plan has now been completed and is attached above. 5.7. Each priority area identified in the previous plan has associated working groups that led on gathering and analysing available data to identify themes where data trends suggest areas for improvement are required. These groups subsequently outlined the priority areas and agreed to maintain the format and structure from the previous plan. 5.8. The tables below show the priority areas identified by this process: UNCRC We will continue to develop and embed our rights based approach, supported by children and young people in NL. It is anticipated that the UNCRC (Incorporation) (Scotland) Bill will be enacted and we are making progress in preparation of this. 1. Everybody, ( staff, partners, and the public), is aware of these rights and understands what they are, as expressed in the United Nations Convention of the Rights of the Child. 2. We embed a rights based approach across all services and making children’s rights visible in policy, culture and practice. Voice 3. Through engagement and participation, we want to know and understand the collective views, needs and aspirations of children, young people, parents and families. 4. We use a range of methods and collaborate with other services to engage with children, young people and families. 5. Task groups and working groups plan for engagement and create opportunities to ensure participation in planning of delivery of the priorities and the co design of services. 6. We engage with children, young people and their families on what is working for them and what improvements to services they think are needed. 7. We want the voices of children, young people, parents and families to be at the centre of the CS Partnership and ensure those with protected characteristics and intersectionality have the same opportunities to have their voices heard. 8. We want to support the participation of individual children, young people and families that we are working with to gather their views, tell us their interests and needs and ensure these are represented and acted upon. D Each Child’s Plan will include all relevant views and how they will be implemented and reviewed. D We will develop and apply a range of tools and resources and ensure inclusion of diverse communication needs.
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4 Family 9. Use the community hub programme in all localities as a key enabler of earlier intervention, moving and integrating services upstream to improve outcomes, through preventative approaches. 10. Ensure equity of access to services for all children, young people and families including care experienced people up to and beyond the age of 26yrs. 11. Strengthen family supports where children have additional support needs, including those with a Neurodevelopmental profile. 12. Build and develop the mental health and resilience of our children, young people and their families promoting early intervention, establishing community supports, and self-care. 13. Tackle the impacts of poverty to support children, young people and their families to thrive and gain access to economic opportunities. 14. NLC are working towards achieving the Breastfeeding Friendly Scotland Local Authority award and aim to support, promote and protect breastfeeding in our communities for an increased amount of women to initiate and sustain breastfeeding at 6-8 weeks. 15. Children and families affected by alcohol and drug use will be safe, healthy, included and supported. Care 16. Develop a systemic approach to involve care experienced children, young people and their families in how all services are designed and/or re-designed to meet all health needs. 17. Provide support to parents that is available when they are ready and tailored to their needs. 18. In our balance of care, reduce the trend of children and young people being removed from and rehabilitated to their families by strengthening opportunities to provide early help and prevent escalation. 19. Support to parents whose children have been removed on a permanent basis helps to sustain or build relationships with their children and maintain direct or indirect contact. 20. Consider the support that could be provided to unaccompanied asylum seekers and children and young people who are in NL through the National Transfer Scheme 21. Continue to close the educational attainment gap for our care experienced children and young people. Continue to improve their attendance and provide help to parents and carers to support their children and young people to meet their educational needs. 22. Further development of the Virtual School, building on its success in improving children and young people’s attendance and educational attainment and support to enable them to have positive destinations. 23. Care experienced children, young people and their families are involved in the development and redesign of health services. 24. There is a smoother transition from children to adult health services for those who need ongoing support. 25. Use additional funding streams proportionately to develop community supports and therapeutic interventions to enable tailored responses to meet individual needs.
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5 People 26. Continue to advance and develop our children’s services workforce. We will provide opportunities for career advancement and promote collaborative working across the children’s services partnership and adult services. 27. Continue to develop workforce skills, confidence and competence developed in GIRFEC methodology, pathways, assessment planning and interventions. 28. Continually evaluate and update training and learning in line with legislation, strategy and policy 29. Ensure that staff are routinely consulted on service improvements, change and redesigns. 30. Make sure that staff supporting kinship, foster, adoptive families provide additional support when they need it, recognising that they too may need early help and preventative support to feel confident in caring for their children and young people who have experienced trauma. 31. Provide early help and preventative support to all families who need it and when they need it. 32. Build on progress to develop community hubs informed by consultations. 33. Consult with communities to identify gaps in service provision, how and where they want to access services, what is working well and what they think needs to change. 34. Work collaboratively across the range of strategic partnerships. 35. Work within our strategic frameworks to promote wellbeing within and across our communities ensuring equity of opportunities to improve life choices and chances. 36. Communicate effectively with our children, young people, families and communities. 37. Further develop our use of technology for families and the wider community to access and engage with services. 38. Promote a ‘no wrong door’ approach, for access to services, using our community Hubs as appropriate. Scaffolding 39. Our vision is shared across the partnership and each partner is actively participating in leadership and delivery of our shared priorities. 40. Further the implementation of GIRFEC and Pathways for all children and young people. 41. Implement changes in legislation and national guidance. 42. The CS Partnership is aligned with and contributing to NL Tackling Poverty strategy and actions. 43. Through information and research, we are aware of need, changing drivers, policy and connections. 44. We are aware of the impact of our work we are continuing to improve wellbeing for children, young people and families. 45. This is integrated into our planning and reporting.
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6 5.9. The governance structure has remained from the previous plan with the thematic groups of: Voice, Care, Family, People, and Scaffolding to continue to align with the foundations of The Promise, and include the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. These groups will continue to lead on the actions for the priorities as with the previous structure. 5.10. An Equality Impact Assessment and a Children’s Rights Wellbeing Impact Assessment have been carried out as part of the planning process for the plan. 5.11. The final report and plan for 2023-26 will be published and submitted to the Scottish Government as per statutory duty and cascaded across the North Lanarkshire partner organisations. 6. CONCLUSIONS The North Lanarkshire Children’s Services Plan 2023-26 requires approval as this is submitted to the Scottish Government as per statutory duty and cascaded across the North Lanarkshire partner organisations. 7. IMPLICATIONS 7.1 NATIONAL OUTCOMES Link(s) to National Health and Wellbeing Outcomes People are able to look after and improve their own health and wellbeing and live in good health for longer ☒ People, including those with disabilities or long-term conditions, or who are frail, are able to live, as far as reasonable practicable, independently and at home or in a homely setting in their community ☐ People who use Health and Social Care Services have positive experiences of those services, and have dignity respected ☒ Health and Social Care Services are centred on helping to maintain or improve the quality of life of people who use those services ☒ Health and Social Care Services contribute to reducing health inequalities ☒ People who use Health and Social Care Services are safe from harm ☒ People who work in Health and Social Care Services feel engaged with the work they do and are supported to continuously improve the information, support, care and treatment they provide ☒ Resources are used effectively and efficiently in the provision of Health and Social Care Services ☐
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7 7.2 ASSOCIATED MEASURE(S) The Continuous Improvement Task Group is common to both the CS Partnership and the Child Protection Committee, leading on a shared continuous improvement framework and self-evaluation to direct and inform continuous improvement activity across the CS Partnership and Child Protection. The performance framework will support the implementation, monitoring and reporting of progress against each of the agreed priorities. 7.3 FINANCIAL This paper has been reviewed by Finance: Yes No N/A 7.4 RISK ASSESSMENT/RISK MANAGEMENT Relevant Risk Register Details Current Risk Level Risk Owner N/A Choose an item. 7.5 ENGAGEMENT & PARTICIPATION Please tick the engagement and participation objectives that link(s) with this piece of work and provide further details on the engagement and participation that was undertaken. Objectives Further details □ Involve stakeholders in the development work aimed at achieving the national outcomes □ Provide stakeholders with information on how to get involved ☒ Ensure a diverse range of engagement and participation and opportunities are in place to suit different needs Face to face and online engagement sessions were held during the consultation phases of both the Joint Strategic needs assessment, that informed the priorities and the draft consultation for the Plan 2023-26. Groups of staff from across the partnership, children, young people and families were engaged through online survey and through existing organised groups.
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8 □ Measure how well we involve community stakeholders in the planning, design and delivery of our services ☒ Provide regular feedback on how stakeholder engagement and participation is shaping and influencing service development and delivery A consultation report is being produced with a summary of actions taken to develop the plan. □ Provide support to enable stakeholder representatives to participate meaningfully and confidently at meetings □ Develop participation guidelines to ensure a common understanding and set of expectations for both stakeholders and partnership staff ☒ Support engagement planning and participation in localities, taking account of other engagement activity and local plans across the Community Planning Partnership Data gathered through the Joint Strategic Needs Assessment included data from the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire for North Lanarkshire Schools. Engagement was also taken to the groups that were already in place and delivered with participants where best suited their needs. 7.6 INEQUALITIES & FAIRER SCOTLAND DUTY An Equality Impact Assessment and a Children’s Rights Wellbeing Impact Assessment have been carried out as part of the planning process for the plan. EQIA Completed & Fairer Scotland Impact Assessment Form Completed and attached to report: Yes No N/A Not at present EQIA added to website: Yes No N/A Not at present
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9 8. BACKGROUND PAPERS Appendix 1 Draft CSP 2023-26 attached separately. 9. APPENDICES Please include a glossary of terms if not already included. N/A CHIEF ACCOUNTABLE OFFICER (or Depute) Alison Gordon, Head of Children Families & Justice/CSWO, NLC Education & Families gordonal@northlan.gov.uk Members seeking further information about any aspect of this report, please contact the following; Mark Kay, Senior Health Promotion Officer: Children and Young People NHS Lanarkshire Mark.kay@lanarkshire.scot.nhs.uk Lynn Brennan, Senior Officer - Planning North Lanarkshire Council brennanl@northlan.gov.uk
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Appendix 1 North Lanarkshire Children’s Services Plan 2023-26 Final draft July 2023 Contents 1. Introduction 01 2. Our vision and values 02 3. Our children’s services planning 04 4. Context 05 Covid-19 recovery and beyond 09 5. Joint strategic needs assessment 10 Identifying our priorities 6. Our governance and structure 14 7. Our plan 19 United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child 19 Voice 24 Family 30 Care 37 People 48 Scaffolding 57
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1 1. Introduction Our Children’s Services Plan brings together our vision and ambition about how we best deliver services and supports for children, young people and families in North Lanarkshire and outlines what we want to achieve. In North Lanarkshire we do this through North Lanarkshire Children’s Services Partnership (CS Partnership). The partnership brings together key partners and stakeholders and the plan identifies and outlines shared priorities. Partners include children, young people and families, key public sector agencies, independent sector organisations and the community and voluntary sector. Rather than oversee the full breadth of work that directly or indirectly relates to children, young people and families, the focus of the CS Partnership is on the shared priorities identified in this Plan for the period 2023-26. Each partner has duties and responsibilities beyond the scope and work of the CS Partnership.
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2 2. Our vision and values Our vision In North Lanarkshire, our vision is to support all children and young people to achieve their potential, ensuring they are loved, nurtured and empowered to thrive in all aspects of their lives, upholding each and every child and young person’s rights as stated in the UNCRC. We will work collaboratively with children, young people, their families, and our partners to ensure they get the best start in life and support families to provide loving care. We will do this by making sure we have the right supports available, at the right time, for as long as needed, and delivered in the right places to ensure equity for all and reducing inequalities. Our values We are committed to keeping The Promise, working with the principles of Getting It Right for Every Child and ensuring the voices of children, young people and families are included. All the work of partners and key stakeholders in the delivery of supports and services to children, young people and families supported by our underpinning values: 1. Children, young people, and families are at the heart of the planning and delivery of children’s services. 2. All children, young people and families are included, irrespective of health, sex, gender, ethnic origin, age, sexual orientation, economic circumstances, religion, or belief. 3. We promote and safeguard the rights of children and young people and make sure everybody is aware of these rights and understand what they are, as expressed in the United Nations Convention of the Rights of the Child. 4. We seek to identify difficulties and solutions as early as possible to prevent more or bigger problems in the future. 5. We work collaboratively to ensure children, young people and families get the support they need when they need it, and for as long as they need it. 6. Our approach recognises and builds on the strengths that already exist within children, young people, their families, and communities. 7. We take time to develop caring and nurturing relationships with children and their families and carers. Our approach is trauma-informed and has nurture at its heart with a focus on developing strong, positive relationships between and amongst all those who are part of the children’s services partnership community.
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3 8. We promote resilience in those experiencing adversity. 9. We work together to reduce inequalities and the impact of poverty on children, young people, and families. 10. We work as a partnership with children, young people, and families in North Lanarkshire, to identify their needs, determine what is important, decide where we target our resources, and identify how we can improve, to provide the best outcomes achievable for our children, young people, and their families.
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4 3. Our children’s services planning Our Children’s Services Plan 2023-26 Allpartnershavebeenactive in the work of the Children’s Services Partnership and in the development of this Plan that builds on the plan for the period 2021-23. We have reviewed with our task groups and working groups our work, development and progress over the 2 years of our previous plan, supporting our strategic needs analysis which is detailed further Section 5. There has been engagement with young people and families to inform our priorities. In developing this plan, we also gathered what children, young people and families have told us through research, engagement and direct involvement during the 2021-23 planning cycle. There has been consultation on a final draft, engaging young people, parents and carers, staff and community and voluntary sector representatives. Their views and comments have been fundamental in helping us communicate our vision, values and priorities and ensure we represent the staff, volunteers, communities, children, young people and families in North Lanarkshire for whom this Plan is written. The consultation has also prompted a commitment to produce a version that is for children and young people.
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5 4. Context A key reference point for all our plans in North Lanarkshire is the National Performance Framework Outcomes. These outcomes reflect the Scottish Government’s values and aspirations for the people of Scotland and are aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals to help to track progress in reducing inequality. All these outcomes are relevant and there is one with a particular focus on our children and young people; We grow up loved, safe and respected so that we realise our full potential. The Scottish Government also: 1. Refreshed the national approach to work with children, young people and families; Getting it right for every child (GIRFEC). 2. Committed to incorporating United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) into Scots Law. 3. Committed to keeping the Promise 2030. Driving this forward is the Plan 2021-24. 4. Introduced Whole Family Wellbeing Funding (WFWF) to contribute to preventative whole family support measures. 5. Ensured young children and young people’s voices are heard through the Children’s P arliament and Youth Parliament. 6. Taken actions to further the Child Poverty (Scotland) Act 2017 and Best Start, Bright Futures: tackling child poverty delivery plan. GIRFEC, UNCRC, The Promise, Tackling Poverty and Whole Family Support are key to children’s services in North Lanarkshire and will be talked about throughout this plan. The wellbeing outcomes for all children and young people are: Safe, healthy, active, nurtured, achieving, respected, responsible and included. We grow up loved, safe and respected so that we realise our full potential
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6 North Lanarkshire Partnership and The Plan for North Lanarkshire The North Lanarkshire Partnership (NLP) is where community planning partners come together to progress the shared ambitions set out in The Plan for North Lanarkshire. The Plan sets out the shared ambition where North Lanarkshire is a place for inclusive growth and prosperity for all to Live, Learn, Work, Invest and Visit. The Plan for North Lanarkshire has 5 priorities, 25 ambition statements and 28 health check indicators which together improve the wellbeing of children, young people, and their families. These strands are all reflected in the Programme of Work that brings together strategic planning and community investment. At a local level there are nine Community Boards across North Lanarkshire. Each board has a Local Outcome Improvement Plan that sets out key priorities identified through a range of engagement processes and based on the needs of our local communities. To realise the ambitions of the Plan and deliver the Programme of Work, community and town hubs are being established across North Lanarkshire; comprising shared spaces that, alongside school clusters, supports partnership working and integration. With investment in prevention, early intervention, and positive transitions this development is key to providing whole family support and improving the wellbeing of our children, young people and families. Other Strategic drivers and plans The other strategic drivers and plans which are linked and connected to the work of NL CS Partnership are set out and explained in a document that sits alongside this CS Plan. This is reviewed annually and brings together relevant information across the partnership to help us make sense of the complexities and relationships impacting on our plan and priorities. In the document these are grouped into four main categories and there is a description of each element. National drivers - This includes National legislation that places a responsibility on partners either individually or collectively Local links - these are the main strategic plans and policies in North Lanarkshire Improvement programmes - these are the key pieces of work we have identified and are involved in which we believe will improve our services and supports Planning, delivery and ongoing work - this is how we currently plan for and deliver our existing services and supports LINK to updated landscape document (Last updated August 22- to be updated again with new front page) Current link https://www.northlanarkshire.gov.uk/social-care-and-health/children-and-families/childrens-service-plan
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7 The diagram below brings together the key elements of our Children’s Services Partnership in NL. In the diagram, we have the high-level National Outcomes and The Plan for North Lanarkshire that overarches all the work across North Lanarkshire Partnership. The Children’s Services Partnership and Plan, and the Child Protection Committee and Plan are in the next layer These partnerships are driven by GIRFEC, UNCRC, The Promise, Tackling Poverty and Whole Family Support. The delivery of the Children’s Services Plan centres on community hubs and school clusters where partnership staff work together with children, young people and families. We apply strength and relationship-based practices and ensure what we do is trauma informed. All of this is to improve outcomes for children, young people and families ensuring they are safe, healthy, achieving, nurtured, active, respected, responsible and included. Getting it right for every child in North Lanarkshire The national GIRFEC refresh has maintained commitment to the GIRFEC National Practice Model as the framework for how we practice with an alignment to key policy areas, for example: The Promise and a continued commitment to eradicate child poverty. To meet the diversity of needs of all children and young people, early intervention and prevention are at the centre of planning and delivery of children’s services.
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8 Universal services have a role to identify and support children, young people and families who may need additional support at the earliest possible stage. There is a single pathway that supports agencies and organisations to work together to assess, plan and assist children, young people and their families and ensure the most timely and proportionate support is available. In North Lanarkshire our GIRFEC Delivery Group lead on improvements in this area. For GIRFEC in North Lanarkshire more information and resources can be accessed at www.girfecinnl.com
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9 Post Covid-19, Recovery and Beyond It is clear that the Covid-19 pandemic has had, and continues to have, far-reaching impacts on our children, young people and their families. There have been significant challenges for children, young people and families in our communities and partners have been challenged in their individual and collective responses. Some of these have been positive e.g. increased opportunities for many families to spend time together, getting outdoors, and accessing our greenspaces more and there have been collective actions across the Children’s Services Partnership to mitigate, prevent and negate the adverse impacts from the pandemic. Fortunately, when compared to other age groups and causes of childhood illness, the specific health consequences of COVID-19 on children have been relatively minimal. However, the pandemic and the implementation of necessary health protection measures have greatly affected the lives of our children, young people, and their families. Over the past few years, we have witnessed significant disruptions in our social interactions, economic activities, education systems, and healthcare services. These disruptions have disproportionately impacted individuals and communities that were already facing disadvantages and inequalities (both structural and relational) prior to the pandemic. It is important to acknowledge that some of these adverse effects are likely to persist. 'While children are not the face of this pandemic, the broader impacts on children risk being catastrophic and amongst the most lasting consequences for societies as a whole. While they have thankfully been largely spared from the direct health effects of COVID-19 at least to date – the crisis is having a profound effect on their wellbeing.' (United Nations. Policy brief: the impact of COVID-19 on children; 2020. Available at: https://unsdg.un.org/resources/policy-brief-impact-covid-19-children ) It is anticipated that the full impact of the virus and restrictions implemented during the pandemic will continue to unfold. We are yet to see the extent of this on our children, young people and families however, we know factors important to educational attainment suggest that the existing inequalities have worsened and exacerbated the poverty-related attainment gap. Further details on the impacts of the pandemic for our children, young people and their families can be found here in the Ensuring our future: addressing the impact of COVID-19 on children, young people and their families discussion paper produced by Public Health Scotland. The challenges of the pandemic for individuals and our communities have been compounded by the national cost of living crisis. The cost of everyday essentials like food and energy has risen faster than household incomes. This is having a significant impact on families and our communities. In many communities across North Lanarkshire there are high levels of poverty and budgets are already stretched. Tackling poverty remains a primary driver for our Children’s Services Partnership.
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10 5. Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA) In our JSNA we gathered information and evidence to inform our strategic direction, priorities and actions. We reviewed and analysed this and it helps us to know and better understand: What it is like to live in North Lanarkshire Our population and emerging needs What people think about services and supports Our best practice and what is working well What we should be working to improve Information comes from many sources including data gathered, research and evaluation and lived experience, feedback and views. You can access the full Joint Strategic Needs Assessment document. https://sway.office.com/pSAyWclq01N0aO5z Living in North Lanarkshire North Lanarkshire is the 4th largest local authority in Scotland. The population of NL is 341,400. 69,751 (20%) of the population is under 18 and 35,953 (11%) are aged 18-26. In 2021 there were 3296 births in NL. There are 38,840 households in receipt of child benefit. Since 2020 there has been an 2% reduction in child poverty in NL There are six locality areas: Airdrie, Coatbridge, Wishaw and Shotts, The Northern Corridor, Bellshill and Motherwell. For each of these, a locality profile provides information and statistics about the population, poverty, deprivation, health and benefits. The wellbeing of children and young people in NL One significant source in the JSNA is the North Lanarkshire Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) 2021-22. The SDQ gathered information from 85% (41,324), children and young people in NL schools between January and June 2021. The following reports have background information and highlights from the SDQ. Reporting and analysis of the data has been undertaken on specific areas rather than through the provision of a single comprehensive report. att96796.pdf (northlanarkshire.gov.uk)
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11 att97794.pdf (northlanarkshire.gov.uk) An SDQ was part of Realigning Children’s Services in 2018 and we can compare and analyse information for trends and changes. We are revisiting the SDQ in 2023 and will build on our understanding of wellbeing across our school population in North Lanarkshire. Quality indicators and self-evaluation We continually engage in self-evaluation activities, reviewing, gathering information, evidence, reflections and feedback. We challenge our actions and seek to demonstrate that what we are doing impacts positively on outcomes for children, young people and families. During 2022-23 we updated our self- evaluation to assess our strengths and areas for improvements in relation to working with children, young people and families in need of care and protection. Our self-evaluation draws from continuous improvement activity such as an annual multi-agency file audit and a staff survey undertaken in 2022 It is closely linked to the Quality Improvement Framework and during 2023 we will work with the Care Inspectorate, who will lead a joint inspection of services for children and young people in need of care and protection. Poverty We know that there are some circumstances where families are more likely to experience poverty and we are aware that children, young people and families living in poverty are more likely to encounter barriers to wellbeing and their rights. Local research and data tell us that there are persistent and pronounced inequalities in some health and wellbeing outcomes among children and young people in North Lanarkshire. Poor outcomes in one area of wellbeing are often accompanied – and potentially compounded – by poor outcomes in another. (Realigning Children’s Services 2018, Scottish Attainment Challenge reporting, Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire 2021). There are a number of circumstances that indicate it is more likely children, young people and families are living in poverty. The NL Child Poverty Action Plan and Report has details about this. The local child poverty priority groups are; lone parents, ethnic minority parents, families with a disabled member – parent, child or adult member, mothers under 25, families with a baby under 1 year, families with more than 3 children. Department for Works and Pensions figures for Children in Relative Low Income Families 2020/21 show that 13,966 children live in low- income families across all our communities in North Lanarkshire. This is 18% of the 0-19 years population, higher than the Scottish average of 15%. In November 2022 of 48,835 children and young people, 10,004 (20%) were recorded to be in receipt of free school meals and 11,243 (23%) in receipt of the Clothing Grant. Scottish Attainment Challenge (SAC) and Pupil Equity Funding (PEF) There has been a significant amount of data generated through this programme, which is designed achieve equity in educational outcomes by closing the poverty related attainment gap for children and young people. There has been an upward trend that reflects the shift to empowering clusters. This phase
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12 has now concluded, replaced by the Strategic Equity Fund. There is emphasis on wellbeing as well as literacy and numeracy, and strengthening the work of the empowering clusters, building strong linkages between services and supporting locality-based integration. Prevention and early intervention Across partners there are a range of processes to assess and identify children, young people and families who may be in need of additional supports to achieve their potential. It is important that we are aware of these children, young people and families who may require additional support. The GIRFEC approach and pathway is the key approach to delivering improvements in children’s wellbeing. The three-stage model of intervention promotes the development of early intervention approaches. The model is based on the following stages: Universal – reflecting the services available to all children Additional – where early intervention supports are introduced for targeted children and families Intensive – where multi-agency planning, and intervention become the basis for support to meet significant need The Universal Health Visiting Pathway (UHVP)and Family Nurse Partnership information, collated for pre-birth to 5 years, identifies children with a Health Plan Indicator (HPI) of core or additional. These are defined as follows: Core - Health Visitors (HV) are confident that needs will be met with minimal support or without additional support. Additional - Indicates that the child (and/or their carer) requires sustained (more than 3 months) additional input from professional services to help the child attain their health or development potential. Any services may be required such as additional Health Visiting support, parenting support, enhanced early learning and childcare or specialist medical input. On 24 January 2023 the figures from NHS Lanarkshire were Core - 13,816 and Additional - 2, 824 There is the routine collection of data and, within our JSNA, we gathered information from local and national research, service review and redesign as well as highlighting the experiences of children, young people and their families. Within the JSNA we have highlighted children and young people who may be in need of additional supports e.g. young carers, housing and homelessness, transitions, young people in conflict with the law, families affected by imprisonment and families affected by drug misuse. We also highlight those who need intensive support such as children and young people experiencing care or care experienced or have a compulsory supervision order.
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13 Involving children and young people Our priorities have been informed by children and young people. Though a survey for our Youth Strategy we are aware of the issues that are most important to young people and we engaged children and young people to explore these further to gain insight into their experiences, concerns and solutions. Health including mental health Cost of living Voice Climate emergency This has influenced the direction of travel for our task groups. The questions for cost of living were explored by primary and secondary children and young people in a programme of workshops. This will influence the NL Tackling Poverty Strategy and Report.Thank you to all the children and young people involved. Their inputs have introduced ideas and solutions that had not previously been considered. Identifying our priorities We recognise we are not starting from scratch but building on previous and current work. Before identifying our priorities, we have: Looked back at our progress and achievements in the previous plan Considered national strategies and frameworks, the context of our work and the links to other areas Gathered learning and conclusions from our self-evaluation activities Gathered information in a joint strategic needs assessment as outlined in the previous section Engaged children and young people to explore priorities that they had identified As a partnership we considered what the information told us and we applied it to challenge our governance, our task groups and working groups and the framework of the plan. Asking ‘What have we done?’ ‘What difference has this made?’ ‘What has changed?’ ‘What does this tell us?’ ‘What have children, young people and families told us?’ Each of our task groups gathered, analysed and reflected on information pertinent to the priorities they had been working on and presented new priorities for the period 2023-2026. A formal consultation took place with staff, children, young people and families. Feedback from this resulted in changes to the draft plan and priorities.
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14 Thank you to all who contributed.
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15 Our ambitions Building on the Scottish Government’s ambition for Scotland ‘to be the best place in the world to grow up’ so that children are ‘loved, safe, and respected and realise their full potential’; within The Plan for North Lanarkshire one of our key priorities, shared across all partners, is ‘to support all children and young people to realise their full potential. Everyone has a part to play in achieving our ambitions for children and young people in North Lanarkshire. We will provide a broad range of services and supports to meet the needs of all children. For the majority, this will be within our universal services. Some children will require additional supports and a small number will need specialist or intensive services to meet their needs. All of this will be supported by our agreed Programme of Work and our Children’s Services Plan.
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16 6. Our framework and governance The partners within North Lanarkshire are conscious of the ever-changing external environment within which we deliver our services and supports to our children, young people, and their families. Within this context the Children’s Services Partnership recognise the significance of the ‘The Promise’. Whilst focused on how we support children, young people, and families in crisis, the partnership recognises that the foundations in The Promise apply to all our children and young people: This plan, our priorities and the task groups that lead and deliver on the priorities are framed around the foundations of The Promise. Voice: Children must be listened to and meaningfully and appropriately involved in decision-making about their care, with all those involved properly listening and responding to what children want and need. There must be a compassionate, caring, decision-making culture focused on children and those they trust. Family: Where children are safe in their families and feel loved they must stay - and families must be given support together to nurture that love and overcome the difficulties which get in the way. Care: Where living with their family is not possible, children must stay with their brothers and sisters where safe to do so and belong to a loving home, staying there for as long as needed. People: The children that Scotland cares for must be actively supported to develop relationships with people in the workforce and wider community, who in turn must be supported to listen and be compassionate in their decision-making and care. Scaffolding: Children, families and the workforce must be supported by a system that is there when it is needed. The scaffolding of help, support and accountability must be ready and responsive when it is required. Source: The Promise - Independent Care Review - February 2020
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17 Children’s services in NL are provided by a broad range of agencies and organisations. They come together as the North Lanarkshire Children’s Services Partnership Board (CSPB) to co-ordinate their services to ensure the best outcomes for children and young people making the best use of resources available. The CSP’s purpose is to: • Identify and progress shared priorities • Provide strategic direction to the planning of children’s services • Act as a forum for partners to communicate about key developments and develop proactive responses to change, and • Share responsibility and be accountable to our communities linking to North Lanarkshire Partnership. The structure to support the work of the CSPB includes the Improving Children’s Services Group which delivers and reports on the range of plans whose actions are taken forward through the task groups and linked networks. The CSP also links with North Lanarkshire Child Protection Committee (NLCPC), each with their own agenda for delivery but shared responsibility for delivery of combined actions focusing on continuous improvement and workforce development. Within this structure, community and voluntary sector involvement is supported by the Community and Voluntary Sector Children, Young People and Families Network, facilitated by Voluntary Action North Lanarkshire (VANL). At a local level partners come together to deliver on priorities in Locality Planning Groups.
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18 The representation across the Children’s Services Partnership includes: Partners North Lanarkshire Youth Council Elected members Non-executive member of the Health and Social Care Integrated Joint Board Links to Champions Board and Today not Tomorrow Champion for children and young people including those who are experiencing care or are care experienced
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19 We have the following focussed task groups to identify and take forward the priorities in the plan Voice (includes UNCRC) Whole Family Support Care, The Promise and Me Mental Health Wellbeing and Resilience Scaffolding- GIRFEC Delivery Group and Continuous Improvement Group People – Cross cutting rather than a specific task group
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20 7. Ourplan Thefollowingpagesshowwhatweplanto achieve as North Lanarkshire Children’s Services Partnershipduringtheperiod 2023-26. As previously stated, we have structured these around the five foundations of The Promise. In each of the foundations we provide a brief summary of our achievements in this area during the previous plan and background information followed by diagrams to outline the thinking behind each one. This is followed by a table of priorities, actions and measures. Although children’s rights are threaded through the Promise and each of the foundations, we have included an additional section on children’s rights, UNCRC. In anticipation of the enactment of the UNCRC (Incorporation) (Scotland) Bill there will be a particular focus in this area across the Children’s Services Partnership. Outcomes UNCRC- Children and young people’s rights are promoted and protected. Voice- The voice of children, young people and families are heard and included in planning, decision making and delivery of children’s services. Family- Our children, young people and families get the right support, at the rights time, for as long as it is needed. Care- Care experienced children, young people and their families are engaged and supported as early as possible, ensuring they are able to thrive, live healthy lives and experience nurturing, loving and stable relationships. People- Our workforce are confident and competent in their practice, understand the needs of our communities and work together to improve the wellbeing of children, young people and their families. Scaffolding- Our staff are empowered to support infants, children, young people, and families to realise our shared vision as a result of our leadership, governance and organisational culture Reporting our progress Each task group collates a report every 6 months on their progress against the priorities Each year we will add to our JSNA work to review feedback, trends and changes Annually there will be a full report on our CS Plan
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21 UNCRC In developing our children’s services plan we recognise that children’s rights, as stated in United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, underpin each of the foundations of The Promise. The following section outlines the progress we have made towards a rights-based approach and the actions we will take over the period of this plan. Children’s rights are not a new area of focus. They are already embedded into training, practice and professional standards, providing a good foundation to build upon. The delivery of actions in this plan will support us to ‘further and better’ children’s rights as part of the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014. The Scottish Government are committed to incorporating children’s rights into Scottish Law. We have been working on this with young people and preparing for the enactment of the UNCRC (Incorporation) (Scotland) Bill. What do we want to achieve in this area? We will further develop a rights-based approach to children’s services in North Lanarkshire as well as advocate and promote, across and beyond the CS Partnership, the responsibilities of partners as duty bearers. Why do we want to achieve this? A rights-based approach means that children’s rights are at the centre of policy and practice. It means integrating rights into policies and how we operate as agencies, organisations, and individuals. Putting children’s rights into practice lies with every adult citizen, particularly those that work with and for children and young people. The Children’s Services Partnership workforce have a duty to promote, respect and protect children’s rights. However, this responsibility extends beyond children’s services to all partners, sectors and areas of service. All of our workforce that includes staff, carers, volunteers, elected members and board members are duty bearers in relation to UNCRC. North Lanarkshire Youth Council (NLYC) identified and worked with us to progress actions in the previous plan some of which are developed further in this plan. From a local survey we have a baseline about views and awareness of children’s rights. This has been revisited to assess progress and we will revisit again as we progress the actions further. Achievements 2021-23 The co-produced #Makeitright campaign was launched in February 2022 and is promoted and shared with partners and the public. #Makeitright campaign assets have been used in the development of workshops for children and young people that have been co-produced with young people. We have been preparing for the enactment of UNCRC (Incorporation) (Scotland) Bill being enacted, sharing briefings and updating our workforce.
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22 We developed and applied Children’s Rights and Well-being Impact Assessments in key areas of policy and service development. We applied a rights based lens to service reviews, development and redesign. There are examples from across the partnership. We initiated workforce training, led by Community Learning and Development, and delivered a programme of workshops to staff. UNCRC Priorities 2023-26 We will continue to develop and embed our rights based approach, supported by children and young people in NL. It is anticipated that the UNCRC (Incorporation) (Scotland) Bill will be enacted and we are making progress in preparation of this. 1. Everybody, ( staff, partners, and the public), is aware of these rights and understands what they are, as expressed in the United Nations Convention of the Rights of the Child. 2. We embed a rights based approach across all services and making children’s rights visible in policy, culture and practice.
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23 Outcome What is it we want to do? Why do we want to do this? Actions How will we know? Children and young people’s rights are promoted and protected. 1. Everybody, (including, staff, partners, and the public), is aware of these rights and understands what they are, as expressed in the United Nations Convention of the Rights of the Child. 2. We embed a rights based approach across all services and making children’s rights visible in policy, culture and practice. From our research in 2021 and 2023 we are aware that most young people in NL know they have rights but they are not as aware of UNCRC Promote awareness of UNCRC Re-run the #Make it Right campaign when the UNCRC (Incorporation ) (Scotland) Bill is enacted Develop briefings and information to ensure the workforce and other stakeholders are kept up to date with legislation and policy relating to UNCRC. Support consideration of the relationship between UNCRC and poverty. Co-deliver a co-produced workshop programme with young people in youth work and school settings. The CS Partnership will advocate and support the application of Children’s Rights and Wellbeing Impact Assessments Monitor the application of assets from the 2022 UNCRC campaign. Rights Respecting Schools being assessed at gold, silver and bronze. Monitor campaign assets. Revisit baseline from 2021 survey and 2023 update Briefings are shared across partnership. Development and application of ‘poverty proofing tool’ (see Scaffolding) Participation in workshops delivered and evaluation of each workshop. Increasing numbers of CRWIA are undertaken and published. Collate CRWIAs to inform reporting and assess quality and areas for improvement.
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24 (CRWIA) across the partnership. Individual partners will develop their approach and procedures to further the application of CRWIA. Increase the capacity and deliver UNCRC training for the CS Partnership workforce. Roll out a broader training programme beyond the CS Partnership workforce. The CS Partnership will report every 3 years on what is being sone across the CS Partnership to further and better children’s rights. Number of staff trained to deliver and range and number of training sessions delivered. Collate evaluation from each of the training sessions. Updates in the published Annual Report on this Children’s Services Plan 2023-26.
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25 Voice: Children’s Services Partnership 2023 – 2026 It is important that we listen and respond to the views of children, young people, parents, and families and this is included in the planning of integrated children’s services. Those affected by decisions will be engaged and their views included in decision making processes. We will create opportunities for participation in all aspects of services and supports, from assessment and planning to activities, programmes of work and service design. We do this best if we: Know and understand the needs and aspirations of the children, young people, parents, and families. Seek views, listen and respond to what is said individually and collectively and this is included, represented and acted upon. Use a range of approaches to reach the diversity of children, young people, parents, and families, including those considered marginalised or vulnerable, whose voices and opinions often go unheard. Examples of the methods and approaches are: • Looking at existing research and collecting data about what we do • Gathering views through tailored surveys and consultation • Seeking feedback about the experience of services and supports - e.g., Mind of my Own • Incorporating co production into developments and service design • Representation of young people on decision making groups and partnerships • Ensuring staff have the skills and support they need to engage, develop relationships, and plan with children at the centre Our achievements 2021-23 • We reaffirmed our partnership agreement with young people in North Lanarkshire to demonstrate continuous improvement on how we engage with those who access or may access children’s services and supports. • A revised youth participation and engagement infrastructure was agreed via Council Committee and a new Transformational Board called FutureNL has been formed. We have increased our commitment and capacity to ensure quieter voices are heard. There are examples of new posts to support participation and existing staff have been enrolled to champion engagement and discrete groups of young people such as those with care experience. • A Champions Board for care experienced young people continue to meet with key decision makers to amplify their voice in decisions that affect the experiences of care and opportunities for care experienced children and young people.
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26 • We have strengthened links with the Community and Voluntary Sector, through the children, young people and families Network. This network reaches the diversity of children, young people, and families in the communities they are based in or work with. • In keeping the Promise we have a team of care experienced development workers with a focus to include the voices of children, young people and families We will be building on work to strengthen engagement and participation during 2023-26. We continue to improve the co-ordination of the range of engagement activities through the Children’s Services Partnership including sharing information, learning from people’s experiences, and planning changes with those who will be affected. We have worked to improve engagement with children and young people and recognise that we need to do more to engage with parents and families. Voice Priorities 2023-26 3. Through engagement and participation, we want to know and understand the collective views, needs and aspirations of children, young people, parents and families. 4. We use a range of methods and collaborate with other services to engage with children, young people and families. 5. Task groups and working groups plan for engagement and create opportunities to ensure participation in planning of delivery of the priorities and the co design of services. 6. We engage with children, young people and their families on what is working for them and what improvements to services they think are needed. 7. We want the voices of children, young people, parents and families to be at the centre of the CS Partnership and ensure those with protected characteristics and intersectionality have the same opportunities to have their voices heard. 8. We want to support the participation of individual children, young people and families that we are working with to gather their views, tell us their interests and needs and ensure these are represented and acted upon. Each Child’s Plan will include all relevant views and how they will be implemented and reviewed. We will develop and apply a range of tools and resources and ensure inclusion of diverse communication needs.
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27 Outcome What is it we want to do? Why do we want to do this? Actions How will we know? VOICE The voice of children, young people and families are heard and included in planning, decision making and delivery of children’s services. 3. Through engagement and participation we want to know and understand the collective views, needs and aspirations of children, young people, parents and families. 4. We use a range of methods and collaborate with other services to engage with children, young people and families. 5. Task groups and working groups plan for engagement and create opportunities to ensure participation in planning of delivery of the priorities and the co design of services. To ensure a coordinated approach across the CSP task groups and working groups to engage with children, young people, parents and families in their planning and delivery of the priorities and actions the co-design of services. To support improvement and best practice. To ensure that the views and information gathered influence planning and decision making. Guidance on steps to engagement and participation and closing the feedback loop will be produced and shared by the Voice task group. We will work with our partner, North Lanarkshire Youth Forum, to review and refresh our Partnership Agreement. All CSP task groups will include representation of the views of children, young people, parents and families. This will be through a range of engagement methods. The plans outputs and outcomes of engagement and participation activities with children, young people, parents and families are reported, evaluated. A working group is established to take this forward, reporting to the Voice task group. Refreshed Partnership Agreement. Direct involvement of representatives. Included in 6 monthly reports to the Improving Children’s Services Group and annual reporting on this CS Plan. Included in 6 monthly reports to the Improving Children’s Services Group and annual reporting on this CS Plan.
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28 6. We engage with children, young people and their families on what is working for them and what improvements to services they think are needed. The Voice task group maintain an overview of developments and practice relating engagement and participation across the CS Partnership Development of a Young Inspectors Framework that will empower young people to formally evaluate and report on children’s services and areas of improvement. All partners and representatives from other task groups are engaged in the quarterly meetings of the Voice task group. Highlights of developments and practice will be included in 6 monthly reports to the Improving Children’s Services Group and annual reporting on this CS Plan. Evaluation and reports. Feedback from young people involved. 7. We want the voices of children, young people, parents and families to be at the centre of the CS Partnership and ensure those with protected characteristics and Every child, young person, parent and family should have the opportunity to be involved in the planning of children’s services and methods should reflect the diversity of North Lanarkshire The team of development workers supporting partners to deliver The Promise gather views and experiences as part of the process to redesign services and supports for care experienced children and young people. Evaluation and reports.
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29 intersectionality have the same opportunities to have their voices heard. Promote awareness of advocacy services across the CS Partnership tasks groups and working groups. Task groups to monitor engagement activities to ensure diversity of the children, young people, andfamilies we are working with. Advocacy services uptake will be included in the annual report and use of case studies. Terms of reference for each task group to ensure representation and inclusion Evaluation and reports on engagement activities across the partnership
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30 Outcome What is it we want to do? Why do we want to do this? Actions How will we know? VOICE The voice of children, young people and families are heard and included in planning, decision making and delivery of children’s services. 8. We want to support the participation of individual children, young people and families that we are working with to gather their views, tell us their interests and needs and ensure these are represented and acted upon. This is a component of our GIRFEC approach. Each child’s plan will include all relevant views and how they will be implemented and reviewed. We will develop and apply a range of tools and resources and ensure inclusion of diverse communication needs. In adopting a rights based approach we promote UNCRC. In relation to Voice there is a focus on Article 12 ; Every child has the right to have a say in all matters affecting them, and to have their views taken seriously. Within the GIRFEC approach we will continue to develop our processes and apply a variety of tools and resources to engage children, young people, and families in planning and decision making. The quality assurance process in relation to the child’s plan will share learning and areas for improvement. We share information, practice and learning opportunities about tools and resources in use. E.g. All about me Mind of my own What I think Outcome star Talking mats Practice and resources will be monitored and regularly reviewed as part of the cluster model The annual multi-agency file audit highlights if the voice of children, young people and families is evident. Reporting and self evaluation processes.
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31 Family The overall aim is that children feel safe and loved in their families and are supported to thrive there. This will include: Making the early years of parenting a positive experience regardless of the adversity that families face Giving every family that needs support the right help at the right time, in the right place, for as long as it is needed Placing families, children and young people at the heart of our development of community hubs Supporting good mental health, building emotional resilience, and developing Trauma recovery for families, children and young people We will strengthen our ethos of Whole Family Support, working with families in a preventative way and supporting parents and carers to build on their strengths. Tackling poverty will be a central feature of the approach to family support; providing help to maximise income; develop skills for employment and taking a cash first approach where necessary. The ten principles of family support outlined in The Promise, will underpin all our work to improve the outcomes for families, children and Young People within North Lanarkshire. In developing the priorities outlined below, careful consideration was given to the previous achievements from the CS Plan 2021-2023, assessment of data gathered and presented in the Joint Strategic Needs Assessment, and combined with the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. Analysis was carried out that informed discussion around the priorities as well as comparisons drawn through the national averages as detailed in The Plan for North Lanarkshire, Report 2023. The Family Task Group works with the Mental Health, Wellbeing and Resilience Task Group to achieve our collective ambitions. Achievements 2021-23 Investment in Solihull training. To date well over 3,000 practitioners have been trained and nearly 5,000 families have accessed the on-line training. This plan restates the on-going commitment to delivering Solihull training to ensure that we take a trauma informed approach to supporting our children, young people, and their families through early intervention. 50% schools having achieved the Breastfeeding Friendly Scotland Schools Award and over 80% of schools have a breastfeeding champion, have submitted their membership and are implementing the scheme within their settings. 92% of early learning settings have achieved the Breastfeeding Friendly Early Learning Award.
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32 Breastfeeding rates have increased to 27.8% and we are committed to driving towards the national average. Infant Mental Health indicator set was developed and is in use across the partnership by different disciplines. Pathways, underpinned by GIRFEC, are in place to plan for the wellbeing of children and young people, with Empowering Clusters driving coordinated work to meet needs and improve wellbeing of all school age children. Development and implementation of a Community Mental Health and Wellbeing Support and Services Framework with a focus on early support within the context of families and communities. Results have seen improved wellbeing through easier access to community based support and a reduction in referrals at intensive levels e.g. CAMHS. Family Priorities 2023-26 9. Use the community hub programme in all localities as a key enabler of earlier intervention, moving and integrating services upstream to improve outcomes, through preventative approaches. 10. Ensure equity of access to services for all children, young people and families including care experienced people up to and beyond the age of 26yrs. 11. Strengthen family supports where children have additional support needs, including those with a Neurodevelopmental profile. 12. Build and develop the mental health and resilience of our children, young people and their families promoting early intervention, establishing community supports, and self-care. 13. Tackle the impacts of poverty to support children, young people and their families to thrive and gain access to economic opportunities. 14. NLC are working towards achieving the Breastfeeding Friendly Scotland Local Authority award and aim to support, promote and protect breastfeeding in our communities for an increased amount of women to initiate and sustain breastfeeding at 6-8 weeks. 15. Children and families affected by alcohol and drug use will be safe, healthy, included and supported.
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33 Outcome What is it we want to do? Why do we want to do this? Actions How did we do this/evidence? Family Our Children, young people and their families get the right support, at the right time for as long as it is needed. 9. Use the community hub programme as a key enabler of earlier intervention, moving and integrating services upstream to improve outcomes, through preventative approaches. To reduce the demand for, crisis and intensive services ensuring a strong emphasis on early intervention, and continued support so that positive change is sustained. Outline how the integrated offer of early practical, emotional and financial support accessed directly via community hub will be created. Use the Scottish Approach to Service Design to involve parents, carers and ICYP to develop local support in each hub based on Lived experience DATA led needs analysis to agree local priorities based on local needs. Identify single points of contact for requests for early help through community hubs. Provide early intervention that comprises practical and emotional support. Gathering views of children, young people and families through inclusion in service design and evaluation of pilots. Establish key performance measures in line with community hub development plan Measure the number of referrals made to Social Work for early intervention within a Hub site against baseline data. Multiagency feedback from Staff groups 10. Ensure equity of access to services for all children young people To ensure there are no barriers to access for all Providing a single point of contact for all care experienced young people Gathering views of IICYP families.
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34 and families including care experienced people up to and beyond the age of 26yrs. our IICYP and their families. No wrong door approach who have left care to access the right support at the right time in the right place Health/ education/ employment and wellbeing outcomes for care experienced young people 11. Strengthen family supports where children have additional support needs, including post diagnostic supports for those with Neurodevelopmental diagnosis. Ensure families are listened to and supported. Develop and sustain pre and post diagnostic supports and community/family supports for ICYP with a Neurodevelopmental diagnosis through early and multiagency approaches Families report that they feel supported. Gathering data from CAHMs/Health Needs Assessments 12. Build and develop the mental health and resilience of our ICYP and their families promoting early intervention, establishing community supports, and self-care. Prevent need for children accessing intensive supports and CAMHS. Reduce anxiety and improve school attendance enabling children and young people to flourish. Address impacts of COVID pandemic Creating direct access to support. Ensure that there are accessible and flexible digital, community and individual supports at each level of need within staged intervention model. Increased School Attendance Reducing referrals to CAHMS Gather evidence of improvement through use of outcome star. 13. Tackle the impacts of poverty to support ICYP and their families to thrive and gain access to economic To reduce poverty - one in four children in NL living in poverty - higher than the national average of just over one in five Support and increase awareness of the poverty referral pathways and actively encourage uptake. Number of benefit checks for families and ICYP
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35 opportunities. children. Adopt a “Cash First” stance in relation to tackling food and fuel poverty. Cascade and deliver training on poverty awareness and the impact of poverty to staff across all agencies. Create volunteer and employment pathways for parents and carers through the community hubs View from families ICYP. Number of staff/agencies attended training Numbers of volunteers; parents carers achieved employment 14. NLC are working towards achieving the Breastfeeding Friendly Scotland Local Authority award and aim to support, promote and protect breastfeeding in our communities for an increased amount of women to initiate and sustain breastfeeding at 6- 8 weeks. Supporting mothers to initiate breastfeeding for as long as they want to will have a positive impact on the physical and mental health of both mothers and babies. It will also have a positive impact on family finances. The Scottish Government have set a target to reduce drop off in breastfeeding between birth and 6-8 weeks from 50.2% in 2016/17. The target is to achieve 45.2% by 2024-25 Increase Schools achieving the Breastfeeding Friendly Schools Award. Continue to support achieving and maintaining Breastfeeding Friendly Local Authority Gold Award’ across North Lanarkshire, to ensure North Lanarkshire is a community where this is supported and enabled Provide continued support and information to mothers for breastfeeding . Data on breastfeeding rates and qualitative feedback from workforce and families. Information Services Division figures on initiation of breastfeeding rates at 6-8 weeks. Drop off rates between birth and 6-8 weeks. Maintenance of ‘Baby Friendly’ standards measured through interviews with women and staff.
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36 (lower is better). Current drop off is 42.2%. 73.4% of babies in NL are not breastfed at their 6-8 week review. 14. Children and families affected by alcohol and drug use will be safe, healthy, included and supported. Evidence has shown that families feel ‘hidden in plain sight’ across our communities. We want to ensure children, young people and families are listened to and are supported, ensuring a no wrong door approach and that there are no barriers to access for ICYP and their families. Holistic Whole Family Approach Framework (2021) is the national guide for what we do, local evidence will direct how we do this with the voices of families embedded in ADP processes/structures including the Whole Family Approach (WFA)/Early Intervention sub-groups. Increase family Involvement the design, delivery and evaluation of support, by listening to the experience of families, involving families as key contributors. o Families have access to meaningful support that is not dependent on their loved one’s treatment o Raise awareness of the various sources of support available for families and for those affected by substance use o Tackle stigma faced by families across our communities o Provide diversionary activities for children and young people, Gathering views of children, young people and families. Performance data through commissioned services around number of families access available services. Stigma work developed/campaign work. Performance data around young people engaged in diversionary activities. More families (including ICYP) involved in the Lived and living experience panels to be established in 2023 Increase in whole family support provision available across NL More young people at risk identified sooner through increase diversionary activities and targeted support in keeping with the Planet Youth model
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37 providing information and workshops with upto date accurate information around substance use and risk taking - family as a protective factor with appropriate information/campaign s.
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38 Care There will always be some children who cannot stay with their families. Some will need to live away from their family for a short time, others will never live with their family again, while many return later and as young adults. Children and young people experiencing care at home, are those who can remain with their families but who need support which is compulsory, through an order by the children’s hearing system. There is a presumption that children will stay together with their brothers and sisters if they must be removed from their parents. The approach for our care experienced children and young people is rights based and priorities for 2023-26 are built around the Promise and the GIRFEC principles. This section outlines the progress we have made to support care experienced children, young people and their families and identifies the actions we will take over the period of this plan. What do we want to achieve in this area? We want our care experienced children and young people to belong to a loving home, staying there for as long as needed. To enable long-term, loving relationships to develop, we want to recognise the support residential staff and carers need to care for children who have experienced trauma and to support parents who have experienced trauma to enable them to care for their children. We want to provide early help and preventative support so that children and young people who are care experienced can reach their potential. Why do we want to achieve this? We want to be good parents to our care experienced children and young people and to support parents of care experienced children and young people at home, to be good parents. We do not want the experience of care to be stigmatising. We want to promote a broad and diverse understanding of care experience, to ensure a collective recognition that care represents a part of our communities across North Lanarkshire. Supporting children and young people to overcome trauma, requires a foundation of stable, nurturing, loving relationships, we will support those caring for children to be trauma informed and to know that the most important thing they do is to provide a loving, stable, safe relationship – above everything else. Transforming the care system will take time. North Lanarkshire Children’s Services Partnership has started the journey to make the necessary changes to ensure the system meets the needs of our care experienced children, young people and their families who will inform the design and development of services. We have made progress in the actions identified in the previous plan, some of which continue to be developed in this plan.
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39 Achievements 2021-23 Established the Promise Development Team, young people with lived experience of care, to help us redesign our care system. Staff and Today not Tomorrow, the forum for care experienced young people, co-designed a language leaflet. Improvements in permanency planning and avoidance of unnecessary transitions for children and young people who cannot return to their families. Connections were strengthened and Permanency Planning Champions established. Care Leavers Financial Guidance implemented, to support young people at the point of transition. Developments in kinship care to strengthen links and support to kinship families as necessary to sustain placements. Family time arrangements were reviewed and a family time assessment and development framework was agreed. A review of aftercare included lived experience and resulted in the pathway process and plan, My Future Plan. A Housing and Education and Families Joint Protocol for Care Leavers was implemented, offering improved flexibility and choice. Life Long Links developed and Family Group Decision Making was further developed. Continued development of the Virtual School to reduce attainment gap and improve life choices for care experienced children and young people. “Keeping the promise award” for our education establishments developed. This is recognised as best practice and being adapted by other Local Authorities. The MHWR Task Group considered services and supports for 16-26 year olds recognising a gap for care leavers. Research and consultation took place informing a workshop to design a therapeutic post. The MHWR Task Group are driving forward a range of community supports developed in partnership through the Community Mental Health and Wellbeing Supports and Services Framework, links to family support. Care: Children’s Services Partnership 2023-2026 Improving the experiences and life chances for care experienced children and their family continues to be a priority across the CS Partnership. The CS Partnership will continue to provide leadership and direction, taking forward priorities to ensure improvement in children, young people and their families wellbeing. The Partnership will support priorities to further develop the workforce to be trauma informed and to develop relationship based practice. Supporting carers including kinship and foster carers by providing access to advice and networks of support, making sure they have time to focus on developing relationships, and to reflect on whether these are delivering what the child needs. We do this best if we: Know and understand the needs of the care experienced community, children, young people, parents, carers, families and the workforce Learn from those with lived experience to inform developments and transformational change to the system
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40 Care experienced children and young people, carers and parents voices are listened to and they collaborate in decision making within the partnership and other relevant groups We will be building on work to strengthen our services to support care experience during 2023-2026. This will be detailed in a strategy, published in 2023 and annual action plans. The Champions Board will provide leadership and The Corporate Parenting Strategy and Improvement Plan- The Promise and Me, Families and Professionals Together, 2023-27 will detail the ambitions and actions Further develop our approach to whole family support, including kinship and foster families, support families to stay together, early help and prevention The agreed priorities in this plan will be taken forward by the NL Promise and Me Partnership (Corporate Parenting in North Lanarkshire) Priorities 2023-2026 16. Develop a systemic approach to involve care experienced children, young people and their families in how all services are designed and/or re-designed to meet all health needs. 17. Provide support to parents that is available when they are ready and tailored to their needs. 18. In our balance of care, reduce the trend of children and young people being removed from and rehabilitated to their families by strengthening opportunities to provide early help and prevent escalation. 19. Support to parents whose children have been removed on a permanent basis helps to sustain or build relationships with their children and maintain direct or indirect contact. 20. Consider the support that could be provided to unaccompanied asylum seekers and children and young people who are in NL through the National Transfer Scheme 21. Continue to close the educational attainment gap for our care experienced children and young people. Continue to improve their attendance and provide help to parents and carers to support their children and young people to meet their educational needs. 22. Further development of the Virtual School, building on its success in improving children and young people’s attendance and educational attainment and support to enable them to have positive destinations. 23. Care experienced children, young people and their families are involved in the development and redesign of health services. 24. There is a smoother transition from children to adult health services for those who need ongoing support.
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41 25. Use additional funding streams proportionately to develop community supports and therapeutic interventions to enable tailored responses to meet individual needs.
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42 Outcome What is it we want to do? Why do we want to do this? Actions How will we know? Care experienced children, young people and their families are engaged and supported as early as possible, ensuring they are enabled to thrive, live healthy lives, and experience nurturing, loving and stable relationships. 15. Develop a systemic approach to involve care experienced children, young people and their families in how all services are developed and or re- designed to meet all their health needs. This includes those who are care experienced at home with kinship and foster families, in continuing care, supported in after care Unaccompanied Asylum Seekers Those in NL through the National Transfer Scheme We have a whole system approach to service redesign, making sure To improve our approach to service re-design and make sure it is informed by those with lived experience. Provide support for all care experienced children, young people and their families, to enable them to participate in service re- design. Cascade the knowledge and skills of those managers, practitioners and care experienced young people who attended the national re-design training in 2022, to ensure better consistency of approach. A review of the social work corporate parenting services will be carried out and will involve partners from across children’s services and those with lived experience. The review will inform service improvement and or re- design. Monitoring and evaluation of participation in service redesign activities is included in 6 monthly reports to Improving Children’s Services Group. Engagement in the review process Recommendations are developed and shared The review informs service improvement and or re- design
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43 services are flexible and accessible. 16. Provide support to parents that is available when they are ready and tailored to their needs. 17. In our balance of care, reduce the trend of children and young people being removed from and rehabilitated to their families by strengthening opportunities to provide early help and prevent escalation. 18. Support to parents whose children have been removed on a permanent basis helps to sustain or build relationships with their children and maintain direct or indirect contact. There is early help and preventative support to all families so that care experienced children and young people have stable, loving and nurturing lifelong relationships which help them achieve their potential. To ensure equity of support to all families, equity of spend of the whole family support fund, proportionately applied to care experienced families including direct payments to those most in need, e.g., children experiencing care at home and parents who are care experienced. Carry out a needs analysis of additional support needed for care experienced families, including parents who are care experienced. Identify the gaps and what will make a difference and improve outcomes. Link with ongoing planning reporting and review of whole family support fund. As part of the review of corporate parenting, review post adoption/post permanency (foster and kinship), support to families, identifying what is working well and what needs to improve to ensure early help is available to prevent escalation and family breakdown. Review support offered to parents whose children have been removed on a permanent basis children and young people who are rehabilitated to their Engagement in the needs analysis. Gaps and recommendations are developed and reported. An action plan is developed Engagement of those involved in post adoption/post permanency. Recommendations and actions are included in forward planning. Monitor outcomes and balance of care. Reporting and recommendations Engagement of lived
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44 parent’s care parents who have had children removed from their care where rehabilitation has been ruled out and who are again pregnant. Further develop intensive supports to inform assessment and planning for them and their unborn child. experience in review process. Monitoring of empowering cluster model, GIRFEC pathway and whether planning for wellbeing is universal, additional or intensive.
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45 Outcome What is it we want to do? Why do we want to do this? Actions How will we know? Care experienced children, young people and their families are engaged and supported as early as possible, ensuring they are enabled to thrive, live healthy lives, and experience nurturing, loving and stable relationships. Build on the work already progressed to continue to develop our approaches to sustain nurturing relationships for our care experienced children and young people- family relationships with parents, carers and those significant to children and young people. 19. Consider the support that could be provided to unaccompanied asylum seekers and children and young people who are in NL through the National Transfer Scheme. To support children and young people experiencing care to reach their potential. Recognise the importance of nurturing relationships, particularly for children and young people are unable to be cared for by their natural, adoptive or permanent family. For children living away from their families, we recognise the support carers need to care for children who have experienced trauma. Identify what support is needed for carers to help them understand their contribution to developing and sustaining nurturing relationship, this will include training and upskilling. Accelerate actions if gaps in support are identified. Identify measurements of success so far, listening to children and young people, to further improve family time including with brothers and sisters who are not together. Further development of Life Long Links, including consideration to what support could be provided to unaccompanied asylum seeking/NTS children and young people. Continue to develop our After care provision, flexible approaches, support available when it is needed. Further develop the aftercare hub to include those with lived experience and partners. Ongoing engagement with carers Learning opportunities available to carers. Participation and evaluation Awareness of what is important to children, young people and families. Feedback that identifies improvement Monitoring of engagement in Life Long Links. Engagement, feedback and evaluation from Family Group Decision Making. Recommendations and plan of work
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46 20. Continue to close the educational attainment gap for our care experienced children and young people. Continue to improve their attendance and provide help to parents and carers to support their children and young people to meet their educational needs. 21. Further development of the Virtual School, building on its success in improving children and young people’s attendance and educational attainment and support to enable them to have positive destinations. To improve the life choices and chances for our care experienced children and young people, positive destinations, training, further education, apprenticeships. Continued focus on the Virtual School, monitoring and sharing further improvements and success. Continue to develop alternative engagement and educational support and interventions for care experienced children and young people, for example outdoor learning approaches, vocational activities, holiday activities for them and their families. Analysis of data to inform practice including planning for children and young people who are no longer experiencing care but who may need ongoing support, empowering cluster planning for children and young people’s wellbeing, with a focus on educational support. Existing evaluation and monitoring framework and reports Range of interventions available and outcomes for those engaged. Monitoring of attendance and exclusions Data is gathered, analysed and recommendations are made
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47 Outcome What is it we want to do? Why do we want to do this? Actions How will we know? Care experienced children, young people and their families are engaged and supported as early as possible, ensuring they are enabled to thrive, live healthy lives, and experience nurturing, loving and stable relationships. 22. Care experienced children, young people and their families are involved in the development and redesign of health services. 23. There is a smoother transition from children to adult health services for those who need ongoing support. 24. Use additional funding streams proportionately to develop community supports and therapeutic interventions to enable tailored responses to meet individual needs. Assessment and planning for care experienced children and young people is holistic to improve their wellbeing, life choices and chances. All health needs are met and we are aware of and can act upon unmet need as it becomes apparent. Take forward the review of CELL 16 initial assessment to ensure it is robust and services are available to meet any unmet need for care experienced children and young people. Review health needs assessment and interventions for parents who have been care experienced including mental health and addictions as key areas for consideration and identify improvements. Review and streamline the transition from children to adult health services for care experienced children and young people. Quality improvement and outcome information from CELL 16 assessments. Review is complete and improvement areas are progressing. Included in Whole Family Support monitoring and evaluation.
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49 People ‘The children that Scotland cares for must be actively supported to develop relationships with people in the workforce and wider community, who in turn must be supported to listen and be compassionate in their decision-making and care.‘ The Promise 2021 Those involved in the lives of children, young people and their families have a primary purpose to develop nurturing, compassionate, trusting and respectful relationships that keep children, young people and their families safe. The workforce across children’s services in North Lanarkshire will be supported to be trauma informed and relational. Our approach is to support the workforce, managers and practitioners, to be confident in their work to support children, young people and their families. Our ‘workforce’ includes staff, volunteers and carers. We keep people at the centre of all we do. Our GIRFEC approach, with its focus on keeping children, young people and their families at the heart of assessment, planning and decision making, is supported by ongoing workforce development activities such as resources, briefings and review. The workforce must be given time to focus and reflect on relational and trauma informed practice. We work together to strengthen supportive networks and value the roles of varied people in children’s lives, including their families, those in education, health and the wider community. We want to continue to support developments which realise and sustain a competent and confident workforce across children’s services. Each partner supports staff through a range of approaches e.g. reflective supervision, personal development planning and annual reviews. We will take a partnership approach to co-ordinate workforce development, including trauma informed organisations with a focus on people’s wellbeing. Our reach goes beyond our workforce and into the wider context of our communities, supporting people’s wellbeing and helping children, young people and their families to achieve in all aspects of their lives. Achievements 2021-23 Maintaining effective GIRFEC practice for children, young people and families. Review and improvements to single/multi-agency learning and development relating to GIRFEC. Application of refreshed national GIRFEC resources e.g., information sessions/materials/links for practitioners. A multi-agency and sector workforce development programme updated and distributed annually. We have strengthened links with communities through engagement with Community and Voluntary Sector, children, young people and families Network and North Lanarkshire Community Boards. We have delivered a programme on Nurture and resilience to promote attachment and develop trauma informed practice. Solihull and parenting programmes continue to be delivered for staff, parents and carers. Development of the GIRFECNL website, providing accurate and up to date information, including signposting, about children’s services for the workforce, parents and carers and our communities.
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50 Co-produced information to support the workforce to reframe language and use terms that children and young people find to be more positive and understandable. In October 2022 inputs were delivered to staff from across the children’s services partnership to launch the Empowering Clusters Page Tiger resource for GIRFEC pathways in NL. 2023-26 The CS Partnership will continue to provide leadership and direction, taking forward priorities to ensure improvement in children, young people and their families wellbeing. The Partnership will support priorities to ensure the wellbeing of the workforce. Through our partnership working there will be ongoing leadership and support to ensure GIRFEC practice is maintained and consistent. Relationship based practice and our trauma informed approach will be furthered ensuring everyone’s experience of services and supports is trauma informed. There is crossover with whole family support and through this we strive for improvements for all families’ wellbeing. We will be building on our work to strengthen our services and support to children, young people and families. We will ensure our workforce is confident and competent in their practice. We do this best if we: Engage with communities and work collaboratively across children’s services, keeping children, young people and their families wellbeing at the heart of what we do. Engage and respond to the needs of the workforce, recognise their strengths, provide support and training and development opportunities. Communicate our vision, our shared priorities, key messages and information to support the workforce, our communities and children, young people and families. People-Priorities 2023-26 - 26. Continue to advance and develop our children’s services workforce. We will provide opportunities for career advancement and promote collaborative working across the children’s services partnership and adult services. 27. Continue to develop workforce skills, confidence and competence developed in GIRFEC methodology, pathways, assessment planning and interventions. 28. Continually evaluate and update training and learning in line with legislation, strategy and policy 29. Ensure that staff are routinely consulted on service improvements, change and redesigns.
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51 30. Make sure that staff supporting kinship, foster, adoptive families provide additional support when they need it, recognising that they too may need early help and preventative support to feel confident in caring for their children and young people who have experienced trauma. 31. Provide early help and preventative support to all families who need it and when they need it. 32. Build on progress to develop community hubs informed by consultations. 33. Consult with communities to identify gaps in service provision, how and where they want to access services, what is working well and what they think needs to change. 34. Work collaboratively across the range of strategic partnerships. 35. Work within our strategic frameworks to promote wellbeing within and across our communities ensuring equity of opportunities to improve life choices and chances. 36. Communicate effectively with our children, young people, families and communities. 37. Further develop our use of technology for families and the wider community to access and engage with services. 38. Promote a ‘no wrong door’ approach, for access to services, using our community Hubs as appropriate.
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52 Outcome What is it we want to do? Why do we want to do this? Actions How will we know? Our workforce are confident and competent in their practice, understand the needs of our communities, and work together to improve the wellbeing of children, young people, and their families. 25. We will continue to advance and develop our children’s services workforce. Provide opportunities for career advancement and promote collaborative working across the children’s services partnership and adult services. 26. We will continue to develop workforce skills, confidence and competence developed in GIRFEC methodology, pathways, assessment planning and interventions. 27. We will continually evaluate and update training and learning in line with legislation, strategy and policy. A competent and confident workforce will deliver quality services to improve the wellbeing of children, young people and their families. When staff are supported to experience positive health and wellbeing, they are enabled to provide the best for our communities. Continue to deliver and develop single and joint workforce development programmes for GIRFEC Trauma informed practice Nurture programmes- Solihul Child protection Contextual safeguarding Safe and Together Develop multi agency capacity and roll out UNCRC workforce training, led by Community Learning and Development. Develop programmes and resources to promote relational practice. Evaluation of workforce development programme. Monitoring and reporting of activity through GIRFEC delivery group, Child Protection Committee and ICSG. Evaluation and reporting through Voice task group. Plan is developed and progressed.
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53 28. We will ensure staff are routinely consulted on service improvements, change and redesigns. Value the experience and knowledge of all staff and their role in delivering our vision. Workforce development plans are based on analysis of need. Nurture positive relationships across the workforce. Support participation in the CSPartnership task and working group structure. Involvement in our programme of self- evaluation activities e.g. roadshows, multi-agency file reading, quality improvement sessions, gathering of evidence All task groups and working groups consider workforce development and engage staff in workforce development plans. Apply the multi-agency Mental Health Strategy for staff. Review of membership. Engagement in meetings and activities Staff survey and self- evaluation activities. Six monthly reporting through the Continuous Improvement Group. Annual reporting. Review and reporting. 29. We will make sure that staff supporting kinship, foster, adoptive families provide additional support when they need it, recognising that they too may need early help and preventative support to feel confident in caring for their children and Whole family support is available to all families including kinship, foster, adoptive families. There are fewer transitions for children and a decrease in care experienced family breakdown. Identify the gaps in support for care experienced families. Evaluate the current training, development and support to carers to ensure it is accessible and equitable and meets the needs of carers. 6 monthly reports from The Promise and Me and Whole Family Support Task Groups. Feedback from families. Monitoring information that sits behind our balance of care.
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54 young people who have experienced trauma.
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55 What is it we want to do? Why do we want to do this? Actions How will we know? 30. Provide early help and preventative support to all families who need it and when they need it. 31. Build on progress to develop community hubs informed by evaluation/consultations. 32. Consult with communities to identify gaps, how they want to access services, what is working well and what they think needs to change. 33. Work collaboratively across the range of strategic partnerships. To improve the wellbeing of children, young people and their families, improve their engagement in their communities/ community networks, improve their feeling of worth and wellbeing. We can respond to change by reorganising staff and supports. The Community and Voluntary Sector, children, young people and families Network are supported in their role within the CS Partnership. Work alongside the developing Community Hubs to identify how we can develop and increase the availability of community based supportive networks for families. Work alongside other strategic partnerships and community boards to share information relating to community needs and priorities. Evaluation of the CVS, CYP&FNetwork role in Empowering Clusters. There is representation from the CS Partnership engaged in these developments. Review of participation and representation of CS Partnership in range of forums. Engagement with CS Partnership Evidence that information has been shared.
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56 What is it we want to do? Why do we want to do this? Actions 34. Work within our strategic frameworks to promote wellbeing within and across our communities ensuring equity of opportunities to improve life choices and chances. To make sure opportunities are available for all children, young people and their families to support their wellbeing. Create opportunities which support positive destinations in training, apprenticeships and employment for young people and parents. Make sure our services are accessible and available when needed. Work collaboratively with the Employability, Support and Skills Development Service, to help parents and young people access the support they need to develop the skills which will help them into sustainable employment. Continue to deliver GIRFEC to assess and plan for children and young people’s wellbeing, ensuing they and their families are involved in decision making. Continue to develop support to improve children’s mental health including transition from children’s to adult mental health services. Information from range of partnership forums. High level performance information. Annual returns and performance information.
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57 What is it we want to do? Why do we want to do this? Actions 35. Communicate effectively with our children, young people, families and communities. 36. Further develop our use of technology for families and the wider community to access and engage with services. 37. Promote a ‘no wrong door’ approach, for access to services, using our community Hubs as appropriate. Key messages about services and supports are clear and consistent. We want to reduce barriers for children, young people and their families, accessing services, to ensure they get the right help and support at the right time, when they need it. Children and young people’s mental health has improved by access to services when they need it. Seek opportunities and develop capacity to find digital and technology options and solutions as appropriate in the delivery of our services. Promote NL websites which provide accurate and updated information about services and where to get help and support, including the GIRFECNL website. Raise awareness and explore opportunities to support a ‘no wrong door’ approach across services to ease access and engagement for people who need advice, guidance, support and signposting. Promote the Kooth App which provides information on mental health for children and young people. Task groups and working groups develop and report on actions to apply technology. Website monitoring. Actions develop in workplans to support this. Monitoring of use of Kooth App
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58 Scaffolding ‘Children, families, and the workforce must be supported by a system that is there to provide support when and where it is needed. ‘The scaffolding of help, support and accountability must be ready and responsive when it is required.’ The Promise 2020 The challenge presented here requires leadership and coordination at both a national and local level. As in other areas, the change is significant and will extend beyond the period of this Plan. We look to the Scottish Government to make further changes that support and enable partnerships to learn and develop, negotiate the legislative and policy framework for children’s services, implement initiatives, plan and report. Across the CS Partnership, during the lifetime of this plan, we will work together with our own values, framework and priorities to realise our vision. We want to ensure the that our governance, culture, systems, and processes empower the workforce to support children, young people, and families to realise our shared vision. We have begun by developing this CS Plan in collaboration with partners and other stakeholders. Getting it Right for Every Child, the national approach designed to improve outcomes and supporting wellbeing of our children is embedded across the CS Partnership and we continually develop and improve this approach. We work towards achieving the wellbeing outcomes for children and young people: safe, healthy, active, nurtured, achieving responsible, respected, included. We have implemented our empowering clusters model to ensure that GIRFEC practice is further embedded across the partnership and that every infant child, young person and their families participate in care planning with the professionals closest to them. In North Lanarkshire community hubs are establishing or developing as an operational model that will further capacity and opportunity for collaboration and improved access to informal and formal supports for children, young people and families in our communities. Also, part of our scaffolding, supporting our shared approach is: What we do to ensure our approach is rights based, strengths- based and trauma informed. How we engage with partners through Towards a Fairer North Lanarkshire, Tackling Poverty Strategy and Action Plan to mitigate the impacts of poverty. How we gather knowledge and understanding of the impact of the services, supports and activities across the partnership. This is to assist us to understand the outcomes and how the work we do together can make a meaningful difference for children, young people, and families. Our continuous improvement activity. This is an ongoing process via self-evaluation, gathering of data, seeking views and feedback. This will assist in the joint inspection of children’s services being undertaken in 2023.
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59 Achievements 2021-23 The Health Visiting Pathway for pre-birth to preschool has been fully implemented. Empowering clusters were launched. Schools and school leaders, supported by central staff, will work together to enable real change on behalf of the families and communities they serve. The school nursing programme was expanded to support clusters. GIRFEC is further embedded by health vising pathway and the empowering cluster model. Partners work together to achieve good planning for children’s wellbeing, integrative practice guidance for empowering clusters has been shared across the CS Partnership. GIRFEC pathways for planning and support have been refreshed. Pathways for 0-5 years will inform how we move forward. Pre-birth planning for vulnerable women has been refreshed to ensure a consistent approach. The Family Nurse Partnership for young parents was positively evaluated. Contextual safeguarding has been implemented for assessment and risk management for young people when risk is extra familial. A young people’s safeguarding panel was established and the first evaluation was positive. Trauma informed environments are being implemented across services and organisations are increasingly trauma informed. This was supported by research to develop our approach. We gathered information, data, research and feedback into a joint strategic needs assessment. Self-evaluation work has been undertaken and includes- Audit of child protection cases, secure cases and Care and Risk Management Staff survey and focus groups Position statement and self-evaluation document We will build on this work supported by our shared continuous improvement framework and actions Scaffolding- Priorities 2023-26 39. Our vision is shared across the partnership and each partner is actively participating in leadership and delivery of our shared priorities. 40. Further the implementation of GIRFEC and Pathways for all children and young people. 41. Implement changes in legislation and national guidance. 42. The CS Partnership is aligned with and contributing to NL Tackling Poverty strategy and actions. 43. Through information and research, we are aware of need, changing drivers, policy and connections.
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60 44. We are aware of the impact of our work we are continuing to improve wellbeing for children, young people and families. 45. This is integrated into our planning and reporting.
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61 Outcome What is it we do? Why do we do it? Actions How will we know Our staff are empowered to support infants, children, young people, and families to realise our shared vision as a result of our leadership, governance and organisational culture. 38. Our vision is shared across the partnership and each partner is actively participating in leadership and delivery of our shared priorities. Partnership working continues to add value to improving outcomes for children, young people and families. Streamline delivery and improve the experience for those accessing services and supports. All partners actively contribute to the range of workstreams. Seek and develop further opportunities for joint commissioning Whole Family Support Mental health and wellbeing Work with adult services and justice to ensure consistent response to young people and smoother transitions. Develop a programme of events to bring together staff from the wider partnership to share practice, information about their roles and areas of development. Monitor membership, participation and reach. We evidence a partnership approach to new funding streams or planned realignment. National reporting and evaluation Evidence of shared intelligence and priorities with adult and justice services. Feedback on transitions. Agreement and forward plan for events. Numbers of staff participating from each partner. Evaluation of events.
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62 39. Further the implementation of GIRFEC and Pathways for all children and young people. Practice is consistent and staff are confident in applying the core components. ICYP of NL though integrated approach to health and wellbeing have needs identified at earliest possible stage, including those requiring statutory intervention to achieve improved outcomes and timeously appropriate referrals to supporting agencies. To ensure a strengths- based approach. Children are at the heart of planning and this is in partnership with parents and carers. All people receive support in a trauma informed way. Further development of Empowering Clusters model. Continue progressing the Universal HV Pathway Prebirth – 5 Pathway: The established working group will consider the best method of pre birth planning for vulnerable women and progress this work. Implement model for screening using existing GIRFEC processes and linking to cluster model. For 16 +: Continue to develop partnership responses to risk including Extra Familial Harm. Utilise the GIRFEC Ongoing monitoring and evaluation Incorporate into performance framework – information gathered from developing MORSE platform supporting a development of a shared dashboard to include SCRA referrals. Established pathway, guidance and monitoring and evaluation of application. GIRFEC Delivery Group to continue to review and monitor progress. Further evaluation of the young people’s safeguarding panel, including assessing if young people are safer in their communities. Monitoring and analysis of data collated by SCRA.
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63 planning pathway and statutory criteria to identify those requiring statutory intervention and progress timeously by referral to Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration.(SCRA) Implement recommendations from Innovate research to develop our trauma informed approach Reflective practice and review. Ongoing engagement with Innovate. 40. Implement changes in legislation and national guidance. Legislation and guidance is applied to ensure improvements in practice and wellbeing. Implement new national Child Protection Guidance. Implement changes in preparation for the enactment of UNCRC (Incorporation) (Scotland) Bill. (See UNCRC and Voice) Updated guidance is available and in use. Reports from Voice Task Group. 41. The CS Partnership is aligned with and contributing to NL Tackling Poverty strategy and actions We are aware of the impact of poverty on our children and families. We are able to consider how our priorities and action will help to mitigate child Cross representation on forums and task groups. Annual review of CSP participation and reach. Contributions to child poverty reporting
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64 poverty in NL. Develop and apply tools and resources that support awareness and ‘poverty proofing’ our priorities and actions. Testing and evaluation of developing tool. Reported application and changes made to actions as a result. 42. Through information and research we are aware of need, changing drivers, policy and connections. 43. We are aware of the impact of our work we are continuing to improve wellbeing for children, young people and families. 44. This is integrated into our planning and reporting We are aware of our strengths and areas for improvement. Improve how we assess needs and how we respond to change and identify priorities. Our programmes and decisions are informed by evidence and best practice. We can compare information and identify trends. We know what is working well and why. Improvements in well- being and in our practice. This contributes to confidence across the workforce and in our communities. Continue to gather and share data and information about developments in this area. Update context and connections Update service map Conclude our Human Economic Cost Modelling research in Care Joint Strategic Needs Assessment activity is ongoing. There is reflective review and the approach is refined year on year. Self evaluation 2023- then ongoing Application of SDQ and analysis of the comparative data Update is published. Comparisons and reflections are noted. Report and recommendations . Information is shared across the CS Partnership and apparent in our planning and reporting.
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65 Continue to meet the planning and reporting requirements as set out by Scottish Government and North Lanarkshire Partnership. Work with the Care Inspectorate to support the joint inspection of children’s services in 2023. Plan the application of partner funding to Develop high level indicators and dashboard Support performance and measurement of our CSPLan Improve outcome measurement CS Plan Annual reporting Reporting on children’s rights 6 monthly reporting from task groups and working groups Inspection activities undertaken and published report. Action plan and reporting to CSPB
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