Healthy Relationships, Better Childhood

1. Healthy Relationships,Better Childhood A five year cross sector strategy to catalyse relational systems change and enable healthier couple and family relationships in Hartlepool

2. Who we are and how we try to help The relationships in our lives matter! • Encouraging and supporting development of healthy relationships • Systemic view; people seen in content of their relationships and relational needs • Parental couple relationship • Individual internal family relationships, and collective family functioning & ways of relating • Peer & social relationships • Inter and intra team and agency relationships • Agency, practitioner and family relationships

3. Realising our vision through Family & Relationship Hub(s) • Vision • Make Hartlepool a place where people have healthier relationships than anywhere else in the country • Realising the vision • Hartlepool will become a Family & Relationship Hub through delivery of the 5yr Healthy Relationship, Better Childhood strategy • Three physical hubs in “hotspot areas” to become physical manifestations Hartlepool's commitment to relational working and focus on supporting couple and family relationships

4. Focal point for work to support couple and family relationships - Hartlepool Facing substantial challenges, yet with huge assets – area is innovating and moving forward with optimism and commitment • ‘There is a strong child-centred value base which forms a golden thread throughout the organisation’ – speak of strong culture of support, trust in leaders, experienced and talented staff... Comment that ‘the service is well placed for innovation’ OFSTED 2012 • Circa 92,000 population Unitary Authority • Highest spending on Early Help in the sub-region of Tees Valley • Outsourcing of various Early Help services to VCS – endemic of attitude of partnership and trust in sector • Early Intervention strategy increased demand and special care spend – uncovered unmet need – CIN cases up 50%, CP cases down 16% LAC cases up 34%, Social Care spend up 10% (over spend). • Children impacted by various social and economic realities • Economic situation • Poverty • Substance use, debt • Educational outcomes

5. Healthy Relationships, Better Childhood Strategy, 2015-2020 Changing Futures North East & Hartlepool Borough Council led cross sector partnership to ensure: • Hartlepool not only “Thinks Family”, but Thinks Child, Thinks Couple, Thinks Family; proper recognition and attention is given to relationships and the interrelatedness of human systems. • Families who work with services see healthy relationships within services, and healthy ways of relating are modelled by staff who work with them • Spending on acute children’s services is reduced by 5%+ through a 10% reduction in demand, with increased investment and capacity in early help services Key outcomes & indicators we expect to both contribute to and arise from this work include: • Less family breakdown, less social care demand • Improved family relationships • Improved school attendance • Supported by £1.52mill investment from Comic Relief, Big Lottery Fund, Esmee Fairbairn and also in year one through HBC secured finance

6. Strands of work Create Culture Change - Talking Relationships Practice Supports Couple and Other Relationships Establishing Healthy Organisational Systems Relational Work Improved Outcomes for Families

7. Enabling systems change The challenge: Establishing Healthy Organisational Systems • Effective and healthy ways of relating within teams, between teams and between services; • Systems create and encourage this – Leadership, Strategies, Systems, Structures, Skills, Knowledge and Culture Our Work: • Internal Development – embedding relational work at CFNE; • Multi-agency engagement – frontline to strategic (and more); • Fluid project team – people promoting change from within existing teams; • Substantial engagement and support of senior and mid managers to create and embed change; • Establish measures and ways of understanding team functioning and those relationships external to the team; • Sharing learning with commissioners.

8. Enabling systems change The Challenge – High levels of need yet low take up of services • Fear – making things worse, having children removed, what other people think; • Awareness – Don’t know where or how to access support. Our Work – Normalising seeking help for relationships • Develop local knowledge – volunteers and services; • Marketing campaign – client input - with real local people stories; • Web resources; • Family Hub / Relationship Centres; • Media strategy – local press, features and comment; • Offer universal services – Parents as Partners Programme; • Workforce development –

9. Enabling systems change The Challenge: Getting Services thinking and working relationally • Assessment, planning and practice – thinking couple and thinking relationships, thinking family. • Developing systems around practice to enable working this. Our work: • Multi-agency partners – engagement at all levels • Revision of Common Assessment / Early Help Assessment and training in it’s use; • Collocation specialist relationship and other services – Family Hubs / Relationships centres; • Coaching and support for supervisors and managers; • Coaching and support for teams –coaches embedded within; • Training workforce in working relationally; • Introduce Parents as Partners programme; • Preventative services for children and adolescents

10. Initial Work (years one and two) Year 1 • Revision of Early Help Assessments (CAF) to enable relational assessment • Training of 40 multi-agency staff in use of Early Help Assessment and relational focus. • Begin Early Help Strategy for Hartlepool; • Establish Parents as Partners Programme, to be delivered each year; • Establishing relational working at Changing Futures North East; • Enabling learning and evaluation • Establishing baselines • Identifying indicators and adapting systems • Working with Sheffield Hallam university (EAFA appointed to measure overall impact of national programme and overall project level impact) • Identifying partnerships and investment opportunities to help build the evidence base as to effectiveness of specific elements of relational systems change rather than relationship programmes • Linking up with early action agencies nationally to learn from and share good practice Year 2 • Campaigns to normalise seeking help; • Work with volunteers to promote relationship services and support within own communities; • Project team working with two ‘teams’ to embed relational working and systems; • 40 staff trained in relational working • Engagement of team managers to support relational working • Complete Early Help Strategy

11. Some Indicators of Progress • Assessment • 50% of all Common Assessments in Hartlepool contain detail on the couple and family relationships (baseline est 5-10%) • VCS completion of CAF rises from 10 per year to 100 • Service Demand & Utilisation • Reduction in CIN and CP caseload size • Looked after children rates reduce form 194 to 154 (in line with statistical neighbours) • Mediation access increases from est. 50 to 120 per year • Counselling – 89 to 150 per annum • Outcomes • 37% reduction in number of children with attendance of <85% • Improved family & couple relationships

12. To conclude • Has to be systemic; • Has to be collaborative; • Requires investment – not just financial but time, space for reflection and learning; • National policy and measurements have a role to play in creating the conditions.

13. For further information, contact Graham Alton, CEO – graham.alton@changingfuturesne.co.uk Martin Todd, Deputy CEO & Project Lead – martin.todd@changingfuturesne.co.uk Telephone: 01429 891444 www.changingfuturesne.co.uk