Targeting Families in Greatest Need of Support

1. Targeting Families in Greatest Need of Support Claire Easton Research Manager National Foundation for Educational Research SSRG Conference on Identifying and Working with Families with Complex Needs: Policy, Evaluation and Good Practice July 2nd 2012

2. About the research

4. 1. Who are Children’s Centres targeting? • But Children’s Centres prefer to see their work as supporting children, parents and families, rather than targeting groups

5. 2. How do they define ‘greatest need’? • But Children’s Centres are also responding to local priorities and individual needs, with a case-by-case response

6. 3. What data do they use? • But some face challenges in accessing key data incl. from health (e.g. live birth data) and social care (e.g. about families known to them)

7. 4. How do they identify families? • But universal services remain key to reducing barriers and engaging vulnerable families

8. Examples of practice • Blue slips model – overcoming barriers to new birth data using ‘blue slips registrations’ • Engage first approaches – from stay and plays, to cooking clubs and community days, to formal initiatives such as PEEP • Community model – local parents trained to engage families through outreach (e.g. as ‘community entrepreneurs’)

9. 5. How do they develop services for the most needy?

10. Staff attitudes are key to understanding barriers ... ‘ There used to be a term “hard to reach”. But we don’t use it any more, because we recognise it’s us who are hard to reach, not the families ... If you’ve not got any confidence, or you think that they will tell you that you’re a bad parent – if that’s what’s preventing families engaging with us, we’ve got to try to reduce those barriers .’ (Centre manager)

11. Who are the ‘most needy’?

12. Key issues and implications

13. Further information on Targeting Families in Greatest Need of Support Published report is available at: http://www.nfer.ac.uk/nfer/publications/LGTC01/ Research contacts: Pippa Lord, Senior Research Manager p.lord@nfer.ac.uk Caroline Sharp, Research Director c.sharp@nfer.ac.uk

14. Other NFER publications and resources • LARC http://www.larc-research.org.uk  LARC 4 explores the interface between CAF/TAC model and social care intervention to support children and families with complex high level needs • Early intervention: informing local practice (Feb 2012) http://www.nfer.ac.uk/publications/LGLC02 • Developing a business case for early interventions and evaluating their value for money (November 2011) http://www.nfer.ac.uk/publications/EITS01 • The experiences of fostering and adoption processes – views of children and young people: literature review and gaps analysis (May 2012) http://www.nfer.ac.uk/publications/LGFR01 • A good practice overview of fostering and adoption activity: case study reports http://www.nfer.ac.uk/publications/LGFP01 • http://www.reason-network.org.uk/resources, networks and support from research in practice, research in practice with adults, NFER • Children’s Trust arrangements and Health and Wellbeing Boards following the Health and Social Care Act (to be published) Project coordinator contact: Sagina Khan s.khan@nfer.ac.uk