SIGNS OF SAFETY: AN EVALUATION ACROSS TEN AREAS IN ENGLAND SOCIAL CARE WORKFORCE RESEARCH UNIT KING S COLLEGE, LONDON Mary Baginsky Jo Moriarty Jill Manthorpe
English Innovation Programme MTM project 10 pilots Timescale Judging outcomes BACKGROUND 2
Direct work with young people had the most positive impact on outcomes Young people benefited from more intensive, in-depth support than from occasional support over a period of time Walker and Donaldson (2011) OUTCOMES AND INITIATIVES Contemporary Issues and Debates in Social Work Education, Research and Practice, 26 September 20 3
Three key principles: working relationships are fundamental honest and respectful relationships between the worker and families and between all professionals involved to achieve a shared understanding of what needs to change and how this will be achieved within a culture where collaborative, appreciative inquiry methods are valued stance of critical inquiry critical thinking to minimise error and create a culture of reflective practice, designed to minimise error, allow admission of errors, and support regular review of the balance of strengths and dangers so as to avoid drift, which may perpetuate an overly optimistic or pessimistic view of the family locating grand aspirations in everyday practice where the experience of the child is at the centre and where families and front line professionals judge the effectiveness of practice A Signs of Safety assessment or Mapping: past harm; future danger and complicating factors SIGNS OF SAFETY 4
Realistic evaluation Longitudinal design Multiple types of data collection Interviews Focus groups Case file analysis Secondary data analysis Value for money WHAT WE DID 5
New 2 years 2 years plus 10 pilots differed in terms of experience with Signs of Safety Wakefield Norfolk Wokingham Bristol Suffolk Lincolnshire Brent West Sussex Tower Hamlets Leicestershire 6
Interviews with key informants Survey 165 social workers Time 1 Analysis of 262 case records Interviews and focus groups with 185 social workers Interviews with 270 families (recruited in 2 cohorts) Interviews and self profiling data from key informants Re-interviews with 184 families Time 2 Reanalysis of case records Time diaries completed by 121 social workers Analysis of 30 performance indicators DATA COLLECTED AT TIMES 1 & 2 ABOUT TWO COHORTS OF FAMILIES 7
Major challenge was to achieve consistency move away from pick and mix approach Parallel service reorganisations Different stages of SoS training opportunities MTM project offered Challenge of reducing caseloads at time of rising levels of referrals and budget cuts Compatibility (or not) with IT systems Opportunity to work with Professor Eileen Munro, Andrew Turnell and Terry Murphy KEY INFORMANTS VIEWS AT START 8
Commitment to further development of SoS Parallel reorganisations had added extra challenges Importance of support from senior management to instill confidence in practitioners Development of networks for practice leads and practice champions alongside sustainability plans for training, leadership and alignment of practice and processes countered over dependence on individuals High regard with which many individual trainers held but not universal KEY INFORMANTS VIEWS AT THE END (1) 9
Collaborative working with trainers on tailored training Quality of trainer said to impact on attendance at events for practice leads IT challenges continued but were being addressed Exposing some skill shortage amongst their social workers Intransigent managers and senior social workers What, if anything, needs to go alongside SoS? Profiling KEY INFORMANTS VIEWS AT THE END (2) 10
Generally very positive about Signs of Safety in terms of improving their practice But some inconsistencies with key informant views on: extent of use of scaling, mapping, tools and appreciative inquiry challenges in using Signs of Safety with all families some reported had not/would not use it with some families. This was also reflected in the case records SOCIAL WORKERS VIEWS (1) 11
Majority valued training A minority thought 2 day insufficient Evolution of 5 day over time Consider other models? 3 day? Timing SOCIAL WORKERS VIEWS ON TRAINING 12
Confidence: On a scale of 1-10 most confident responses from the 2 year grouping Use of tools overall: nearly everyone in 2 year grouping; two-thirds in the new grouping and half of those in 2+ year grouping SOCIAL WORKERS CONFIDENCE IN AND USE OF SOS 13
Safety Planning:42% with all families; 56% with some families and 2% not at all (all in new grouping) Mapping: 38% with all families; 58% with some families and 4% not at all SOCIAL WORKERS USE OF SOS WITH FAMILIES: SAFETY PLANNING AND MAPPING 14
Danger statements: 48% with all families; 51% with some families and 1% not at all Appreciative Inquiry: 7% with all families; 24% with some families and 69% not at all. [Highest in 2 year grouping and lack of understanding of what it meant!] Use of safety planning + mapping + danger statements increased between Cohort 1 and Cohort 2. Highest in new and 2years+ groupings SOCIAL WORKERS USE OF SOS WITH ALL FAMILIES: DANGER STATEMENTS AND APPRECIATIVE INQUIRY 15
Three Houses: 20% used it with all c and yp; 75% with some c and yp and 5% not at all Words and Pictures: 5% with all; 57% with some and 38% not at all Social workers usually did it and gave it to families Lack of training / support to use Words and Pictures SOCIAL WORKERS USE OF THREE HOUSES AND WORDS AND PICTURES 16
Family Network Meetings: 8% with all families and 41% with some. A quarter of social workers in 2 year grouping but two-thirds in new grouping and in 2+ grouping were not using it at all SOCIAL WORKERS AND FAMILY NETWORK MEETINGS 17
Assessments: data from social workers in groups and interviews showed most thought SoS led to better assessments leading to less risk averse practice. Challenge focused on time required but with variation (halving to trebling) Supervision: 76% said they received SoS aligned supervision everyone in 2 year grouping; 4 out of 5 in new grouping and half in 2+ grouping. ASSESSMENTS AND SUPERVISION 18
270 in two cohorts: Cohort 1 referrals from March to May 2015; Cohort 2 referrals from August to October 2015 Interviewed twice T1 June October 2015 and T2 Feb July 2016 270 at T1 and 184 at T2 262 agreed to case records being examined Previous referrals: 204 of the 270 had previous referral(s) 27% had involved dv and 26% neglect Current referrals: 37% involved neglect and 26% involved dv FAMILIES (1) 19
Contact with social workers: at T1 59% had had a change of social worker and 9% had worked with 3 by then; 1 in 5 had an agency worker At T2 165 of 184 still with a social worker and 1 in 3 had had a change Most families accepted change but less positivity about handovers FAMILIES (2) 20
Feelings about social workers 43% were positive or very positive 37% were negative or very negative 17% had no strong feelings (+ small number no response) No specific differences re age, permanent v. agency, gender FAMILIES (3) 21
FROM WRITTEN RESPONSES: Shared understanding between families and social workers: 53% yes ; 39% no and 8% not sure Why they had social workers: only 12% not sure why Agreement over change: three-quarters Agreement over goals: two-thirds BUT FROM INTERVIEWS (and further exploration): Fewer families believed they had the same goals (52%) and it was obvious that 25% did not know what the goals were FAMILIES(4) 22
SoS may support greater understanding between social workers and families and a more focused approach to goals: Proportions of parents reporting congruence of goals higher amongst those with more experience of SoS and higher for Cohort 2 than for Cohort 1 Proportions of parents saying they understood how progress would be judged higher amongst those with more experience of SoS and higher for Cohort 2 than for Cohort 1 Cohort 2 families were more likely to say social workers worked with their strengths FAMILIES(5) 23
Families awareness of: Safety planning just over half recognised the term slight increase Cohort 1 to Cohort 2 Goal planning overall increase Cohort 1 to Cohort 2 Development of professional support - overall increase Cohort 1 to Cohort 2 FAMILIES(6) 24
Families feelings about the future and involvement with children s social care: Most (63%) of the families seen at T2 indicated they had fewer concerns than at T1; 25% the same and 12% were more worried 48% rated overall contact with social workers as helpful, 18% mixed views, 29% unhelpful, 5% did not answer Highest level of satisfaction in the 2 year grouping statistically significant - and overall increase between Cohort 1 and Cohort 2 FAMILIES(7) 25
BUT: Fall in proportion of families believing social workers built on their strengths between T1 and T2 A steep decline in proportion of families in 2 year grouping considering their social workers were helpful Only one-third thought social workers had helped them develop personal networks (but relatively high level of antagonism to this) No clear correlation between those who thought their life had been made better as a result of contact with children s social care and experience groupings FAMILIES(8) 26
Remember the context of complex and longstanding situations At least 75% families had been referred to children s social care in the past Domestic abuse, neglect, mental health problems and substance misuse were common DELIVERING OUTCOMES FOR FAMILIES 27
Importance to Signs of Safety of shared understanding between parents and social workers Majority of parents thought they and their social worker shared the same views about their situation Most felt the social worker had focused on their strengths But a quarter said they did not know what their social worker s goals were Better levels of agreement in the pilot areas that were more experienced in Signs of Safety and as other areas became more experienced at Time 2 and Cohort 2 But changes of social worker and high rates of agency social workers in some areas have implications for further progress SUMMARY: PARENT/CARER VIEWS ABOUT SOCIAL WORKERS 28
Quality of SoS recording improved over time Concerns about quality of assessments Is SoS enough? The relationship between Signs of Safety and outcomes would require longer investigation: Just over half were not re-referred at Time 2 28 children removed from their parent(s) between Times 1 and 2 SDQ scores QUALITY OF PRACTICE 29
Time spent on direct client contact does not appear to increase or decrease as a result of Signs of Safety There were indications of positive change within published performance indicators: Pilots had lower average rate of assessments per 10,000 children (362) than their Statistical Nearest Neighbours (SNNs) (497) in 2015/16. Assessments were significantly shorter (in 2015/16 the average duration was 19 days in pilots sites compared to 28 days in SNNs). Pilots had a significantly lower rate of Initial Child Protection Conferences (ICPC) per 10,000 children (44) than their SNNs (61) in 2015/16. Pilots had a significantly shorter duration from the start of Section 47 enquiries to ICPC (13 days) in 2015/16 than their SNNs (14 days). Pilots had a significantly lower rate of children becoming the subject of a child protection per 10,000 children (29) than their SNNs (41) in 2015/16. There was no evidence that Signs of Safety had resulted in changes to expenditure patterns. RESOURCES, OUTPUTS AND EXPENDITURE 30
Embedding organisational commitment to Signs of Safety Using plain language Using tools to engage children and young people e.g. three houses; fairies and wizards Mapping cases by individual social workers and mapping in teams Using safety plans Providing advanced 5-day training for all managers Embedding Signs of Safety approaches and principles across all training Aligning Initial Child Protection Conferences with Signs of Safety Establishing practice leadership and supervision processes to support Signs of Safety FROM PROFILES: VIEWS ABOUT WHERE THERE WAS GREATEST PROGRESS IN DELIVERY 31
Building constructive working relationships between professionals and family members Spending the necessary direct contact time with adults in families Being confident that the service is intervening at the right time Creating a culture where it is permissible to admit mistakes Supporting social workers with administrative tasks Recruiting high quality staff Until everything had been aligned, SoS would still be a bolt on to the dominant processes and procedures FROM PROFILES: VIEWS ABOUT WHERE FURTHER PROGRESS WAS NEEDED 32
Direct work with young people had the most positive impact on outcomes Young people benefited from more intensive, indepth support than from occasional support over a period of time Walker and Donaldson (2011) OUTCOMES AND INITIATIVES AGAIN! 33
www.gov.uk/government/publications/signs-ofsafety-practice-in-childrens-services-an-evaluation LINK TO REPORT 34
This research was funded by the Department for Education. The views expressed in this presentation are the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Department for Education DISCLAIMER AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 35