Early Intervention and Social Care Model
Early help
We are committed to a range of Early Help Interventions by direct delivery and appropriately commissioned services (including children’s centres, parenting, work with young carers, family group meetings and work on domestic abuse in families with children). We also successfully deliver the National Troubled Families Expanded Programme (as Supporting Families in Central Bedfordshire), and discharge statutory duties in the early years and childcare market, ensuring appropriate quality and accessibility, along with provision of information.
Access to services
We have one point of access for enquiries and concerns about safeguarding children, The Integrated Front Door, where our multi agency safeguarding hub (MASH) sits. The MASH includes children's social care, police, health, children centres, community partners, education support, education health care team, early years SEND and youth services. All working together to inform quick and integrated assessment of safeguarding referrals. The Integrated Front Door aims to respond to all types of queries and enquiries. The Integrated Front Door aims to ensure that the right service at the right time and the right level are offered to children young people and their families in a timely way ensuring effective support can be put in place where that is required.
Working with families under S17 or S47
We have a locality model within our Family Help Teams offering services to children and families under Early Intervention, Child in Need and Child Protection. The locality model is made of skilled Family Partners/Practitioners and Social Workers. We are closely aligned with our Integrated Front Door, children centres, youth support services and partner agencies: schools, NHS, police, YOS, probation.
We are continuing to develop our new ways of working based on ‘Stable Homes Built on Love’ consultation aims to provide a more stable loving and supportive care system and a focus on early intervention and family support to prevent children from entering care and promote a child-centered approach in all aspects of need.
Children in care
We have specialist court and permanence teams supported by teams who work with looked-after children, and teams specialising in leaving and aftercare and fostering and adoption services. We have a strong and active Children in Care Council (link opens in new window) which meets regularly with the Director of Children’s Services and the Chief Executive.
Service oversight and improvement
Casework is managed through the Mosaic case management system, which supports a strong commitment to reflective supervision by managers leading small teams of 5 to 7, underpinned by audit and a culture of professional debate and challenge. Safe caseloads are a high priority for a very visible senior management team.
The professional standards service is the engine of service improvement, using learning from conference and review, audits and a network of social work consultants based within the services to continuously drive service improvements. They are supported in this by our Academy of Social Work and early intervention a joint venture between us and the University of Bedfordshire.