Newsletter. Families-First. Working together to change lives for families through high support and high challenge a restorative vision

Transcription

1 Families-First Newsletter Edition 1 - April 2013 Working together to change lives for families through high support and high challenge a restorative vision What is restorative practice? Restorative Practice is focussed on working with people, not doing things to them and not doing things for them. It is designed to empower people to take responsibility for, and find solutions to, the difficulties they face; in partnership with professionals. The Family First programme is based on this way of working. What families are eligible for Family First support? Families must meet at least two of the three national criteria for support, the national criteria are: 1) young people involved in crime and families involved in anti-social behaviour 2) households affected by truancy or exclusion from school Some very good news. We think that between 10 and 20% of our original families engaged with Family First in 2012/13 have made such progress with changing outcomes that we can claim results payments for them (e.g. significant increase in school attendance, return or entry into employment, reduction in criminal offences or anti-social behaviour). The Department of Communities and Local (DCLG) are so impressed with the progress we ve made with engaging families with the Family First progress; and with the changes to outcomes that the families are experiencing that they have contacted us to congratulate us. They are considering whether they may give us more of our three year funding in 2013/14 to continue the successful development of the programme. We ll keep you posted..! 3) households with an adult on out of work benefits. Children and young people on the cusp of statutory services e.g. Children s Social Care, are a particular local priority for us; and will be prioritised if they meet two of the national criteria. 1 News Information Updates Issues

2 What difference is a restorative practice approach to Family First making to young people and families? Since the start of the Family First programme s direct work with families in December 2012; we ve seen a huge difference to outcomes for children, young people and their families, like Maddison s 1 experience. When Maddison 1 was first introduced to the Family First programme her attendance at school was less than 50%, she had been in trouble with the Police, had needed to change schools because of her behaviour, was regularly going missing and had been referred to Children s Social Care several times in the proceeding year - the family felt as though they were at breaking point. Professionals had tried many different approaches to support Maddison and her family and nothing seemed to be helping, in fact the risks she was facing were increasing. Maddison and her parents agreed to working with Family First and to a Family Group Conference (FGC). The family, with the support of professionals, devised a plan that would help Maddison and her family to address the risks in her life, whilst building on the things that were going well. Maddison had a dream job that she wanted to pursue as she got older working with children - and so the Family First team worked with the Local Authority to create a unique opportunity for Maddison to get experience working with children one morning a week, as long as her attendance at school increased. Family First also funded some additional support for Maddison to address the difficulties she was facing that were leading to her behaviour. Within two months of the family developing a plan Maddison hadn t been missing from home once, had not been in trouble with the Police at all, was no longer being referred into Children s Social Care and her attendance at school had increased by 16%. Maddison is working hard to achieve A-Cs in a number of GCSEs, if she can achieve this in English and Maths, the Local Authority have offered her a scholarship to cover the costs of her training to work with children. In Maddison s words things are much calmer at home and in the words of her parents we had lost hope that things could change and now things are so much better. School and Early Years pilot activity Schools elsewhere in the country have introduced restorative practice training to all of the staff in their schools, from reception staff to Headteachers and have seen some amazing results, including: 1) A reduction in school exclusions of 80%; 2) An improvement in school attendance from 89.5% to 93.5%; 3) A 40% reduction in teenage conception; 4) Improved relationships with parents/carers and the community; 5) No group in school was achieving below expectations at any key stage irrespective of ability and need; 6) The school progressed from an Ofsted inspection judgement of inadequate to an outstanding within the six month period after introducing restorative practice. We are working with several Schools and Early Years providers in the borough to train all of their staff in a restorative way of working. Foundry College, Emmbrook Senior School, Ashridge Nursery, Yellow Brick House Nurseries and Wendy House nurseries are all undertaking the training. The Woodley cluster of schools are also planning how they might best roll-out the training to schools in their area. 1 A fictitious name to protect this young person s identity. 2 News Information Updates Issues

3 Some examples of how different professionals are using restorative skills with families Restorative Justice approaches are used widely by Thames Valley Police and Youth Offending Service colleagues in Wokingham. If a criminal offence or altercation has occurred and when it is safe to do so, a trained facilitator brings the alleged victim(s) and alleged offender(s) together to talk about what happened, what affect it has had on them and any other affected parties and what should happen next. It s a very effective way of helping alleged offenders to understand the impact of their actions and the consequences of their actions; and it can help victims to reach some sense of resolution or closure to an incident or crime. Jo Drinkwater (a restorative practice champion) worked with a young man, referred to as Tom 1, who was living in a household where there was parental domestic abuse and emotional health needs. Tom had been in troubled with the Police many times for altercations at home with his Mum and her partner; more recently the altercations had escalated and impacted on Tom s younger sibling. Tom was facing criminal charges at Court, and the family agreed to a restorative justice mediation to try and find some solutions to the problems at home. Jo worked with the family members individually to explain that this meeting was a time to speak honestly about what had happened, that everyone needed to treat one another with respect and not verbally attack each other; it was also agreed that some of what may be discussed could be difficult to hear. At the meeting each family member spoke about what had been happening and the affect it had on each of them, the family identified the things that were causing conflict in the home and they came up with a plan that included some ground-rules at home and some solutions to keep them talking to each other without resorting to violence. Jo followed up the next day and then the following week, to check everything was going ok, before returning to more regular visits with the family. In Tom s words the difference this meeting made was there are fewer arguments at home and when there are I know how to deal with them Mum does not follow me shouting after an argument which stops me from getting angrier. In Mum s words, she feels less pressure to keep the peace and perhaps most importantly, there have been no further offences in the household. Family Group Conferences what are they? Family Group Conferencing is a restorative way of asking families, and other significant people in their lives (e.g. neighbours, friends and relatives) to work together to take responsibility for areas of change that are needed and decide how they will make changes to improve outcomes for children/young people in their families. The family leads the decision and implementation of a plan, increasing the chances of success; whilst professionals ensure the plan remains safe for children and young people. Contact for further information.. Andrea King Family First Manager Restorative Practice Lead andrea.king@wokingham.gov.uk Mobile: A fictitious name to protect this young person s identity. 3 News Information Updates Issues

4 1 A fictitious name to protect this young person s identity. 4 News Information Updates Issues

5 5 News Information Updates Issues

6 6 News Information Updates Issues