Area Coordination Management Meeting

Hyde, Hattersley and Longdendale

Minutes

Time: 2:00pm - 4:20pm
Date: 23 October 2007
Venue: New Charter Housing Trust, Cavendish 249, Cavendish Street, Ashton

Present:

• Jackie Lydon - Inclusive Services
• Jan Cooper - Children's Social Care
• Jane Cooke - Children's Social Care
• Judith Grigg - PCT
• Sue Garnett - Area Co-ordinator and Chair
• Craig Stone - Connexions
• Linda Sidebottom - New Charter Housing Trust
• Joyce Boyd - YOT Lead Manager
• Mary Clowrey - Education Welfare Service
• Janet Rathburn - Primary School rep – Dowson Primary
• Beryl Oliver - Secondary School rep – Hyde Tech

Note Taker: Rachel Lees

Item 1: Welcome

Sue welcomed everyone to the meeting and introductions were made around the table. Team members said that it would be helpful if Jo Cole sent a reminder regarding the meeting the week before.

Item 2: Apologies

Craig Stone was standing in for Jo Brown at Connexions.

Syed Miah - Youth Offending Team

Item 3: Notes of last meeting and matters arising

The minutes were accepted as a true and correct record.

Sue reported on the opening of Bennett Street Youth Centre. The day was successful with many young people attending. Members of the Steering Group would meet on 24 October and a review would be provided at the next meeting. Sue would provide information about the consultation process.

Item 4: Area Action Plan Update

4.1 Action Plan No 2.3: Referral arrangements

Sue had prepared four questions relating to referrals in an attempt to get an overview of what people thought of the system – was it working? She asked the team to work in pairs and to give open and honest answers.

• What is your experience of making/receiving a referral?
• What are the strengths/weaknesses of the current system?
• Could a single referral system work?
• Could the CAF be a substitute for the current system?

Craig/Jackie

• When receiving a referral the necessary information wasn't always provided so the referral was used as a prompt for action with a follow-up telephone call to get more information.
• Connexions, as a referring agency, sent out fairly generic information. Who the referral was made to became more important in terms of detail but again acted as a prompt for action followed by a conversation.
• It would be difficult for one system to work.
• The CAF could not be a substitute, not every child required a CAF.

Beryl/Mary

• The EWS had recently changed the referral system, taking referrals from schools but not enough information was provided although she was aware that schools already had a heavy workload. Only the child's name and level of attendance was provided and information for the worker to be safe and to do a good job was necessary (such as being informed that a visit would take place within an aggressive family).
• A telephone conversation with CAMHS was very useful to get an immediate response with paperwork being completed later. Confirmation was required that appropriate action was being taken.
• Schools would find it difficult to spare someone to take time with the family. The task would potentially fall on the Learning Mentor or Student Support Teacher, which would be difficult in their busy schedule. There could be issues where Needs were identified but may be unable to meet.
• Early intervention was important. Three or four people usually attended CAF training but the learning mentor or TA usually ended up filling in the form.
• Schools would appreciate having something pre-populated from SIMS.

Jane/Jan

• Referrals came to Family Support with an initial assessment. Information received by Children's Social Care was sometimes inadequate and people making referrals were not working to commit to the information – perhaps they were worried about relationships with parents/children.
• There were low levels of CAF completion, it took time to fill in forms and going over information with parents repeatedly leads to frustration.
• The CAF could replace initial assessment but a single referral system would not work due to differing databases.
• Using the JASPER pilot in Hyde, the system was only as good as those who input the information. Systems needed constant improvement and streamlining.

Linda

• There were several different formats of referral system. Initial reporting information was valuable and needed to be reported. Perhaps the CAF could start the process and then progress to Stage 1, Stage 2, etc. The initial information should be basic standard information that travelled through the stages with potential problems flagged up.

Janet

• Different agencies had different systems which was time-consuming and families didn't necessarily want to do it.
• A single referral system could work but needed to be sorted out regarding databases etc. There was a huge capacity issue and a way to improve the amount of paperwork involved was necessary.

Joyce

• Lots of agencies covered the needs of children and parents/carers which was a strength but also a weakness given duplication of interventions.
• A single referral system could work but would need a lot of clarity and communication.

Sue noted that there was a pilot in an Ashton school looking at the different agencies involved within the school. In an ideal world a lead professional would look after the child but there was a capacity issue. She summarised that frequent issues regarding conversation and capacity had arisen and that improving communication between agencies was essential.

4.2 Action Plan No 9.1: Area profile of need and services – draft

The Area Profile had been sent out for the groups' perusal. During parents' week Julie Lord ( Area Coordinator SMD) undertook some consultation in the Hyde and Ashton areas. Feedback from the consultation will be collated regarding needs. A form is being devised which will be used to identify unmet need. This will then be used to inform the Area Profiles and brought back to the groups to look at community needs.

4.3 Change for Children Event

An event had taken place at Waterloo Children's Centre in Ashton. The original format/agenda had been changed after consultation with the children centre managers. Over 40 parents attended and the informal event proved to be a success. This model will be used for the other areas.

Team members were asked for ideas for the venue/s for the Hyde/Hattersley/Longdendale events. Some areas were quite isolated and discussion regarding using a school or youth base took place. It was decided that separate events would be needed due to the differences in each areas and their location. Hyde Town Hall was a possibility and it would be an interesting concept to have the event at Hyde market to attract passers-by.

Beryl would check to see if there was something that could tie in with the Change for Children Event and Sue would meet with Beryl, Vicky Cuddy and Tanam Shad (Children's Centre Coordinator) to look at holding an event at The Flowery Centre.

Item 5: Action Plan 5.3: Models of Integrated Working BEST Presentation

Jackie Lydon of the Behaviour Education Support Team gave a presentation on models of integrated working – ‘BEST in Tameside. The focus was on proactive and preventative work. A bespoke, flexible response was received by parents and schools which had contributed to core partners' support and loyalty. An example of whole school development and collaborative group work was provided together with successful BEST initiatives'. Jackie outlined the team's structure, their referral process and shared what had been learned.

She noted that the co-location of services was valued but the downside was that large numbers could lose their identity and young people would not go into an environment that did not suit their needs. Janet agreed that the model itself was well worth pursuing and refining. Jackie reiterated that it was hard to evaluate the impact of proactive, preventative work on the community.

Sue thanked Jackie for her presentation and noted that she had presented one of three models of integrated working which had been extracted from the ECM website.

Sue distributed the 3 models for the groups' consideration

Item 6: AOB: Anti Bullying

Nick Caws of Inclusive Services had requested information from any school or service who was doing anything regarding anti-bullying.

Item 7: Private Fostering

Jan Cooper had asked for this item to be added to the agenda. She confirmed that the definition of private fostering was a “private arrangement to look after a child for more than 28 consecutive days”. In Tameside this was typically teenagers who had fallen out with their parents. Parents were supposed to give prior notification to the local Authority who did an assessment of the carers and the household. Full responsibility remained with the parent.

If anyone knew of any children who weren't living with their parents, they were requested to inform the local Social Care area team.

Leaflets for children, parents and carers were available throughout the Borough. Janet distributed some to the group.

Item 8: Any Other Business

Staff Directory

Sue requested that team members look at the Staff Directory to check their entries and to inform Sue or Jo Cole if any teams or people needed to be included.

Mossley Event

Linda informed the group of a one-off multi-agency event taking place at Micklehurst Youth Base, Mossley on 1 November 2007 from 12:00 -3:00 pm to steer young people towards Connexions or to college.

Item 9: Date of next meeting

The meeting was arranged for 5 December 2007 at Hyde Technology School from 9:30 to 11:30. Beryl said that if anyone wanted to look around the school they could either arrive early or stay for lunch at 12:30.

Sue requested that everyone bring their diaries to set meetings for 2008 and to come with ideas for venues.

The meeting closed at 4.20pm

Glossary

• ACMT Area Co-ordination Management Team
• APIR Assessment, Planning, Implement and Review
• BEST Behaviour and Education Support Team
• BME Black and Ethnic Minority
• BSF Building Schools for the Future
• CAF Common Assessment Framework
• CWDC Children's Workforce Development Council
• CYPSP Children and Young People Strategic Partnership
• DfES Department for Education and Skills
• ECM Every Child Matters
• ISSP (team) Intensive Supervision and Surveillance
• JASPER Joint Assessment System for Prevention and Early Referral
• NEET Not in Education, Employment or Training
• NRF Neighbourhood Renewal Fund
• OFSTED The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills
• PCT Primary Care Trust
• PSHE Personal, Social and Health Education
• PTA Parent and Teacher Association
• RAP Resettlement and Aftercare
• SENCO Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator
• T3SC Tameside Third Sector Coalition
• TAC Tameside Administrative Centre
• YOT Youth Offending Team