Everyone’s Children 1. 2. 3. 4.
Introduction Project aims GIRFEC & wellbeing Challenges in Glasgow
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Project launch Launch themes Research Local partnership Resources
Welcome to the first issue of the Everyone’s Children newsletter GCVS is delighted to have received funding from the Scottish Government to enable us to promote and support the really good work which Glasgow-based third sector organisations are currently doing, with children, young people and families. Our key focus is on enabling third sector organisations of all sizes to be able to engage with the GIRFEC agenda. GIRFEC - Getting it right for every child - is now being threaded through all existing policy, practice, strategy and legislation affecting children, young people and their families. Through the GIRFEC Strategy, the Scottish Government is seeking to embed consistency and high quality in how all services work with children and young people. Practitioners are being encouraged to focus on what makes a positive difference for children and young people, and on how they can act to deliver these improvements. Successful delivery of GIRFEC requires not only co-ordinated and improved public sector services, but also needs the skill and expertise of community and voluntary organisations to be mobilised at local neighbourhood and community level, to provide a positive environment for all of Scotland’s children. The Third Sector is central to the Government’s prevention and early years agendas and your organisation’s services are a crucial part of this. We hope you find the information in this first issue useful and we look forward to working with all our partners, to help create a better future for all of Glasgow’s children.
Liz McEntee, Head of External Relations, GCVS
Introducing the Everyone’s Children Project GCVS’ Everyone’s Children Project aims to focus its work on smaller third sector organisations who provide valuable support to children and their families, from around birth until early adulthood. The work local organisations do, and the skilful support which they are able they offer families, children and young people,can often help prevent situations reaching a crisis point where statutory services need to intervene. If your organisation or project provides this type of support we are keen for you to get involved. 1
Everyone’s Children What the project aims to do
The project will work with key partners in Glasgow and nationally, to raise awareness of GIRFEC principles and strengthen the involvement of the third sector in its implementation through the following activities:• • • • • • • •
Mapping third sector work supporting children and young people in Glasgow. Raising awareness of the third sector contribution to GIRFEC and related policy outcomes. Providing regular information on GIRFEC to third sector partners in the city. Strengthening third sector influence in the planning and implementation of GIRFEC in local and city wide structures. Supporting engagement with communities and service users. Supporting joint working between the public and third sectors. Supporting third sector involvement in service design, joint commissioning, and workforce development. Providing capacity building to third sector organisations.
Third Sector Services in Glasgow There are over 800 third sector organisations in Glasgow currently working with children, families and young people. Some work with the most vulnerable children alongside statutory services, while others provide services which help prevent the difficult circumstances faced by many children and young people having longer term negative outcomes. This includes family support, childcare, community health activity, play provision, youth work and a wide range of information and advice work aimed at families, as well as specialist activity aimed at children with additional needs, young carers or those in care settings. We aim to ensure that this work is effectively integrated into the planning of services for children and families as GIRFEC and other early years innovations are implemented in Glasgow. We know our members have a strong track record in delivering flexible and welltargeted local responses. Building on this, the project will strengthen partnership working within and across all sectors and make the case for Third Sector investment for this work in Glasgow’s communities.
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Everyone’s Children The GIRFEC Approach Getting It Right for Every Child (GIRFEC) is a set of principles which underpins all work with children, young people and their families in Scotland. It aims to give them the best possible start in life, and places children and their families at the heart of decision making and planning about their support needs. GIRFEC aims to ensure that help is available to those who need it most when it is most needed. This requires those delivering services to work together using a common practice framework to improve the wellbeing of children, identify concerns and plan together to meet needs. Health and education, the universal services used by all children, are central to GIRFEC implementation with additional services such as social work, becoming more involved where additional needs are identified. Third Sector organisations already provide a huge range of flexible and innovative supports which have significant preventative value as well as working alongside other partners to meet the needs of the young people and families with some of the most complex and challenging needs. It is recognised that working in this way relies on greater co-ordination across services. A core principle of GIRFEC is that every child will have a named person - a member of staff who will coordinate the sharing of information about the child’s needs so that they and their family receive appropriate support in a co-ordinated single child’s plan, where this is required. A key aspect of implementing GIRFEC will be how third sector organisations can work as part of these arrangements, in sharing information and contributing to children’s plans. Establishing how this could work will be a key part of our training programme which will be delivered from the early autumn of this year until the spring of 2015.
Wellbeing Key to understanding GIRFEC is recognising the range of factors Nutured that affect the wellbeing of children and young people including their health, education and sense of inclusion. This is illustrated in the SHANARRI wheel which identifies eight key indicators of wellbeing. This wider definition is key to GIRFEC and is reflected Achieving in the breadth of Third Sector services playing an increasing role in providing support to parents young people and communities. This contribution is delivered by playschemes, youth clubs, Healthy community arts organsiations, sports clubs and many more - as well as those services supporting parents to be better equipped Safe to overcome difficulties which affect their children’s lives. Because of its emphasis on wider wellbeing factors affecting children’s lives, the GIRFEC approach also links with a range of other Scottish Government policies, such as Curriculum for Excellence, the Parenting and Play Strategies.
Active Respected Responsible Included
SHANARRI Wheel 3
Everyone’s Children The Glasgow Context Glasgow’s fifth Integrated Children’s Service Plan (2013-2015) has been designed around the work being undertaken to embed the GIRFEC approach. It was developed by the Children’s Services Executive Group, a multiagency group that provides overall leadership and direction on behalf of the Glasgow Community Planning Partnership.
The challenges in our City Although most needs are met by families themselves, some children and families need additional support and this is a particular challenge for Glasgow. For this reason, much of the plan focuses on services that target the most vulnerable and disadvantaged children requiring care and support from a number of agencies, including Education, Social Work, Police Scotland, the NHS, Youth Justice services, Third Sector services and input by other partners. Shared assessment frameworks based on GIRFEC principles are being developed to assist with information sharing and joined up working. The current strategic priorities include: • • • • • •
Early Identification of children and families in need of support (particularly from age 0-8) Improving parenting skills Raising attainment and achievement for all children Reducing child poverty Keeping children safe Improving joint working between services and sectors
Pilot projects under the One Glasgow and GIRFEC banners are implementing joint work between agencies and sectors, to share assessments, improve planning and measure the effectiveness of changed practice with the delivery of the plan in mind. The aim is to roll out best practice across the City. The Everyone’s Children project will work with partners to support third sector involvement in these and other planning processes, particularly by smaller organisations. Although much has already been achieved there remains a lot to be done - especially in linking local third sector children and families organisations into the wider planning frameworks and ensuring that investment in them is secured and sustained.
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Everyone’s Children Project Launch The Everyone’s Children project had its formal launch on the 24th of March, 2014 at the Albany Centre. A wide variety of third sector organisations supporting children, families and communities attended. Organisations delivering early years support, youth work, cultural and sporting opportunities, children’s rights and support for families, gathered with staff from the city’s statutory services to hear how the project is supporting the implementation of GIRFEC in the city. Speakers included Tam Baillie, Scottish Commissioner for Children and Young People, Scottish Government representatives from the Third Sector and GIREFC teams, representation from GCVS and the national Third Sector GIRFEC Project.
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Everyone’s Children Launch themes and discussion Poverty in Glasgow & Planning Liz McEntee Head of External Relations at GCVS, described the context for Glasgow’s Children in terms of poverty and related issues on their lives and future prospects. Liz outlined the role of the project in researching the contribution of the Third Sector, supporting increased involvement in service delivery and planning and sharing learning across Scotland with other Third Sector organisations. Coordination & Integrated Services Scottish Government colleagues Gareth Allen from the Third Sector Division and Lynn Townsend of the Scottish Government GIRFEC Team both outlined the importance of co-ordination between services and the key contribution of Third Sector partners at all levels. They endorsed the project’s role in the implementation of GIRFEC, the new Children and Young People Act and in integrating statutory and voluntary efforts in a network of services, which support the wellbeing outcomes of GIRFEC, through a range of flexible, high quality and innovative services. Culture Change Sally Anne Kelly Senior Project Manager at the National Third Sector GIRFEC Project, emphasised this point further and especially the need for “culture change” in the way that statutory organisations relate to each other and to the Third Sector. She also emphasised the importance of local planning and how this requires a closer relationship between specialist children and families Third Sector and smaller, more locally based organisations, working across the broader wellbeing concerns. Event delegates were able to make links with each other and to talk to project staff about how to support further joint working in line with the city’s Integrated Children’s Services Plan and a whole raft of local and national policies. One participant described this process, “ Glasgow’s young people deserve a well-planned response from all services. We really haven’t explored the full potential of how we work with each other to make sure that these needs are properly met. This has to mean changing how we work, share information and invest in joint work.” Beacons of Great Practice Tam Baillie spoke about the importance of getting it right in Glasgow in terms of the scale of the challenges faced by families in the city and the implications of this for Scotland as a whole. Endorsing the role which the project played in supporting and highlighting the value of the Third Sector, he noted that it is vital for Government and GCVS to work in concert with statutory and voluntary sector organisations and that highlighting “beacons of great practice” would help to ensure that work gets the recognition it deserves and that the learning from these activities has an impact in Glasgow and beyond. Mick Doyle, Policy, Research and Communication manager at GCVS, who manages the project commented that GCVS looked forward to continuing to develop the project’s links with those who attended the launch and other organisations active in this work in Glasgow.
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Everyone’s Children Everyone’s children research and learning for action Our mapping research is underway at the moment and if you are approached we really hope that you agree to take part in either the online survey, in-depth interviews or focus groups. The research aims to establish:• • • • • •
What voluntary sector and community groups are doing to deliver this work. How you think your work fits with wider policies for children and families in Scotland? How involved you feel in local planning of services for children and families? What support you need to develop your organisation’s knowledge and skills? What support you would need to provide even more supportive services? What help you need to develop your workforce?
The Scottish Government has also funded us to share our learning with other Third Sector Interface organisations and Scottish Government networks. This knowledge and experience will inform thinking in Glasgow and across Scotland. We are particularly keen to find out about where the Sector’s unique role and relationships with families can meet needs and enhance the impact of statutory services. For more information about the research please visit our website.
Putting evidence into practice As GCVS’ work in other areas has shown (e.g. when we recently reviewed the scale and scope of Third Sector services for older people) the ‘mapping’ we do of Third Sector activity with children, young people and families in the city is designed to produce hard information and clear insights about the ‘reach’ and high-quality work local organisations are undertaking, and about the context in which they are working. It will provide hard information about the types of support smaller organisations will need, in order to deepen their contribution and strengthen their influence in the planning of services in the city. It will feed into both children and families planning and wider Third Sector support through Glasgow’s Third Sector Interface. The action plan will address how Third Sector organisations: • Can co-ordinate their own actions and influence • Work with statutory providers to improve outcomes for the city’s children and young people • Access training, capacity development and shared learning in Glasgow and across Scotland • Feed ongoing learning from practice into national and local policy developments GCVS will develop, promote and implement the action plan and seek resources to develop the ongoing work, as the implementation of GIRFEC and other initiatives intensify.
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Everyone’s Children Putting ideas into action Local partnership We are working in North West Glasgow to deliver capacity building and local engagement work building on existing local third sector GIRFEC activity. This is supported by public partners in the area. Alongside local partners we ran a successful event on the 29th of May where 28 local third sector organisations agreed to further coordination of activities to support children, young people and families across a wide range of wellbeing activities for 0-18 year olds. The event also began to identify further capacity building needs for the sector locally. For further details on how this work develops see the next edition or contact: fariha.thomas@gcvs.org.uk UNCRC - Child Right Rights in Action Project staff have participated in training for the city’s Children’s Services Executive Group which co-ordinates the delivery of the Glasgow’s Integrated Children’s Services Plan. This covered the principles behind Glasgow’s Child Friendly City Initiative and will ensure that the project can help to promote and deliver the aims of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in all aspects of its work and with partners throughout the project’s life.
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Everyone’s Children Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014 Briefing Getting it Right for Every Child will now become law, following the passing of The Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014, which received Royal Assent on 27 March. This is an important piece of legislation which will underpin the approach to all services related to children and young people in Scotland. The Bill makes provisions for the human rights of children and young people, GIRFEC, the role of the Children’s Commissioner, looked after children, children in secure accommodation and children’s hearings. Full statutory guidance to support all of the provisions of the Act will be published in due course, with a view to commencing its provisions in August 2016. • GCVS has prepared a briefing outlining the key aspects of the Act and proposed guidance, which has been developed to support the GIRFEC aspects of the Act.
Resources • The Scottish Government website provides access to a range of resources and GIRFEC materials • Glasgow Integrated Children’s Service Plan • Interviews from Social Work and Education about One Glasgow • Our fortnightly round-up newsletter will bring you the latest in news, funding, events and resources related to working with children and families. • Over the course of the project we will add links to other resources on our Everyone’s Children webpage – please let us know if you there are any that you think we should share with other organisations. We will also be developing a range of resources which will be downloadable from our webpage.
Contact For more information or to discuss what the project means for your organisation please contact:Mick Doyle Policy, Research & Communications Manager mick.doyle@gcvs.org.uk 0141 332 2444
Fariha Thomas Early Years Capacity Building Officer fariha.thomas@gcvs.org.uk 0141 332 2444
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