Families First Partnership: going further for our children and families

Delia Mann is Deputy Director, Children's Social Care at Oxfordshire County Council

The Families First reforms are being described as the biggest changes to children’s social care in a generation. It would be easy to just focus on meeting the national requirements and putting new structures and processes in place. But in Oxfordshire we see it as an opportunity to go further. 

We’ve stepped back and thought about what it’s really like for a child or family to receive help from our services.

• Where does it work well for them?
• Where can we reduce the need for families to repeat their story or move between the different teams supporting them?
• How can we and our partners work differently and build on improvements already made, so families receive the right help at the right time? 

What should feel different for families? 

The principles of Families First will make support feel more connected, from the first time a family may need help through to situations where a child may need protection. This will mean: 

• Receiving help earlier 
• Having greater continuity and not needing to repeat difficult experiences each time another professional becomes involved. 
• Improving access to specialist support when it is needed, rather than after difficulties have escalated. 

We know families value professionals who listen without judgement, take time to understand their circumstances and explain clearly why services are involved and what will happen next. 

That is why trust, transparency and relational practice run through every part of our plans for Oxfordshire. Families should understand how decisions are made and be actively involved in plans that are realistic, achievable and supported by practical help. 

Four changes, one experience 

There are four key national requirements at the heart of the reforms: Integrated Family Help, a single assessment, Multi-Agency Child Protection Teams and Family Group Decision Making. 

Although these are sometimes described separately, for our families they need to feel like one connected approach. In Oxfordshire, we're looking at the whole family journey through our services. We want to reduce unnecessary handovers and make it easier for support to change with a family's circumstances. 

Integrated Family Help will make it simpler for families to get the right support when they need more help than universal and community services can provide. Families will have a named Family Help Lead Practitioner who works alongside them, coordinates their support and brings in the right professionals as their needs change. 

Our single, family assessment will help families and professionals build a shared understanding of what's happening, what's going well and where extra support may be needed. We're currently testing it across different services and using feedback from families, practitioners and partners to shape it before rolling it out more widely.

Working with families and our statutory and community partners, we've designed a single assessment that puts the family's views, strengths and needs at the centre. It stays with the family as their circumstances change, reducing the need to repeat their story or start a new assessment. 

Multi-Agency Child Protection Teams will bring together professionals from children’s social care, health and the police, with education and other services involved when needed, to support children who may be at risk of significant harm. 

Different organisations often hold different pieces of a family’s story. By bringing that information together, professionals can build a clearer picture, share important history and make decisions more quickly about the best support for a child. 

In Oxfordshire, we're piloting parts of this approach to learn from families, staff and partners, test what works in practice and refine the model before introducing it more widely. 

I'm particularly excited about the stronger focus on Family Group Decision Making. 

Families often have trusted relatives, friends and support networks who can play an important role in helping them find solutions and make positive changes. We've learned how important it is to start these conversations early.

Family Network Meetings shouldn't feel like another step in a process. They should give families a genuine voice and help build lasting support that continues long after services are no longer involved. 

Learning together 

Families First is a partnership programme. We at Oxfordshire County Council cannot deliver it alone. Health, police, education, voluntary organisations and community services all bring different knowledge, expertise and relationships with families. Joining those perspectives together will help us make better decisions and provide more coordinated support.

We have also heard positive feedback from health colleagues that there is regional interest in Oxfordshire’s decision to pilot the Multi-Agency Child Protection Team approach while other areas are still developing their models.

That reflects a huge joint effort by our staff and partners and gives us confidence that we are moving in the right direction. 

Ultimately, our success will be measured by the children we keep safe and by families experiencing support that is earlier, clearer, more consistent and genuinely shaped with them. 

The national reforms give us a framework and a clear direction. Our opportunity in Oxfordshire is to bring them to life in a way that makes a lasting difference for our children and families.

Want to know more? Keep an eye out for next month's blog!
Read more about the support available through our Best Start Family Hubs.
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