Can you believe that it’s been a year since we introduced our 24/7 in the Home Programme? It’s been a very busy, but an extremely rewarding twelve months for all at Advanced involved with the Programme. We thought that we should pause to reflect on that time.
We launched the Programme at a time when the country was coming out of the Covid-19 pandemic and families were still subject to various forms of social restrictions. It was therefore a time that whilst it seemed counterintuitive to ask our Independent Social Workers and Parenting Practitioners to provide a greater level of direct involvement with families, it was also a time when such support was needed most by those families.
The Programme
The 24/7 in the Home Programme assesses parents in their natural home environment over a minimum 6-week period with a 24 hour a day package of protective support/monitoring provided by a team of trained and experienced Parenting practitioners.
Availability of the Programme is determined by the completion of an initial risk assessment which will conclude with one of three recommendations…
- the matter is suitable to progress into the parents’ home.
- the matter is not suitable to progress into the parents’ home at this stage, but significantly extended periods of contact and community-based assessment are proposed in lieu; or
- the matter is not suitable for either the ‘in the home’ or extended contact & community-based assessment.
We envisaged that the Programme would provide an alternative option to parent and child residential/foster placement and a further option to mitigate against the possibility of the separation of the child from his parents or, alternatively, a means by which the parent-child relationship could be preserved by extended contact.
We also believed that the Programme would offer a genuine opportunity for parents to learn how to parent (through in situ guidance and role modelling), for realistic assessment, fully informed care planning and the best chance for the child’s permanent placement with his parents.
Successes
Our belief in the Programme is evidently shared by many in the family justice sector as interest from legal and social work professionals has been phenomenal. We continue to receive enquiries about the Programme and have been able to provide risk assessments and either the full or community-based service in these cases were deemed appropriate.
Our belief in the Programme has also been vindicated by industry recognition. In April this year, we won the ‘Innovation of the Year’ category at the 2022 Modern Law Awards and this September our panel of Parenting Practitioners were shortlisted in the ‘Team of the Year’ category at the 2022 Social Worker of the Year Awards which is due to be held in November 2022.
However, the most rewarding recognition received has been that from the parents who have themselves participated in the Programme. One parent wrote…
“it’s a big thanks to your team and my assessment by you (ACCA). Thank you so much for all your hard work. I feel privileged to have been one of the first to have this experience“
And another wrote…
“We found the process really hard at first but ACCA staff were lovely and supported us. I don’t think we would have [the child in our care] if it wasn’t for the 24/7 Programme”.
Such accolades rightly credit the support that the parents received from our Independent Social Workers and Parenting Practitioners, and we certainly consider this to be one of the most significant successes of the Programme. Our Independent Social Workers and Parenting Practitioners risked their own health to engage the parents during the pandemic, they consistently and unwaveringly worked hard to forge working relationships with the parents and other involved professionals, adapted to different working practices and delivered training to parents to give them the opportunity to address identified areas of need. They have also intervened and challenged parents when needed to safeguard the child.
Whilst outcomes can be contributed to by many different factors, we consider the support that parents have received from our Independent Social Workers and Parenting Practitioners has undoubtably played a part in several dozen children permanently remaining in the care of their parents and can, correspondingly, be claimed as a success.
We have also been delighted to see the development of a parenting skills programme (delivered by our Parenting Practitioners) and, also, the way in which the Programme has evolved. Whilst we originally envisaged this as principally a 6-week period in the parent’s home OR extended periods of contact, we have adapted this to meet the specific needs of a case. As such, we have developed various models which have included: –
- extended periods of time in the parents’ home beyond 6 weeks.
- incremental extension of contact leading to time in the parents’ home.
- gradual reduction of support in the parents’ home leading to withdrawal; &
- support post parent & child residential/foster placement in the parents’ home.
Challenges
The successes above, however, have not been without challenge.
Our panel of Parenting Practitioners were at increased risk of poor health during the pandemic due to their direct involvement with several families. Accordingly, recurring staff sickness meant that our recruitment and admin teams had to develop and implement robust contingency arrangements to ensure that normal service was provided for the families involved in the Programme – a task made more difficult by the overall recruitment picture in the country at that time.
Challenges remain in meeting demand from across the country. We are working extremely hard with our partners to offer the full Programme as a nationwide service and hope to achieve this over the course of the coming months by way of ongoing recruitment and training. The development of our Parenting Practitioner panel from two to over forty in the last twelve months and the planned appointment of a sessional coordinator give us reason for optimism in this regard.
What’s next…year two
We’re looking forward to the Social Worker of the Year Awards in November and hope to report back positively in a few months!
Our ongoing commitment to this amazing Programme will afford us the opportunity to extend our panel of Parenting Practitioners so that we can offer full national support to children and families across the country.
If you’re interested in finding out a little more about the Programme and its availability in your region, please head to our website or make a referral.
