Difference we're making

Families First - Performance Data Report

You may be interested to view our Families First Performance Data report for the period October 2022 - September 2023.

The report looks at Families First Assessments that took place within the period and highlights the presenting needs and outcomes broken down by district along with information about other support for families.

Safe Space Mentoring Annual Event

On Saturday 20^th January some our fantastic volunteer mentors came together for the Safe Space Annual event. We were joined by Cllr Fiona Thomson (Deputy Leader Hertfordshire County Council, Cabinet Member Children, Young People and Families, Councillor for Handside and Peartree, WGC) who presented the Mentor of the Year Awards, affectionately referred to as the MOTYs.

Before announcing the winners of the awards, the group took part in a training session on the Social Graaaacccees to consider how our personal and social identity may influence how we understand ourselves and others. There were some interesting discussions and reflections about how our mentors engage with their young mentees and how social graaaacccees affect relationships.

The winners of the 2023 MOTYs, which are nominated by their mentees were:

Mentor of the Year- Iain Bristow

Runner-up- Jo Fisher

New mentor of the Year- Mark Sawyer

Co-ordinator’s Award- Nick Corrigan

Long service awards (for 10+ years)- Paula Horsnell and Jayne Mouser

The Mentor of the Year and Runner Up are chosen from nominations from young people that have been supported during the year. They are contacted and asked to complete a form asking if and why they would like to nominate their mentor. It is lovely to receive their replies and read the difference they feel mentoring has made to them. Below are the comments received about the winner Iain:

“My mentor, Ian has improved my confidence a lot. When I first met Ian I was very quiet and kept my head down for the first few sessions but he was very patient with me. We talked through everything I wanted to work on and mine was ordering at shops. So, we decided to meet at costa and every week we worked on it. He challenged me but in a good way. We came up with loads of ideas to achieve my goal such as making a script, him coming up with me and many more. I eventually achieved my goal! The sessions would also be very fun and I would look forward to them every week. I am homeschooled so it was nice to have someone too talk about my week too and discuss interests and someone be interested about it. Even though my sessions have ended now I still rember all my skills” and find it so much easier to socialise and I like helping other people with my skills because thats what Ian did with me!”

After receiving his award as Mentor of the Year, Iain spoke passionately about how one of the other mentors, Adrian Whyle, who has been a Safe Space mentor since 2006, had not only introduced Iain to the mentoring programme in 2016, he had also mentored him as a teenager when he needed some additional support.

Amazing work worth celebrating!

IFST Christmas Party

Watford and Three Rivers Intensive Family Support Team held their annual Christmas party on Wednesday 7^th December. It was well attended by families, one little girl declaring it was the best party she had ever been too! Mr Marvel came along to provide the entertainment and performed tricks for all ages from 3 years up to 12 years. Mr Marvel was fantastic, keeping both children and adults spellbound with his magic and providing lots of laughter too; even producing a live rabbit during one trick!

After a break for food the party finished with a disco with parents and staff joining in the dancing. The team would like to say a big thank you to Mr Marvel and hope he is free to come again next year.

Kaotic Angels (LEMC) Charity - donations

This charity works across Stevenage and the local area reducing food poverty by running food rescue hubs and a monthly ‘Walk the Bridge’ wellbeing support event to raise awareness of people’s mental health difficulties. They will consider any challenge and are open and approachable. They provided the Stevenage and North Herts Intensive Family Support Team with a huge amount of toys, some new and some second hand which allowed us to give out as Christmas presents to all of the families we work with.

Some of the comments received back were:

‘Thank you so much it’s really useful especially this year’

‘Can’t wait to play the Dog Bingo – thank you so much’

‘It will really help out as we have not been able to buy much this year’

Even the teenagers got things such as socks or toiletries. It was lovely to see the smiles on peoples faces at this time of year that can feel very pressured for parents.

Children's Services Awards 23

The Children's Services Awards took place on 7th December and the following staff were nominated, below are some snippets from the nominations made:-

WINNER: Eve Righelato, Outstanding Individual Contribution

"Eve has risen to the challenge of supporting parents and children with empathy, kindness, creativity and perseverance. She has gone above and beyond to help keep children safe by working out of hours, often at short notice. She knows each individual child's lived experience. Children find her easy to relate to and to share with because she is genuinely interested in each one, knows how to ask the right questions to elicit meaningful responses. Her voice of the child work has been invaluable in ensuring families are supported by the right services. Not only does she go above and beyond to support families, her case noting is kept up to date; she follows advice and she is a great team player, always ready to help out colleagues too.

Thank you Eve, we love having you in our team!"

NOMINEE: Lauren Penrose received a nomination for Leader of the Year

"Lauren is an exceptional leader who has worked creatively and tirelessly to develop IFST to meet the needs of the families they support. She has achieved amazing results by doing the following:

Leading by example - she will support frontline staff by sharing her knowledge and experience, even in hands on ways when necessary. She ensures she develops positive relationships with all staff in all the team, which is no mean feat!

Developing the service - she has supported IFST to improve and standardise good practice across the county, to ensure families are not experiencing a postcode lottery. Part of the way she has achieved this is by bringing team managers together to develop a service wide vision, as well as giving us a forum to share frustrations and successes;

Ensuring safe practice - Lauren is a dynamic, energetic leader, but she is also clear that our wellbeing is key to ensuring we don't burn out. She is a great believer in modelling good practice, and encourages us to have clear boundaries so that our teams do as well, for example turning phones and laptops off outside core hours!"

Lauren shows determination and commitment in all she does and strives to have a positive impact on her workforce, often without the recognition she deserves

She is a font of knowledge and if she does not know she will find out!

NOMINEE:- Penny Smith received a nomination for Leader of the Year

Penny is hard working and motivated. Penny shares a lot of empathy towards her staff, and will always check in with them. Penny is funny caring and always on hand when needed.

Penny is committed to her job, she will form the best professional emails, clear guidance and actions when needed.

Separately, Karina Saunders who is a Family Intervention Worker in the Welwyn Hatfield Intensive Family Support Team recently won a Children's Services You are a Star award:-

You Are A Star award, congratulations!

Read about Karina's good work:-

"Karina has been working with a family who have a young daughter going through treatment for cancer. The family also have a new baby and a middle child. They were desperate for support but at the same time were struggling to allow professionals into their lives. Karina has worked tirelessly over the summer holidays to take the middle child to and from clubs, enabling him to get out of the house and have fun with other children. When the daughter became ill following chemo, Karina supported the family in any practical way she could, for example taking them to visit her in hospital, using family budget to buy food basics for them so they didn't have to worry about that. As they have seen Karina's level of compassion for them, the parents have begun to trust her and open up about how much they are struggling and are allowing her to support them emotionally. The mother has shared how much she appreciates talking to another adult and has been able to enjoy those conversations. She has also spoken about starting to bond with the new baby, which she hadn't been able to before. I believe that this has happened due to some of the stress being taken from them by the work that Karina is doing.

Karina has certainly improved the lives of the family, even in the face of a very distressing situation. She has shown integrity by providing a first-class service, putting the family at the centre of the work, and going above and beyond to support them practically and emotionally. We are very proud of her!

Karina has been a fantastic example of a committed, compassionate and hard-working family intervention worker. This has not only benefited this particular family, but it inspires us all to do the same."

Families First Case Studies

Following on from a programme of Celebrating Excellence in Early Help sessions run in Children’s Services, which aimed to highlight the Families First approach and also included contributions from some of our partners, we are sharing some of the recent case below:

Case Study 1 - Intensive Family Support / Local Borough Council

Scene Setting

The Intensive Family Support team (IFST) began supporting this family of nine in Spring 2021.

As support got underway the third youngest child Tia* was diagnosed with a terminal brain tumour and the family are struggling coming to terms with Tia’s diagnosis and her life expectancy of one year. Tia is 11 years old.

On learning of Tia’s prognosis and following discussion with Keech Hospice an Occupational Therapist (OT) appointment was arranged for the family’s home. This assessment identified that the three-bedroom home was not suitable for end-of-life care and was not suitable for adaptation as the access was too narrow and steep for a ramp.

The Family Intervention Worker (FIW) made contact with the local Borough Council’s Aids and Adaptions Team for support.

Scene Setting

This case study provides some insight into the journey of Fran* and her family. Fran is an eight year old girl who worries about her mum, she knows mum is different when she is with her drinking friends. Fran’s Mum has a diagnosis of unstable personality disorder and has previously used drugs and alcohol as coping strategies, she has been in a cycle of poor mental health and whilst their wider family network have been supporting Fran and her mother they sought out some external support via a Families First Assessment.

Scene Setting:

This case study provides some insight into the support provided to Sanz* from one of our Employment Advisers. Our Intensive Family Support Teams include Employment Advisers who provide tailored support in areas such as employability; taking time to understand skills and experiences, any barriers or challenges preventing employment, identification of any training to support employability, preparation of supporting statements and CVs and job search support, including mock interviews.

Our Advisers can also provide guidance on how to navigate the benefits system, including benefit entitlements and claims, as well as how changes in circumstances impact benefits.

They work in parallel with Family Intervention Workers. This case study summarises support given to Sanz, the mother, to support with employability and benefits.

READ MORE

Case Study 4 - Local Schools Partnership

Please share anonymised case studies highlighting how early help and partnership working has provided support to local families with us at familiesfirst.support@hertfordshire.gov.uk. Please ensure you have consent from the family.

Help us promote the Families First Website

Our Families First Website is a great central resource for early help support for families and young people, with links to many services such as mental health support, Services for Young People, SEND Local Offer, parenting courses etc along with a link to the Herts Directory and the Families First professionals area.

We would like to encourage all partner agencies to help us promote the Families First website to parents and carers in Hertfordshire.

Campaign Tools:

Please add the web address to your own website:- https://www.hertfordshire.gov.uk/microsites/families-first/families-first.aspx

February 2024