Legal News
Bexley’s children services benefits from partnership approach (20 March 2017)
Date: 20/03/2017
The Department of Communities and Local Government (DCLG) has visited Bexley Council’s services to support children and their families.
The council says the aim of the visit was for the DCLG to see how Bexley services work together and with local partners, to provide support to children and their families who need extra help before any difficulties escalate.
Bexley's early help services are partly funded by DCLG through the Extended Troubled Families Programme. The programme is designed to help local authorities to transform services for families.
The changes mean that families now work with a single family key worker, who co-ordinates additional support from other services – this means that there is one worker for the whole family and a single plan of support tackling the range of challenges that some families face.
Cabinet Member for Children's Services, Councillor Philip Read said:
“The Troubled Families programme was introduced to bring together services that can make a real difference to parents, carers and children and young people.
“The programme's success has been made possible by solid partnership work that has allowed a clarity of focus on how we help those families in need. By working together – and by all of us sticking to one clear plan – we have made some real progress and already seen positive results.
“I'm very pleased that Bexley's work has been recognised by the government.”
During the visit, DCLG representatives met with partner organisations involved in the programme, as well as relevant council departments – including Charlton Athletic Community Trust, CCG and Oxleas, The Learning Centre Bexley, Prospects Services Limited, Bexley Moorings, Imago and BVSC
The council says that feedback from the DCLG includes positive observations that Education Welfare Officers supporting children and their parents and carers work with them to tackle the issues that cause school absence, rather than simply managing the absence itself.
The DCLG also commented on the significant progress the council had made – working with partners to ensure that individual services and partners work together with families, to develop co-ordinated responses that help families to improve the life chances of their children.
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