Chair of Independent Review of Children’s Social Care meets with Elmore and Oxfordshire County Council about domestic abuse service
Elmore Community Services and Oxfordshire County Council have today met with Josh MacAlister as part of the independent review of children’s social care that he chairs.
Set up by the Government in January 2021, the independent review is considering how the children’s social care system responds to all children who are referred to it and the full spectrum of need from early help to looked-after children. Under Josh’s leadership, the review intends to deliver a wide-ranging plan to extend the joy, growth and safety of childhood and the esteem, love, and security of family life to all children.
As part of the FSP model, Oxfordshire Social Workers, Children’s Practitioners, and adult domestic abuse workers from Elmore collaborate to engage families. Elmore works with parents and guardians who have been victims and perpetrators of domestic abuse to help them identify their strengths and build on them, learn about the positive changes that they want to make, and support them to create lasting positive change for themselves. The service works with perpetrators in group and individual settings to recognise, acknowledge, and change harmful and controlling behaviour. As a result, Elmore and Oxfordshire County Council help to keep more children safely at home with their families as a result.
Josh met virtually with Elmore’s Chief Executive Tom, Elmore’s Family Solutions Plus (FSP) Domestic Abuse Team Manager Sadia Hussain, and Trustee (and domestic abuse lead for Oxford City Council) Liz Jones, and Oxfordshire County Council’s Deputy Director of Children’s Social Care Hannah Farncombe.
Among the seven themes considered by the care review, Elmore and Oxfordshire County Council supported the review by highlighting the cultural changes and innovations being brought about by the partnership and providing insights into the following three:
Support: what support is needed to meet the needs of children referred to or involved with social care, to improve outcomes and make long-term positive differences.
Strengthening families: what can be done so that children are supported to stay safely and thrive with their families, to ensure powers to support and intervene in families are consistently used responsibly, balancing the need to protect children with the right to family life, avoiding the need to enter care?
Care: what is needed for children to have a positive experience of care that prioritises stability, providing an alternative long-term family for children who need it and support for others to return home safely?
Sustainability: what is the most sustainable and cost-effective way of delivering services, including high-cost services, who is best placed to deliver them, and how could this be improved so that they are fit for the future?
Josh MacAlister, Chair of the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care said: “As a review we want to make sure that every child grows up with love, safety and security. We have spent thousands of hours listening to individual experiences, including from those who work to support children and families, and it was really useful to hear from Elmore and the County Council about their innovative support to survivors and their work alongside perpetrators. Their jointly delivered Family Solutions Plus domestic abuse service provides valuable insights that will help to strengthen the review’s evidence base.”
Tom Hayes, Chief Executive of Elmore Community Services, said: “Elmore and Oxfordshire County Council are transforming the way children and families are supported. The domestic abuse partnership is empowering Elmore caseworkers and social workers and Oxfordshire families themselves to make changes. We’re thrilled to have shared our experiences and knowledge with Josh, so that the independent review he chairs will be in an even stronger position to make workable recommendations to improve children’s social care.”
Hannah Farncombe, Deputy Director of Children’s Social Care, Oxfordshire County Council, said: “Our two organisations have forged a working relationship that really recognises that helping children is a ‘whole-family’ business. Together we are giving parents who are domestic abuse victims and perpetrators opportunities to find safer ways to live and parent their children. I am really proud that we were able to show that to Josh and his team – and maybe through the Review we’ll influence the future of children’s social care.”
Elmore’s Chief Executive Tom Hayes was interviewed by Jack FM Oxfordshire about the meeting by Elmore and Oxfordshire County Council with the Chair of the independent review of children’s social care: