Highland leads the way in integrated children’s services
A major report being published this week has found that the major providers of children’s services in the Highlands, including schools, police, social workers, youth action teams, health-based workers and voluntary agencies, are making “considerable progress” in working together.
The report, “Delivering Integrated Services for Children in Highland: an overview of challenges, developments and outcomes,” follows a comprehensive evaluation of a critical policy area for the Scottish government on how to achieve better joined-up services for children and families. Bill Alexander, head of children's services in Highland, said the report confirmed that the region was leading the way.
Researchers Dr Morag MacNeil and Dr Bob Stradling spent four years looking at how Highland children’s services were delivered, how changes and challenges were being met by staff, and the impact on children, their families and their communities.
They concluded: "It is clear that considerable progress has been made in the development of joint working between schools, social workers, youth workers, youth action teams and the police, and that working together can be seen to be well established across Highland. The changes in practice have been spectacular in some areas, and slower to emerge in others."
The project on which the report is based was commissioned by The Highland Council and NHS Highland and undertaken with UHI support by social policy and child welfare specialists Drs MacNeil and Stradling, currently based at the University of Edinburgh
It involved face-to-face interviews with staff, children and families; focus groups; community case studies, and the tracking of children and families through the system. The researchers looked in particular at the implementation of the Integrated Community School Approach, services for children on the autistic spectrum, youth offending and support and services for Gypsy/Traveller Families.
Findings will be discussed at a major international conference, “Building Better Childhoods: understanding and developing the reform agenda,” at the Aviemore Highland Resort on the 6th and 7th September, organised by the national agency Children in Scotland and supported by the Scottish Executive.
They include positive early indicators to ensure Highland's children are safer; improved support for vulnerable and disadvantaged children and those with higher-level needs; clear progress to support young people to be respected and responsible, and improvements in the attainment of looked-after children that can be directly related to specific initiatives.
More work needs to be done, however, to ensure the momentum continues across every key element which drives integration of services, including working to enhance attitudes and mindsets which focus on the child as a whole, as distinct from the child as a problem.
The report added: “Changes of the magnitude involved in integrating services for children, young people and families take time. It is not unreasonable to anticipate that some of these changes will take three to five years to bear fruit.”
Bill Alexander commented: “The landscape of children's services has transformed in recent years, bringing new challenges, aspirations and possibilities. This report sets out where we have got to in Highland, and confirms that we are leading the way in Scotland. It provides a helpful platform for the development of new systems and processes to help professionals work even more effectively together, to help achieve yet better outcomes for children and families."
Pam Courcha of NHS Highland, and chair of Highland's Joint Committee on Children and Young People, said: "This has been a journey, and we are still on it. Drs MacNeil and Stradling have helped us evaluate how we are doing and have provided good advice along the way. We commend this report to colleagues from other authorities who are walking this same journey."
Morag MacNeil said: “This project was a very exciting one to be involved in, as it was in effect such an extensive and comprehensive test-bed for the government’s challenging agenda of improving services for children and delivering better outcomes. We found real progress and solid indicators of development. It must be recognised that change of this nature is very difficult to achieve and the fact that there is such development reflects the skill and dedication of Highland’s policy makers, managers and practitioners. That should be recognised for what it is – the most valuable, and critical, factor of all.”
The full report can be found at www.uhi.ac.uk/research/research-centres/uhi-centre-for-rural-childhood