The Williamson Report - Implementation Plan

No

Recommendation

States Implementation Plan 2009

Update

1

Create the post of Minister for Children whose responsibilities should be determined following discussions about whether the scope of this role should be for all children or specifically vulnerable children and their families.

The "Corporate Parent" is replaced by a single Minister, the Minister for Health & Social

Services. The Minister will have designated responsibility at the Council of Ministers for services for vulnerable children and their families. For the day to day political oversight of these services, the Minister will formally delegate this function to the Assistant Minister for Health and Social Services.

The political lead for corporate parenting was delegated to the Children and Young People's Policy Group. This responsibility now rests with CAVA (the Children and Vulnerable Adults Policy Group).

2

Redesign Children's Executive to report to Minister

It is proposed that services currently under the remit of the Children's Executive should

report to the Minister for Health and Social Services

All services within the remit of Children's Services report to the Minister for Health and Social Services.

3

Appoint external organisation to review Children's Service on a bi annual basis

Bi-annual external inspection of children's services will be commissioned from nationally respected agencies specialising in the area of children's services and secure provision. The first inspection will focus on residential and secure accommodation and will take place in 2009. The second inspection will take place in 2010 and focus upon Child Protection Services. Thereafter, children's services will be subject to a rolling programme of bi-annual inspection.

Inspections were carried out in 2012 by the Scott ish Social Work  Services  Inspection  Agency  (now  the  Care Inspectorate) with a follow up Inspection in 2013. Children's services  continue  to  be  audited  and  subject  to  external scrutiny  and  challenge.   Ongoing  audits  of  social  work practice  were  completed  in  2015.  This  process  will  be replicated this year. Work is ongoing to scope a review of residential services for children. Audit outcomes are reported to the Children's Services Improvement Board chaired by the Chief Minister.

4.

Appoint external Reviewing Officer

A full-time Independent Reviewing Officer (IRO) will be appointed. The IRO must be independent of the statutory child protection' and looked after children' authorities and be able to guarantee that personalised planning is provided for all children and young people. They would also provide external scrutiny of the work of children's services generally provided in these areas.

The  Independent  Safeguarding  Service  (ISS)  has  been established to review children's plans independent of case management responsibility. This service has been increased from  2  FTE  to  4  FTE  posts  of  Independent  Reviewing Officers. In addition, the management of the service has been strengthened.

5.

Establish group representing users of remodelled Children's Service

It is proposed that a wholly independent service is established for Looked After Children, primarily (though not exclusively) for those in residential care, particularly those who do not have on-going contact with their parents. It will be dedicated to monitoring and ensuring

their well being and helping them to express their wishes and feelings by encouraging self advocacy or advocating on their behalf and reporting any cause for concern to the

Independent Reviewing Officer. Health and Social Services is already in discussion with the

Jersey Care Leavers Association, working towards identifying how best to support this developing group.

A group of volunteers known as the Independent Visitors for Young People  (IVYP)  has  been established to fulfil this remit. Regular meetings take place between this group and Children's Services Managers. There is work taking place to consider  the  medium/long  term  role  of  the  IVYP  in preparation for the establishment of the Commission and the implementation of the Regulation of Care Act.

In addition a contract has been awarded to Barnardo's to provide an independent "Participation Officer" to seek the views of children in care and develop a "Children In Care Council" (CICC).

6.

Refine contractual approach to external agencies e.g. NSPCC, Brig Y Don, The Bridge,

identify gaps in provision and prioritise areas for future service development.

A scoping project will take place to consider the role and function of existing preventative and supportive services working in this sector. It will recommend the most efficient and effective way to develop, alter or extend existing provision to ensure that parents and children, particularly the most vulnerable, can be provided with easy to access, user friendly' support services which result in improved outcomes for children and which enable, in appropriate cases, easy transition to specialist services. It will examine arrangements for joint strategic and operational planning and make recommendations to enhance the co-ordination and management of services across key providers of family support services, and across specialist services including the statutory child protection agencies. It will also identify gaps in provision and prioritise areas for future service development.

The Children and Young People's Framework was developed and launched in 2011 providing a strategic framework for partners  to  deliver  agreed  outcomes  reporting  to  the Children's Policy Group.

A strong working partnership between The Bridge and the Multi  Agency  Safeguarding  Hub  (MASH)  has  been established. Professional practices at Brig y don and other children's homes have been modernised over the last year. Additional  staffing  has  been  agreed  that  ensures  the capability to deliver to the most up to date standards of care. There is active dialogue between the children's service and other major providers including Barnardo's and NSPCC.

7

Consider future role of children's residential homes

The investment in fostering and adoption services and the focus on preventative' work with young people has

The service is under the management of a Head of Service for Looked after Children. With the rapid increase in the number

seen a significant reduction in the total number of Looked After Children. This has had a knock on effect on the number in residential care. The last two years have seen a reduction from 42 to 21 and further decreases are predicted. A small number of young people will continue to require residential care. It is expected that the need for

residential child care beds will reduce from 29 to 15 by the end of 2009. Residential Units will therefore be configured as follows: Two 6 bedded and one three bedded residential unit will be provided. One of the 6 bedded units will be Brig-Y-Don. Consideration needs to be given to the possibility of using some of the current residential stock or seeking to release capital from the selling of these properties to allow for the purchase of another 6 bedded property.

of children looked after and the number of children subject to child protection plans in 2015, it is still necessary to expand the number and type of placements available on the island for looked after children.

Residential care provisions will be remodelled to provide more intensive therapeutic support for looked after children. The role of Greenfields Secure Unit is being changed to provide services to young people remanded or receiving custodial sentences as an alternative to prison.

8

Develop a new management structure to ensure all services – Child Adolescent Mental

Health Service (CAMHS), Youth Action Team (YAT), Youth Service and Schools contribute

to wellbeing of children and young people

The new Children's Directorate will bring together all the children's services mentioned above and will be the conduit by which all issues relating to vulnerable children and their families are managed. This represents a substantial and ground breaking development bringing together as it does children's social care and health services under one management structure. Existing resources will be re-configured and re-aligned to create the necessary senior management structure. A Director of Social Work will join the Corporate Directorate of H&SS to work alongside the Medical Director and Director of Nursing & Governance

Children's Services are within the Community & Social Services directorate within the Health and Social Services Department.

The Managing Director of Community & Social Services is a registered social worker.

9

Develop whistle blowing policy for all staff

The policy has been re-written. A suitable independent person/organisation is being sought

to provide the assurance that all concerns raised by those who work for the States of

Jersey are tackled in an open, timely and transparent way. The Comptroller and Auditor

A whistle blowing policy is in place across the States of Jersey.

Raising Concerns guidance is also available to HSSD staff.

General, has indicated that he may be prepared to be considered for this role. Clear advice has been included in the policy about how to handle anonymous and off the record' statements.

10

Develop a link between the Greenfields Secure Unit and La Moye Youth Offenders Wing

with the Jersey Child Protection Committee to ensure that the safeguarding responsibilities are maintained

The JCPC Procedures and Audit Sub-Committee, working as appropriate with the

Safeguarding Children Living Away From Home Sub- Committee will be asked to make recommendations to the JCPC about safeguarding procedures. Recommendations

regarding the development of safeguarding arrangements for looked after children and

those in the YOI will take account of the following:

1. The need to establish a complaints system which

ensures that the young people are confident that there will be no adverse impact on themselves if they make a complaint.

2. The need to ensure that young people living away from home have access to independent advice and advocacy when they require it.
3. The need to ensure that any incidents of harm are reported to the JCPC Serious Case Review Sub- Committee so that appropriate action can be taken where necessary. This will

entail building on existing formal arrangements for monitoring self-harm and violent incidents between young people

The  Jersey  Safeguarding  Partnership  Board  (JSPB)  has replaced the former Jersey Child Protection Committee. The responsibilities  of  the  JSPB  in  respect  of  children  are governed  by  a  "Memorandum  of  Understanding".  The objective of the JSPB is to co-ordinate what is done by each person or body represented on the Board for the purposes of safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children in the area and to ensure the effectiveness of what is done by each such person or body for those purposes.

 All  services  are  included  under  this  remit  and  have representatives on the Safeguarding Partnership Board.

As stated above there is an independent Visitors for Young People Service in place.

There have been a number of Serious Case Reviews under the governance of the Safeguarding Partnership Board. There is an  actions  tracker'  in  place  to  ensure  progress  of recommendations and necessary actions.

11

Replace the present Emergency Duty system which uses the Police Service by one which

uses 24 hour Health and Social Services availability

The system of calls coming through the General Hospital needs to be redesigned and consideration given to whether this is more appropriately delivered via the combined fire and ambulance control room. This will provide an effective filtering' system whereby the staff ask some very deliberate and careful questions to confirm that the matter is an emergency'

Out of hours support and an on call' service is in place which supports multi agency working.  

and that other options for dealing with the presenting situation have been adequately explored, before it is forwarded to the Duty Officer.

A

Develop individual Training Plans for members of staff

It is proposed that the training officer function currently under the Children's Executive will be brought together with a new Training Co-ordinator' post. This will capitalise upon the joint expertise to develop a training unit' which will lead on delivering individual plans in a co-ordinated manner by liaising with team/unit managers in the respective areas.

Supervision arrangements have been strengthened with all staff in receipt of regular supervision. Annual appraisals are completed. Training plans are collated into a training needs assessment which is used by senior managers to ensure the workforce is skilled to meet service objectives.

B

Develop a Court Advisory Service similar to CAFCASS in the UK

The proposal is for the creation of the Jersey Court Advisory Service. It is recommended

that the Probation Board would be the appropriate responsible body to monitor the work of the service, at least through its initial phases of separation from the existing structures and development as a stand-alone service.

A Jersey Court Advisory Service has been established under the auspices of the Probation Service.

C

Lord Laming Compliance – Case management

Ensure that Social Worker caseload size and complexity is monitored, evaluated and where necessary reduced so that staff are effectively supported in discharging their responsibilities under the Children (Jersey) Law 2002. To set a target reduction in caseload size to 12 child

protection and looked after and accommodated children per Children and Families social

worker and ensure sufficient legal advice is available to enable Social Workers to effectively

discharge their duties

Caseloads are routinely monitored. It is recognised that caseloads have been high in children's services and this is one of the areas that will be addressed with the additional resource agreed in the MTFP 2. Resources have been provided to ensure that safeguarding standards and effective child care practices can be maintained.