This case example is part of EIF’s (former organisation that merged to become Foundations) work to showcase how local areas are introducing change, adapting their strategies and changing the way they work to reduce parental conflict and improve outcomes for children.
This is Rochdale’s story about developing a whole system approach to talk about parental conflict and address the population’s needs. It is told by Emily Nickson Williams, former strategic lead of early help & relational practice.
Rochdale has a population of around 218,000, people with a large proportion of the population living in deprived areas. The borough is ranked the 15th-most deprived in England based on a rank of the average scores for lower-layer super output areas. Rochdale is increasingly diverse, and the needs of the population are predictably shaped by deprivation. Rochdale as a whole has poorer health, life expectancy and healthy life expectancy compared to the rest of the North West and England, and the percentage of workless families is 17.3%, which is 3.4% higher than the UK average. Over the last six years, the level of crime deprivation has significantly worsened, moving from an average rank of 27th in 2015 to the second-worst in the country in 2019.
In 2017, we started to see an increase of referrals and requests for support into children’s services that we concluded should be more accurately described as ‘family relationship difficulties’ – many of which we felt were in need of a therapeutic, relational response. We also observed that our interventions and responses at the time did not always meet the needs of the families in relation to parental conflict, problems between separated parents, or children who were being violent or abusive towards their parents or carers.
We wanted everyone to understand that relationships are a right and not privilege, and to highlight the issues people face when their relationships are challenged, such as poor mental health and substance misuse. We also wanted to improve our support to meet the real needs of the local families. With this in mind, we felt the most powerful way to do this was to start a ‘relationship revolution’, pioneered by a broader, more diverse group of men, women and children. We agreed that this group would work co-operatively to support their wider communities in developing a strengthened focus on relationships, seeking ultimately to improve the quality of relationships for everyone who lives in the Rochdale borough. This work began its life in children’s services, but we soon demonstrated that the approach was about a whole-system change that needed to include a vast range of partners from the local authority, health, education and voluntary sector.
We wanted to develop a whole system approach to talk about parental conflict and a practice change agenda to address the population’s needs. To do this, we put in place the following activities:
Although the progress made and the evaluation of the impact on families has been hindered by the pandemic, in the future we aim to provide further support to this emerging agenda and evaluate its impact:
Rated 1: Set up and delivery is low cost, equivalent to an estimated unit cost of less than £100.
Rated 2: Set up and delivery is medium-low cost, equivalent to an estimated unit cost of £100–£499.
Rated 3: Set up and delivery is medium cost, equivalent to an estimated unit cost of £500–£999.
Rated 4: Set up and delivery is medium-high cost, equivalent to an estimated unit cost of £1,000–£2,000.
Rating 5: Set up and delivery is high cost. Equivalent to an estimated unit cost of more than £2,000.
Set up and delivery cost is not applicable, not available, or has not been calculated.
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Supporting children’s mental health and wellbeing: Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Aenean commodo ligula eget dolor. Aenean massa. Cum sociis natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient.
Preventing child maltreatment: Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Aenean commodo ligula eget dolor. Aenean massa. Cum sociis natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient.
Enhancing school achievement & employment: Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Aenean commodo ligula eget dolor. Aenean massa. Cum sociis natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient.
Preventing crime, violence and antisocial behaviour: Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Aenean commodo ligula eget dolor. Aenean massa. Cum sociis natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient.
Preventing substance abuse: Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Aenean commodo ligula eget dolor. Aenean massa. Cum sociis natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient.
Preventing risky sexual behaviour & teen pregnancy: Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Aenean commodo ligula eget dolor. Aenean massa. Cum sociis natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient.
Preventing obesity and promoting healthy physical development: Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Aenean commodo ligula eget dolor. Aenean massa. Cum sociis natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient.
Rated 2: Has preliminary evidence of improving a child outcome from a quantitative impact study, but there is not yet evidence of causal impact.
Rated 2+: Meets the level 2 rating and the best available evidence is based on a study which is more rigorous than a level 2 standard but does not meet the level 3 standard.
Rated 3: Has evidence of a short-term positive impact from at least one rigorous study.
Rated 3+: Meets the level 3 rating and has evidence from other studies with a comparison group at level 2 or higher.
Rated 4: Has evidence of a long-term positive impact through at least two rigorous studies.
Rated 4+: Meets the level 4 rating and has at least a third study contributing to the Level 4 rating, with at least one of the studies conducted independently of the intervention provider.
Rating has a *: The evidence base includes mixed findings i.e., studies suggesting positive impact alongside studies, which on balance, indicate no effect or negative impact.
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