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What Works for Children’s Social Care (former organisation that merged to become Foundations) were commissioned to carry out this research by the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care to inform the Review’s understanding of the area and to support the formulation of recommendations.
The report found that, despite the wide range of internal and external services offered to children and families, there are gaps in service provision. In particular around specialist support for child and parent mental health.
Further research is required into whether the support given is effective and to describe and explain the variance in support regionally.
Findings from a research study exploring the support offered to children and their families who have a Child in Need plan across four local authorities. Little is known about the needs of children who are on Child in Need plans and this research aimed to add to the existing knowledge base.
The findings highlighted that there was inconsistency across local authorities in how Child in Need plans were used, thresholds for involvement and interventions, and the range of services offered to families in need of support. In addition, the findings reaffirm that there is still much that is unknown about the characteristics and experiences of those on Child in Need plans.
The aim of this report was to form an initial understanding about the support offered to families and children who are subject to a Child in Need plan. Research questions:
Working closely with four local authorities, this research study drew on a range of information sources.
We carried out a manual review of 82 case files of children with a Child in Need plan and supplemented this with in-depth case discussions with practitioners. We held seven focus groups with 29 social work staff, along with 11 interviews with parents of children with a Child in Need plan. Case files and families included in the review were limited to those selected by LAs who agreed for their file to be included. In addition, we analysed administrative data about children with a Child in Need plan from all four LAs.
To inform the study, we also held four roundtables with attendees from a wider range of LAs (separate from those LAs included in the study).
Child in Need plans
Support offered to families
This report adds to the knowledge base on the characteristics and support offered to children and their families who are subject to a Child in Need plan. It highlights the need for increased consistency in use of Child in Need plans and service provisions available across LAs to ensure that children and families are receiving the right support for their needs. This includes greater collaboration with families when creating Child in Need plans, ensuring that practitioners have sufficient time to undertake direct work with families, and improved access to external support provided by multi-agency partners. Also, improved data collection and recording about children and their families is needed to establish a greater understanding of the experiences of being on a Child in Need plan.
This study only presents a snapshot of the experiences of children and families on Child in Need plans in four local authorities, and so, these findings are not generalisable to the wider Child in Need population. The report highlights three areas for further research in order to gain a greater understanding of this particular group of children:
