Author
WHEATLEY Helen.
Title
Pathways to success: good practice guide for children's services in the development of services for disabled children: evidence from the pathfinder children's trusts.
Publisher
Council for Disabled Children, 2006
Summary
This guide looks at the development and learning from pathfinder children's trusts and how support and services can be improved.
Context
The development of the children's trust model for delivery of local services is at the heart of legislation and policy regarding all children and young people. The development of the pathfinder children's trust's work has been at the forefront in taking forward the duties set out in the Children Act 2004. Thirty-five pathfinder children's trusts were announced in 2003. Their brief was to improve partnership working and try out ways of doing this which suited local needs. Each children's trust had a specific area which they identified as a focus for the development of an effective model. A third of the children's trusts had identified disabled children's services as their priority areas of work.
Contents
An introduction outlines the development of the children's trust model for delivery of local services, describing the brief of the 35 trusts announced in 2003, the interest generated, and the origins of the project leading to this guide. The development of children's trusts is described. The trusts were asked to identify key work areas they would be concentrating one including areas of particular concern, and common threads were identified. Priorities included agreeing shared aims and objectives within the strategic planning framework and across agencies; agreement of workstreams across agencies; developing an effective communication strategy; pooling budgets; making the children's trust a priority in wider authority/council business; co-location of mixed staff teams; joint training for staff groups; linking in with the development of extended schools/services; transition to adulthood for disabled young people; and participation of parents and young people. From these came a number of workstreams. The bulk of the guide describes the key work areas: strategic planning; commissioning services and pooling budgets; joint working and co-location; assessment process and information sharing; keyworking and lead professionals; developing capacity for change; transition to adulthood; evaluation; participation of disabled children and young people; and participation of parents and carers in children's trusts. Sections give the background, legislation and guidance, good practice, key elements of success, and a conclusion.
Conclusion
A final section on 'The future' says the aims of developing local children's trust arrangements have been well received in most areas. There is real evidence of change which has led to an improvement in services and support. The approach has been flexible to accommodate local needs. Much has been achieved but there is still much to do. As the role of children's trusts continues to develop it is becoming evident that other developing initiatives are not always interlinking with the children's trust agenda and in some instances are duplicating or going in a different direction. Examples are given. In the move towards further integrated services it is essential to ensure all services are included in changes. Appendices give and extract from the job description for the post of Disabled Children Integrated Services Manager at the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, an article on the problem of developing inter-agency transition pathways for disabled and special needs young people in Leicester , and notes on key elements of success in parents' participation in children's trusts.
45 references
ISBN 1 904787 8