Think Family
Introduction
The Think Family approach is being developed in Worcestershire
so that everyone who works with a family, or the people in that
family, can provide the right support at the right time.
This move is a result of the move to integrated working taking
place in children's services after
Every Child Matters which has helped to improve opportunities
for children.
What is Think Family?
Think Family will mean better co-ordination between any service
that is working with a family, because all families experience
problems from time to time.
For some, timely advice from a friend, trusted professional or
signposting to a source of help is all that is needed. For others,
for example where a family member is experiencing a long-term
health problem, has a child who has got into trouble with the
police or has been excluded from school, more help may be
needed.
Taking wider family needs into account when helping individual
family members is the key to success. Children whose mothers and
fathers have attended positive parenting programmes experience far
fewer behaviour problems for example.
In Worcestershire
Worcestershire's introduction of Think Family is rapidly
developing and Think Family policy guidance for agencies and
organisations is being developed. This will use examples from where
partners in the county are already taking a family centred approach
to the work that they do. A family centred approach is where the
family circumstances are taken into account when working with
either the children, parents or the family as a whole.
There are already good examples of this in Worcestershire; Early
Intervention Family Support Workers take family circumstances into
account when working with children aged 0 to 13. The Worcestershire
Family Intervention Project has had positive results from their
work with some of the most challenging families in the county.
Redditch YMCA is working in an innovative way with young people in
prisons and ex-offenders to avoid them re-entering the system.
Links with the Common Assessment
Framework
The Common Assessment Framework (CAF) is a process for
practitioners to use to work with an individual child but that
takes family circumstances into account. It is predominately used
by people working in children's services and has introduced a
shared assessment tool as well as a common language. A good common
assessment will "Think Family".
Integrated Working
Integrated working means everyone involved with a child and
their family working together.
Worcestershire has developed a programme of integrated working
training, for professionals from any agency or service that works
with children or families. Currently the training covers the common
assessment, roles and responsibilities and information sharing, an
important part of integrated working.
The Think Family ethos is now included in all CAF Training to
embed the approach across Children's and Adult's Services..
Why Is It Important?
Think Family, CAF and integrated working are all important
because they mean that practitioners will have a shared and
consistent way of working with children and families in
Worcestershire.
Contacts
As the project develops in Worcestershire, we will update these
pages. If you are a practitioner and would like to get
involved, please email Anne Williams, Project Officer, at awilliams4@worcestershire.gov.uk.
For more information about Think Family nationally, you can
visit the Department for Education website.
Training Information
This page was last reviewed 15 March 2012 at 11:12.
The page is next due for review 11 September 2013.