Project
Volunteers Supporting Families
Purpose
To reduce the number of at-risk children taken into care by providing support to families
Funding
A typical local authority scheme costs £65,000 a year for a project manager supporting at least 25 volunteers
Background
Lord Laming's 2003 inquiry into the death of Victoria Climbie stated that child protection was best achieved by statutory services working together with community groups including charities.
Community Service Volunteers (CSV) was keen to explore the role volunteers could play in safeguarding, and piloted its Volunteers in Child Protection project in Bromley and Sunderland the following year.
"We thought it shouldn't just be social workers that keep children safe," recalls CSV's business development manager, Jill Williams. "This was something no other charities were doing at the time."
Five years later, projects in Lewisham and Southend were launched, followed by Coventry and Cambridgeshire in 2010 and 2011 respectively.
Last year, the project expanded to seven other areas with help from a two-year £1.3m Department for Education grant, under its new name Volunteers Supporting Families.
Action
The charity's four longest-serving projects in Cambridgeshire, Southend, Lewisham and Coventry work almost entirely with children referred by children's services on child protection or child in need plans.
All projects have a paid project manager, co-located where possible with social care teams, who recruits, screens and trains the volunteers, providing specific guidance on child protection and confidentiality. He or she draws up a volunteering involvement plan with the social worker and family.
The volunteers provide basic parenting help and support with daily routines, as well as helping families access other services such as drug and alcohol support.
They can also ensure important diary dates such as children's medical appointments and school meetings are not missed, or help family members back into education or work.
The volunteers are asked to commit to between six and nine months with the family, spending between two and six hours a week with them. "When the child comes off a plan, then a lot of the services disappear," says Williams. "So the volunteer will stay with the family for a while to maintain the changes they've made."
The programme now has 13 projects in 12 local authority areas, with the DfE grant enabling the charity to provide earlier intervention support to families with complex needs in North and South Tyneside, Liverpool, Sheffield, Greenwich, Lambeth and Croydon.
Referrals to the new projects come from a professional who knows the family - usually a social worker or family support worker. "Social care teams know there are a lot of families who are not on child protection plans or a plan of any sort, but still need support to prevent problems becoming more serious," says Williams.
"The idea is these projects will capture some of these children. It's about doing stuff other professionals don't have time to do. The volunteer provides an extra pair of hands, but is trying to help mum or dad see how they can do these things themselves and become self-sufficient."
Williams says families respond well to volunteers, as they can "say things in a different way" to social workers. "Our volunteers work with one family at a time, so for the family, that means they're there just for them and that's really important," she concludes.
Outcome
More than 1,000 children and their families have been supported since the scheme started 10 years ago.
Of the 292 children whose families were supported by the programme in its four longest-serving projects between April 2013 and March 2014, 61 per cent – or 177 children – were removed from child in need or child protection plans.
Of the 292, 117 children were on a child in need plan with 85 per cent – 98 children – removed from plans. Meanwhile, 175 children were on child protection plans, with 45 per cent – 79 children – removed from those plans.
The seven new projects are also showing promising results so far. Of the 30 families supported through the Greenwich project since November last year, four have stepped down from child protection to child in need plans and three have moved from child in need plans to case closed.
If you think your project is worthy of inclusion, email supporting data to ravi.chandiramani@markallengroup.com.
OUTCOMES FOR CHILDREN
Children referred to four Volunteers Supporting Families schemes from April 2013 to March 2014
Children on child in need plans: 117
Removed from plan: 85% – 98 children
Children on child protection plans: 175
Removed from plan: 45% – 79 children
Source: CSV
