Ofsted praises work to keep children at home but warns of danger of 'naive' practice

A full inspection of children's services in Hertfordshire rated provision as "good" overall. Inspectors noted that the council's Family Safeguarding initiative, one of three programmes set to be rolled out across 20 councils with "high or rising" numbers of children in care as part of an £84m drive announced by Chancellor Philip Hammond in last month's Budget, has resulted in the help and protection that most children receive improving.

But they have warned that in some cases social workers involved in the initiative, which brings together children and adult social workers to support families, are displaying "naivety" and "over-optimism" and are not effectively challenging families.

"Inspectors saw good examples of specialist adult workers who are embedded in the family safeguarding teams using their expertise in domestic abuse, substance misuse and mental health to challenge children's social work colleagues about the impact on children of parents' risky behaviour," the Ofsted inspection report states.

"This strengthens practice. However, it is also apparent that in a very small number of cases, managers have failed to provide the right level of challenge."