Councils to share 6m intensive support fund

The local authorities, which include Leeds, Salford, Coventry and Greenwich, will use the money to support evidence-based intensive programmes for children and families with complex and challenging needs, including Multidimensional Treatment Foster Care.

Half of the authorities will be focusing on families with children on the edge of care or at risk of offending, while the other half will be offering intensive support to foster carers.

Announcing the additional funding as he met foster carers in Oxford, children’s minister Tim Loughton said: "Poor parental care can have a lasting impact on children. It can cause difficulties for children’s development across many areas of their lives. Yet we know from the success of programmes such as Multisystemic Therapy that with the right support, families with entrenched difficulties can be helped to turn their lives around. 

"For those children who cannot remain with their families, we want to ensure that those responsible for caring for them have the right support to help them meet their often challenging needs."

In Oxfordshire, one of the recipients of the grant, Multidimensional Treatment Foster Care is already used to support foster carers working with children with extreme behavioural problems, while the Keeping Foster and Kinship Carers Trained and Supported scheme helps carers of children aged five to 12 avoid placement breakdown.

Alison Wharmby, programme manager of Multidimensional Treatment Foster Care in Oxford, said: "Oxfordshire is proud of the role that it has played in piloting new programmes and of embedding these programmes into our children’s services. 

"Multidimensional Treatment Foster Care is one of a suite of evidence-based interventions and support services that is offered to families and carers. It has not only been successful in the outcomes for looked-after children on the programme but also, its behaviour management principles have been disseminated through training to carers, families and staff."

In March this year, all local authorities already delivering intensive programmes were invited to apply for up to £200,000 per year to help test new ways of delivering the programmes. Local authorities that had not previously developed intensive programmes were invited to apply for funding to develop one of four evidence-based schemes: Multidimensional Treatment Foster Care, Multisystemic Therapy, Keeping Foster and Kinship Carers Trained and Functional Family Therapy.

The areas sharing the £6m are:

• North East Newcastle
• North West Blackburn with Darwen, Manchester, Salford, Trafford, Bury, Cheshire and Tameside
• Yorkshire & Humber Leeds
• East Midlands Derby, Derbyshire, Leicester, Lincolnshire and Northamptonshire
• West Midlands Dudley, Staffordshire and Coventry
• East Cambridgeshire and Suffolk/Norfolk (working in partnership)
• South East Kent, Oxfordshire, Reading, West Sussex, Brighton & Hove, Essex, Medway and Portsmouth
• South West Bristol and Somerset
• London Greenwich, Merton & Kingston, Bexley, Ealing, Hammersmith & Fulham, Haringey, Hillingdon and Lewisham