This Workshop aims to develop practitioner’s skills in working in partnership with families involved with children’s social care, helping to empower them to advocate for themselves and ensure their voices are heard.

This workshop covers:

• Working in partnership with families: research, evidence and experience.
• ‘Done to’ rather than ‘worked with’: the power of restorative practice.
• Understanding shame as a barrier to participation.
• The importance of language.
• First steps in involving families in service design and delivery.

This Workshop is suitable for all social care practitioners but may be of particular interest to social workers on their ASYE year, and service managers starting to think about the role of parent representation, as recommended in the recent Care Review (2022).

This Workshop aims to develop practitioners’ skills in undertaking assessments and improving the quality of the information gathered during assessment by building authentic humane relationships.

This workshop covers:

• Considering the process of assessment, SMART & POWER planning.
• Models of assessment – who does it benefit?
• Engaging with families
• Barriers to participation (and how to overcome them)
• Decision-making and information sharing.

This Workshop aims to develop practitioners necessary skills and requirements to make safe and appropriate decisions. This Workshop includes online exercises to embed learning and downloadable tools and resources to support practitioners.

This workshop covers:

• What are THow do we identify and respond to risk, particularly in relation to longstanding concerns of chronic neglect and wider exploitation?
• hresholds and why do they matter?
• Improving the quality and screening of referrals so that history is well understood, and appropriate information is sought to inform decision making.
• Common errors in reasoning, and common shortcuts in decision making.
• Better working with partner agencies to share threshold decisions for social work support.

This Workshop is suitable for all social care practitioners, but may be of particular interest to first-contact assessment teams, practitioners working in a MASH team, and social workers on their ASYE year.

This series of two consecutive sessions considers the Public Law Working Group Recommendations as well as the Independent Care Review and seeks to help delegates develop their own Best Practice Blueprint.

This workshop covers:

• Setting the Scene – what we are doing and why
• Engaging with children, young people and their families
• Child protection conferences
• The process of pre-proceedings
• Language that cares

Our introduction helps us to think about why we are undertaking these sessions and what we hope to achieve from them. We’ll think about how we engage with children, young people and their families, what the barriers are (and how to overcome them!). We’ll then move on to think about different models of child protection conferences, taking some learning from research and sharing ideas. We will look at the process of the pre-proceedings work and what we can do to improve this – be forewarned – this session has homework! Finally, we’ll share some thoughts on the language that we use and the impact it may have on those we work with.

Session Two covers:

• The five Ps of Planning
• The role of the Guardian
• You’re in court – now what?
• Developing your Best Practice Blueprint
• Your Pledge to children, young people and their families

In Session Two, we begin we Planning – SMART planning and POWER planning, specifically. What role do they have in social care and how can we maximise the process of planning to divert from court? We then look at the Guardian’s role and how each partner works with the other for the best outcome for the families. What happens when a family goes to court is next; how does it feel, and how can we support our families through this traumatic process. We’ll then take some time to do some learning from each other; this is a great opportunity to showcase what’s happening in your authority and where you can learn from other’s approach.

Finally, we end with a Pledge, to your children, young people and their families. What will you do differently after these sessions? I’m excited to hear your thoughts!

This workshop is suitable for all social care practitioners. A ‘Strategic Leaders’ version is also available for senior management, Cafcass and the Judiciary.