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Can we secure better outcomes and manage demand in children's services?

Report | December 2015

The latest occasional paper on practice and service development published by IPC is a view from Leighton Rees based on his experiences as Head of Children and Family Services in Denbighshire County Council between 2011 and 2015. It describes the attempt that his colleagues and he made to make sense of changing demands for social care and build a new model of services and engagement with families in response. The paper describes their approach including:

  • A move away from social work’s traditional connections with the 'medical model' towards a much more integrated approach to shared problem solving and development
  • An approach which puts early intervention at the forefront, but which also recognises that for those who cannot be prevented from entering the children’s social services system it is equally crucial to deliver effective intensive intervention
  • An attempt to describe a different approach to front line leadership replacing concepts of ‘management’ with that of professional leadership
  • An emphasis on impact and outcomes as the key measures of success
  • The use of intelligence to shape eligibility and service response
  • To focus on application and improvement of professional skills.

Like all our occasional papers it is a personal view from an experienced leader, intended to stimulate ideas and promote further discussion.