Agenda item

(a)       That the Committee endorses the work to safely reduce the number of children in need of care through early help and intensive targeted support for families;

(b)       That the Committee supports the establishment of a local authority Children’s Residential Care Home as part of an approach to rebalance care provision for children, with a focus on ensuring an affordable and sufficient range of local high quality placements; and

(c)       That a report on the Multi Systematic Therapy project be considered at the joint meeting of the Education, Youth & Culture and Social & Health Care Overview & Scrutiny Committee to be held on 17 June 2021.

The Senior Manager Children and Workforce introduced a report  on progress and future plans for a project to secure transformational change across health and social care.  He advised that North Wales had secured £3m grant funding for a regional Transformation Programme for children’s social care.  Working on a regional footprint the programme was delivered on an Area basis.  The East Area project was a partnership between Flintshire County Council, Betsi Cadwaladr University and Wrexham Borough Council.  The Senior Manager explained that the project would  help parents with low/moderate mental health needs; bring health and social care staff together to provide intensive assessment and therapeutic support for young people who didn’t meet the thresholds for CAMHS but were displaying significant needs and required support; and develop a local residential Care Home to meet the needs of young people whilst seeking family reunification or a longer term local fostering/residential placement.

The Senior Manager reported on the main considerations regarding the above workstreams within the Children’s Transformation Project.  With reference to the second workstream he explained that during  the pandemic a Multi Systematic Therapy (MST) team had been appointed, trained, and launched.  The Team provided direct support to build the resilience of families between 3 and 5 months.  The focus was on preventing family breakdown and reducing the need for children to unnecessarily enter the care system.  He introduced Donna Watts, Manager of the Multi Systematic Therapy team and asked her to give an overview of the Service.    

The Multi Systematic Therapy Manager explained that the Team had met the criteria to operate MST under strict licensing requirements including competency to practice through intensive training.   MST was a clinical model that worked will all systems surrounding the child including education, community influences, and any significant adults/others in the family.  The service was a bespoke package of care which offered home based treatment 24 hours, 365 days a year.   During her presentation the Manager cited examples of how MST had successfully changed                                                                                                                                       the lives of individuals as a result of the treatment and support provided. The Authority was the first in Wales to adopt it.

In response to a question from the Chair regarding how a referral was made into the MST Service the Manager explained that all referrals had to be made via Children’s Services whether received from Flintshire County Council or Betsi Cadwaladr University    As awareness of the service increased more referrals were being made.  The Senior Manager Children and Workforce, gave a brief overview of the referral pathway and said each referral made to Social Services was scrutinised by a panel to determine the best pathway for each case  to obtain maximum benefit from the MST service.

Councillor Dave Mackie spoke in support of the MST service and congratulated the MST Manager and officers on their management of the project.  In response to the concerns and comments expressed by Councillor Mackie around education, the MST Manager confirmed that school involvement was part of the model and any problematic behaviours in school would be picked up.   The Senior Manager, Children and Workforce explained that officers from the Education Service and Youth Justice Service were included on the Steering Group to capture all that was happening in a child’s life.   

In conclusion the Senior Manager reported on the third work stream around the ambitions and progress on the development of a local residential Care Home for young people.  He explained that young people could stay for a short period and be given intensive MST assessment and support work to prevent the need for placements to be made in a crisis situation.  The Chair referred to the Phoenix project provided by the North Wales Fire Service and suggested that a possible link be explored between the two services.  The Senior Manager agreed to look into this.

Councillor Gladys Healey spoke in support of the projects and initiatives and suggested that a presentation on the MST Service be made to a future meeting of the Education & Youth Overview & Scrutiny Committee.  The Education & Youth Facilitator informed that a joint meeting of the Education, Youth & Culture and Social & Health Care Overview & Scrutiny Committee was scheduled to be held on 17 June 2021 and said she would include an item on the MST Service on the agenda for the meeting.

The recommendations in the report were moved by Councillor Paul Cunningham and seconded by Councillor David Wisinger.

RESOLVED:

(a)       That the Committee endorses the work to safely reduce the number of children in need of care through early help and intensive targeted support for families;

(b)       That the Committee supports the establishment of a local authority Children’s Residential Care Home as part of an approach to rebalance care provision for children, with a focus on ensuring an affordable and sufficient range of local high quality placements; and

(c)       That a report on the Multi Systematic Therapy project be considered at the joint meeting of the Education, Youth & Culture and Social & Health Care Overview & Scrutiny Committee to be held on 17 June 2021.