23 ONE FAMILY APPROACH - TO CHILDREN AND FAMILIES – The Director: Children and Community Resilience submitted a report seeking approval to adopt the ‘One Family Approach’ to the council’s work with children and families.
The One Family Approach sought to build upon established and successful partnerships in North Lincolnshire, that for a number of years had delivered good and outstanding services for children, young people and their families.
A key feature of the organisational and leadership culture that had underpinned such consistently high performance was innovation. The One Family Approach continued this tradition, as a vision for system redesign that took North Lincolnshire closer to an integrated and streamlined multi-agency offer of help for families.
The approach was founded on a belief in, and commitment to, enabling children and families to stay together, to be able to help themselves, to actively participate in and be supported by their schools, their communities, and be able to access the information, advice and local support they need to remain resilient and independent.
One Family Approach reoriented the role of professionals providing help, placing families more strongly at the centre. Applying the organisational model, the first and primary role for helping vulnerable families was enabling self-help via information and advice, and promoting equal access to the local community offer. The trusted professionals around children and families helped provide this informal help - for example a childcare professional, teacher, health visitor or school nurse.
The report gave details of other focused and specialist help available to children, young people and their families under the One Family Approach.
Resolved - That the One Family Approach, in terms of principles and keys points as set out in summary in the report, be endorsed.